This is a question that is answered differently by clergy than lay people.

Denominations want to measure assets to determine if they can comfortably place a minister there.

Congregations are more interested in ministry results. They look for ideas, passion and action.

Both have a place in the viability equation and both sides should be involved in any viability determination. Money without ideas, and vice versa, is useless.

What is rarely measured is potential and that has a lot to do with the work of the Spirit.  

Redeemer has great experience with the folly of measuring viability without allowance for the Spirit.

Redeemer was declared not viable in 1998. Our elderly but spunky members were viable enough to change Bishop Almquist’s mind — even if they failed to prompt him to work with the congregation.

For eight years we were ignored by synod leadership.

Synod, under new management in 2006, decided to play the viability card again. They assumed those old ladies from 1998 were dead, gone or rasping for breath. Redeemer, under synod’s philosophy of allowing congregations to die, should have been ripe for picking.

The old ladies of 1998 were gone. But they hadn’t gone to their eternal reward without laying the foundation for new mission. In the eight years Redeemer was left to die, Redeemer grew, slowly and steadily at first, and quickly in 2006 and 2007. Most members were now under 40. Children were abundant. Redeemer was five times the size it had been in 1998.

Ample evidence of this was presented to SEPA to no avail.

• We were debt-free.
• We had a 25-year day care program renting our educational building.
• We had an endowment fund — that suffered from Synod’s attempts to take our assets in 1998 but was still more than Synod had!
• We had ministry initiatives which were reaping good rewards.
• We had talented lay leadership and good relationships with several pastors.
• We had worked for several months with clergy, real estate experts, an accountant and lawyer to create a detailed plan for new ministry initiatives.

But Bishop Burkat had made a hasty declaration about Redeemer and wasn’t about to let facts get in the way. SEPA’s recurring six-figure deficit budget was motivation enough. Money had to be found. Redeemer, we learned, was to be the first of six congregations targeted to solve the problem.

If the viability measure were scientific, it should have been easy. Swoop in, act like you care, say a prayer, hold a “celebratory” service, grab everything in sight, and post the “for sale” sign. If members resist, sue; that’ll get ’em.

But Synod’s measure of viability seems to be faulty. Money created a conflict of interest.

Six years later, the oppressed victims of Redeemer have an active and viable ministry even without the property and assets that were found inadequate back in 2006. Legal action, personal attacks, even excommunication failed to dampen its potential.  The Spirit found a crack. Potential.

Synod– the entire body, not just the leadership — turned their responsibility over to the courts, who, as it ends up, don’t want it. The courts never heard the case Synod brought against the congregation. They decided to let the church work out its own problems, citing separation of church and state.

The ball is back in the court of SEPA member churches.

Synod could be proud of Redeemer. They could boast of Redeemer’s pioneering efforts in multi-cultural ministry, social media ministry, and children’s ministries. They might learn from our ministry initiatives.

If you approve of the actions of your synod, beware that your approval means many of you will face the Redeemer treatment. From our visits it looks like about 10% of SEPA congregations are no stronger than Redeemer. A few more years of unchecked decline will add to that number.

If you do not approve, you are obligated under the constitution to speak up and say so. The secular courts are not going to do your work for you.

That’s about the only decision to come out of four years of legal maneuvering. Doing the right thing is up to you! Spend the next four months thinking about it.