A young adult friend tagged a Facebook posting to me the other day. This is a young man raised in a church home, with passionately believing grandparents and parents. And for a time he followed in their footsteps, using his gifts of music to give expression to faith. But then something happened. Disappointment and disillusionment with the church, and the anti-religious writings that seem so daring to the young have combined to cause him to turn away, and to critique the "arrogance and hubris" of many Christians. Now, he says, he's interested in "making the world a better place."
I love him dearly, and I know where his passion comes from. I know in his heart he values his upbringing. And I know he really wants to make the world a better place -- don't we all. His heart is so much in the right place.
I wish he could have come with me last weekend to a conference in Hamilton put on by True City, a network of churches committed to working together 'for the good of the city." What blew me away was that these churches are all evangelical, and several have a long history with fundamentalism and separatism. But they were talking about their mission simply being to witness to the love of God in their neighborhoods, regardless of whether people become Christians. They talked about how important it is to love people, but not treat them as "a project." Their biblical texts were Jeremiah 29-- "Pray for the welfare of the city where God has put you" -- and Abraham's pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah.
The church has a pretty dismal history in many ways, and impressions of that history have stuck in the minds of many outside the church. But I think God is doing some pretty amazing and trasnformative things in many churches, and I pray (patiently) that those like my friend will come to see them.
Showing posts with label congregational renewal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label congregational renewal. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Oh, the mystery of it all
I led an event yesterday based on my affiliates study. There were about 30 clergy and lay leaders in attendance -- which brought home to me how concerned people are to find new ways of connecting with people.
In preparing for the day, I was struck once again by the deep mystery of faith. Over and over again this mystery is expressed in Scripture. Jesus' parables of growth in Mark 4 -- the parable of the Sower (or more accurately, the soils), the parable of the Seed Growing Secretly -- they tell us that the growth of the kingdom is pretty much out of our hands.
The Book of Acts describes this mystery too. The early missionaries go to a city, preach the Gospel, some scoff, many are indifferent, but some believe. And Luke doesn't seem to feel it necessary to account for the differences between them. He certainly doesn't attribute it to the clever strategies of the apostles. "Silver and gold have I none," Peter says to the crippled beggar in Acts 3, "but I'll give you what I do have" -- the name and power of Jesus Christ to make whole.
I'm sitting here looking down a list we made up a couple of years ago of younger folks who were kind of bobbing around the edges of our congregation -- showing up here and there, but not consistently. A handful are back. Quite a few are still bobbing. But a whole bunch have drifted even farther away. It's so easy to get discouraged. What could we be doing differently?
But then I think of the people who have arrived. And the people who have come alive. And there just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it, except that the Holy Spirit is at work.
Where we are perhaps failing as a church is not in producing the harvest, but in sowing the seed. I sense that we need a quantum shift in priorities, expectations and relationships, so that the bulk of our time and attention is turned to sharing Jesus. Not doing the demographics and the long-range planning as a prelude (or substitute) for sharing Jesus, but doing that first and the other stuff after. It sounds so simple, yet so much outside the familiar ministry boxes that I know I've been in.
Switching metaphors, Tom Bandy in his book The Roadrunner talks about the church's "fishing" mandate. Traditional churches, he says, would rather sit on the dock cutting bait, or set up "fish processing plants" where fish can be frozen or dried, or raise money to pay somebody else to fish -- anything except what Jesus commanded his disciples to do -- get out into the deep water, let down their nets, and fish!
In preparing for the day, I was struck once again by the deep mystery of faith. Over and over again this mystery is expressed in Scripture. Jesus' parables of growth in Mark 4 -- the parable of the Sower (or more accurately, the soils), the parable of the Seed Growing Secretly -- they tell us that the growth of the kingdom is pretty much out of our hands.
The Book of Acts describes this mystery too. The early missionaries go to a city, preach the Gospel, some scoff, many are indifferent, but some believe. And Luke doesn't seem to feel it necessary to account for the differences between them. He certainly doesn't attribute it to the clever strategies of the apostles. "Silver and gold have I none," Peter says to the crippled beggar in Acts 3, "but I'll give you what I do have" -- the name and power of Jesus Christ to make whole.
I'm sitting here looking down a list we made up a couple of years ago of younger folks who were kind of bobbing around the edges of our congregation -- showing up here and there, but not consistently. A handful are back. Quite a few are still bobbing. But a whole bunch have drifted even farther away. It's so easy to get discouraged. What could we be doing differently?
But then I think of the people who have arrived. And the people who have come alive. And there just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it, except that the Holy Spirit is at work.
Where we are perhaps failing as a church is not in producing the harvest, but in sowing the seed. I sense that we need a quantum shift in priorities, expectations and relationships, so that the bulk of our time and attention is turned to sharing Jesus. Not doing the demographics and the long-range planning as a prelude (or substitute) for sharing Jesus, but doing that first and the other stuff after. It sounds so simple, yet so much outside the familiar ministry boxes that I know I've been in.
Switching metaphors, Tom Bandy in his book The Roadrunner talks about the church's "fishing" mandate. Traditional churches, he says, would rather sit on the dock cutting bait, or set up "fish processing plants" where fish can be frozen or dried, or raise money to pay somebody else to fish -- anything except what Jesus commanded his disciples to do -- get out into the deep water, let down their nets, and fish!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Back to the Neighborhood.
I had coffee this morning with a young church planter in Hamilton named Pernell Goodyear. He leads "The Freeway," a downtown community of the Salvation Army. The Freeway I think represents the future of the church. It is highly non-traditional, going against the grain of a denomination (SA) that sounds every bit as tradition bound as the United Church of Canada.
Their home is a former bank building at the corner of King and Wellington in downtown Hamilton. They house a fair trade coffee shop, which Pernell told me generates income to pay for the operation of the building. On Sundays at 6 p.m. there is a worshiping community that gathers.
The difference between The Freeway and most other churches is that it is deliberately and self-consciously a neighborhood church. It is part of a missional movement to reintegrate churches into neighborhoods, and to build churches around groups of people who engage in Christian practices with one another. Pernell says they have absolutely no interest in becoming a traditional congregation based on church growth principles. Their focus is on the formation of Christian community among people who live in the same area.
For that reason, he says they have actually discouraged what you see happening more and more, which is people driving long distances to find a church that "meets their needs."
He described their worship as "sacramental" (I have to ask him for more details about what he means by that) but I think they are expressing the contemporary suspicion of basing the church on marketing techniques or on rationalistic methods of persuasion. Rather, they seek to embody the church through their common life.
He also told me that they consider their building actually be the community's building. The church pays the bills, but the facility is available to the community.
I want to start exploring ways in which already existing churches (like mine) can reestablish a more deeply rooted community connection.
Their home is a former bank building at the corner of King and Wellington in downtown Hamilton. They house a fair trade coffee shop, which Pernell told me generates income to pay for the operation of the building. On Sundays at 6 p.m. there is a worshiping community that gathers.
The difference between The Freeway and most other churches is that it is deliberately and self-consciously a neighborhood church. It is part of a missional movement to reintegrate churches into neighborhoods, and to build churches around groups of people who engage in Christian practices with one another. Pernell says they have absolutely no interest in becoming a traditional congregation based on church growth principles. Their focus is on the formation of Christian community among people who live in the same area.
For that reason, he says they have actually discouraged what you see happening more and more, which is people driving long distances to find a church that "meets their needs."
He described their worship as "sacramental" (I have to ask him for more details about what he means by that) but I think they are expressing the contemporary suspicion of basing the church on marketing techniques or on rationalistic methods of persuasion. Rather, they seek to embody the church through their common life.
He also told me that they consider their building actually be the community's building. The church pays the bills, but the facility is available to the community.
I want to start exploring ways in which already existing churches (like mine) can reestablish a more deeply rooted community connection.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Church renewal in Britain
My friend Connie den Bok, a minister in Toronto, put me onto some things that are happening in Britain through the Church of England and the Methodist Church. As we all know, church decline in Britain is way more advanced than in Canada (although I suspect we're closing the gap quickly) -- but there are some innovative things brewing there that we could learn from.
There's a website -- www.freshexpressions.org.uk -- which tells the stories of many new initiatives that are revitalizing the church among previously marginalized groups -- students, young families, persons with disabilities, children.
I'm going to encourage my own Council and leaders to start chewing on some of these ideas. Some have more merit than others, but they all seem to be organic, contextualized responses to the decline of traditional denominationally based Christianity in a once heavily Christianized culture.
There's a website -- www.freshexpressions.org.uk -- which tells the stories of many new initiatives that are revitalizing the church among previously marginalized groups -- students, young families, persons with disabilities, children.
I'm going to encourage my own Council and leaders to start chewing on some of these ideas. Some have more merit than others, but they all seem to be organic, contextualized responses to the decline of traditional denominationally based Christianity in a once heavily Christianized culture.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Emerging Spirit
The United Church of Canada made a splash two years ago with a series of quirky magazine ads designed to connect with socially progressive 25-45 year olds. They followed up with a website called wondercafe which was supposed to attract spiritual seekers who weren't necessarily into church. And, training events to show congregations how to welcome all the new folks who were going to arrive as a result of our efforts. The budget for the whole "Emerging Spirit" program will be $10 million.
It's becoming clear that it hasn't worked. There's been no discernible increase in church attendance. And wondercafe has become a chat room for about 100 regular participants, most of whom are United Church insiders. The word is that once the money runs out, it will be finished.
The intent was good -- but badly misconceived. The church didn't appreciate that there's a huge distance between someone thinking "Gee, that's an interesteing ad" and actually visiting their local United Church -- or even checking out the new website. The ads weren't really selling anything -- except a kind of vague impression of the United Church.
ANd they didn't appreciate that even if you get someone to visit their local United Church, that's a long, long way from getting them to form any kind of meaningful relationship. I have found how hard it is to keep connected with people who are already supposed to be a part of the congregation. There are just so many things these days to interrupt that connection.
The first rule of advertising is that you have to keep it up. Running one newspaper ad is a waste of money. And, in terms of a long-term strategy, even running six months of ads in a selection of magazines is a waste of money because once those ads have stopped, whatever they were about goes off people's radar screen immediately.
Recently I read an article that said that advertising isn't working the way it used to. People have learned to tune out and ignore ads. They have become cynical about their claims. What counts now is that there is something about the product that basically sells itself. The i-Pod is a good example. Apple has advertised it, but that's not why everybody has one. It's because people tell their friends about it and the product is appealing enough that they go out and buy one too.
Here's the basic flaw in the Emerging Spirit approach. It's old thinking. It's promoting something without paying attention to whether the product is any good. In other words, what's going on in our congregations is the problem, not just the fact that we haven't advertised it.
And that goes back to real basics. How many churches have honestly asked themselves why someone who isn't already committed would want to haul their butts out of bed on Sunday and join them, instead of doing something else. The only reason I can see is if people sense that there's something life-transforming that the church has to offer that they can't find anywhere else. And that pretty much lets out "community" or "friendliness" as motivating factors, because people can get that in lots ofother places.
So what is it? Maybe we need to worry less about being friendly and welcoming and more about the content of what we're offering. And then the "product" might start to "sell " itself.
It's becoming clear that it hasn't worked. There's been no discernible increase in church attendance. And wondercafe has become a chat room for about 100 regular participants, most of whom are United Church insiders. The word is that once the money runs out, it will be finished.
The intent was good -- but badly misconceived. The church didn't appreciate that there's a huge distance between someone thinking "Gee, that's an interesteing ad" and actually visiting their local United Church -- or even checking out the new website. The ads weren't really selling anything -- except a kind of vague impression of the United Church.
ANd they didn't appreciate that even if you get someone to visit their local United Church, that's a long, long way from getting them to form any kind of meaningful relationship. I have found how hard it is to keep connected with people who are already supposed to be a part of the congregation. There are just so many things these days to interrupt that connection.
The first rule of advertising is that you have to keep it up. Running one newspaper ad is a waste of money. And, in terms of a long-term strategy, even running six months of ads in a selection of magazines is a waste of money because once those ads have stopped, whatever they were about goes off people's radar screen immediately.
Recently I read an article that said that advertising isn't working the way it used to. People have learned to tune out and ignore ads. They have become cynical about their claims. What counts now is that there is something about the product that basically sells itself. The i-Pod is a good example. Apple has advertised it, but that's not why everybody has one. It's because people tell their friends about it and the product is appealing enough that they go out and buy one too.
Here's the basic flaw in the Emerging Spirit approach. It's old thinking. It's promoting something without paying attention to whether the product is any good. In other words, what's going on in our congregations is the problem, not just the fact that we haven't advertised it.
And that goes back to real basics. How many churches have honestly asked themselves why someone who isn't already committed would want to haul their butts out of bed on Sunday and join them, instead of doing something else. The only reason I can see is if people sense that there's something life-transforming that the church has to offer that they can't find anywhere else. And that pretty much lets out "community" or "friendliness" as motivating factors, because people can get that in lots ofother places.
So what is it? Maybe we need to worry less about being friendly and welcoming and more about the content of what we're offering. And then the "product" might start to "sell " itself.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Vision
Last night I showed a DVD at my church called "Celebrating What's Right with the World." It's by Dewitt Jones, an award-winning photographer who has done a lot of work for National Geographic. It was made for corporate training sessions, but really has a lot of parallels to the church.
Because what he's talking about is vision and how we see things. He starts off saying that he used to think he had to see something to believe it, but now he knows that he has to believe before he can see it.
And I think that's one of the problems we've got in the church today. We've lost our vision and our imagination. All we see is decline and irrelevance. Ironically, though, being fixated on what's wrong prevents us from creatively addressing it because we lose the vision of what we should be.
"When vision is clear, then the passion and creativity are there as well." I really wonder in my own church and certainly my own denomination if the dearth of passion and creativity is connected to a loss of vision -- vision of what God can and wants to do through the church.
Sometimes it takes a voice from outside to tell us what we need to hear. And I'm well aware that "Celebrating What's Right With The World" is chock full of all kinds of motivational cliches that get thrown around in the business world.
But what he says is true. We have to believe it to see it. And the problem with many churches today is that they don't really believe in themselves -- in who they are, what they have to offer, and what God wants of them.
Because what he's talking about is vision and how we see things. He starts off saying that he used to think he had to see something to believe it, but now he knows that he has to believe before he can see it.
And I think that's one of the problems we've got in the church today. We've lost our vision and our imagination. All we see is decline and irrelevance. Ironically, though, being fixated on what's wrong prevents us from creatively addressing it because we lose the vision of what we should be.
"When vision is clear, then the passion and creativity are there as well." I really wonder in my own church and certainly my own denomination if the dearth of passion and creativity is connected to a loss of vision -- vision of what God can and wants to do through the church.
Sometimes it takes a voice from outside to tell us what we need to hear. And I'm well aware that "Celebrating What's Right With The World" is chock full of all kinds of motivational cliches that get thrown around in the business world.
But what he says is true. We have to believe it to see it. And the problem with many churches today is that they don't really believe in themselves -- in who they are, what they have to offer, and what God wants of them.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Intentional, not Accidental
My good friend reminded me that it's a violation of blogging etiquette to fail to make a posting at least once every few days. So I'm going to try to mind my manners.
One of the things I've been doing a lot more lately as a result of my research is just talking to people. Which can be a challenge. A couple of weeks ago I made appointments with three people to just meet and reconnect and two of them called to cancel a couple of hours ahead. So, perseverance is a necessary virtue in the new reality.
I went to see someone from my church yesterday -- a wonderful, engaging young mom of two beautiful children -- the kind of person you just love to have in your church -- but who works in the family business with her husband and is just very time stressed. I was making all my best pastoral noises, telling her that I really appreciated the kind of demands they were facing, but how much we missed them. "Is there anything we could be doing to make it easier for you to stay connected?"
She laughed. "Well, guilt works," she said. I laughed too. "No, but I totally understand what you're going through." (Pastoral response.) "Maybe you should be a little less understanding," she replied.
Hmmm. I know she was at least 50% kidding, but not entirely. I think she was saying, "You're making it too easy for us not to go." And I wonder if there's something there. THere's certainly a fine line. Guilt-tripping is generally a pretty ineffective strategy. But I wonder if we're partly to blame for just making the stakes so darn low. I wonder if I haven't been guilty of communicating the message, "It really isn't that big a deal if you come or not."
I love what Hauerwas said in his usual irascible fashion, "The purpose of worship is to be make us feel bad for the right reasons." And I wonder if we don't need to acquire the skill of being able to make people feel constructively bad when they say, "you know we meant to come to church, but I decided to do the laundry instead."
Diana Butler Bass is very de rigeur these days -- but it's a well deserved reputation. Her argument that intentional practices and conscious retraditioning are the best hope for mainline renewal has the ring of truth. Butler Bass contrasts "accidentalchurchgoing" and "intentional church going."
"Accidental churchgoing was the pattern of the mainline Protestant establishment ... marked by its chapel orientation: Church was the place to go where a minister performed certain spiritualtasks for the congregants.... Chapel religion typically blesses the social order, comforts people in times of crisis, and trains children in the customs of faith." It's a matter of personal preference and social conformity, not transformative faith.
"Intentional churchgoing," she argues, " differs from institutionalized [North] American religion in that it is a corporate journey ... Intentional congregations are marked by mobility, choice, reflexivity and reflection." [The rRacticing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church, 78-80.]
I realize that I need to develop a lost set of evangelistic skills, adapted to present day social realities, if I'm to minister effectively to many affiliates. I can be present to them and ease any feelings of guilt they might harbor at putting sports and shopping ahead of God, but that's not the same as bringing their situation into interesection with the demands and blessings of the Gospel. And I realize how counter to my introverted, need-to-be-nice temperament this runs. My personal struggles, though, I think are a microcosm of mainline Christianity which has not dealt well with the loss of its christendom status.
Anybody out there got anything to say that might help me?
One of the things I've been doing a lot more lately as a result of my research is just talking to people. Which can be a challenge. A couple of weeks ago I made appointments with three people to just meet and reconnect and two of them called to cancel a couple of hours ahead. So, perseverance is a necessary virtue in the new reality.
I went to see someone from my church yesterday -- a wonderful, engaging young mom of two beautiful children -- the kind of person you just love to have in your church -- but who works in the family business with her husband and is just very time stressed. I was making all my best pastoral noises, telling her that I really appreciated the kind of demands they were facing, but how much we missed them. "Is there anything we could be doing to make it easier for you to stay connected?"
She laughed. "Well, guilt works," she said. I laughed too. "No, but I totally understand what you're going through." (Pastoral response.) "Maybe you should be a little less understanding," she replied.
Hmmm. I know she was at least 50% kidding, but not entirely. I think she was saying, "You're making it too easy for us not to go." And I wonder if there's something there. THere's certainly a fine line. Guilt-tripping is generally a pretty ineffective strategy. But I wonder if we're partly to blame for just making the stakes so darn low. I wonder if I haven't been guilty of communicating the message, "It really isn't that big a deal if you come or not."
I love what Hauerwas said in his usual irascible fashion, "The purpose of worship is to be make us feel bad for the right reasons." And I wonder if we don't need to acquire the skill of being able to make people feel constructively bad when they say, "you know we meant to come to church, but I decided to do the laundry instead."
Diana Butler Bass is very de rigeur these days -- but it's a well deserved reputation. Her argument that intentional practices and conscious retraditioning are the best hope for mainline renewal has the ring of truth. Butler Bass contrasts "accidentalchurchgoing" and "intentional church going."
"Accidental churchgoing was the pattern of the mainline Protestant establishment ... marked by its chapel orientation: Church was the place to go where a minister performed certain spiritualtasks for the congregants.... Chapel religion typically blesses the social order, comforts people in times of crisis, and trains children in the customs of faith." It's a matter of personal preference and social conformity, not transformative faith.
"Intentional churchgoing," she argues, " differs from institutionalized [North] American religion in that it is a corporate journey ... Intentional congregations are marked by mobility, choice, reflexivity and reflection." [The rRacticing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church, 78-80.]
I realize that I need to develop a lost set of evangelistic skills, adapted to present day social realities, if I'm to minister effectively to many affiliates. I can be present to them and ease any feelings of guilt they might harbor at putting sports and shopping ahead of God, but that's not the same as bringing their situation into interesection with the demands and blessings of the Gospel. And I realize how counter to my introverted, need-to-be-nice temperament this runs. My personal struggles, though, I think are a microcosm of mainline Christianity which has not dealt well with the loss of its christendom status.
Anybody out there got anything to say that might help me?
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