3 Misconceptions About a Pastoral Vacancy

A church in a pastoral transition can be an exciting community with a sense of anticipation about how God will work to bring about a fruitful and blessed future, or it can be a place of foreboding where people worry about what has been lost.   Some churches may find themselves stuck in the middle neither going forward or back.  To keep your congregation healthy it is best to lay some myths about churches in pastoral transition aside.   Here are three common ones I have seen over the years.

1. We need to wait for our new pastor to do ministry.

The apostle Peter tells us.   But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9 NRSV) Each person in your congregation is called to his or her own discipleship path, each is given unique gifts by the Holy Spirit to use to help others and give glory to God.   That does not change in a transition of leadership.   Indeed, this can be a time when you can discover gifts you never knew you had.  We can see this during our worship each Sunday.  The word liturgy means service of the people, not just the pastor.   Think if you had a hymn and only the pastor sung it.   It would not be as beautiful as if the whole church sang it together.   Education, Community Service, Evangelism and Stewardship work the same way.  The work of the church belongs to all.  The church that keeps up momentum becomes a more attractive church to potential candidates to be your pastor.

2. We can't do anything new until we get our new pastor.

This is patently false.   A congregation with its ear to the ground can start new initiatives at any time.   For example, if you have previously relied on your pastor to follow up with visitors, the pastoral vacancy is an opportunity to become a more welcoming and hospitable church by having lay volunteers set up a process to welcome newcomers to your community.  In addition if your church does not have a prayer group, a pastoral vacancy is great time to start one.   A gathering of 5-6 people to pray for God to open the door for the right leader is a great step for any congregation in transition.  Committing  to prayer will help the congregation ask the right questions and be willing to look at new possibilities that God may provide for the best possible future.

3. No one will join until we get a new pastor. 

People join churches for many reasons, not just the pastor.    People usually stay in churches because of the connections they make within the congregation.  People that do not have two or three strong connections in the church usually drift away over time.   A church in transition can attract new people to their community if they are hospitable and welcoming.   If there is someone you don't recognize, just ask for his or her name and strike up a conversation.   Your church may have the best location,  size, worship style, Sunday school, youth group, or Bible study for a potential member.  So this is a great time to invite a friend to church, they will meet the wonderful people of your congregation.  A church that prepares to grow will more likely grow than a church that just sits back and does the same old thing.

A congregation needs to prepare for its new pastor.

While it is critical for congregations to look at their finances, the state of their parsonage, and paint the pastor's office to get ready for a new pastor, the most important way to prepare for a pastor is to tend to ministry.  The more things that the congregation can learn to handle during the vacancy will help free up space and time for the new pastor to use his or her gifts for the benefit of the church when he or she arrives.  There is one final myth I would like to bust, which is: a new pastor will grow our church. Churches grow when pastor and people work together to prepare an environment where growth can happen. There is no reason for the people of a congregation in transition to wait to do their part.  The funny thing is s church preparing for the future is more likely to see blessings of the present.   A pastoral transition can be a time of fun and excitement as the people pull together for the sake of the Gospel. 

The Bible Challenge

I challenge you to read the Bible in 2018. Not parts of the Bible, the whole thing. “We must learn to know the Scriptures once again… as our fathers knew them. We must not grudge the time and work it takes. We must know the Scriptures first and foremost for the sake of our salvation. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together)

To be a Christian is to be a person of the Word of God. We were called into a relationship with God through the Word. As we say in the Lutheran Church, it is the source and norm of our faith. It is the place we go to find out about how we should deal with the central issues of life. Contemporary culture may not hold the Bible in high esteem, but that is to its detriment; it need not be ours. We have the gifts of God given to us through the Word, we must not throw them away, or relegate them to dust covered bookshelves in the spare bedrooms of our lives. Our life and our salvation is the most precious gift we have, therefore the Word should have pride of place.

Yes, the Whole Enchilada!

While every person of faith has parts of the Bible they like better than others, it is important to read the whole story so that we may know the strengths and weaknesses of our faith. We can at times place ourselves in a spiritual feedback loop, which constantly confirms long held beliefs without question or introspection. This happens often with devotionals that only use individual verses, or churches that only follow a lectionary with narrow range of the wider body of Scripture. Focusing on pieces of Scripture to the exclusion of the whole story of salvation can stunt the growth of a faith life or leave one ill equipped when life brings new challenges. Holy Scripture does not consist of individual passages; it is a unit and it is intended to be used as such (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together)

Christians are People of the Book

To be a Christian is to be in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We cannot do that without the reading of Scripture. “Consecutive reading of biblical books forces everyone… to put (oneself)… where God has acted once and for all for the salvation of (people).” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together) In other words, God’s story becomes our story, and yes vice versa our lives become part of God’s story too. Regular Bible reading changes who we are and that can be a blessing to others and even the entire world.

As one who reads history often I can tell you that so many of the blessings that we have today were inspired by those who steeped their entire lives in the biblical story. From things such as the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, child labor laws, to the freedom of individual conscience, the story of God’s salvation inspired those who fought for these things. “The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.” (Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451) I challenge you to be a Bible person (not a thumper) one who lets God’s story breathe through their life. As you will read in the Gospels, Jesus lived in exactly this way; just look at how many times he quotes the Hebrew Scriptures.

How to Start

If you have not read the Bible regularly before, I encourage you to begin by reading 1-2 chapters continuously of the New Testament daily beginning with Mathew’s Gospel and ending with Revelation. By doing this, you will complete the New Testament in well under a year. As Christians, we read the rest of the Bible through the eyes of Christ, so this is the best place to start.

If you have some experience with the Bible, perhaps a chapter of the Old Testament read continuously, with a Psalm, and when you finished them, a chapter from Proverbs, followed by a chapter of the New Testament. You will not finish the Bible in a year, but will have read the majority of it.

To complete the Bible in a year you can google a plan, there are many available, or you might read 5-6 chapters of Scripture a day. It is important not to get bogged down when you get to those sections of Scripture that can seem monotonous, such as descriptions of the temple furnishings, genealogies, or obscure parts of the Torah. It is important therefore to have a mix of Old Testament and New Testament readings. It is also OK to skim these parts, as long as you aware of what you are leaving out. The goal is the familiarity with the big story of the Bible. I hope that this can be blessing for you in 2018 and you too can let the story of God breathe through your life.

Be blessed
Pastor Knecht

The Church at the End of Its Power

Does the Church Still Have Power? 

Like most of my colleagues in established so called mainline Christian denominations, I have bachelors and masters degrees, like many I have a doctorate. I also went through a gut wrenching multi year formal process to be ordained in order to serve the institutional church. The thing is that I now find myself serving an institution, which is seeing its power being diffused.   The church up the road has multiple people who carry the same titles as I do, but without the training, degrees, background checks, and accreditation.   Many weddings today are presided over by people who merely paid a fee through Paypal and received a pdf certificate to download.   Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, is not as important to me as answering the question, do we who serve the church still have power?  If so, how do we use it to further the mission of the Gospel.  How do we give hope to those who are hurt by the world if our power seems to be as sand running through our fingers.

The economist Moisés Naim in his 2014 book The End of Power explores the change in the nature of power in our current age.   Power is not ending so much as being diffused through three trends going on in world today.  The first is that there is more of everything, more nation states, more companies, more people, for us in the church there are more types of churches and sects.  The second is that people worldwide are highly mobile.  The growth in immigration  to our own country is just a small part of this. Multicultural cities today are found in surprising places as a result.  Who knew that Ft. Bend County in Texas would be just as diverse as Queens, New York? The result of this is that it is harder to appeal to cultural norms when people come from so many different places. The final trend is that there is a mentality shift going on in the world.  Institutions once seen as a positive good are more and more viewed with distrust.  The individual is more likely to be literate and have a higher education level than previous generations.   Thus, many feel less need to have questions settled by institutions (like the church).   The rise in "alternative facts" seen the past few years is emblematic of the downside of this trend.

Naim calls these three trends revolutions and maintains that they are indeed turning our world upside down by eroding traditional barriers to power.   The upside is that groups that never had power before now have ways to advocate for their needs.  The downside of this is less stability for society as a whole.   People are becoming more distrustful of their government, corporations, schools, mainstream science, doctors, the media, and established religions.

Naim defines power as the ability to direct or prevent the current and future actions of others.  He argues that traditional bastions of power still have it, they just have less of it, and they have more restrictions to using it.   So how we use what power we have left is critical.   Do we use it to protect eroding privileges?  Or do we use our power to fashion a ministry that speaks to the current and future generations?  Using the work of Ian McMillan of the University of Pennsylvania Naim argues that there are four channels of power that those who have power use to influence, guide or control others.   I will outline how the church as I see it is able to use these channels for its remaining power for good or ill.

1. Muscle 

This is a channel of power that seeks to prevent people from behaving in ways the institution dislikes.  It is coercion through either the use of physical force or application of law.  Now there was a time when the church in the late medieval period would field armies to enforce its will, but thankfully those days are long gone.   There was also a time when the church could regulate when people conducted business, or what they could eat and drink.  Now churches have trouble getting even their most active members to show up on time. However, churches still have vestiges of this channel of power in their books.   Most congregations that have constitutions have a provision for the discipline and even exclusion of members, as well as a process for removing clergy and staff.

Most clergy learn pretty quickly that the church has less access to this channel than past generations. When it is no longer a cultural badge of honor to be Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopalian, or even Christian, the threat of exclusion from a congregation means little. We live in a religiously pluralistic world where there is always another faith community down the road.   Often those who are friends with the person excluded have little to hold them to the congregation after the conflict ends.   So the price for a congregation to use this channel is steep.  There are still times when people who are harming the community need to leave, but that has to happen in more delicate ways than it did in the past and that is a good thing.   As communities in Christ we are called to protect the dignity of all, and that is always difficult when using raw coercive power.   Scripture, prayer and conversation should always be engaged when thinking about how we use our power especially in times like these when cultural tensions are high.

2. Code 

The use of tradition and morality to check or influence behavior is one channel of power that the church continually uses to influence not only its members but society at large.   When conservative evangelicals advocate for the abolition of abortion or abstinence from sex before marriage they are making an appeal to a moral code.  When mainline Christian groups advocate for the rights of immigrants they are using the same channel of power by appealing to the moral rightness of their cause.  When I was first ordained, the push for weekly communion was still going on in our denomination, this debate was really about the question of "is this the right thing to do?"  Those who resisted weekly communion also appealed to a moral argument, the need for the local congregation to have the freedom to tailor its worship life to its local community.

As uses of power that attempt to restrict our behavior code and muscle often work together.   For example when churches advocate for causes by organizing demonstrations, they try get as many people as they can to show up.   Provocative signs with slogans designed to put the opposition off balance are carried and rhythmic chants to fire up the crowd may be devised.  These demonstrations with some very rare exceptions are non-violent.  This does not mean they are without some muscle. In order to get the attention of the wider community a little muscle is required.  Remember even Jesus used code and muscle in combination when he overturned the tables at the temple.

While many Christians have qualms about the church using force,  they may not see the dangers apparent in appealing to code.    Sometimes the codes that our communities construct can damage the very people we are trying reach.  Speak with those wounded by the church, and one will often find that it was the community's traditions, attitudes and arbitrary standards that caused the pain.  Early in my ministry, I had console a low income mother who had just been accosted because her child wore beat up sneakers under the acolyte's robe.   These were the only shoes he had.  My unproven thesis is that more people have been pushed away from Christian community because the abuse of code than any other power channel.

It is clear that our communities need to appeal to a code of how to live a proper life within that community, but care should be taken in communicating what the code actually is.   Any code we come up with has to be in line with the teachings and example of Jesus Christ.  The Sermon on the Mount or John 8 come to mind as aids along with prayer and witness to help decide if our traditions and codes are clear, inclusive, and merciful. 

3. Reward 

Sometimes when we need to encourage behaviors we like, we use rewards as a tool to make it happen. Parents teach their children to take out the garbage in return for an allowance; sales managers give bonuses and commissions.   When death was more up close and personal for people the promise of heaven as the ultimate reward, could and did change behaviors.  But in a time when people live longer and longer lives of increasing comfort, the spiritual rewards can seem less present than they have in past generations.

There is an old joke that goes: "What's an Episcopalian? A Lutheran with money."  This showed that there were social, as well as material rewards in addition to the spiritual rewards for belonging to certain congregations.  In the Puritan colonies of New England church leadership was a well trod path to political power.  People still do join religious congregations for networking reasons and to be with the "right sort of people" but many of us are seeing this dwindle as the popularity cultural Christianity continues to wane.

Despite current trends, this channel for power is still used regularly by many pastors and their congregations.   The most obvious, the "prosperity Gospel," which promises financial and material blessings for right belief and right behaviors.   The church growth movement of the late 20th century used marketing tactics to offer rewards to congregants such as food courts, exercise classes, day care and the like to encourage people to attend and contribute to their community.  Many mainline church startups geared towards immigrants use ESL classes as the hook to get people to be a part of their congregation.   Every congregation can appeal to some type of reward for being part of their Christian community.  The question is are these rewards given as grace?  Or are they used to manipulate the faithful?

4. Pitch 

"Perception is reality" the old saying goes.  Changing how people see things can give them new incentives to adapt behaviors or change directions. Advertisers can make a pitch to make us think that we need something and then we go and buy it. I really don't need a smartphone, but somehow I have come to think I can't live without it. I brought into the tech world's propaganda.  

The more perceptive among us may argue, is this not what we do when we get up to preach every Sunday?   Are we not working with a Biblical text to encourage our audience to see the world and God in different ways? Yes, we are.  In fact, this is what I am trying to do by writing this essay.  The goal of this piece is to consider what kind of power our communities have, and how can we use it in ways that help people. We are making a pitch.   This is the most important channel of power we in the church have. St. Paul wrote in Romans 10:17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. (NRSV)   We are using words to change reality.

As the Gospel does this, however so does the world.  Part of the reason we are where we are is that people have made a pitch and many have believed it.  People have heard the pitch men and pitch women of the world claim that only material matters, or only what is practical is important, or it's all someone else's fault,  or they are not as deserving as you, or we are exceptional and others are not, or you can have whatever god you want.   The devil knows how to make a pitch, he's been doing since the garden.  The devil suckered Eve, and she suckered Adam.  Viral marketing is much older than we think.

However, the Word that Jesus is Risen, changes things for real.  The Gospel, that we can be part of the kingdom has the power to renew our lives for the better.    Our most precious gift is the promise of the Gospel.  There is a single common humanity. Jesus became human to prove God is with us in our humanity.   Instead we believed the pitch of world and put him to death.   God raised Jesus to prove, that we will not be let go so easily.  God will love us no matter what.  We can be with God and others in wholeness and peace, even into eternal life.  We can love others by giving them hope.

Yes, the church still has power, but that power does not belong to us, it is the province of God.   So our most important work is tending to life of the Gospel in our congregations.  Proclaiming it to our neighbors, while living it out ourselves.   Our preaching will continue to be vital.  It must be sourced, prayed over, and worked at.  Because we are are making the Pitch.  This is not our Pitch, but God's and its heart is John 3:16-17.

We in the church will always have power because we have hope in the Gospel. We will need to demonstrate the truth of our pitch by living it ourselves, so we need to feed the hungry, pray for the sick, uphold the dignity of those despised by society.   It is what the church has done at its best whether it has temporal political, economic, social power or not.  Indeed the temporal manifestations of our power will wax and wane over time, but the power of the Good News of Jesus Christ never ends.  I am advocating that rather than lament earthly power lost we embrace God's power won by the cross and resurrection.  Indeed this is the day the Lord has made, and we are called to seize it.

Be blessed

What's your Luther Movie?

Next Tuesday PBS will be presenting the film,  Martin Luther: The Idea that Changed the World and I will probably stream it sometime after it comes on line.  I have seen two previous films dramatizing Luther's life.  I remember the countless screenings of the the Film Martin Luther (1953) in the church of my childhood.  The reels were brought out with care and shown on the congregation's 16mm projector.  In 2003, the film Luther starring Joseph Fiennes was released as an independent film with funding by Thrivent. We held DVD showings at the church I was serving at the time and for a few years we watched it during confirmation sessions.

These three films are all in the same genre.  With wardrobes that that appear to be made from draperies that have come from the sale bin at Bed, Bath and Beyond, and a location that eerily looks like Epcot, the actors enthusiastically speak the dialog in British English to underscore the immense seriousness of it all.  With my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, I would like immagine what a more creative reboot of the Luther story could be.

1. Reformation: The Final Frontier (space opera) 

The Diet of Worms would be set on a space station in geosynchronous orbit of the planet Worms, which is named for the the giant creatures who burrow under the sands of its surface.  House Habsburg holds the Diet in the Zero-G court room   When asked to deny his writings Luther says "Here I stand!"  Von Eck the papal cyborg with a positronic brain, in laconic inflection, simply states "Sir, you are floating"

Losing the debate on a technicality, Luther screams "Eck!" in his best Wrath of Kahn voice as he is whisked away by a recognizable action star and his fuzzy alien sidekick to the Wartburg system. When Luther expresses doubt about the structural integrity of the getaway vessel, the swashbuckling pilot replies "It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. I've outrun Imperial starships!"

2. You've got Beer (romantic comedy) 

Katie and Martin are set up on a blind date by a couple of colleagues from dissolved monasteries. Although he arrives with flowers, Martin's oafish nature grates on Katie. While Katie's concern for minutia drives Martain crazy as he with increasing intensity constantly tries to get her to listen. They leave the Bierstube despising each other.  

Throughout the film they keep running into each other at awkward moments.  As Martin and Katie go on series of dates with other prospective partners they begin they realize something is missing.  Katie's fashion conscious male friend tells her to suck it up and get her man.  After many ups and downs the film climaxes with a wedding montage scene with a romantic pop song in the background. The film ends with Katie, Martin and their golden retriever living happily ever after. 

3. West Saxon Story (musical)

Come on! If they can make a musical about the failed parisian revolution of 1830 why not the Reformation? The Sharks (Roman Catholics) and the Jets (the Reformers) battle it out in dance on the Wittenburg Markplatz.  The forbidden love of Marty and Katherine gives plenty of  opportunities for heart wrenching solo vocal performances.  Can you say "Oscar and Tony!" 

4. Weekend at Marty's (bromance farce) 

During an alcohol fueled party with loud Funk music in the background Phillip Melancthon storms into Charles Vth"s bedroom and startles Marty and Katie from their embrace to let them know that they can't wake up Fredrick the Wise.   

With Fredrick dead the entire reformation is in jeopardy.  Phil and Marty decide to grab a pair of sunglasses and a wheelchair and drag Fred from party to party throughout the Holy Roman Empire.  With so much low brow humor, one countless acts of physical comedy, no one will remember the plot anyway.   Would love to cast Vince Vaughn as Luther and Adam Sandler as Melanction, or we could just hand the project over to the producers and cast of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. 

5. Night of the Living Peasants (zombies!) 

The evil arch-villain Thomas Müntzer camps out in Southwest Germany and develops a potion that turns good Christian peasants content to serve both their temporal and heavenly masters into flesh eating zombies.  Camped out in a Thuringian pub, Luther and gang crack jokes and kill zombies in all types of creative ways.   When Luther sees zombie Martin Bucer riding in from Strasbourg, he tries baptizing his old friend in a desperate frenzy to save him. As Bucer regains his senses and returns to his normal annoying self,  the gang breaks out the liturgy and some fire hoses. Germany is saved!


Ok, so you've seen these movies before.  That is the point of this post. I have seen this Luther movie before.  "That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; (Ecclesiastes 3:15 NRSV) The best way to commemorate the Reformation will be figure out how to be the faithful church in the future, because if you studied the Reformation, you know that is what it was all about.  A Film about the diversity of our church today would be much more exciting.

Be blessed.

Serving Christ in Polarized Times

It is a sad fact that often the church can become bogged down in the political movements of the times.   The reason for this is certain, churches are made up of people and people are political animals.   One recent trend reported by sociologist Robert Putnam is that when there is a conflict between one's politics and the teaching of their religious community, most people will resolve the tension in favor of their political views.  They will leave their congregation and find one where their personal political views can be affirmed.

As one who loves theology and talking about the faith, the fact that for this generation, politics seems to trump theology is distressing.   Yet, looking at how people are coming together these days it is not surprising.   We are all retreating into our bubbles where we all agree that the problems of world are someone else's fault.   There seem to be few of us who want to learn why do other people think differently than us.   Everyone seems to want to talk, prove and sell their point; few want to listen, learn, and change.   Don't get me wrong there are people doing this but they seem not get much press.

Some will advocate that the church follow a hands off rule and never speak of politics ever and attempt to spiritualize everything.  While I certainly understand the impulse, there are two problems with this.   The first is a very practical one, by not speaking up one affirms the status quo.   Now this certainly alright if the status quo is something you feel God is calling you to help maintain.   However, if it comes merely from a wish to avoid any of the hard work of dialog or difficult conversation, one may be actually shut oneself off from where God is calling us all to be.

The second problem is that we are confessing that the Word of God has nothing to say about politics right or wrong.  This reasoning ultimately confesses that God is about the world to come and not about the world we live in now.   This is not what Scripture teaches us,  God's Word speaks to our lives now, it has something to say about our world today. So how do we navigate these polarized times? We do what we always do; look to Jesus.

Historians know that the lists of the names of Jesus's disciples reveal a diverse group of people who likely held opposing political views.  Judas Iscariot and Simon the Zealot may have been part of groups seeking the violent overthrow of the Roman occupation.  Matthew was a tax collector working to uphold same said Romans.  Phillip had a Greek name so may have been from a cultural accommodationist family.  Johanna the wife of one Herod Antipas' (a Roman puppet ruler) court functionaries helped provide resources for Jesus's ministry in Galilee.  Peter Andrew, James & John were working class fishermen. What brought this diverse group of people together was Jesus and the promise that the kingdom was near.

As we enter into Holy Week and read the accounts of Jesus' last days politics are everywhere in texts. The council wants to get rid of Jesus out of fear of the crowd on one hand, and the Romans on the other.  The Roman governor wants to appease the mob at their town hall meeting.  The Pharisees and the Sadducees try to make Jesus a pawn in their fight for supremacy over each other.   Jesus ends up rising above their pathetic petty power plays to reveal the truth about the love of God.

When Jesus enters into Jerusalem he is at first hailed as a political messiah and then condemned as a political sacrifice to appease the Romans, with an ironic political insult nailed on a sign above his head. But notice how many people Jesus ministers too along the way.  He teaches in the temple about the true nature of God,  he reminds the disciples on the last supper they will never be alone.  He heals the ear of a man sent to arrest him,  he makes sure John and his mother Mary have each other to rely on.

Jesus calls us not so much to rise above human politics as to move beyond them with love.  The heart of the witness Christ is to help reconcile our relationships with God and each other.    This politics can never do, because in the end it will be all about a competition for resourses, power, or fame.   In the end we serve Christ in polarized times by holding to proper priorities.   We hold to our relationship with God in prayer, we show love to those who differ from us, and we work to protect the vulnerable.   This can be done by conservatives, as well as liberals, progressives, and libertarians.

As a pastor I can only advise that if your politics are grounded in prayer, thoughtfulness, respect for others, and love, it doesn't matter so much where you come out.  It is the process the counts.   It we have healthy ways of discernment, we can hold together a diversity of political views and identities under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.   The reason for this is if we are connected to Christ we will be humble, because Christ is humble.   If we are humble then we are open,  and if we are open, we may see the solutions God has for us staring us right in the face.

Be blessed
Pastor Knecht

Why I Give: A Witness

Giving is spiritual act,  it is also a deeply personal one.   How and why we give is a critical part of how we relate to God and the world.   People give for a variety of reasons. Sometimes I need to ask people to give, so think it is important for those whom I ask to know a couple of things about me.

First, is that I give, a Christian congregation is a community and as a servant leader I am called to do my part.   Since our capital campaign Mei and I have been giving approximately 12% of our income to Holy Cross for the work of  the ministry.  We also help out in the wider community and give to causes and ministries outside the church.

Second, is why I give.  This is helpful because we can all learn from each other when we share our stories and motivations for giving.   So the following are some heartfelt reasons why I give.

1. To Learn to Trust God 

The most important reason I give is to remind myself that God is good, and that God will provide for me and my family when I take the risk to give.   My witness is that so far God has proven faithful.  While I would always want more financial security, more opportunities, and yes even more stuff, God has always met every actual need we have actually had.   Often we have been surprised by a timely gift or opportunity that met a need we were worried about.   It has not always been easy, a giving lifestyle means making intentional choices every day.   My witness can also tell you that making these hard choices is not so bad in the long run.   So what if my kids don't have smart phones and tablets, they read books, play sports, make art, and do well in school.   Yes my cars are getting old, but they still work just fine.  No we don't go out to eat much, but we like home cooking better anyway.  Being able to give has deepened my relationship with Christ and I have had tangible signs that God is walking with me through both the good and bad of life.

2. To Lead the Community 

A key part of what I do is help people examine how to live a life in relationship to Jesus Christ.   Giving financially has been a key discipleship practice since the formation of the first Christian community as recounted in the book of Acts in the Bible.  In order to really teach something one must know how to do it.   One of the things that helps lead and teach others is my own experience of giving.   Over the years I have given in many different ways,  these help remind me and show to others that everyone has a different situation.  You may need to give in a different way than I do.  I give financially in at least three ways:  direct withdrawals from my bank account monthly,  in kind gifts of things the church needs, and occasional extra contributions.  You may need to give weekly, monthly or yearly and that is OK.  The most important aspect of giving that I teach is that it be done in prayer.   Lots of people have told me they do not electronically give because writing the check has become a prayerful act for them, and that is a beautiful thing.  Financial giving should not be done in isolation but in combination with our other faith practices.


3. To Live Faithfully  

I don't know about you, but I have trouble asking people to give if I am not willing to do so myself.  I would feel awful if I was merely taking from the community without contributing to it.   I see the contributions of many faithful people at Holy Cross and I am inspired to serve.   I am blessed to be part of community that is so generous, and I do not want to take that for granted.   My giving makes me more of a part of the congregation because I have a stake in it.   My giving also helps me take my faith life more seriously.   I am more likely to pray, serve the poor, worship regularly, talk about my faith because I give.   My desire to give comes from my faith, but it also reinforces it as well.  God gives us the chance to give because it can strengthen faith and people can find joy and peace in doing it.

There will be times when we can not give financially, and it is important to remember that giving is not a goal in itself, the goal is a strengthened relationship with Jesus Christ, and that it will be blessing for us and the world. If giving gets in the way of this then one should pray about giving in different way. St Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:7-8:

Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. (NRSV)

Faithful giving is motivated by a desire to be a blessing to others.  Like the perfect love of God described in 1 Corinthians 13 it never demands repayment.   It is not an investment that demands return,  it is grace given freely.  The model is God's own son Jesus Christ who gave it all for the sake of the world.  This is something we are unable to give back, but that we are able to pass on.

So my only request is that you prayerfully consider your own financial giving so that you can bless others the way God has blessed you.  We at Holy Cross will be asking people to support our work, but we hope that by doing so you can deepen your own discipleship walk with Jesus.

Be blessed

Pastor Knecht

Discipleship Academy

I would like to invite you all to consider taking part in a new innovative program we are working on with the New Jersey Synod Discipleship and Witness Team.   Please check it out below and contact me if you are interested in trying this out to help build up the life of your congregation. 

Discipleship Academy
Build- Grow-Go

The Discipleship Academy is a ministry designed to:

Equip congregations and their leaders with resources to fulfill their mission to grow the people of God in their location,

Work together and share the untapped wisdom found in our clergy, deacons and lay leaders,

Lift up publically those in our congregation who can be examples or mentors for others in a growing life of discipleship.

The Basics

The Discipleship Academy is a series of 4 week courses to encourage deeper faith through practices of discipleship. The courses are created by participating congregations and will be designed so that they may be lay or clergy led. There are seven core courses that emphasize the building up of foundational discipleship practices. Elective courses on a wide variety of topics will also be offered as supplementary courses. All the courses will be found at a website linked to the synod’s site.

The core courses:

Sacred Storytelling and Witness
Bible Reading
Prayer
Community in Christ
Generosity
Our Lutheran Witness
Serving Our Communities

Some Details

4-8 minute videos will be posted on the web for each course via YouTube on the Discipleship Academy Channel.

Each course is offered in individual congregations according to the congregation’s schedule. The pastor reports those who complete the courses to the ministry’s synod representative of Discipleship. When people complete four courses they receive a certificate of accomplishment (What about Phase 1: Follower Milestone 1) and a public affirmation of their work in their home congregation. Names will posted on the synod website to celebrate and encourage them in their growth. A second certificate is issued along with another public affirmation when four more courses are completed (Phase 2: Disciple Milestone 2). A third certificate is offered upon completion of the seven core courses (Phase 3: Apostle (Sent One) Milestone 3). Those who wish to continue to grow are are encouraged to enroll in either Diakonia or some other theological study. It is our hope that those who do so will keep us informed of their further study so we may celebrate it with them.

We are recommending that courses have a small fee, which is used at the complete discretion of the participating congregation. This is to help the participants to understand that this is intended to be a commitment. Scholarships should always be given to allow anyone who wants to attend to come.

We are planning for this to be a living curriculum in two ways. First, we would ask each participating congregation to offer an elective course to the academy. Secondly as the courses are given, we will be asking for the input of the participants and leaders so that the courses can be edited over time and additional resources given. Together, we can grow disciples in New Jersey and make a difference in this corner of the world for the reign of God!

What’s the outcome? 

The goal is to grow disciples. As we are all at different places in our journey, we would like to celebrate and encourage disciples in their growth. We would like to encourage different milestones through Discipleship Academy. When an individual finishes 3 core courses and 1 elective, they reach Stage 1: Follower. When they finish another central course and any three additional courses, they reach Stage 2: Disciple. Stage 3: Apostle (Sent One) occurs after the completion of all the core courses. After that, we encourage the disciple to seek further theological training through Diakonia or other similar programs.

How much does it cost? The course is a FREE resource, we only ask that if you participate, you would create an elective course of your choosing that follows the structure of the core classes.  It would then be posted on the site with all the other courses.  We also recommend a minimal fee for each participant (to encourage commitment). The money gathered by the course is to be used with your congregation’s discretion.

Who leads the course? The course is designed so that anyone can teach it. Each course will include a brief video accessed through YouTube. Each congregation picks and chooses which courses to teach, working within the schedule and life of your particular congregation.

Where can I get this course? The Discipleship Academy courses will be available through the New Jersey Synod Discipleship and Witness page starting September 1st.   We are currently beginning a test run in some congregations this March.

Thanks, Atheists!

This post comes from colleague Linda Thurston originally posted on her blog January 24, 2014 you can find this and her other posts here

I recently read an obituary for a wonderful, faithful woman. It spoke of her love for her family and detailed her work with a variety of community organizations; it outlined her volunteer commitments and the career she made working on behalf of the disadvantaged. But for the mention of Vacation Bible School and other church commitments and the fact that her husband was a minister, however, a reader might never have guessed that her life of service derived from her faith in Jesus. There was no mention of God or Jesus anywhere in the obituary – not even a God-invoking euphemism for death or a mention of Jesus among the things that she loved.

This struck me because I’ve been thinking lately about how we Christians talk (or don’t talk) about God.

Perhaps you’ve heard about this new movement out of the UK called Sunday Assembly, which one of its founders described as, “all the best bits of church, but with no religion and awesome pop songs.”

As a recent NPR story put it, “There’s little God talk at Sunday Assembly.”

The movement’s website puts it this way: “The Sunday Assembly is a godless congregation that celebrate life. Our motto: live better, help often, wonder more. Our mission: to help everyone find and fulfill their full potential. Our vision: a godless congregation in every town, city and village that wants one.” 

The oxymoron-ish idea of a “godless congregation” and the photos of earnest non-worshippers, singing Rolling Stones tunes together hands in the air, make Sunday Assembly seem ripe for ridicule. News of a recent schism in the New York assembly will, no doubt, only increase the urge for parody among believers and non-believers alike. (See, it really is just like church!!)

 But I’m not interested in making fun of Sunday Assembly. Rather, I’d like to thank them for the opportunity to open some conversation about what it means to be church. You see, it seems like these atheists have a better understanding of what church is about than some church people I know.

One of the founders of Sunday Assembly started the movement because she wondered, “is it possible to have all the wonderful things that church does, like create community and help others and encourage thinking about the world, yourself and improvement, but without the God bit?”

 One commentator described what those attracted to the movement like about church – “”They miss the community, they miss the music, they miss the multi-generational coming together with people that you might not otherwise be hanging out with.”

 So often, when church people talk about why they go to church or what they love about their particular congregation, it is these things that they talk about – the music and the community and the opportunities to help others. At least in the Protestant mainline where I hang out, people seem much less likely to mention God or Jesus.

Now it could be that for many people church really is about all these other things more than “the God bit,” and perhaps these folks really would be just as happy at a Sunday Assembly as at their local Christian church. But it could also be that we leaders of the church haven’t done a very good job with the God-talk – both talking the talk ourselves and teaching and equipping people in our congregations to talk it.

When we don’t do the God-talk, to the outside world many of our congregations seem indistinguishable from other local community organizations that help people “live better, help often, or wonder more.” How is the church different from the Kiwanis or the Girl Scouts or even a health club that collects toys for impoverished kids at Christmas?

The folks at Sunday Assembly, at least, understand what makes church different from all these other organizations including their own. It’s not the ethical teaching; it’s not the service to our neighbors; it’s not the pastoral care; it’s not even the collective singing or the intergenerational fellowship (although these are harder and harder to find in our society). It’s the God-talk. Period.

While sometimes the problem may be that we’re simply lacking any God-talk at all, sometimes the problem is that the God-talk in various congregations doesn’t sound like very good news. Our God-talk should be the “best bit about church,” the most “wonderful thing that church does.” 

 The church exists to proclaim the good news of God in Jesus Christ, to “preach the damn Gospel” in the immortal words of Dr. Timothy Wengert, to tell people that God knows them and loves them anyway, that they are beloved children of God, created with meaning and purpose and called to help do God’s work in the world.

This is what makes us distinctive. This is what we have to offer the world. When our singing and our potlucks and our good deeds overshadow our God-talk, then we stop being the church and just become one more Sunday Assembly. So thanks, atheists and other non-believers for this important reminder of what makes the church the church.

How do We Talk About Jesus and the Cross?

Who do we really promote? 

The theme of one of Albert Schweitzer's most famous works of theology was that portraits of the historical Jesus often revealed more about the author than they really did about Jesus.   Often how we talk about about Jesus in our congregations may in fact do the exact same thing.    There are many images of Jesus in the New Testament,  there are many more words used to describe him,  there are even more when one takes into account hymns, prayers. and even motion pictures that have been compiled in the time since the writers of the New Testament left us their own witness to Jesus.   The ways to describe Jesus are so rich and varied that we inevitably make choices about which words and images we use to describe him.   What I am asking you to consider is, are you intentional about the choices you make to communicate Jesus to others?   If not, how do you know whom you are really promoting?    He may be named Jesus, but is the person we are describing  simply be the reflection of our own biases and preferences, rather than who he really is? How do avoid falling into this trap?  

Atonement 

In my experience, the first part of the way to avoid the pitfalls is to make sure we are always focused on the cross and resurrection.   This time of year I often dust off my old copy of Gustav Aulen's Chritus Victor (Macmillan: NY, 1951), which deals with the very question of how do we talk about the work of God in Jesus Christ.  The ideas below are all his,  I will try to show how these affect our witness today.   Aulen looks at how people have described God's work through the cross in history.  He charts three main threads of speaking about the work of Christ. The term we use for this effort is the Atonement, which specifically deals with how Christ has resolved the problem of human sin through the action of the cross. Please know that faithful Christians hold each of these views;  they may sometimes hold all three simultaneously.  So while I have my own preference, I will try to treat each with respect, because all have their roots in Scripture and the experiences of the faithful.


Pleasing an Angry God

The view of the Atonement that may be most prevalent in many American churches both Evangelical and Catholic focuses on the idea that because humans have sinned they must make amends.  The strength of this view is it's condemnation of evil and commitment to setting things right.   The scales of justice must balance out.  Since we are so sinful, we need a perfect person to take our place to satisfy God, otherwise we are subject to God's wrath.  Jesus because of his perfection, has an infinite amount of extra credit built built up, which he gives to sinners to rescue them from the judgement of God.   The sinless human Jesus satisfied God's need for Justice.  Catholics access Jesus' extra credit through penitential rites, Protestants through accepting Jesus into their heart and having strong faith thereafter.

A version of this view particularly popular in the United States is known as penal substitution theory.   We deserved the punishment, Jesus takes our place, we get off scot-free.  This view has its biblical roots in the sacrificial system described in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the book of Hebrews in the New Testament.   This view is commonly known in theological circles as the "objective" view of the Atonement.   God is the object of the sacrifice of the cross.  This view was developed in the middle ages and became the basis for the medieval church to sell indulgences, which were basically notes of moral credit accumulated by Christ and some really good people who somehow had a positive balance.   The medieval church, through a narrow interpretation of Jesus' words to Peter about the keys of the kingdom, believed that they had the power to issue these divine bank notes to get folk into heaven.    This led to the Reformation which realized that this was a corruption of the original intent of the Gospel.

In Christians today I see this view played out in a number of ways.   One way is that is that when bad things happen they beat themselves up and say "If only I believed more, God would not have sent me all this hardship."   Prosperity and Self-Help preachers will describe struggles such as a loss of a job, depression, natural disasters as a result loss of faith. The argument goes, we are just getting our deserved punishment for being sinners; what do we have to complain about?  It places the focus of the cross exclusively upon the individual sinner.  Another weakness of this view is that it sets up a duality between Jesus and God the Father.   It is the human Jesus alone who is able to atone for us in this view, so it also devalues the gift of the incarnation.  Finally it may distort our picture of God, setting up a distant, angry, and scary god (lack of capitalization intentional).

Fixing the Broken Person 

There have always been Christians who have been uncomfortable in speaking about the work of Jesus in the terms mentioned above.   They saw the weaknesses of the "objective" view and argued that their fellow Christians had it all backwards.   God is the prime actor through the cross to heal and restore people.   This view is known as the "subjective" view, because God is the subject who does the action and people are the objects of God's redeeming work.   This view began to rise to prominence during the enlightenment and reached it's zenith in the liberal theological movement of the nineteenth century.   God loves human beings so God will restore them through the sign of the cross.    God, in this view, at all times only acts benevolently and graciously.   The atonement therefore is not so much a work that does something, but a symbol of God's love for us.   The sacrifice of the cross gets us to recognize our need to make amends, we give our faith over to God, we are born again and then are healed.  There is much in the New Testament to justify this.  The strength of this view is that it does restore some of the focus back to God and the act of love on the cross.   It does not take God for granted and does guard against an entitlement mentality that can spring up in an un-reflective person with the objective view.

This view has been popular for many modern Christians.  It has some very enticing aspects.  We become the objects of God's love, evil is really explainable as an illness that can be corrected,  God is safe.   However the things that make this view attractive betray its weakness.   First, it does a poor job of dealing with the reality of evil.  Those who experience great evils like poverty, war, crime and abuse will find this explanation wanting.  Secondly, it feeds into our narcissism, it seems to communicate that God just has to love us.  This takes away God's free will and choice.  Finally, by reducing the cross to a mere symbol it proclaims the powerless god (lack of capitalization intentional).   Evil can not be assuaged by this god, people can only be persuaded to change.   It is therefore easy to see how this can lead one who holds this view into either despair or apathy.   It may soothe people in the short term, but once bad times come folks will see no need with the I'm OK, your'e OK vision of the subjective view of the Atonement.

The Good Story

Both the above ways of talking about the atonement can help Christians in their faith life in certain situations.   They both developed historically to help proclaim the Gospel to people of a particular place and time.   That the views have weaknesses should not betray that both views have much truth embedded in them.  God is committed to truth and justice,  God is loving, that love has been demonstrated by Jesus.   Luckily for us we do not have to choose between the subjective and objective views. We can choose what works in our situation to best be there for our Christian brothers and sisters, and thankfully there indeed is a third way.  It is the story of the Gospel itself which should keep us all grounded.

The Dramatic View

Aulen calls the final view the  "dramatic view" of the atonement.  Its focus is the Gospel itself brought home in its fullness with a powerful view of the biblical imagery in all its colors.   It is also called the "classic" view in that it was formulated during the classical period not long after the writing of the New Testament.   In this view the drama is this: people are captured and bound by sin, death, and the devil.   Sin as in the writings of Paul, is a power that binds us, corrupts us, and most importantly is beyond our control to remove without the work of God.    God sends Jesus on a special ops infiltration raid to rescue God's children from their prison to the three demonic powers mentioned above.   (Luther, who also held this view speaks of God deceiving or tricking the devil).   In this view, the cross sets off an explosion that establishes a complete new reality.   The temple curtain torn in two,  graves opened (in Matthew) earthquakes, black skies etc.   In this view all the Biblical actions of God in the Gospel demonstrate their remarkable consistency.  God sends Jesus as a human in the incarnation to deal with sin death and the devil,  God defeats these on the cross (atonement),  and finally God validates the redeemed by inviting them into a new freedom in life in communion with Jesus Christ (justification).   God is loving, but also does not tolerate evil.    Sin and evil are real powers that can hurt both morally pure and impure alike, but are never insurmountable by God.   God is sovereign, powerful, and cosmic in this view, not limited to dealing with only personal concerns.   This view has always been with us and has been promoted by many of the giants of the faith,  Luther, Bonhoeffer, Barth etc.

The rise of the other two views happened because people sought to explain in rational terms how the cross worked.   So in the other two views the most vivid imagery of the Bible is often discarded because it can't be explained.  It may even be that in trying to explain Biblical imagery, people were led to see things they really did not want to see.  This is because these remind us of our own powerlessness in confronting sin, death and evil when they plague our world.    The truth is that Jesus is God,  God is bigger than our words.  All our efforts to explain what God does will always be incomplete.   That is why I like the idea of accessing the truth of God's action through the Story.   Everyone loves a good story,  no matter your theological persuasion,  your world-view, or your politics you can be moved by the Story of the Gospel to a new reality. We love stories because they usually work better in communicating deep truths than our efforts at explanation.   Jesus taught us this himself as he used stories to teach about God's kingdom.    Looking at the they way speak about Jesus, and critically examining how if our description may coincide, or deviate from the story will be helpful in our calling to be humble disciples.  So to be intentional about speaking about Jesus, and to avoid the problem that we might only be promoting ourselves, we will need to tend to the story of the Gospel and let it speak.

Why Churches Fail

My BA is in economics and from time to time I still like to read and think about it. I have recently been Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson. It is a work of historical economics that uses history to formulate a hypothesis of why some countries like our own are prosperous and others fail to deliver even basic needs to vast numbers of their citizens. I found that much of the book was resonating with my experience in serving communities much smaller than nations, churches. While sociologists and economists would have to do a formal study to see if there are indeed parallels with micro-communities, the principles of Why Nations Fail seem to correspond nicely to my own theological orientation.  This is merely an exercise of making connections, understand I could be totally off base.  I am the kind of guy that is often excited about the last thing I read.
reading the book

Extractive Communities

The authors' premise is pretty straight forward. Societies where an elite sets up the rules so that they alone can reap the benefits of its resources are doomed to a reinforcing cycle of poverty and zero sum conflict that will lead the nation to fail at some point. The authors call these extractive societies. The goal of those in power is get the resources out of the ground in any way possible and then to keep all proceeds of the resources for themselves. Even some of the poorest societies around the world have an tiny elite that is fabulously wealthy by global standards. The late Kim Il Sung of North Korea, where millions are repeatedly affected by famine, spent $800,000 per year on cognac alone. The reason for this is that society is set up exclusively for their benefit. The point the authors want to make is that without people working together to build up society for the common benefit of all, a country can only tolerate all this extraction for so long before it collapses.

This leads me to the introspective question about our congregations. Can churches become extractive? Are some set up for the benefit of a few insiders? Are things in others organized to give the pastor or key families the majority of benefits of the fruits of the congregation's life?

I am sure each of you has in mind a case where a pastor built a cult of personality around her or himself in some mega church somewhere. The ministry is set up around the pastor's life and becomes synonymous with it. Sometimes the pastorate is passed on to the children like in a monarchy. The worst cases are where the congregation becomes playground of predator. Remember Jesus's words against the religious leaders who devoured the property of the vulnerable.(Mark 12:20) Perhaps even more common, especially in smaller churches, is when an oligarchy of insider families take control of a faith community and set things up so that they are real power brokers and the majority of the congregation is on the margins with no real say.  In both of these cases the congregations would be less resilient than healthier communities.

In congregations where people have the choice to go and worship elsewhere, people will not tolerate being used and abused by others for very long.  Even those who may stay around and worship become less engaged, often volunteering and giving less.   Is some of the decline in church participation witnessed in recent years due to the fact that too many churches are set up to be extractive for the benefit of a few?   The argument of Why Nations Fail states that communities can grow for a while under extractive conditions, but they will always end up collapsing at some point.  When religious observance is more socially valued perhaps extracive congregations can hang on much longer.   When the prestige is ripped away how healthy the church is will really matter.

Inclusive Communities

The argument in "Why Nations Fail" continues that societies that are prosperous and resilient tend to be inclusive.   By inclusive the authors mean that a diverse group of people has a stake in society;  many can participate in the decision making process.   Rights and obligations are well defined and respected.  There is a clear rule of law and no one is above it.  Particularly important for the authors argument is that their property rights are respected.  All of this provides a stable environment where people will invest in the local economy, innovate new products and work hard to improve their lives.   This tide raises the standard of living in the society.

If you think about what the authors mean by inclusivity,  you will see is something deeper and more powerful than using the correct pronouns or having the right pictures in your brochure.   At their core, inclusive communities protect the dignity and worth of all the community's members.  In economies that dignity is symbolized by private property.   It is a tangible measure of how a particular society values the dignity of its citizens.  Notice that even in our own society, which is inclusive by world and historical standards,  the poor are more likely to have their property rights abridged than the wealthy.  Just think about how interstate highways are built,  wealthy towns can usually get them diverted or even canceled, like what happened with the continuation of 1-95 in New Jersey.  Poorer communities will not have as much of a say unless they can mobilize a broader support base to make their case.  It is a blessing to live in a relatively inclusive society where this can happen.    This does not mean our society is always just, but we do have tools to do something about it, unlike those living in many places around the world.    

Each and every Christian should realize that inclusivity is a core virtue of the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ. The church of the New Testament was a radically inclusive community by the standards of any time.  The first Jerusalem church found in Acts 2-4, the types of communities Paul is trying to build as seen in his letters, and perhaps most importantly the church of Antioch, which we find in the heart of  the book of Acts demonstrate a biblical view that places a high value on inclusivity.

Building an inclusive congregation is hard work and takes intentional effort.  In micro-communities like churches, we do not have a  reference like property rights that can quickly symbolize dignity, so we have to work harder to maintain it.   It congregations dignity is maintained by being intentional about communication, extending trust, giving permission to follow one's true gifts , respecting differences. and most importantly active listening.   Active listening and responding graciously to the people of our communities is how we show we value the dignity of those who comprise it.

Another key toward inclusivity is paradoxical.  A certain degree of centralization is necessary for societies to become inclusive.   People need a common bond in which to engage the community.   In congregations that common bond is maintained by the twin pillars of mission and message.   The message will be how the community uniquely proclaims the Gospel to its service area,  the mission will be how it lives out the Gospel by serving the people where they are located.   It is critical that both are in sync, right belief is right action.  If our congregations are not clear about these two areas it will be hard for them to become inclusive because their members will be unsure of how to engage them.

Healthy Institutions

Acemoglu and Robinson argue that institutions matter for the health of society. Societies are less likely to turn extractive where institutions set limits on the exercise of power, protect private property, appropriately value labor, and most importantly allow for broad base of people to engage in making decisions.  Good institutions are set up to promote inclusivity.

In reality this is really all about appropriate boundary setting, and healthy boundaries and limits are important for communities of any size. In congregations where boundaries are fuzzy bad things are more likely to happen, because those who wish to abuse power have nothing to stop them. So while we may at times lament that our structures and boundaries may give us some extra work, calling meetings, making reports, having one more conversation about an issue that was already settled, these actually help keep a wider group of people engaged in our congregation.  The work of good boundaries in a congregation can be fruitful when they are constructed to draw out the ideas and contributions of the widest possible extent of the community's membership.

Fear of Creative Destruction

The real Aha! moment of the book for me was the premise that in extractive societies the leaders will always resist change and innovation for fear that it will upset the current power relationship and the leaders will will be less able to exploit the society.   There is a fear of creative destruction.  A dictator will not allow land reform because if the citizens had property rights, it would limit the power of the leader.   A labor saving device like a back hoe would throw hundreds of peasants out of work.  They would then have nothing to do except advocate for change which would threaten the dictator's hold on power.    Extractive societies are set up for zero sum power struggles over resources, therefore any change is a threat.

In many congregations fear of creative destruction is palpable.  When wanting to widen the circle of the community often some things have to die, and new things have to take their place.   If a local congregation does not let those things which fail to reach the outside world die they risk stagnation and decline.   Often people in churches participate because of the sense of empowerment.   This is a good thing generally,  but when the feeling of empowerment overrides the unifying mission the congregation will resist change because it will bring some destruction as well as new life.   As Christians we should realize this, when the temple curtain was torn in two at the death of Jesus it was God's act of creative destruction.   Replacing something that had become exclusive with a new reality that is inclusive.

In the end churches will fail when they are no longer able to that which they were created by God to do for Lutherans like myself that is to preach the gospel, administer the sacraments and provide a place for people to mutually care and support one another.

Function or Mission?

What's your Function? 

 If someone asked you what is the function of your ministry, how would you answer? Is it to bring new members to your church? Is it to instruct the next generation in the faith? Is it to make sure the people in your congregation are cared for? Is it to make sure that the corporation (yes, legally most congregations are corporations) continues to be financially viable?

What's your Mission? 

Now what if someone asked instead what is your mission, how would your answer be different? I would hope that one would not merely search the files and old newsletters to pull out the mission statement ratified by the church council in the 1970’s, but give a ready answer about what his or her church feels called to do. The question I would like to explore is is there a difference between function and mission? Some of the corollary questions are: is there tension between the two ideas? Do we at time confuse them? What do you think? Let me know in the comments section.

Update: September 26, 2013 

Some helpful Distinctions:

In seeing some of the responses so far I have come up with these ways to help distinguish between mission and function.

1. Focus: Mission is outwardly focused on God and those God calls us to serve. Function is internally focused on the self or organization.

2. Purpose: Mission is concerned with tending to the relationships with those involved, God first and then those who God calls us to be in mission with. Function is concerned with the output. How good are the sermons the pastor writes, how many meals delivered by the soup kitchen etc. So function is accomplishment based while mission is concerned with the health of relationships and their interactions.

3. Scope: Mission is always open to new information, in fact helpful mission strategies are always look for new information to help see where God is leading. When thinking about function the scope is always limited to the task at hand so new information can even be harmful at times.

4. Nature: Mission is at its core an entire way of life. It relies on a holistic attitude to bring all areas on one's life into focus to follow God's call. Function is a component of this, but just a part. In the end our functions must serve the mission we have partnered with God to carry out. It is when we elevate our function to the level of the overall mission that our confusion comes.

By praying regularly and coming back to the cross through remembering our connection to it in our baptism, we can help remember our identity and focus our various functions on the overarching call to God's mission for our world. By staying grounded in God's Word contained in the bible we can help put the pieces our our lives together.

Where's My Hardware Store?

A few weeks back my six year old son hung on the coat hooks next to the front door in our vestibule. He pulled the entire rack out of the wall. I told him he had help fix it and pay for the materials necessary to do the job, which amounted to a small container of joint compound to fill in the holes where the moly-bolts were. He got his allowance money and we drove to downtown Springfield to buy our supplies at our local hardware store. We parked our car in the back of the store and went to the door and saw that is was locked. We looked in the windows and all the stock was gone, and got in the car and drove to the massive Home Depot in Vauxhall. I know this is not the first hardware store to close in recent years, but this affected me deeply because something I relied on to be there was now gone.

I like going to the small store and knowing the proprietor. The people in Home Depot are usually pleasant and I do not usually have any complaints with the service or products, yet the anonymity and the scale are intimidating when all I need is something small to do a quick job. The economy these days has made the small scale hardware store a thing of the past, unless a store has niche it is doomed.

I began to obsess "is our congregation like that hardware store?" Have the economies of scale and the expectations of people in our our area that the church will provide high quality program with minimal commitment conspired to doom the midsize congregation to oblivion. Statistics seem to be leading in this direction. Large congregations are chugging along, many small congregations do wonderful ministry by using their intimacy as a strength. The midsize church seems to be most at risk. The small congregation seems to be analogous to the home based business and the large to the big box store or prominent franchise. Where does that leave the rest of us.

We Are Not a Store 

The hope that I cling to is that the community I serve is not a store, but as Eugene Peterson writes a “community of sinners gathered week after week… the Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them." (Working the Angles p.2) Our task is not to be a purveyor of goods, services, or an experience, but to simply bring people together with God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer shakes us out of our stupor and fear with these explosive words, which open his masterpiece The Cost of Discipleship: “Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjack’s wears.” If we are to be Biblically faithful (rather than market driven successful) we need to call people into a relationship with God and their fellow sinners to join in this movement, which is dedicated to following our savior Jesus Christ. This means we understand that we are part of a wider family than our congregation and hopefully realizing that we are not in competition with the other expressions of Christianity in our vicinity.

We Still Need a Niche 

Yet we still need to recognize that how the people of our communities engage the world matters. In a recent Alban Institute post, Peter Coutts blogs here “We live in a fully democratized, consumer-oriented society in which people believe they have the autonomous power to make choices, including within the realm of religious belief, practice, and participation.” So we have to use the tools of Law and Gospel to reveal the truth of God’s Word to the people we serve. The law is that every human choice whether to shop at the hardware store or home depot, or to go to the mid-size church in town or mega-church by the highway is bound by our innate sinfulness. The grace of God reveals that God makes himself available to be freely chosen. As Christian leaders we are called to help people make the right choice, the choice of Jesus, the choice of life. Hopefully if we really do it right, those who walk with Jesus will realize it really was not a choice at all.

The way for us who have more limits on our people and resources to begin to live out this calling is to help the communities we serve find their niche or place. This usually means leading people to prayerfully discern where their gifts lie, communities can then specialize according to the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to them. One community will allow people to see the grace of God through excellent and passionate traditional music, another will demonstrate it by serving the poor, another through good preaching, another through education, still another through support groups for people in critical phases of life, and even some that just provide a well rounded spiritual home. So yes my hardware store is gone, but our church still lives, breathes and moves to bring God’s love to our world.

Left or Right Mission Strategies?

Confrontation or Accommodation? 

Christianity has always had a tension between challenging the culture it finds itself in on the one hand or learning to adapt and live with it on the other. During my time in Taiwan I learned about this tension by witnessing the polar opposite mission strategies embraced by Roman Catholics and Protestants. In many ways the Roman Catholic church sought to make peace with the culture and translate teaching and practice to the Chinese culture. Early on Roman Catholic missionaries accommodated ancestor worship into their proclamation. Ancestor worship is the central practice of Chinese folk religion. One is called to make sacrifices for and to one's forbears. If you have seen the Disney film "Mulan" you may remember how the shrine to the ancestors played a prominent roll in the film. By adapting its doctrine of the saints Roman Catholics sought a way to proclaim the Gospel in the Chinese context. They accepted where Chinese people were at theologically and made accommodation for them. Most Roman Catholic churches in Taiwan have a set place where one can pray to and for their ancestors. For the sake of discussion I will call this a left handed mission strategy.

Protestant missionaries from the beginning adopted the opposite strategy and basically continue to to so today. While the reasons for this are more theological than missional, the result ended up being an effective mission strategy. When one becomes a Christian as part of a protestant congregation in Taiwan, one gives up ancestor worship. In fact, many churches have a ritual demolition of the family ancestral shrine and any household idols around the time one is baptized. While we in the secular west may be aghast at this level intensity, many Chinese see it as a natural outcome of one's coming to Jesus. Most protestant Christians in Chinese contexts accept this. The reason for this acceptance is fairly clear. There are many in Chinese cultures who find the system of ancestor worship to be oppressive. It's system of obligations is particularly hard on women. To realize that one's loved ones are ultimately in God's hands can have an effect of profound liberation for a person. So I will call this type of delineating a clear alternative to the culture a right handed mission strategy.

Winners and Losers 

Perhaps another way to look at this is to take a look at who are focusing our mission toward. When we embrace a left handed strategy that accommodates cultural trends, we are embracing those who are fine with the culture the way it is. In stark terms, it is mission to and for the "winners". When we take up a right handed strategy we are focusing on those beat up by the culture who want liberation from it. So a right handed strategy that presents an alternative to the culture is a a mission to and for the "losers." Now before we get on our moral high horse and either defend or justify ourselves, let's get both feet firmly planted on the ground and realize that Jesus ministered to both winners and losers. As we the lectionary texts from Luke are revealing to us this summer, Jesus sometimes used a left handed strategy and at others used a right handed one. The place for us to figure out how to proceed is prayer. We are called to discern, pray and to ask the Spirit to guide us how to minister to those God has placed before us. In the end most, churches have a mix of right handed and left handed strategies unique to their contexts.

Consumer Society 

The discussion about whether to adapt or provide an alternative to the culture we live in the North American context will eventually always come around to how do we deal with the fact of consumerism. In sociological terms "the consumer" is the chief archetype of our society. Do we accept this and find ways to mission using the language and practice of the culture, or do we reject it and seek to provide a clear liberating alternative? The most fascinating aspect of this discussion for me is the fact that the many of the prominent conservative churches in our country have adopted strategies that embrace cultural norms of consumerism. Rick Warren (Saddleback), Bill Hybles (Willow Creek) and Andy Stanley (North Point) have all presented mission models that accommodate consumerism in some way. In short, the right wingers are using left handed strategies. Conversely much that I read from liberal circles makes consumerism synonymous with a form of demonic possession. Shane Clayborne, Brian McLaren and others from the emerging church movement (along with many who write at the Alban Institute) have embraced notions of ministering to those beat up by consumerism or a right handed strategy.

Please be aware that I have simplified things for the sake of having a discussion. The reality will always be a bit murky. I have accommodated aspects of the dominant culture into my ministry at times, and at others I have sought to fight against it. The simple point of this is to ask us all to be in prayer so that we are being intentional about which strategy we embrace. The point of this intentionality is not effectiveness but love. It takes intention to truly show love, this is one of the primary aspects of the cross and resurrection. Without love, it matters not whether we use our right hand or left, because without love we are not in mission. May you be blessed in your service to Christ today.

 Keep the Faith,

Our Role in the Culture

A recent Alban Institute post Culture Streams outlined how culture can affect the congregations we minister to.    It identified the macro culture with its large trends,  meso culture which is all about regional ways that people interact and the local (micro) community culture.   The question I would like to ask ministry leaders is what is our role in each of these areas.   In order to start a discussion I will out line a few thoughts on each.

Our Role in the Wider Culture 

I can honestly say that I have only seen a few of instances of a depiction of a clergy person in film or television that did not leave me creeped out (Rev. Book in the cult Sci-Fi series Firefly, the Vicar of Dibley from the BBC, one memorable episode about Rev. Lovejoy on the Simpsons are a few of the rare positive examples).   Most often the clergy person is set up as a straw man (or woman) to further some aspect of the plot.  They almost always lack any depth at all.  The judgmental religious nut (who is always sexually repressed),  the naive out of touch boob who has no idea of what real life is like, the goody two-shoes  helpless (usually) guy who means well, and the wooden saintly figure are some of the typical archetypes.

In addition, most of the stories in the news media that people will see and read about the clergy are overwhelmingly negative.    They usually involve one of our profession doing something criminal, stupid, or both (think Jim Baker or Jimmy Swaggart).  Factor in that less and less people are coming to church and never see what we actually do first hand, and one can see that we should no longer expect prestige or a positive reception because of what we do.  Therefore because of our wider culture trends we should have to expect to work harder at building trust, be vigilant about our boundaries, and be clear in our own understanding about what our role is.  Most of all we need to learn to be patient with those we serve to demonstrate our genuine love and concern in Christ.

We still do have some significant privileges left that should not be taken for granted. the Federal government affords us a special status in the tax code. We are often still given positive roles in public ceremonies and events, and because the overwhelming majority of people are still interested in dialoging about God I have never found opportunities to engage in faith conversations lacking.   We need to be thankful for these privileges and leverage them faithfully to help bring God's Word to our communities.

Our Role in New Jersey 

The chief reason I no longer wear a clerical collar is that I am tired of being called "Father".   As Jesus taught us our true "Abba" is in heaven.   I am only the earthy father of Beata and Paul and honestly that is all I should be.   As a Lutheran, I am called to preach the Word and administer the sacrements, to do what Eric Gritsch and Robert Jenson called "tending to the life of the Gospel."   In a regional culture where the Roman Catholic priest is the primary archetype of our calling we will always have some explaining to do  (even when we don't dress in black).  People can see how we can serve God through our ordinary lives as neighbors, parents and friends.

The other major factor I have dealt with in our area is the pace of life.   People just do not seem to have it in their DNA to slow down and let God breathe into our lives around here.  This has had all kinds of implications in my ministry over the years.   Worship service lengths are under strict (albeit informal) time covenants, prayers can be rushed through to get the the "real business" of the church, and everyone has limits on their time because they have to be somewhere else.  The pastor can then be merely viewed as one more person making a demand on their time which always seems to be running through their fingers.  However, it is precisely in this aspect of our culture where we may be able to help lead people toward a healthier way of living.    Eugene Peterson identified "prayer and spiritual direction"  as two of the three pillars of ministry (the other being tending to the Word).  We can help people slow and down take time for the simple things so they can see how God works in their lives.

Our Role in our Congregation 

I have served three congregations in New Jersey and each has had it's own distinct culture and the role of the pastor has varied greatly in each.   One expected a high degree of pastoral care and affirmation,  another revitalization and new life,  and another reconciliation and unity to bring the congregation together to move forward in mission.   I have always found that there is a tension between what I feel called to do and what the congregation culture expects.   This tension can be creative and life giving if dealt with openly through prayer and discussion.   I have grown both as a person and a minister because I have been given the opportunity to learn from those I am called to serve,  it is certainly one of the greatest blessings of ministry.   There is always lots more to discuss on this aspect and I look forward to those interactions.