Toolbox For Faith

“Well, Pastor, how many people do you think will come next Sunday night,” asked the head of our second 100th Anniversary Sunday Night Live. I paused a very long time before I answered.

The congregation where I am interim is celebrating their 100th Anniversary in 2010 and we are having a Sunday night supper and event, called Sunday Night Live, every other month until our big celebration in August.

The first event in January was amazing. Our 100th Anniversary Team felt that we should expect 50 for that Sunday night program. I was very optimistic and said 75. We were both way off. We had 104 attend. We pulled out five more tables and 40 chairs to seat everyone. The program on the history of the church was dynamic and concluded by talking about our God given hope for the future. The evening gave our 100th Anniversary celebration unbelievable momentum.

The program on March 14 is on Storytelling. We will have over 20 present and past members sharing memorable stories about the congregation in person or on video in a series of unique formats. One of our members who teaches his adult class from a rocking chair will lead a section entitled “Rocking and Remembering.” We will then play Jeopardy with questions about the congregation. Our lay chair will be our Vanna White. The final segment is entitled “Show Time” and all I know about it is the title. In between we will have special music with devotions at the beginning. The men are serving a hot dog supper with all the trimmings and delicious deserts to begin the evening. We have flyers up all over the church and we sent out a special mailing yesterday with color pictures of the participants reminding and inviting people. I think it will be a remarkable evening.

But back to the question that was asked last Monday, “How many?” I first ducked a direct answer by saying, “After last time, I have no idea.” After another pause, I added, “I think we will have 125 people at the event.” I am definitely an optimist but we have momentum, an excellent program and first-rate communication so there is a basis for my optimism.

There is a fine line between optimism and wishful thinking but I do not think I crossed it. I will let you know next week how close I came.

I was with a group of pastors the other day who were talking about resources for preaching.  The group listed several commentaries and favorite books, plus websites like: Textweek.com, and WorkingPreacher.org as possible resources. We also discussed the value of pericope study both with colleagues and with congregational members.

Last Thursday however, I was reminded that one of the best resources for improving my preaching is the congregation I serve. I was talking with one of my senior adult members who said with a gentle, coaching spirit, “I finally figured out why I have trouble hearing you when you are preaching. You just go a little too quickly.” I trust her judgement and so this past Sunday, I made an intentional effort to move a little more slowly through my sermon. The pauses seemed a little long and unnatural to me, but I tried it and the results were dramatic. After the service, three different senior adults made a point of telling me that they heard every word I said. Just to me sure I wasn’t going too slowly, I asked a few younger folks about the pacing and they said it was fine. The change in pace was relatively simple, but without the coaching of my congregation I would never have known that I needed to make the change.

I had my eyes examined this week and discovered that I needed new lenses to improve my vision. That started me thinking that the lenses we use to view life determines what we see and don’t see.

A friend shared the story of the consultant who came to help with long range planning in his congregation. The consultant’s specialty was conflict management but the organization for which he worked felt he was also excellent at leading long range congregational planning. When the consultant interacted with the congregation, he concluded that the congregation needed conflict management and not long range planning. He created an environment where he attracted everyone who was dissatisfied and then saw everything through the lens of discontent. The congregation never completed their long range planning.

Jesus constantly struggled with his followers seeing through lenses that looked in the wrong direction. Peter asked Jesus how many times a person should forgive someone. The rule at the time was that you forgave someone three times. Peter thought he was being generous when he suggest seven times. Peter’s question reveals his lens. He was interested in counting—not forgiving. By saying how many times a person should forgive another, he was already off course. His lens was the number, not the act.

In congregations, the lens for the majority of people who have grown up in the church is the past. People laugh about “this is the way it has always been done’ but that is a powerful lens. I think that is why I have discovered that people on the fringe of the church rather than the church leaders are usually better at suggesting creative and dynamic ways to expand ministry. Fringe people are not limited by the lens of some past church actions.

Our midweek Lenten service this week centered on Pilate, exploring the possible lenses he used to view his job and his life. As we worshiped, the call was for all of us to examine the lenses we use to view life. That means pushing aside our normal lenses but the dilemma is that we are very comfortable with our lenses. Lent attacks our comfort and asks us to take time to look at our lenses to see how God would want us to be more loving, compassionate, forgiving and humble. Then, like with my new glasses, we will all see clearer.

I was doing some research for a friend and came across a study entitled, “American Congregations at the Beginning of the 21st Century: National Congregations Study.”   The study, conducted by a professor at Duke Divinity School,  includes everything you ever wanted to know about congregations and more.  While the findings aren’t surprising, they are interesting.