Toolbox For Faith

Over the last year, we have found a fun way to involve more people in the music ministry of the congregation using a few sets of Kidsplay Handballs. These multi-colored bells are designed to be played using a color-coded system. When you see your color, you play your bell which means you can play an anthem without having to practice in advance.

Whenever we use the bells, we invite everyone who wants to play to come and get a bell. On a typical Sunday we have 25 youth and adults, ranging in age from 4 to 80, playing bells. The congregation has responded well and the people who play really enjoy it. In fact, the first Sunday we used the bells, everyone was so engaged that we forgot to collect the offering. The bells cost about $40 for a set of eight and the card sets and accompaniment cd cost about $25 per song. There are lots of places to purchase the bells. Here is a link to a company called Musician’s Friend that we have ordered from in the past, but you should also be able purchase them locally. The card sets we use come from a company called Kristal Bell. As with the bells, there are other companies out there doing something similar, but you can find the link to their site here.

One of our guests at worship on Sunday grew up in our congregation but now lives two states away. We had an opportunity to talk during our special evening program and he told me that he and his wife were looking for a church home.

I knew the pastor of a church that I thought was not too far from where he lived and suggested that he visit. I gave him the name of the pastor and the guest gave me the name of a church with a pastor whose first name was the same. Turned out that they had visited that church and they had no follow up from their visit so they had not returned. I then told him how dynamic the pastor was and that from all I knew, the church was doing excellent ministry. I was sure that it must have been some oversight because I felt that this pastor would have followed up. He agreed that they would return and visit again because of my recommendation.

After telling the story to my son, he told me that the church name I shared was not the church of the pastor that I knew and that yes, the pastor that I knew and the pastor of the other church both had the same first name and were located near each other. Oops! I am now getting the email address of the guest so that I can make the correction.

I learned one lesson and had another lesson reinforced. First, I learned I need to know the name of the church as well as the name of the pastor. Second, I learned again that passionate follow up with guests continues to be extremely important for every church. You can do the follow up in a variety of different ways but make sure that you do it! Not doing the follow up is a bigger “oops” than not knowing the name of the church.

Over the last several weeks during a study of Ephesians, my adult Sunday School class began talking about the obstacles to sharing our faith with others. I have long believed that in their hearts, most people know what they believe. The problem is translating that belief into words and confidently sharing those words with others. In response to these questions, the Sunday School class has decided to spend the next year building a Toolbox for a Life of Proclamation. Over the summer, we will focus on comparative religion, so we can feel more comfortable talking to others about their beliefs. In the fall, we will focus on learning and sharing key stories from the Bible and then next spring, we will focus on specific Lutheran teachings and on translating faith into the modern world. The group of about 20 adults is excited about the idea and I am excited about working through the topics with them. I still have to work out the details but you can see the basic outline for the class here.

One of my great learnings over my years in ministry is that God always gives us the power to do what he calls us to do! That is one of the great lessons of Pentecost which we celebrate this coming Sunday.

I was reminded of that lesson last week as I was going over some old family photographs and found a picture of the construction of Reformation Lutheran Church in Greeneville, Tennessee in 1934, the middle of the great depression. That building is an amazing response of faith, hope and courage in the midst of financial disaster. They knew that God was giving them the power to do what he had called them to do.

The same day I found the picture, I talked to a member of the governing body of a nearby congregation who was sharing with me that they were cutting back because of the financially difficult times. Ironically, they have a “rainy day fund” built up over the past few good years but want to save it for when “they really needed it.” Their actions teach me that they have not looked at what God is calling them to do in mission and ministry. He never said that they had prayed, reflected and prayed again and after great discernment concluded that God was calling them to cut back.

In today’s financial climate, it is more important than ever to ask what God is calling a congregation to do in mission and ministry instead of simply cutting back. We might not be able to do everything we want but we have the power to do everything that God calls us to do. Once we hear the voice of God, we respond with the knowledge that God will give us the power to do what he calls us to do. That power even includes finances. Today’s environment calls for faith, hope and courage like displayed in the actions of the people in 1934 who built their church when everything financially told them not to act. God gives us the power to do what he calls us to do!

I get an email newsletter from George Bullard and this morning he sent out a very interesting article about what happens following a major “leave/lose” conflict in a congregation. He discusses healthy steps for moving forward if a pastor is leaving or if a pastor is staying. Obviously, every situation is different, but Bullard offers some good advice for dealing with a very difficult situation. The article is entitled, “Leaving, Staying and Becoming Well Following a Lose/Leave Conflict in a Congregation.”

I received an email last week from a former member who among a variety of things thanked me for “the excellent advice that you shared with us at a meeting shortly after you became pastor.” Luckily, she shared what I had said because I was not certain what she was talking about. She quoted me as saying, “If you have a new idea that you want accomplished in your congregation, find a champion for the idea and do not give it to a standing committee.”

That sure sounded like something I would say. Over the years, I have learned that standing committees are designed for ongoing programs that have already been developed but new ideas require one champion or a small team led by people who are passionate about the idea to develop the program. Committees have their hands full doing what they have accepted as responsibilities. That means that when a new idea is presented, most often the new idea is put on the back burner.

A new idea prospers when one champion or a small group of champions take responsibility for making sure that the new idea becomes reality. People with a passion for the task will make it happen. Once all the groundwork has been done, most times you can pass it on to a standing committee to keep it functioning if it needs to be more than a one time event or happening. Have a great idea? Find a champion or a small group with a passion for the new project to make it reality.

Have you ever stopped to think about what statistics your congregation tracks and what that says about your priorities? In a previous time, congregations primarily tracked membership and worship attendance. In today’s world, membership numbers may tell you little or nothing about the health and life of a congregation. To me a more helpful measure of the ministry of a congregation is called Persons Served in Mission. Persons served in Mission equals the total number of people directly touched by the mission and ministry of a congregation during the course of a year. This includes people in worship, educational ministries, youth ministries, senior adult ministries, community helping ministries and any people directly helped or involved in the various ministries of the congregation. When combined with worship attendance, Persons served in Mission begins to capture the impact a congregation is making in the world.

For example, last year at St. Michael our average worship attendance was 136 people per Sunday and our Persons served in Mission totaled 4025, while at the same time our membership dropped from 408 to 320 because we realized that 90 people who had died or moved had never been removed from the roles. If you only look at membership, you might think St. Michael was in trouble, but when you look at the number of Persons served in Mission, you get a much clearer picture of the vibrant outreach ministry of the congregation. It takes a little time to get into the habit of collecting Persons served in Mission data, but it my experience it is a helpful way to measure the health and life of the congregation.

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This coming Sunday, May 9, our congregation is doing something that I have not done in 39 years of ministry. We are having a Children’s Sunday. The service will begin with a power point presentation during the prelude featuring pictures of all of our children along with pictures of the same children at their baptism. Our children are participating in a variety of different ways from the handmade paper banners that we are using in the narthex to giving special gifts for all the women on Mother’s Day. We will finish the service by going into the yard to plant a dogwood tree with families shoveling dirt around the base.

As we were preparing for the service, the passage from Matthew, Mark and Luke about Jesus allowing the children to come to him and forbidding the disciples from shooing them away figured prominently in our planning. Jesus put his hands on them and prayed over them. Following the example of Christ, we have written a Blessing of the Children which we are using. You can find it at Blessing of the Children.  Have fun using it. If you have any questions, email me.

I started celebrating Christmas in July as a camper at Lutheridge years ago and when I became a pastor, I decided to share this celebration with my congregation. Each year on the Sunday closest to July 25, we sing Christmas Carols, read the Christmas Story, and share in the joy of Christ’s birth. It is a wonderful way to focus on the Incarnation without having all the stress and pressure that families feel in December. If you would like to see a sample bulletin for our Christmas in July Service, click here..

In recent years, we have added a mission project to the celebration and given “gifts” to others. This year, we will invite people to bring food items as their “Christmas Gift.”