Toolbox For Faith

Last Monday, I posted a link to an article from the Columbia Partnership on the Death of the Middle Judicatories. This week, the author, Dick Hamm, has posted a second article suggesting a way for middle judicatories to live and behave that he believes is healthier and more effective. His suggestions make a great deal of since to me and invite us to explore a new way of being God’s people together. You can read the article, the Resurrection of Middle Judicatories here.

I came across this article today on middle judicatories. It is from the Columbia Partnership and I thought made some interesting points concerning the problems with the “hub and spoke” model, the disconnected nature of congregations and the potentially damaging effects that working for a middle judicatory can have on the physical and spiritual health of the excellent leaders called to work on that level.

The article is entitled: The Death of Middle Judicatories.

Dr. Callahan wrote the following nearly 15 years ago in his book, “Building for Effective Mission,” but I when I came across it again last week, I was struck by how absolutely true it is. We are at our best as a people of God when we live as a mission movement, not as an institution.

Welcome to one of the greatest ages of mission the Christian movement has ever seen. Welcome to the first century. Welcome to the twenty-first century. Welcome to a mission time. . . . This is no longer a churched culture. I encourage you not to mourn its passing. Do not long for a return to those days when going to church was the thing to do. The church is never at its best in a churched culture.

The church is at home in an age of mission. . . . When church going was a staple of social conformity, the church was nonetheless ill at ease and out of place. Despite all the cultural status conferred on it, the church was restless and uncomfortable in a churched culture. Yes, it has enjoyed its prominence as a cultural institution and the pedestal on which it was perched. Yet the church has realized, albeit dimly, that it is not called to be admired by the world. Intuitively it has been restless to serve, not to be served.

Whenever the church accepts the perks and the prestige, it becomes a slave of the world. It is no longer a servant in the world. It becomes beholden to the world. The danger is that it will be distracted from its mission and become a pleasant irrelevancy in the culture. Its voice becomes muted, its message muffled. The good news of joy, wonder, grace and hope is stifled.

When the church allows itself to become a pleasant irrelevancy, it becomes simply an amiable activity for those few who may have an occasional interest. The culture can then simply ignore the church.

Fortunately God invites the church to mission direction, not worldly distractions. And, fortunately, the church retains a latent memory of how to share the mission. The church that endures beyond a churched culture is a church that knows best how to live in an age of mission. With God’s help, the church rediscovers its beginning and thus lives out its true identity as servant in the world.

Each time that I read the story of Mary and Martha like we did in worship last Sunday, I think of my friend Reilly Hammond, a wise Baptist minister. I was at his church one day when he introduced me to a woman who was rearranging the narthex. He told me her name and then said, “She is our church’s designated Martha” which made the woman and me laugh.

When we walked away, Reilly said that every church needs a “designated Martha” so everything would run smoothly. He only wished that Jesus would have had one nice thing to say about Martha rather than merely praising Mary. He noted that scripture does not say what happened after the meal but Reilly was sure that Jesus praised Martha enthusiastically.

The point of the story of Mary and Martha is that we need to realize what is lasting and what is not lasting. God’s word is lasting which is what Mary chose and what we need to choose. We need to concentrate on what is lasting and realize that the most important thing is not rearranging the narthex.

I often say that life is a “both…and” world and not an “either…or” world. I feel that effective Christians can be both Mary and Martha–people male and female, young and old–who first listen, prioritize their actions to concentrate of what is lasting and then do. And when nothing important is happening, we can rearrange the narthex.

Every congregation has a pattern to its life and ministry. At St. Michael for example, we do not schedule much for the two weeks after Virginia Tech graduates, because everyone takes a little break once the students leave. When I arrived at St. Michael, that end of the school year break continued throughout the summer. All of our ministries went into hibernation. Sunday School went away. The Senior Adult group stopped meeting. The Choir took a break. We offered worship and Vacation Bible School, but that was about it. Most everyone was still around. People didn’t really seem burned out to me when summer rolled around, but still our ministry virtually came to a halt.

Over the years, we have slowly increased our ministry during the summer months without much resistance and recently, I think I discovered part of the reason why. While talking to one of my long-time members, I learned that our “hibernation period” probably started because there was no air conditioning at church. It was too hot in the building, so nobody did anything until the weather started to cool off. The interesting thing is that even though air conditioning was added years ago, the pattern was so ingrained that nothing changed.

Sometimes we do things in the church for very intentional reasons, like not scheduling meetings during the two weeks after graduation, but sometimes we are simply repeating a pattern that may no longer be helpful or necessary, like going into hibernation for the summer. Each congregation’s pattern of life will be different, but discovering your pattern and understanding your pattern can be a tremendous asset for leaders as they plan for the life and ministry of a congregation.

I just finished reading, “Switch” by Chip and Dan Heath and I recommend it highly to anyone who is interested in change. They offer excellent insights into why change can be hard and helpful guidance for how you can help bring about change in your own life or in an organization you are leading. Here’s a small glimpse of their ideas.

They offer a “three-part framework . . . that can guide you in any situation where you need to change behavior: Direct the Rider[rational self]. What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity. So provide crystal clear direction. Motivate the Elephant[emotional self]. What looks like laziness is often exhaustion. . . . It’s critical that you engage people’s emotional side - get their Elephants on the path and cooperative. Shape the Path. What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. We call the situation (including the surrounding environment) the ‘Path.’ When you shape the Path, you make change more likely, no matter what’s happening with the Rider and Elephant.”(Switch, pg. 17-18) You can find more information about the book and free downloadable resources on the Switch page of heathbrothers.com.

I am in the middle of reading Switch by Chip and Dan Heath. Switch is a wonderful book which focuses on how to accomplish change when change is difficult. When I finish the book, I’ll post a more complete summary, but for now I want to focus on one of their points - “Follow the Bright Spots.” In essence, they are suggesting that you take a look at your ministry, discover what you are doing well, learn from that success and apply the knowledge to another area of your ministry.

For example, if you have great success with Vacation Bible School and limited success with weekly Sunday School, the question becomes what can you learn from VBS and how can you apply that lesson to Sunday School. Perhaps you have great storytellers at VBS and simply including those storytellers will strengthen Sunday School. Obviously each congregation is different, but I think following the bright spots will help us identify our strengths and help us to use our ministry gifts more effectively.

If you are interested in learning more about Switch, you can check out the Heath Brothers website.

One of my members, John Halfacre who is a retired elementary school principal, sent me a copy of an article giving practical hints for principals that he was sending to a national publication. Ironically, most of what he wrote could also apply to pastors and key church leaders.

His first suggestion was “Remove ‘Principal Parking’ signs.” You probably heard my “amen” when I read it although I was thinking of “Pastor Parking Only” signs that were at three churches I served. One church had even gone to the mayor and city council to have an official sign placed on a side street next to the building. I was very uncomfortable with the concept and asked that all be removed.

John Halfacre explained his rationale for removing the sign succinctly. “I always believed that a special parking space for me created a pedestal of artificial importance and was somehow inconsistent with the concept of servant leadership. I chose the parking space that was the furthest from the building. It’s a seemingly small gesture, but I think it sends a message of humility, respect, and appreciation to other members of the school family.’ The same goes for the other members of the church family. Great advice, John!

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.”

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.