Toolbox For Faith

It’s not uncommon for people to attribute a saying like “A penny saved is a penny earned” to the Bible. It sounds like good, solid, faithful, Biblical advice to many people. Since the Bible is a big book with lots of sayings, wisdom and advice and since most people haven’t memorized the Bible, it’s just easier to accept someone saying “Well, as the Bible says, a penny saved is a penny earned ” than it is to try and convince the speaker that those words were spoken by Ben Franklin, not Jesus, Moses or King David. A survey I read about this week, however, reminded me that sometimes the mis-identification of quotes goes the other way too.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/confused-americans-attribute-bible-quote-to-captain-america-54725/

Most people would not have paid much attention to the sign that said “Pastor Parking Only” next to the church in the midst of the crowded parking lot near the front door of the church we were visiting last Sunday but it bothered me. I had almost forgotten about it when the pastor started off his sermon with an illustration that said we are all in this together. My thoughts immediately returned to the sign.

As a pastor, I have always felt that on Sunday mornings, the best place for the pastor to park was at the far edge of the parking lot. Having a reserved parking place next to the building says that the pastor is the most important person and automatically deserves the best parking spot. We might “all be in this together” but the pastor should be awarded the best parking spot. I never felt that way and had the signs quietly removed at three congregations where the closest parking spot said “Pastor Parking Only.” On Sundays, I parked on the edge of the parking lot and walked even though I was one of the first people to arrive. Besides, the exercise was good for me.

The specified parking space might be a little thing to most people but I feel strongly that this little thing communicates the wrong message for a pastor’s actions to preach.

Most churches do some sort of advertising at Christmas. This year, I am adding advertising on Facebook to our toolbox. Here’s a link to an article on a church communication website that provides details on how to create and place a Facebook ad. The article also includes a coupon code for $50 in free advertising. I followed the steps outlined in the article and used the coupon to create a targeted ad that will run in the days leading up to Christmas. We’ll see how it goes.

http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/2010/11/facebook-ads-for-your-church/

When we have attended different churches and were welcomed—although we have discovered that is not a given—we have been called visitors. I’m lobbying for a change in wording from visitor to guest. I first heard the suggestion from Ken Callahan but I did not realize the impact to the individual until I started attending different churches.

I checked with Webster’s dictionary for the difference between the two words before I started my lobbying campaign to make sure I was defining the words correctly. The first two definitions of guest were “a: a person entertained in one’s house b: a person to whom hospitality is extended..” The first definition of visitor is “one that visits; especially: one that makes formal visits of inspection.”

Being a guest who has been invited and warmly welcomed is exciting. We are not people who have just dropped in off the street to make a formal inspection of the church. I do not expect to be entertained but I want to feel like I am a part of the community of believers, not someone who is outside looking critically in. Maybe, if we concentrate of thinking of people as guests, we will welcome them in a much warmer way. That could be wishful thinking but I’m hopeful.

How about joining my campaign? Let’s eliminate visitors and welcome guests.

According to Ruby K. Payne in her book “A Framework for Understanding Poverty,” there are three basic classes in America - poverty, middle class and wealthy. Each “individual brings with him/her the hidden rules of the class in which he/she was raised. Even though the income of the individual may rise significantly, many of the patters of thought, social interaction, cognitive strategies, etc., remain with the individual.” (pg. 3) Knowledge, or lack of knowledge, of these hidden rules helps identify someone as a part of a group. Payne illustrates these hidden rules using three checklists that assess your ability to survive in poverty, survive in middle class and survive in wealth. Here are samples from each list:
“I know where the free medical clinics are.” - Poverty checklist (pg. 38)
“I repair items in my house almost immediately when they break - or know a repair service and call it.” - Middle class checklist(pg. 39)
“I support or buy the work of a particular artist.” - Wealth checklist (pg. 40)

Payne sums up her discussion of the hidden rules by saying, “The key point is that hidden rules govern so much of our immediate assessment of an individual and his/her capabilities. These are often the factors that keep an individual from moving upward in a career — or even getting the position in the first place” (pg. 44).

As I read Payne’s work, I began to wonder what role these hidden class rules play in congregational hospitality. Do wealthy or middle class congregations understand how to properly welcome people in poverty? Many congregations provide assistance to people in poverty. I know our congregation, for example, interacts with several hundred people in poverty per year. Of all those people we meet, however, almost none become a part of the worshiping community. Even when I feel like we have made a solid connection with people we are helping, they still don’t seem comfortable in the community. Could it be that everything from style of worship to the attire of the congregation to the focus of the preaching is so grounded in the middle class rules, that people from poverty quickly and perhaps even subconsciously determine that they are out of place? The issue could also arise for a middle class family who visits a wealthy congregation. When it comes to hospitality, perhaps the question we should be asking is ‘Does our church exhibit the clear characteristics of a particular social class?’ and ‘Is it possible to create an environment that welcomes and includes people of all classes into a congregation?’

Pastor Philip Bottomley shared this idea with me a few weeks ago and I thought it was worth passing along. Congregations often talk about Vacation Bible School as a way to reach out to new families, but what if instead of asking the families to come to the church building, Vacation Bible School actually went out to the people you were trying to reach.

Apparently there is a church in Northern Virginia that runs a neighborhood Vacation Bible School. Host families agree to have a VBS team set up in their front yard and then they invite the neighborhood kids to come and take part in the crafts, music or lesson. As it was described to me, you’d have rotating teams each focusing on a different topic/activity and they would move around to each front yard station. If you scheduled it correctly, one team could lead the same one hour activity at ten different locations during a week. Just imagine how many new families could be touched with the good news of God’s love in just one week.

Make sure you have a “guest helpful” bulletin

Attending different churches has taught me again how important it is to have a “guest helpful” bulletin.

One church was using what they described as a blended service with congregational responses from different worship material. Because of this, the bulletin really needed to help guide the people worshipping but it was anything but helpful. The Hymn of Praise that was used had WOV with a number beside it. I knew that WOV stood for “With One Voice,” one of the hymnals used in some Lutheran churches, and the number was for the page. But as I searched for the hymnal to find the music, I noticed it was not in the pews. The words were in the bulletin but even though I had sung it before, I did not know it well enough to sing it without the music. I kept thinking, “Why put WOV with a page number if the hymnal is not in the pew?”

Two other selections for the service music were in the hymnal in the hymn section but by the time I found them, we were on the last line both times. I kept thinking that a person new to a Lutheran service would have been completely lost! The irony is that, according the bulletin, the church had purchased the copyright to copy all of the service music used and could have downloaded everything—words and music–for their bulletin. Guests, even long time Lutherans, need help with a new and different service.

Think about your bulletin. How helpful is it to someone new to your worshipping community?

I read a very interesting article in USA Today discussing research done by Paul Froese and Christopher Bader, sociologists at Baylor University for their book, America’s Four Gods: What We Say About God - and What That Says About Us. The researchers propose that in America today there are four predominate views of God. These views are not confined to Christianity, but encompass all people of faith. As soon as I read the four views, I immediately connected my own theology as belonging to one of the views and recognized each of the other three views as opinions I have encountered in my discussions with other people of faith. Froese and Bader define the views of God as:
• The Authoritative God - They see God as actively “engaged in history and meting out harsh punishment to those who do not follow him.” (28%)
• The Benevolent God - They believe “God is engaged in our world and loves and supports us in caring for others.” (22%)
• The Critical God - They believe “God keeps an eye on this world but delivers justice in the next” life. (21%)
• The Distant God - They believe “God booted up the universe, then left humanity alone.” (24%)

You can take the God Test to see which view is most closely aligned to your view of God.

While Froese and Bader are interested in how these opinions affect attitudes on key issues, I am fascinated by the ways in which these views affect matches between congregations and pastors and the health of congregations and denominational bodies. Obviously, without the specific research it is all speculation, but I wonder . . .
• How much conflict or disengagement arises when you have a pastor or denominational leader with one view - Benevolent God, for example - trying to lead a congregation or denominational body with another view - Critical God, for example.
• Could it be that conflict in synods/local judicatories arises when we try to gather congregations and pastors with vastly different views of God and try to convince them to act upon a single shared vision of God?
• Could it be that a shared view of God helps overrides denominational differences and allows local congregations to work together even when denominational bodies cannot agree on a national level?

Here are two possible application I see for the research on a synodical/judicatory level and within a congregation.
1. Imagine how helpful it would be when matching congregations and pastors to know if they shared the same view of God.
2. In planning for ministry, knowing in general how a congregation viewed God could help leaders determine which strengths to build upon.

Millions of dollars in advertising money and marketing surveys to discover what Christians have known all along.