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Ah, that old timeless debate.  Is it appropriate to sing Christmas carols before Christmas or do we have to stick with the Advent hymns?  Well consider this riddle solved.  You can now purchase lyrics to four Advent carol texts that can be sung to familiar, beloved Christmas tunes everyone enjoys singing.   These downloadable hymn-carols can be yours for the low price of $9.95 each, or for the discount price of $29.95 you can get all four.  You can get yours by clicking on:  Order Here

Now don’t get me wrong.  I know God can and does work through all kinds of means.  Chap Clark tells a story about a man he met who became a Christian because of that guy that holds up the John 3:16 sign in the stands behind the goalpost at football games.  And how many of us have laughed at that guy and his sign?  So I have no doubt that God can work in our hearts through these new lyrics to the old carols.

But lately, I’ve been wondering if we (God’s family) have simply forgotten how to ask the right questions.  What good is a good answer if it answers the wrong question?  

I don’t know about you, but for me, Advent is a very mixed bag.  The incarnation represents one of the most staggering truths of our faith.  In the midst of this messy, miraculous story of God becoming human, there is this prophetic mystery that just keeps drawing me in deeper and deeper.

But truth be told, at the end of the Advent, I almost always find myself feeling like I missed it.  I feel like most of the time, this amazing moment in our story as the people of God, gets completely overlooked amidst the other story of stress, shopping, parties, gifts, decorating, Christmas cards, more shopping, bills, debt, did I mention stress?  At the end of it all, I usually feel like I just missed it.  As a pastor, I feel like it’s nearly impossible to get people (including myself) to slow down, step out of the story being told at the mall, and into the story being told in the manger.  No question - I have a love / hate relationship with the whole Christmas season.

So here’s where I just have to be honest.  I just don’t think that the missing piece is lyrics that allow me to sing carols before Christmas.  From my perspective, what’s missing is the church finding her prophetic voice, going out and engaging our culture and telling a different kind of story.  In fact, living a different kind of story.  A better story.  The real story.  Not the story unfolding at the mall.  I don’t care for one second if the greeter at Walmart says Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.  The advent story isn’t Walmart’s story.  It’s our story.  And it’s our job to tell it.  And to live it.

THAT is the question I want to ask: How can I tell the better story this Advent so that my neighbor catches a glimpse of the Kingdom (in all it’s upside down values) breaking into the world?  

Seriously, I’m not knocking what I’m sure are very good, theologically rich re-written lyrics to some of my favorite old carols.  I’m just imagining the look that would pop up on my neighbors face if I finally got him to come to church with me for the first time and he heard a tune that he swears is Away in a Manger, but the words make no sense to him at all.

I just have to ask, “Is that what will help us tell a better story?” If it helps you, then great.  If this addresses questions that your congregation is asking, fine.  Good luck with that.

But for me the last few years, my celebration of Advent has been shaped and energized by a different set of questions:

• What if we challenged each other to make Advent all about Jesus.  (no, really, ALL about Jesus.)
  
• What if we challenged each other to spend less on stuff we don’t really need?  
  
• What if we learned how to give better gifts that mirrored the way Jesus gave himself to us?  (gifts of relationship, time, service, things made by hand, etc).
  
• And what if we took the difference and used it to change the world, just like that original Christmas did?
  
• What if we learn to tell a better story by the way we LIVE the story?
  
• What does God think of the fact that Americans will spend billions on Christmas gifts and it would take less than 10% of that to eliminate (as in, do away with forever) the water crisis across the entire planet?
  
• What if we celebrated Jesus’ birthday by doing something about that?  (Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me...)

That is the kind of worship that is pleasing to God.
That is the kind of song worth singing.
That’s the kind of story worth telling.  

And I have a growing suspicion, its the kind of story my neighbor might be interested in hearing.

Listen, I’d love to share more of the meaningful questions that are grabbing my heart, but I’ve got to go shopping for some large, pillar Advent candles.  The worship committee nearly had a heart attack over the skinny ones I bought them last year.

PS.  If you want a boatload of resources on how to re-think your Advent Celebration outside of your worship services, check out www.adventconspiracy.org .  These ideas and themes have had an unbelievable impact on the Advent worship experience in our congregation.

Scott Keeble is a pastor of a multi-site church in Champaign, Illinois.  He is also on the planning team for the Moving Back Into our Neighborhoods regional gathering for PGF and he double dog dares you to bring a team of leaders from your church to that event on March 5th and 6th.

Re-Blog: The End of the National Church Corporation: Post-Denominationalism

An excerpt from a blog posting by a friend in the ELCA who is on the missional journey just like us...  

Read the whole blog post, The End of the National Church Corporation: Post-Denominationalism, by clicking here.

"There are many reasons for the demise of national church corporations:

1) Many, if not most young adults, prefer being part of cool indie projects to being “tools” of large corporations.

2) The mergers have created coalitions with incompatible viewpoints (sexuality, etc.)

3) Lutheran versions (more so than other brand names) of these corporations tend to operate as closed systems (tightly controlled roster, Lutheran seminary requirements, etc.).

4) These corporations, in efforts to hold things together and make structure and function coherent, have discouraged innovation by entrepreneurial types.

5) For whatever reason, these corporations have very strained relationships with their best practitioners.

6) Generational and ethnic diversity issues have become too heavy for the corporations to carry."

PGF - My Tribe

PGF is a tribe within the PC(USA) family.  Why do we need a tribe, or what some people inaccurately assume is another renewal organization?   The fact is the denomination is shrinking at an alarming rate.  Presbyterian Global Fellowship began to explore the core mission of our church, in other words what binds us together? Unfortunately, governing bodies seem to be the answer for most.  

We boldly believe that we can be bound together by a clear vision for how God is calling us to further his kingdom in the world .  Missional churches have a mission statement that puts being sent as its only reason for being.  And everything a missional church does - worship, spiritual formation, fellowship - is for the purpose of training and equipping its people to go out.  To serve the world.  To focus on God's ongoing mission of relief and deliverance in the world.  

But having a clear and compelling mission isn't enough to bind us together. 

I recently taught on Esther and was struck by Mordecai's words to Esther when she is pondering whether or not to approach her. He says, Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape.  For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish.

We have the same question before us.  God's mission will prevail.  Relief and deliverance will come for God's people.  Just because we are in mainline churches does not mean we will escape the death of our church, anymore than Esther being queen guaranteed her escape from death.  No, it is either join God's mission or perish.  Period. 

If we are going to get on with God's mission of relief and deliverance for his people, then we have to put it at the core of our being.  And then we have to define the values that will shape us.And this is where I see the real crux of the matter.  Because as Aubrey Malphus says, "You won't do ministry that really matters until you define what matters."  (Church Unique by Will Mancini). 

We are failing to thrive as a connected congregation because we have different values.  PGF has articulated our missional motives, which are the shared convictions that guide where we put our effort and energy.  They express our most deeply held ideals.  

When people say that being Presbyterian binds us together because of history, doctrine, or polity, they are correct.  But if we cannot agree on missional motives - our values - then there is not hope of moving forward together.  I do not mean that as pessimistic, dark, or foreboding.  It is just a fact of human organization.  

Our fellowship shares the following values.  We can share being Presbyterian with his history, doctrine, and polity by proclaiming and agreeing on these values.  This is our tribe.  These are the values that define what is most important to us as a fellowship.  So if you want to know why PGF affiliates do what they do, it is because they are shaped by these values:

Christ-Centered
Demonstrated by a steadfast commitment to Jesus as the living and reigning Lord of all life and the only true hope for the world.

We confess that we have neglected the source of all life and have chased other gods. This idolatry is particularly apparent in our context with regard to issues of wealth, poverty and power.

Outwardly-Focused
Demonstrated by a conviction that Christ calls us not primarily for our own benefit but for the sake of others.

We confess that we have become distracted from our primary calling of discipleship and love of neighbor.

Biblically-Reformed
Demonstrated by a loyalty to Scripture as God’s unique and authoritative message of salvation and as our guide for daily living.

We confess that we have created standards of convenience instead of remaining true to God’s Word. This moral confusion is evident in our context with regard to the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman as God’s desire for human sexuality.

Globally-Connected
Demonstrated by our commitment to use relational networks and new technologies to build vital relationships with the global church.

We confess our tendency to trust in our own culture and to confuse it with the gospel. We acknowledge our need for global partners, for their support, admonition and example as we seek to be congregations that display the unity of the Church and “lead lives worthy of the calling with which we have been called.”

Locally-Empowered
Demonstrated by the reality that the local movement of the church is still God’s primary means of justice, mercy and love in the world.

We confess that our churches have become less effective in our local communities and we pray that God will enable us to find strength and courage for Christ’s plan of redemption.

These are the shared values of our tribe.  There are many other tribes of Presbyterians with very different values.  And people with shared values should gather together.  Not for the purpose of trying to convince people that one set of values is superior to another, but to get on with ministry.  Shaping values cannot possible be done by vote, overture, bylaw, or policy.  No one's deepest convictions come from  mandate. Rather, our values come from relationships, both with Jesus and with others (both people who believe in Jesus and those who do not). 

The PGF tribe shares these missional motives.  And with these shared values, PGF people are laser focused on figuring out what it means for our mainline congregations to focus on God's mission of relief and deliverance for his people, or we will perish. 

Moving Back into the Neighborhood

The Presbytery of San Diego, in conjunction with Presbyterian Global Fellowship, is looking forward with anticipation to our Moving Back into the Neighborhood consultation August 21-22 at the Solana Beach Presbyterian Church.  This event seems to be ‘scratching where people are itching’ as registrations have been double what we thought they would be!  The online registration system had to be shut down two weeks prior to the event because we had already reached the maximum number of participants that our facilities will allow us to have.   While we are saddened not to be able to accommodate everyone who wanted to attend, Presbyterian Global Fellowship is considering offering more regional events for people to go to in place of this one, and the Presbytery of San Diego may also offer a second opportunity, if there remains enough interest in the southern California region.

 

With about 300 people registered for the August event, and about another 50 on the waiting list who did not sign up in time to come, we are sensing that God’s Holy Spirit is up to something here.  There seems to be a growing interest among congregations to enter into conversations to learn together how to enter our neighborhoods again.  Rather than another conference that trots out “experts” to tell us ordinary people what we should be doing, there is a growing excitement about being a part of a working learning community.  In this environment, where we all gain insights from one another, we recognize that none of us are experts, and that God’s regular pattern is to work through ordinary people like us.

 

The response to this event seems to signal that people are tired of programs and “canned” answers that somebody else designed for some other church in some other context.  There seems to be a growing interest in discovering again the importance of our own local community, discerning what God is doing on the actual streets where we live, and what God wants to do in our neighborhoods.  Many of our congregations are caught in the struggle to cultivate a new missional imagination.  Many of us seem stuck in the rut where we do what we’ve always done before because we can’t imagine God working in any other way.  But, if we begin with the right questions and the right conversations, the possibilities for new, invigorated ministry in our own neighborhoods are endless.  Where Jesus is present, the sky is the limit.  We can learn to do this together.  Moving Back into the Neighborhood is but one more step on this important journey together.

 

We would ask that you please pray for this event.  Please pray for the relationships, the discussions, the imaginations, and the next steps that will emerge from this new style of consultation.  Please pray for our presenters, Alan Roxburgh and Mark Lau Branson, as they set the stage for our learning environment together.  Please pray for what God will do with this.  If you wanted to attend but did not register in time, please let us know when and where you could participate in another amazing collection of Christ’s ordinary people, who gather to learn to do extraordinary things together.  To God be the glory!

 

 

  

Leadership Traits of Effective Leaders

In reading about leadership, I stumbled upon research that studied people who led others out of danger. Specifically, the study focused on fires in underground mines. The leaders who successfully led others out of danger had 5 characteristics. 

#1: "The leader of each escape may be described as an aware, knowledgeable person or as an individual who is alert to his environment, attentive, and discerning. This person notices things - more so than do other people." 

#2 - These leaders did not force themselves and their suggestions on the group - the leadership developed in a natural way. The psychologists who studied the groups examined how the leaders led people out of danger. The effective leaders naturally evolved from the community. They did not force themselves into leadership, force people to to follow, or force ideas. Rather, they knew their people and used that knowledge to bring the best out of everyone. The key was understanding group dynamics and being able to use it to lead. 

#3 - Third, the leaders were decisive, yet flexible. They made decisions; yet if circumstances changed they adapted. Change is never easy, especially for institutions. Sometimes it seems that the sheer size of our governing bodies prohibits flexibility. 

At the local level, how do you train and equip elders to be decisive, yet flexible? How can we create a culture among our elders defined by being great students of the culture and the ability (and willingness) to adapt to its needs? Do you have good examples of how to create a culture of decisive, yet flexible, leaders? Or examples of what NOT to do?

Models of Missional Engagement in Europe

The European Church Planting Network (www.ecpn.org) is publishing white papers on their work.  This one is about how churches are experimenting with missional transformation.  Great case studies of churches throughout Europe.  Share your reflections.  Also good discussion fodder for your team or session. 

Models of Missional Engagement in Europe

What would a missional seminary look like?

Scot McKnight posts a blog with one idea.  What are your thoughts?  Let's share some thoughts with our seminary leaders and invite their reaction. 

Leadership Traits of Effective Leaders

In reading about leadership, I stumbled upon research that studied people who led others out of danger.  Specifically, the study focused on fires in underground mines.   The leaders who successfully led others out of danger had 5 characteristics.  #1:  "The leader of each escape may be described as an aware, knowledgeable person or as an individual who is alert to his environment, attentive, and discerning. This person notices things - more so than do other people."

#2 - These leaders did not force themselves and their suggestions on the group - the leadership developed in a natural way. The psychologists who studied the groups examined how the leaders led people out of danger.  The effective leaders naturally evolved from the community.  They did not force themselves into leadership, force people to to follow, or force ideas.  Rather, they knew their people and used that knowledge to bring the best out of everyone.  The key was understanding group dynamics and being able to use it to lead.

In the context of leading our churches in missional transformation, what can we learn?  Perhaps we need to allow leadership to develop in a more natural way than our current polity allows.   How often do we choose elders because they have been in the church the longest, give the most, or say, "pick me!".  Graham Baird, founding pastor of Highland Church in Paso Robles, CA, said in our podcast that they steer clear of anyone who asks to be an elder or leader because they are probably not ready to lead.  Rather, leaders are people who naturally emerge from the community with a humble spirit and deep knowledge of their people. 

Taking Heat From The Watch Dogs

We, the mainline church, are the the watch dogs in this poignant blog by Erwin McManus.  A must read.  http://originsproject.org/?p=409

"What is happening across the world and here at home is that there is an army of cross cultural missionaries who have become the new leaders of the church. Their calling isn’t to pastor churches that focus on the happiness of its members, but to mobilize the church for the purpose of fulfilling God’s mission of reconciling the world to himself." 

Gradye Parsons asks the wrong questions

If you are a member of the PCUSA, then you are probably reading the most recent statistics regarding how many people have left the denomination.  

What jumped off the page at me was not the numbers, but the questions Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons thinks are important to ask in response to the membership loss. 

Parsons insisted that “Presbyterians can be evangelists!”
“But we often stumble over the words. Can we not challenge one another to be able to answer these basic questions,” he said. “Why do I believe in God? Why do I go to church? Why do I go to that particular church?”

Of course Presbyterians can be evangelists, but how eloquent we are (or are not) is not the issue.  Dallas Willard spoke about this to a group sponsored by Presbyterian Global Fellowship at the Jesus Way Renovare Conference.  He said, the question for people in the postmodern world is not what is true but what is real.  To be effective witnesses of the Gospel, it is not what we can posit or defend theologically (although that remains important). Rather, to be effective witnesses of the Gospel in today's culture requires authenticity, deep relationships, and sacrificial action for the sake of others.  In other words, we can no longer enjoy the luxury of separating our thinking from our doing. This is much more eloquently flushed out in the Divine Conspiracy, which discusses how the imitation of Christ has lost its central importance in Christianity.  In short, I don't think the question is getting the words right.  I think we have to recover the ability to be Christ-like in world for the sake of our communities.  

The question, "Why do I believe in God?" is not the question being asked on the street in the post-modern world.  Rather, it is "What is the character and substance of the God you believe in."  Belief in general is not an obstacle to most people today.  The question is what do you believe (worldview) and who is at the center of it?  In our case, we have done a poor job of revealing Jesus to people.  As Ghandi says, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."  I don't think the question is helping people communicate WHY we believe in God but rather WHO Jesus is and how we desire (and try!) to be more like him. 

"Why do I go to church?" is indicative of the institutional and attractional model of church that is, according to the statistics, shrinking as an institution and failing to attract people to it.  The question missionally minded people would ask is, "How can we be the church for the sake of our community?"  God is alive and on a mission of love in the world. .  As disciples, we share in the joy of joining this Misseo Dei. The question is not how to get people to GO to church.  The question is how to BE the church in the particular context we are called to serve.  

Finally, "why do I go to that particular church?" can be a good question.  If the question is intended to elucidate the unique calling of a community sent into the world following Jesus Christ, then it is a great question.  Churches are not called to be "all things for all people."  Neither are churches supposed to look like every other congregation in its denomination.  Rather, each church is unique.  As Will Mancini likes to say, each church has a unique great permission within the great commission.  Each church will live out the great commission in its own way according its one-of-a-kind mandate from Christ.

However, I suspect that when many hear the question "why do I go to that particular church" thoughts turn to the preaching, the choir, parking, worship times, or programs for children.  While the practicalities of being the church are important and valid concerns, they are far from the central questions of what it means to be the church in community.  

Frankly, I think these statistical reports are not really helpful. They focus inward on attendance, buildings, and cash.  I would be far more interested in statistics that show how our churches are making a difference in the world for the Kingdom - child abuse rates down; shelters for homeless children out of business; food bank shelves stacked high.   Can we really measure how more Christ-like people become each year?Because at the end of the day, just because we gain members does not mean we have become any more like Christ or helped anyone else on their discipleship journey.   

PGF is a movement of people and churches that are pursuing missional transformation.  And it begins by asking the right questions. 

Leadership Traits of Effective Leaders

In reading about leadership, I stumbled upon research that studied people who led others out of danger. Specifically, the study focused on fires in underground mines. Stick with me, this really is interesting.  The leaders who successfully led others out of danger had 5 characteristics.  

#1:  "The leader of each escape may be described as an aware, knowledgeable person or as an individual who is alert to his environment, attentive, and discerning. This person notices things - more so than do other people." The researchers make a point that this characteristic is not limited to mines, but rather leaders are naturally curious and are able to learn on the fly.

The fact that the PCUSA is losing thousands of members each year (172,869 in 2008) is the analogous mine fire. To effectively lead people to be the church in a new cultural reality, the study suggests that we must be alert to what is happening in culture.  We have to be good students of our environment, which means spending a lot of time with people who are not in our congregation.  We have to discern their hopes, struggles, and experience with God.  We should enjoy our curious nature, despite the tendency for us to get bogged down by order, tradition, and memories of the way things were.

How does your work, home, and recreation environments help you lead?  How can we support each other to be natually curious and nimble in our current church culture?

Stay tuned for the next 4 characteristics of effective leaders from this study....

Renovare Day 2

Dallas Willard led the PGF sponsored workshop - Missional and Formational.  During his presentation he addressed how churches define success.  Too often it is the ABC's - attendance, buildings, and cash.  We count how many people are coming in, how much money is coming in, and how much people enjoy the performance each Sunday.  To that end, ministry is about getting people to do things.  

Dallas challenged us to remember that we have an audience of one and that ministry is not about getting people to do things, but  helping people to discover how God is moving and working in their lives.  The Kingdom of God is at hand and ministry is the joy of helping people grow close to God in his present kingdom.  Dallas said, "The Kingdom of God is not about Jesus coming back to bail us out.   Rather, the Kingdom of God is how God's hand will move in my present spot."

What would our church look like if we defined success not in terms of activity, but in terms of how well we help people discover God at work in their lives? How would this change our session meetings and presbytery meetings?  What if our primary activity when we meet together is not to govern and manage each other, but to pray and encourage one another seeking the kingdom?  That's a missional vision....

Renovare Day 1

Steve Hayner, the recently appointed President of Columbia Seminary and founder of Presbyterian Global Fellowship, recently blogged here about PGF as a non-anxious presence in the church. 

This afternoon at the sold-out PGF workshop track at Renovare, Todd Hunter said, "God is not stumped and the Kingdom of God is not at risk."   He assured the 200+ people gathered that in the midst of all the anxiety, change, and questions we are facing, God is not pacing and worrying about the future of his Kingdom.  

He was affirming the fact that society is undergoing a massive cultural change as people move from a modern to a postmodern world view.  The change is directly affecting how we share the good news of the gospel.  It is very unsettling.  Everyone is feeling it and reacting in different ways.  Some are leaving the church, blaming the pastor, and/or adding more programs hoping to attract new people to the old way of being church. 

Some are  coming to PGF events and conferences, like Renovare, looking to discern in fellowship the missional calling.  PGF has been described as a think tank and a support group for people and congregations seeking to make the shift from attractional to missional.  Like Todd, we are confident that God is stumped and the Kingdom of God is not at risk as we figure this out.  What we are confident about is that God's mission is exciting, ongoing, and life-giving.  

So, if you are interested in a missional journey then we are excited to join you.  Check out PGF, affiliate, and make the fellowship stronger.  Confident, not anxious, we rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the leadership of Jesus as we seek to be his disciples. 

Stay tuned for more updates and thoughts from the Renovare Jesus Way Conference this week from San Antonio, Texas. 

Twittering in Church, with the Pastor\'s O.K.

Twittering in Church, with the Pastor\'s O.K..

Instead of reminding worshippers to silence their cell phones, a small but growing number of churches across the country are encouraging people to integrate text-messaging into their relationship with God

Gen Y - An Article in the London Times

How does this affect how we understand the church, its mission, and how it communicates that mission?  Would love to hear your thoughts. 

It is copyrighted, so I am providing the link.  

The A to Z of Generation Y -Click Here

Context is Everything

On my recent mission trip, I read a wonderful book called The Age of the Unthinkable by Joshua Cooper Ramos.  In it, he describes an experimental psychologist named Richard Nisbett, who studied how our cultural backgrounds condition the way we think.  He discovered that there are fundamental differences in the way that Westerners and Chinese think.  While the Chinese believe in constant change, Westerners believe that we go through periods of change and equilibrium.  Westerners believe in a more deterministic world, thinking that we can control events because we know the rules that govern the behavior of objects. 

 These observations came out of a series of experiments that Nisbett ran with Western and Chinese college students, where they looked at pictures that changed every thirty seconds.  What he discovered was that Westerners focused on the main object in the foreground of the picture, and often missed what was in the background.  The Chinese, by contrast, usually looked at the environment around the main object first, and then moved to the object in the foreground.  He discovered an expression of one aspect of Chinese philosophy and art that says our environment is far more powerful than any individual.  In other words, context is everything. 

This view contains the idea that constant change is a given.  The environment contains clues about what is about to happen next.  The more we pay attention to our communities and our neighborhoods, the more we will understand the changes that are coming our way.  The more we follow the traditional Western thought patterns of ignoring our context, the more we will be surprised by the next wave of change that is coming. 

In Numbers 13-14, we see Moses sending out 12 spies to scout out the Promised Land before they made their decisions about what to do.  They understood the importance of the environment.  As Oriental people, the Hebrews knew they needed an understanding of the land and the culture.  They needed a sense of the context in which the people were living in, before they knew what their next steps would need to be.

The same is true for us today.  In our church world, we often hear of good ideas that some church is doing, and if they are successful, we automatically want to copy them.  This doesn’t work because context is everything.  What works in one place does not work in another place.  Sometimes we can pick up some good ideas that may stimulate our thinking, but we always have to change them some how to fit our specific community, our specific people, and our specific place.  Otherwise, the idea will fail. 

One of the most crucial tasks for us as a group of congregations is to understand our context.  That may sound easy, but often it’s not.  Unconsciously, over the years, many North American churches have become isolated from their own neighborhoods.  The level of interaction between church and community is very minimal beyond letting some local group rent out the church facility.  If we want to reverse the membership decline that most of our congregations are experiencing, then we have to discover once again how to move back into the neighborhood.

So, we are inviting every one of you to join us for a two day consultation in San Diego on August 21 and 22, that we are calling Moving Back into the Neighborhood.  For only $75 (and every fifth person from the same congregation comes for free), we will give you some concrete steps that your church can begin to take to engage your local community in fresh ways.  Alan Roxburgh and Mark Lau Branson will be our main presenters.  They will give us a much food for thought.  But rather than being passive spectators who listen to a series of lectures, we will be active participants who discuss and interact with ideas that will fit our specific congregations and our specific communities.  Each church will walk away with some concrete next steps of missional experiments that you can begin to try, that will help you connect with your community.  You can register now to attend at www.pgfconference.com or www.presbyterysd.org.

 Why?  Because context is everything.  If you don’t understand your neighborhood, your ideas will fail.  If you don’t understand your community, your vision statements and mission statements and strategic plans will be meaningless.  We need to become more Hebrew (Oriental) in our thinking.  We need to get in touch at a deeper level with our own surroundings.  Without this, our congregations will continue to struggle.  This is one of the key first steps to a more vibrant future for our churches.  I hope you will register now to join us in August.  I hope you will look around your community with fresh eyes.  We usually begin our planning with the church, and this one of our major mistakes.  We don’t get anywhere when we begin with the church.  We must always begin with our neighborhood.  We must understand it.  We must listen to it.  We must see how God’s Holy Spirit is already at work in it.

Once we have developed some awareness and understanding of our community, then we can take some worthwhile steps.  Then, we can know what direction to take.  Then, we can know how to follow the Lord.  Because God is already at work in our world.  Christ is already on the move.  And context is everything.

 

No Easy Task

Yesterday at Columbia Theological Seminary, we completed another round of what we call The Thompson Scholars.  This is an annual, endowed and subsidized program in some facet of evangelism which we do for 15 pastors each year.  It is a terrific and intensive time of community building, coaching and training.  I am always pumped up (and exhausted) by the end. 

 

Every time as we do this I learn more about the “practical” issues and barriers in helping churches become more “missional”.  This year (again) I was reminded that “being” missional is a whole lot different than doing missions—and that perhaps the greatest barrier for churches is in changing our view of “what is the church”.  The default for virtually every church I know is that the church is an institution/club which is there to meet the needs of those who are members—and that the pastor is their chaplain.  In this understanding, baptism is our initiation rite, budgets are our voluntary dues, committees are our key organizational structure (and the heart of “church work”), and our buildings are the clubhouse which we actually call “the church”.  “Mission” is our social service (and sometimes recruiting) activity which we do much like the Rotarians or any other social service club.  Evangelism is “membership management”—how we attract more people in the front door, and keep them from going out the back, so that we can collect their dues and keep the doors open.

 

The “missional church” has a very different self-identity.  Truly missional churches see their purpose as “joining Jesus in his work in the world”.  It’s not really about us, though the great thing about the gospel is that as we give ourselves away we also discover ourselves and we experience healing and joy.  Instead of mission being out of our “extra”, it is the center of what we are about, because mission is the center of what God has always been about as he reaches out to the world.  Ultimately God even came into the world in human form to give himself to and for us.  “Incarnation” becomes the ultimate model for what it is that we are called to do.  “Baptism is our ordination” (quoting Luther) in which we identify with Christ, with Christ’s people and with Christ’s work of reconciliation, compassion and justice.  The purpose of the church is not essentially “worship” or “fellowship” or “prayer” or “training” or anything else.  These are all gifts to help us to follow Jesus more closely, to be transformed more fully into his likeness, and to be empowered to join him in mission.

 

I’m commencin’ to preachin’ to the choir here—but it was underlined for me again this week just how hard this identity transformation actually is for churches (and for their pastors).  Being “missional” almost always defaults to doing a few more programs, instead of seeing ourselves (both individually and corporately) as missionaries to our own culture and across cultural barriers.  Pastors are “affirmed” if the club thrives (measured by the numbers in worship and education programs, the balance of the budget, and the upkeep of the buildings) rather than if the Kingdom is advanced.  We “commission” people mainly to hold office in the club rather than to pursue Christ’s call to live out our faith in homes, neighborhoods, businesses, and “third spaces” (stores, recreation, etc.) in our communities. 

 

Bottom line:  I am constantly looking for help in encouraging this identity shift.  There are a growing number of books available, though like most great books on marriage, they are most useful for those who identify most with the experience of the authors.  Transformation takes a more personalized path than the one-size fits all approach.  And a whole lot of people don’t read books anymore anyway.  Through PGF, we are doing all we can to help church communities and their pastors on this journey of transformation through conferences, seminars, webinars, coaching—and whatever else we can do to come alongside and encourage the church to BE the church.

 

Joyfully,

Steve Hayner

What Happens After Sola Scripture

A well-written blog by Blake Huggins at Emergent Village.  Check it out:

http://www.emergentvillage.com/weblog/what-happens-after-sola-scriptura

Seeking Missional

Last night my husband and I shared dinner with Michael Frost.  It was a gorgeous evening on the San Antonio Riverwalk.  We talked about our families, the fact that an American host took him to the Outback for dinner one night, and missional churches (of course). 

Michael shared one observation that I found interesting.  He said that in his experience the churches that struggle the most with missional transformation are the ones "medium" in size.  Most people think it is the mega churches who are caught in the attractional mode, seeking to their numbers (attendance, cash, and buildings) going up.  But in his experience, the mega church pastors are restless.  Most reach mega status and think, there must be more to being the church than being big.  

New church developments, on the other hand, can begin with a missional foundation.  They organize around small groups that serve.  Small established congregations, with the right leadership, can also make the transition from attractional to missional without too much difficulty because they are nimble. 

Medium churches, however, have a harder time.  Michael posed two theories.  Medium sized churches sometimes have their eyes locked on the large church, committed to getting "there."   The programs, worship schedule, and services are just large enough that people imagine them a little big bigger and a whole lot more effective.  On the flip side, some churches have their eyes focused on the past.  They don't want to get too big, remembering when everyone was known by name and the pastor attended every pot luck and graduation ceremony in town. Because they don't really want to welcome more people into the community of faith, they focus on maintaining what they have. 

In either case, medium sized churches struggle to transform from institutional churches focused on maintaining their own community to missionaries focused on serving their neighbors in the name of Jesus.  

Of course this is a generalization.  Every established church struggles to transform. Even new church developments that are planted with missional DNA sometimes lose their way. 

 

But what do you think about Michael's observation?

Gravity

Yesterday I attended a seminar by a pastor named Ron Archer.  He is a pastor in Florida, chaplain to the NFL, and consultant to the White House.  He is an engaging speaker with an incredible story. 

He was discussing vision - how to share it and how to gather people around it.  He talked about gravity.   Newton assessed that the force of gravity was dependent on the size of the object.  The reason the Earth orbits the sun is because the sun is much bigger than the Earth.  The moon orbits the Earth because it is smaller.  So the force of gravity was dependent on its size. 

Einstein came along and posited a new theory.  Instead of being related to size, the force of gravity is dependent on density.  Black holes have an extraordinary gravitational pull because they are so dense.  

How do people relate to the vision of your church? Why do they stay connected to it as they follow Jesus Christ?  If you are trying to attract lots of people by getting bigger - bigger stage, more programs, better coffee - then you may be disappointed.  The question is how clear is your vision? How focused is your church on pursuing that laser focused vision?  Trying to be all things to all people will result in a fuzzy galaxy of loosely connected stars. 

Of course, you can have the wrong vision.  I know many churches who are laser focused on the 1950's - how their church used to be.  The primary theory of how black holes are formed is that a star dies and collapses in on itself.  Very large stars collapse in and become very dense.  Everything is trapped in its gravitational pull.  Even light is trapped and absorbed. 

A vision bright as the sun will give warmth, light, and life to those around it.  The sun exudes itself and the Earth benefits. A church focused on giving to the community, not on preserving itself, will be full of energy and enjoy its life-giving power. 

Big or small is not the question.  Missional churches come in all sizes.  The question is how clear, compelling, and mission committed is your vision?  Are you a black hole or a sun? 

What Do You Measure?

Reggie McNeal has me thinking about what we measure.  In an interview about his new book, Missional Renaissance, we states:

I wanted to help leaders develop a scorecard that rewarded their missional efforts. The church growth era certainly had a scorecard (one that we are still using) that declared winners and losers at that game. We 

need a scorecard that gives expression to the multi-dimensional facets of the missional church.

My experience with the church growth era scorecard is the classic ABC's - Attendance, Buildings, Cash.   This is what we as a body measure and publish.  Each congregation's attendance (worship and Sunday School) and annual budget is recorded and shared at Presbytery, online, and in conversations everywhere.  Certainly this is how the media talks about our church, in terms of declining members.  But I don't blame the media, because they learned it from us. 

What if we changed the scorecard? What would you measure?  I belong to a downtown church.  San Antonio has one of the highest rates of homeless children in the country.  What if we measured how many children are in stable homes because we exist as a church?  What if we focus on that number? 

The scorecard would be hard to compare because what is measured would be unique to each congregation. Small, large, city, rural - each church is unique with a particular calling to serve its community.  And maybe that is where it gets tricky.  How would we assess per capita, determine delegates to governing bodies, and such? 

Maybe we should try and find out.  Maybe when we focus on being the church in our community the rest will follow.  That may sound naive, but I would like to try.  I would like to belong to a church that measures our impact for the Kingdom instead of our collective worth in property, cash, and membership. 

What do you think?  How can we change the scorecard? 

Michael Frost in Texas - May 3-6

Two opportunities to engage Michael Frost - brought to you by Presbyterian Global Fellowship.  We are excited to have Michael back after his popular keynote presentation at the 2007 Inside Out Conference in Houston.  

First, Michael will preach all worship services at First Presbyterian San Antonio, Texas on May 3.  He will also further unpack what it means to be a missional Christian at a special "Conversation with Michael Frost" Monday, May 4, at 6:30 p.m. in Covenant Hall. This 90-minute session is open to everyone. Childcare is available for the May 4 event by contacting April Kuper at 210.226.0216, ext. 232.  More information at First Presbyterian San Antonio's website: Click Here. 

Second, Michael will go to Houston for Missional Living in Today's World.  He will address issues facing each of the diverse communities that are hosting his time. Chris Seay, Rudy Rasmus, Dave Peterson, and Jim Herrington will lead discussions regarding our faith communities, our city, and the various ways we struggle to be the real Jesus in the real world. 

What does it mean to truly be Jesus in the communities 

and cultures we live in?  

What radical changes are required of congregations 

who want to focus on the mission of the Church as 

opposed to the traditions of the Church?  

How do we challenge the vision of the domesticated 

Jesus we learned about in Sunday School and truly 

follow the Jesus portrayed in the Gospels?

Schedule, more information, and registration at www.frost.mdpc.org. 

Not looking back

Darrell Guder, in the Rian lectures delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary, acknowledges the challenges confronting missional leadership.  "Christendom gave us wealth, legal protection, political power, and cultural hegemony.  It is unsettling that [these are] ending."

If you are not unsettled, then you are not awake.  As we live into the reality that Christendom is over, we find ourselves not knowing how to "be church."  As Reggie McNeal said in our Atlanta gathering, we know how to "do church."  But in the new reality of a post-modern, post-Christendom world, how do we  "be church"? 

This question is the reason Presbyterian Global Fellowship came to be and invites you to join the conversation.  Because it is a question and we are all in this journey together.  This is not a tall steeple movement, it is not a rich church movement, it is not a "theologically right" movement.  PGF is a gathering of individuals and congregations who are Reformed and discerning how to be Reformed in a post-modern world.  PGF is a gathering of individuals and congregations who seek wisdom and leadership from our global brothers and sisters who have been effective witnesses for Christ in places in which Christianity did not enjoy wealth, legal protection, political power or cultural hegemony.  Because they have a lot to teach us!  PGF is a gathering of individuals and congregations who seek to support one another during this difficult transition.  

Guder goes on to say, "But the end is an opportunity to discover new lenses that obscure our view of the gospel."  There are no glasses for looking back.  No matter how hard we try to forge them out of polity or fond memories of how it used to be.  

New lenses are good.  Guder says, "we can experience what it means to be under Jesus' lordship when his lordship is mysterious and not publicly acknowledged."  If you are up for an adventure, then PGF is the movement for you. 

Kelly Kannwischer

What is PGF going to do about....

This is a question that PGF gets all the time.  So, I want to take the time to address it and invite your input.  I have asked this question myself as the Executive Director, because it is easier to to motivate people to join a movement that is doing something.   

What PGF is committed to "do" is two very simple acts.  First, PGF will support, foster, and inject missional thinking.  In other words, PGF's purpose is to help Presbyterians become aware that there is an alternative to thinking about the church as an organization that needs to be maintained.  Instead, the church can be an organic group of human beings sent out into the world to serve and point to Jesus.  This may sound simple or redundant.  But it represents a fundamental and colossal change in what "church" means to most Presbyterians.  

Why does PGF bring in all these speakers and focus on conferences and gatherings?  PGF serves by engaging with thought-leaders.  These thought-leaders are scholars, missiologists, missionaries, authors, pastors, and other great servants who can help us understand how our communities of faith are being affected by the culture.  They also provide insight into how the church can effectively witness to the love of Christ in a postmodern and pluralist world.  In other words, we focus on conferences and gatherings because we need to hear the invitation to become missional!

PGF is criticized regularly for inviting so many non-Presbyterian types to our gatherings.  The reason is that we have easy access to Presbyterian leaders, thinking, and scholarship.  And it is wonderful.  But we also need to challenge ourselves by engaging thinkers who are NOT Presbyterian.  People who will inspire, shake us up, even point out where we are falling short.  How else will we learn and grow? 

The first thing PGF will continue to DO is support, foster, and inject missional thinking. The second is be  a support group for those brave souls and congregations who commit to transformation.  The shift to a missional understanding of church is no simple task.  It involves confession that the world has changed but the way we do church has not.  It involves grieving, because there is no going back to the 1950's model. It involves new thinking, which is hard for many Presbyterians to embrace.  

We need each other if we are going to make it.  We need to share the struggle, share what we are learning, share prayer, share resources, and share a commitment to keep Jesus at the center of it all.  As a fellowship, we will continue to provide the opportunity to be in community with each other in ways that is based on relationships and not on Robert's Rules of Order. 

What is PGF going to do about....  PGF is going to foster missional thinking and provide community for those who are braving the transition.  

PGF is going to do the work Christ called us to do.  To be his sent ones in the world.   With full assurance that he is out ahead of us, behind, us, in us, and loving us as our Lord and Saviour. 

Quite frankly, I think that is enough. 

Calvinism Hinders Being Missional?

Southern Baptist Convention Today recently interviewed Dr. Bill Wagner.  Dr. Wagner is a candidate to be President of the Southern Baptist Convention.  The interview can be found on their website: http://sbctoday.com/2008/03/07/interview-with-dr-bill-wagner/

In the interview, Dr. Wagner states: "However, I have spoken to a lot of our missionaries overseas and its a very strange thing because our missionaries have said that we are beginning to get more and more people out on the field who are Calvinistic in their theology, and it is strange, but those that are Calvinistic are not nearly as desirous of winning people to Christ as they are about talking about theology. So I am little bit fearful, that if Calvinism begins to have too much influence, that we might go the way of some of the other Protestant denominations have gone and that is to deemphasize our missions.

Now, I know of a lot of tremendous missionaries who are Calvinists. But I say, by and large, Calvinists have a tendency to be less missional in their approach."

What do you think?  What do you think he means when he uses the word, "missional"?  Look forward to a good discussion.  The Article in Time Magazine that Sparked this discussion is titled: 10 Ideas That Are Changing the World Right Now - #3 The New Calvinism.  

Missional not for everyone? Is transformation possible?

As you may or may not know, the mission of Presbyterian Global Fellowship is: To transform mainline congregations into missional communities following Jesus Christ. 

This week a pastor and blogger, Doug Resler, challenged the worth of this mission.  He makes two arguments.  First, missional ecclesiology isn't for everyone.  Second, that it is not reasonable to think that institutional/traditional/attractional churches can make the shift to missional/incarnational. 

As a leader in PGF, a life-long Presbyterian, and someone under 40 years old in leadership in the church, I find this conversation of utmost importance. 

So read what he says.  He is a great writer, so I urge you to absorb his thinking and arguments for yourselves. Because if missional ecclesiology is a fad for a few and/or not even possible for most, then I personally have a lot of changes to make in my life. 

Should All Churches Make the Missional/Incarnational Leap?

Thinking Out Loud

Generationally Speaking

When I became a solo pastor four years ago I knew that I was in for quite a learning experience.  As a rookie I knew the learning curve was quite high and that I’d have to quickly discover how to moderate a session, do administrative work, interpret the scripture each week, care for the hurting, discern a vision as to where God was calling us and everything else that goes into being a solo pastor.  To describe it would take pretty much every adjective Webster could come up with:  exhilarating, exciting, discouraging, frustrating, fun, boring.  You get the point.  But amongst all these descriptors what is perhaps the most applicable of all is the word exhausting.

 

I didn’t realize just how tiring it would be to try and help a congregation become more missional.  I still feel a bit like a wimp admitting to it.  I mean, I’m not out pouring concrete or working on a roof or traveling from one city to the next.  Heck, I don’t even stand very much.  That said, I have frequently thought that it’s a good thing I’m still somewhat young because otherwise I’m not sure I’d have the energy to do this.  (I keep waiting for the new Gatorade geared toward solo pastors.  Any ideas for the name?)

 

As I’ve wrestled with this weariness, there have been a couple things that have really helped to restore my energy.  One of these is the glimpses I receive from time to time of how the congregation is really beginning to see God at work in their lives, the community and in our church.  To look into people’s eyes and see them light up as they describe how the Spirit surprised them at work or how God revealed himself while reaching out to our neighbors is enough to keep me going for weeks.  Those moments are nothing less than miracles to me, fortifying my faith in God and my calling to this place.

 

The second thing that has rejuvenated me is the conversations that I have with other solo pastors.  The truth, of course, is while there are many similarities between solos, associates, and seniors, there is something unique to being “the staff.”  I am reminded of a conversation I had where, after telling an associate pastor that I worked in a small church he asked, “So if it’s small, how many pastors are on staff?”  Not a bad question I suppose, it simply reveals just how different of questions we’re asking. 

 

But perhaps equally as important as my conversations with solo pastors are my conversations with young solo pastors.  While I knew that this particular calling would have lonely times, I didn’t fully appreciate how much I would miss conversing with colleagues my age.  It isn’t that we don’t have much to learn from our seniors or that I don’t enjoy older colleagues it’s simply that, as all generations will attest, we simply see the world (and the church) differently.  And when you’re tired and needing a pick-me-up it’s nice to not have to interpret what I’m saying to another generation.

 

As a fellow young solo pastor said to me the other day, it’s nice to be able to talk about being missional in a small church without having to convince the other person of  the legitimacy of  what we’re doing.  These conversations I’ve had have encouraged me, restored my spirit, and helped me to see what a unique opportunity we young solo pastors have.  I have become more and more convinced that rather than waiting for larger churches to come our way, or daydreaming about how much better things would be if we had an associate, that we as energetic small church pastors are actually standing (or sitting!) in the middle of where so much of the missional action is.  But, this understanding has come mostly through those pivotal conversations I’ve had, allowing me to engage with colleagues coming from the same place and dealing with the same things. 

 

It doesn’t mean, of course, that we don’t need to talk to all kinds of pastors of all ages.  It does, however, mean that if we are to truly understand the unique opportunities we have that we must talk with and listen to other young solo pastors.  In this way we will not be so tired or caught up in the busyness of our particular vocation that we miss out on this beautiful work of God to which we have been called.   

Multi-site Church as a Missional Strategy...

First Church, Champaign is a multi-site church.  In a nut shell that means we are one church made up of two campuses. I am an associate pastor at First Church and the lead pastor of our Southwest Campus, called "the Launch".  If you are new to the whole concept of multi-site churches, you can explore it further here: http://multisitechurch.typepad.com/

So, why in the world did we do this?  For me, the heart of this whole MISSIONAL movement is that the core of our identity (as individual followers of Christ and as the body of Christ) is our “sent-ness”.  And a multi-site strategy became, for us, an opportunity to flesh that identity out.  We are pursuing a multi-site strategy because we are realizing that our "sent-ness" is more important than being together.

In Life Together, Bonhoeffer quotes Luther: “we love to be among friends, and to sit among the roses and the lilies, but our calling is always to go and live among the thorns.”  That's our tension!

Truth be told, we started down this road for sheerly practical reasons.  We didn’t have enough parking.  We were land locked.  There was a wee bit of tension between the traditional worship service and the contemporary service.  We were a very old downtown church, but all the growth in our city was out in the suburbs.  We didn’t want to abandon the heart of the city.  But we felt strongly compelled to more effectively love our neighbors out in the burbs who were not remotely likely to find their way into our downtown sanctuary.

So we did both.  We stayed in the heart of the city and we expanded into the suburbs.  We recruited 22 families (75 people) to be the heart of our new campus and we worked out an agreement with the new elementary school out on the edge of town.  And we opened our second campus. A year and a half in and we’re averaging 250 attendance.

There are tons of challenges within this model. 

But here’s a couple of benefits.  (And a couple of reasons you might want to think about trying it)

1.  It turned our eyes outward.  It pushed us to think about ministry in terms of our neighbor and our coworker and our peers instead of just the person we sat beside in worship.  It is pushing us into a Great Commission kind of mindset.  Without a doubt, it would “feel” better and maybe even “look” better to all be together in one place, but instead of focusing on internal measures of success, we are focusing outwardly on our ability to love and serve our neighbors.

2.  It gave us an "incarnational".  We meet in a school cafeteria.  Instead of stained glass windows, we have posters of pop stars drinking milk on the walls.  Traditional models of church have (inadvertently) communicated to our members that you come to church to practice your faith.  But this multi-site model has reinforced for us that we can “do church” anywhere and everywhere.  We practice our faith in the places we go every day.  My son goes to school at the school where our campus meets.  He’s in that building 6 days a week.  There will never be any question for him that God is with him when he’s going through his day at school.  Not only is God present with us in those “secular” places, but we are present as the body of Christ in those places: in the schools, in the places we work, in our neighborhoods.

3.  Mission vs Program.  At our new campus, space and time limitations mean that we can only really do the programs that we have to do.  We've been forced into a Simple Church model.  We really only have a few committees.  So instead of burning up our volunteer's time and energy with committee meetings, we are releasing them to pour their time and energy into chasing after the Mission of God.  Instead of putting so much time and energy into maintaining a host of programs inside the church, we are freeing them to pour their time and energy into being the hands and feet of Jesus to their neighbor, their peers, their co-workers, the school where we meet, the poor in our city, etc.  

4.  Turning “sacred cows into hamburger”.  One of the biggest challenges of shifting a church culture can be the steadfast hold that certain programs have.  It’s the “we’ve always done it that way” syndrome.  Going to a multi-site model has basically forced us to stretch beyond what we’ve always done and instead do what will be most effective.  At our new campus, we don’t have a building that’s our own so we are forced to be innovative.  Anything’s possible.  It has to be.

In short, a multi-site strategy has given us a great framework for being a missional church.  We’ve made a bunch of mistakes along the way.  And we’ve got a long way to go.  We have to be very intentional to not let ourselves slip back into our deeply engrained habits of the attractional, program driven church.  But we’re making progress and learning as we go!

What do you think?

Scott Keeble

Teaching Pastor @ the Launch

www.scottkeeble.blogspot.com

My Letter to the Editor of The Outlook

Dear Mr. Editor, 

In response to your article, Educating the rest of us, I respectfully pose that you have missed the point entirely.  You state that Eileen Linder shared statistics about the Presbyterian Church's loss of members to tell the truth, correct misunderstandings, and set the record straight.  

She gives four reasons that the church is losing members that are all about us: not being on the right block, not having young adults, not having enough parking, or bad sermons.  These are not the reasons, they are simply the symptoms.  

We are losing members because we continue to do 1950's ministry in a culture that is 21st century.  We are losing members because we continue to try and attract people into our buildings to experience our type of Christian community instead of going out to serve people where they are.  The road to vitality is not by looking in, but by being sent into the world to partner with Jesus.  We will continue to lose members if fail to transform into missional communities that can effectively share the gospel in a culture in which Christianity is not the norm. 

 If we continue to focus on how to modify programs and classes to attract people, then we will continue to fail.   We must transform the heart and soul of our congregations into being missionaries sent out to join Jesus in the world.  In this adventure, there is not collective despondency over membership loss. There is only the excitement of finding out where God is leading. 

Kelly Kannwischer

Growing Crisis Threatens Idea of One

The New York Times Published an article today about how the growing economic crisis is threatening the European Unity's unity.  Growing Economic Crisis Threatens the Idea of One Europe (http://tinyurl.com/bg2ugn).  The basic premise is that the European Union has a common currency - the Euro.  But they do not share a common polity.  Quoting the author: "With uncertain leadership and few powerful collective institutions, the European Union is struggling with the strains this crisis has inevitably produced among 27 countries with uneven levels of development."

Mainline denominations have the inverse problem: common polity without a shared currency.  As Presbyterians, we have a common polity as defined by our Constitution (Book of Order and Confessions).  But we do not share a common currency - who we understand Jesus to be.   

For years we have focused on tinkering with polity.  What should be in or out of the Book of Order.  At the recent assembly, translations and versions of confessions were debated.  Renewal groups spend time on votes, issues, and overtures.  

But what about the other half of the equation:  Christology - who is Jesus?  How do we understand our relationship to him, as individuals and the church?  How does that affect our interpretation of scripture? 

The PCUSA finds itself in the same boat: "Uncertain leadership and few powerful collective institutions" that result in the PCUSA struggling with the strains the crisis of postmodernity has inevitably produced among thousands of churches with differing understandings of the person and divinity of Jesus. 

The missional church movement is about getting in touch with who Jesus is, what he is doing in the world, and figuring out how we are called to participate in his work.  In this metaphor, it is about focusing on the currency.  

Without a common currency what is the point of a common polity?  

Robert Austell on Missional - Part 1 Defining Missional

The following is part of a workshop I taught at the Presbyterian Global Fellowship (PGF) “Gearing Up” conference in Atlanta. The content and illustrations are from life at Good Shepherd, but I was trying to identify key transferable concepts, particularly for life in smaller churches (though I hope they would transfer into any context).

I intentionally avoid using the word “missional.” It sounds like a buzzword and a fad. Plus, I was sold on being missional before I ever heard the word. (I am going to use it in this series for search purposes.)

Further, to really understand and BE missional, one has to understand the word, not just use it. It’s not enough to slap the label on a program: “we’ve renamed our men’s ministry M3: missional men’s ministry.” In order to live it, preach it, develop it, etc. you’ve got to “get it” (understand it).

At Good Shepherd, a two-fold master analogy and image emerged as I tried to internalize, embody, and communicate these themes.

LIGHTHOUSE is an image that describes God’s rescue, redemption, and calling of a people out of the dark world. The gathered community serves as a lighthouse to the surrounding community: housing the light, harboring those in need of refuge and sanctuary, and serving as a secure beacon in the midst of storm and darkness. (Clearly, if no one knows your church is on the corner, it’s hard to be a lighthouse!)

SEARCHLIGHT is an image that that describes participation in God’s mission to seek and save the lost. It is the gathered community getting up and getting out to bear the light into the dark world. I will further explore these two images in a subsequent post.

When I first encountered Presbyterian Global Fellowship (PGF) in 2006, they didn’t use the word missional either. They talked about being “inwardly strong and outwardly focused.” This is helpful: it describes to people what it means to be missional in a memorable way.Figure out how to talk about “being missional” in a way that people can understand… and then don’t stop talking about it and living it out!

To read the rest of this series, visit Robert's superb blog at: http://robertaustell.blogspot.com/2009/02/defining-missional.html

Money or Trust

Which is more important:  money or trust?  What do you put your ultimate trust in?

This past week was a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.  The group was presented with the new results of the Edelman Trust Barometer.  The results showed that the trust level that people are placing in institutions is plummeting.  For example:

1.       62% of people trust corporations less than they did a year ago.

2.      Only 38% said they trust business to do what is right – a 20% plunge from last year, putting the level at a ten year low.

3.      Only 17% said they trust information from a company’s CEO.

4.      77% said they refused to buy products or services from a company they did not trust.

5.      72% criticized a distrusted company to a friend or colleague.

6.      Trust in business magazines is down from 57% to 44% and trust in market analysts is down from 56% to 47%

7.      Trust in TV news is down from 49% to 36% and trust in newspaper coverage is down from 47% to 34%.

8.      The least trusted industries are automotive and banking.

Mr. Edelman, the creator of this trust barometer said, “America is the new Europe.”  The drop in the trust level in American business is now equal to the trust levels in France and Germany, and just under the UK.  He said, “It’s going to be harder to rebuild our economies because no institution has captured the trust that business has lost.”  In previous surveys, the church has not scored well on earning people’s trust either.  We need to do everything possible in our congregations, in our presbyteries, and in our denomination to earn people’s trust. 

A professor of political science at the University of Nebraska said, “In the past, when people said they didn’t like big government, the alternative was business, and that was a positive alternative.  What we see now that is different in this climate is a lack of trust in government, but also a lack of trust in business.  So where do we turn?”

That is part of the message we communicate to our world.  When what you have put your trust in fails you, where do you turn?  What is it that will not let you down?  What will never let you down?  People these days are cynical, suspicious, and feeling burned.  Some are angry, depressed, and scared.  Some don’t know where to turn.  Some don’t know who to look to. 

Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”  We have been called to witness to the person of Jesus Christ.  People always need Jesus, but particularly now, at this point in our world history, people really need Jesus.  Part of our commission is to introduce people to Christ.  We need to invest ourselves in people who are not yet in church.  We need to invest ourselves in our communities, showing people that we care.  We need to move back into our neighborhoods.  We need to extend hospitality and open up our homes to people who live around us.  If ever there was a time when people needed some good news, it is now. 

As we our reminded in the words of one of our great hymns: 

“My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.  On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.”

 

 

The Pastor is Not to Blame

 

Everyone is struggling with the radical changes happening in our culture.  The church is struggling, especially the mainline church.  And the question is, who to blame?  Who do we blame for the fact our church is struggling?  

The answer that is the most tragic is: blame the pastor.  Let's blame the pastor.  She doesn't spend enough time visiting people in the hospital.  They don't play broom ball at youth group anymore.  He doesn't like old people.  She doesn't preach from the lectionary.  He spends too much time with people in the community instead of caring for us.  She doesn't share leadership with lay people. He shares leadership with lay people too much .  She changed confirmation from eighth grade to ninth grade.  He wants screens in the sanctuary!

I am sure you have your own list of errors, faults, and bad decisions your pastor has made.  But is that really the reason your church is not growing?  Is the pastor really the reason the 1950's is never going to come back? 

It is hard for everyone.  Christendom is over.  Yet our understanding of how to be in the church in the world has not adjusted.  Please don't blame the pastor for the fact your church isn't how it used to be.  The church isn't how it used to be because the world, and the culture we live in, is not as it used to be.  It is not the pastor's fault. 

There is an opportunity for pastors and elders to roll up their sleeves and jump in to this new reality.  It can be a very exciting adventure to explore how your particular church, in your particular context, with your particular gifts and resources, is called to join God and his amazing work in the world.  What is God doing in your community right now to further the Kingdom? 

Find out.  Together.  Don't blame the pastor for the radical changes in our culture.  In fact, don't focus on blame. Focus on the joy of being a partner with Christ. 

Cash Cab - Missional Game Show?

  

I never heard of this show until Alf Halvorson (pastor, First Presbyterian Bethlehem, PA) brought it to my attention.  He tells my husband - this is a great show and missional!  So, here is credit to you, Alf, for this idea. 

And for me spending 30 minutes watching this show.  The idea is that the person does not go to the game show - the game show comes to the person.  If you haven't seen the show, an unsuspecting person in NYC hails a cab.  They get in and state the address of their destination.  BAM - they are in a game show.  They answer questions as they ride along.  If they get to their destination with no more than 2 incorrect answers, then they get the cash.  If they reach 3 incorrect answers, they are kicked out of the cab.  They are left alone to get to their destination. 

Instead of churches focusing on attracting people to the fancy game show studio, churches should train their people to be a witness to Christ wherever they are.  Even in NYC cabs. 

I like the metaphor, Alf.  A game show that comes to you.  

Of course, it is a metaphor and therefore not perfect.  Jesus doesn't abandon you short of your destination without recourse.  Confession and forgiveness are a ticket back in the cab. 

The question I have is for the folks who play Cash Cab.  Do they care any more about Cash Cab after they play?  Is it a fun distraction in their day, maybe their 15 minutes, and then back to NYC life?  Folks who try to get on shows work hard - they create audition tapes, they audition, they stand in line for hours, they jump and down and act crazy.  They pay attention to the show and take interest in the show succeeding, mostly by watching.  It is the adage -- you get out of it what you put in.

Cash Cab seems to me to be a mere curiosity.  If the Cash Cab disappeared from NYC streets tomorrow, would anyone really care?  I don't think so.  People will continue to hop in cabs in route to their destination.  Well, Alf would care.  He likes the show. 

The danger of a Cash Cab vision for ministry is that it can be a mere curiosity that does not change lives.  After all, the idea is to help people have a life long relationship with Jesus.  However, limiting the Christian life to a TV studio is equally dangerous.  

Thanks, Alf, for the introduction to Cash Cab!

 

Going Dutch and divided

by Kelly Kannwischer

An article published in the October 18th, 2008 issue of the Economist titled, Mergers, acquisitions and spin-offs, examines what happens when Christian groups unite.  The answer?  They split. The reporter first examines the schism in the Russian orthodox church.  On one side are "white" anticommunist exiles who are defiant not only of communism but any close relationship between Moscow and the church.  The other side are the Patriarchate of Moscow who still uphold deals made under the Soviet regime.  This intra-Russian dispute is dividing parishes, families, and churches.  

The reporter then goes to examine the Reformed Church.  First noted is the attempt by the WCC to merge Calvin following Protestants with Luther following Protestants.  Why? Because they now feels that the doctrinal differences between Calvin and Luther shouldn't be a make-or-break matter in the 21st century.   In South Africa, the mainly black and coloured Reformed churches are dismayed that their white compatriots in the Dutch Reformed church won't accept their terms for reunion.  Interestingly, a sticking point has been acceptance of the "Belhar Confession" which the white Dutch Reformers don't embrace. 

In their homeland, the Netherlands, a reunion 40 years ago among groups is fragile.  60,000 people left to form the "Restored Reformed Church" professing true Calvinism against the Lutheran doctrine brought in.  The reporter states, "Just as happened with the Russian re-union, some clerics hovered between the amalgamated body and the dissidents, in a few cases switching sides more than once."

What about Scotland, the PCUSA motherland? The Free Church of Scotland ("wee frees") and the Free Presbyterian Church ("wee wee frees") take pride in not patching over differences between them.  

Greek Orthodox clerics who quit their national church in the 1920's because it adopted a modern calendar continue to fuel schism. 

And here is the reporter's conclusion, which I think we American Presbyterians should ponder - "There is a feeling that shoehorning religious groups together isn't always feasible or desirable."  Quoting Odair Pedroso Mateus, a Brazilian Protestant who watches church reunions for the WCC, "Institutional reunion was a modern idea - perhaps in the post-modern era, we have to reconcile the existing diversity," he says. 

Reconcile the existing diversity.  Personally, I agree with the reporter that institutional union or reunion, as a force, is not nearly as strong as the power to split.  "Connectedness" is not going to come through institutional unity.  Rather, we will connect with others through specific relationships, partnerships, and communions as we follow Jesus in service to his people.  

What do you think it means for us to "reconcile the existing diversity?"

Our Massive Transition

Last month, I was re-reading a portion of The Missional Leader  book by Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk with a group of pastors, and I came across a section that speaks to the situation we are going through in our world today, as we enter this new year.  Listen to this:

“It is not only the church that has been experiencing discontinuous change; our whole society is in massive transition.  Since the end of the Cold War, society has encountered a growing number of fracture lines.  Our lived experience is that no one knows how to address these fractures, and our learned ways of working out our place in the world no longer seem adequate.  The result is confusion and anxiety.

“German sociologist Ulrich Beck summarizes the reemergence of insecurity, even before a post-September 11 world, as people’s primary experience.  He says, ‘Studies show that more and more people consider their life and well-being under threat.  Unemployment no longer threatens only marginal groups, but also the middle sections of society, even groups (such as doctors and executives) which, until a few years ago, were considered the very quintessence of middle-class economic security.  Moreover, this is happening on such a massive scale that the difference between unemployment and threatening unemployment is becoming insignificant to the affected parties.’

“People are losing their orientation.  The political, social, and economic systems that brought prosperity over the past fifty years no longer function and people see no alternatives.  They feel caught in a web of change they neither understand nor control.  The result is a high level of anxiety, insecurity, and confusion.  At the same time, most people have no words to explain these experiences, nor names for the forces shaping their lives and creating insecurity.  This is because the stories that used to explain their experiences no longer seem relevant or applicable.  People feel anxious and paralyzed.

“As Beck tells us, we live in a social context ‘in which everything that was conceived of as belonging together is being drawn apart’; the accepted, normal story of twentieth-century middle-class life has been shattered and nothing but uncertainty appears to be taking its place.  We are in a global-risk society where traditional means of forming life (family, church, nation, business, law, and politics) have been drained away, leaving a world that appears without direction.

This is a description of what I see.  We are going through a massive transition.  While our economy is at all-time lows, the level of confusion and anxiety are at all-time highs.  People are looking for answers, and many of the answers we are looking for are eluding us.  The society we have been used to has broken down, and a new one has not yet emerged to take its place.  The stories that gave our lives meaning now seem empty and we are in need of a new story to take its place.  We live under this huge cloud of worry, fearful of what lies around the next corner. 

As the level of anxiety rises in society, it rises in the church, as well.  In the coming year, we can expect the level of conflict to increase in our congregations, because that’s what happens when people become anxious.  We take out our fears on each other.  Instead of ministering to each other, we attack each other, and it slows us down in our efforts to be sent into our communities.  Our level of stress will grow this year, and at certain points along the way, it will not be pretty. 

Jesus Christ does not remove us from difficult times.  But, in the midst of life’s difficulties, we continue to be sent out by Christ’s Holy Spirit to people and communities that are in need, that don’t know what they need, and that don’t know Who they need.  In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Paul says,

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;  persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. “

It is a time of confusion.  It is a time of massive transition.  It is a time of great need.  The paradigms of what it means to be a congregation, a presbytery, and a denomination are changing in significant ways.  New stories are emerging that will shape us as the people of God for the near future.   We need insights from one another in order to see what Christ is up to in our world today, and how the Holy Spirit is wanting to re-shape us for this next generation.  As we begin the 2009 year, I hope we can find new ways of becoming a learning community together, so that we can be sent into God’s  world around us as Christ’s missional people.  It’s a time of massive transition. 

Sent! The PGF Podcast

This is Kelly Kannwischer, Executive Director of Presbyterian Global Fellowship.  I am letting you know that we have launched a podcast, Sent!  It is not the most eloquent of podcasts - yet.  It is just me, my phone, my laptop, and Garageband.  The folks at the Mac store have been very patient.  

But what my technical skills lack, the participants more than make up for.  Graham Baird, a new church development pastor under the age of 40, recently joined me.  He shared his thoughts regarding new church development based on his experience in Paso Robles, California.  What he says might surprise you.  For example, he ardently opposes bringing Presbyterians from any other congregation to the church plant.  Why?Listen and find out. 

Rob Weingartner and Paul Parsons talk about supporting missionaries - and exactly how you can be confident and feel great about the amazing work they are doing.  Your contributions do not need to be lost in Louisville.  How?  Rob and Paul talk about it. 

Also, there is already a "special edition."  Since there are only 2 episodes, this is a little silly.  But First Presbyterian San Antonio hosted a gathering of missionally minded congregations in Texas.  It was a great event for elders and leaders to discuss the enormous changes taking place in the culture and therefore the church.  One of the features was a panel discussion regarding the present and future of the PCUSA.  The panelists were: Mark Roberts (PCUSA pastor and current leader at Laity Lodge), Michael Walker (former PFR Executive Director, one of the PGF founders, and current theologian in residence at Highland Park Presbyteiran), Nancy Cross (elder and current co-moderator of the Presbyterian Coalition), and me (Executive Director of PGF).  If you want to listen, feel free to subscribe to the podcast. 

Sent! The PGF Podcast is available for free from itunes or Click Here. 

Why not leave the PC(USA)? by Mark Roberts

If you haven't discovered it already, Mark has a great blog. One of his postings is a thorough discussion of the schism in our denomination.  And why some of us are choosing to stay, albeit with a significant refocus.  Check it out - Mark Robert's blog - Why not Just Leave the PC(USA)

The Presbytery of San Diego Votes to Ordain an Evangelist

At its regular stated presbytery meeting on Tuesday, November 18, 2008, the Presbytery of San Diego examined Mr. Nate Landes for ordination as an evangelist, and approved him by a unanimous voice vote.

 Nate Landes is the former youth director at the First Presbyterian Church of San Diego.  He received his M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Seminary, and is completing his Ph.D. in Global Ethics/Poverty at Claremont School of Theology.  About two years ago, Nate resigned his position at First Pres, and started a new ministry called the Urban Youth Collaborative (www.uycollaborative.org).  As a youth director at an urban church, God gave him a real burden for the teenagers of the city.  90% of teenagers in the city of San Diegodo not have a church home.  Many of them have never been to church, don’t know who Jesus Christ is, live in challenging and dangerous environments, and often go hungry.  Nate felt led by God to start a new ministry to reach this challenging group.

 The Urban Youth Collaborative now ministers to 700 students each week, on the campuses of 18 high school and junior high campuses around the city.  The UYC helps connect churches and youth directors to the young people and the schools.  The assist with student-led lunchtime Bible clubs, and have seen many young people commit their lives to Christ.  They give students Bibles, do leadership development, operate a food pantry, offer tutoring resources, and provide chaplains to some of the sports teams.  They help bring in speakers for all school assemblies, offer counseling, and take kids to summer camp at Forest Home and to an FCA camp in  Santa Barbara. 

It is a holistic ministry, ministering to spiritual, physical, and relational needs.

 Nate was under care of the Presbytery of San Diego.  He felt called into ministry, but as the ministry of UYC grew, he did not feel called to be a traditional pastor.  He wondered if he could be ordained as an evangelist, to minister to young people on their school campuses, and help connect them to churches in our area.  We did some research and found that Leighton Ford (brother-in-law to Billy Graham), was ordained as an evangelist in the Presbyterian Church about fifty years ago.  We discovered that the Book of Order allows us to ordain people as evangelists.  G-11.0103p says that one of the responsibilities of the presbytery is “to designate ministers to work as teachers, evangelists, administrators, chaplains, and in other forms of ministry recognized as appropriate by the presbytery.”

 Our presbytery has never ordained anyone as an evangelist before.  But the more we talked about it, the more it seemed to make sense.  It is “out of the box” from what we are used to, but it is a ministry that our city desperately needs.  As our COM discussed it, we talked about the importance of having Nate connected to one of our churches.  He talked to the session of the church where he is most active, and they decided to enter into a parish associate relationship.  Nate was examined for ordination, and spoke about how this Urban Youth ministry started.  He talked about the Muslim and Buddhist kids he encounters every week, and how he engages them in conversations about Jesus Christ.  He is a person of high energy and great faith, and he is helping our presbytery look at ministry through some new lenses. 

 His examination for ordination was one of the high points of our presbytery meeting.  It was another reminder that God is at work in our church, Christ is at work in our cities, and the Holy Spirit is doing some new things to bring the two together.  We are doing our best to be faithful, and to follow Christ down some roads we haven’t walked down before.  Please pray for us, and we’ll give God all the glory for everything good that happens.

 

A Textbook Case of Unmissionalized Thinking

At the last meeting of my presbytery, it was announced that the presbytery office would be phasing out the director position of a hunger ministry that became a permanent program of the presbytery in 1982. Once the director position expires, oversight of the hunger ministry will return to the its committee, which is a committee of the Outreach Ministry Team, which reports to the presbytery.

Understandably, this news was met with some dismay on the presbytery floor, with a proposal that the decision be postponed and fears that at the elimination of the position, “people will go hungry.” Attention was then cast toward the lack of funding for the position, and then to the per capita giving chart included in the handbook for the meeting.

This meeting was on a Saturday, and the most telling statement I heard during the discussion began with the following phrase: “Go back to your congregations tomorrow and tell them…” Can you guess the second half of the command? Was it:

A) “…that we need to recognize the hunger problems in our community and pick up the slack.”
B) “…to go volunteer at a local hunger ministry or find ways to give to hunger organizations.”
C) “…that Jesus is calling them to get personally involved in their community's needs, including hunger.”
D) “…to give more money to presbytery so people won’t go hungry.”

If you said (D), then you’re right…sadly. Because a vote on my ordination was up next on the docket, I kept my decently-and-in-order hat on and resisted the temptation to scream, “Christendom!  Modernity! Dependency on structures!”

Have we really conditioned people to respond to a mission opportunity by asking their congregation to give to presbytery? I don’t know why the presbytery created a full-time position to serve under a subcommittee of a committee, but I’m sure the intentions were good. It’s not as if Joe and Jane Layperson dumped the money on presbytery to absolve themselves of having to volunteer at a soup kitchen. People love to participate in mission! But if the first response to a cut in a presbytery’s hunger ministry is to give money to presbytery, that’s about as anti-missional a proposal as one could imagine.

This meeting occurred back in September, and October’s financial adventures suggest that presbyteries will be forced to cut many program director positions in the near future. My prayer is that pastors and lay leaders see the opportunity to exhort their fellow Christians into fuller participation Jesus’ mission in the world, rather than rally around bureaucratic dependency. They could start where I tried to: in the coffee break that followed that debate, where I quoted Luke 9:13 to everyone I knew:

“You give them something to eat.”

The Deepening Leadership Crisis

David Gergen is a former White House advisor to United StatesPresidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. He now directs the Harvard UniversityCenter for Public Leadership. He recently wrote a blog article about the deepening leadership crisis we are facing. Here are some of the excerpts from his article…

 “Yesterday’s stunning rejection by the House of Representatives of this financial rescue plan represents one of the clearest signs yet of the deepening leadership problems we are facing as a people. The pleas of the President, Congressional leadership, the business community, and the press were all ignored and defied by a majority of members in the House… (One of) the reasons so many voted against the package was that the public has been against it – and in turn, the public has not been persuaded because it has lost trust in our national leadership. And THAT is a serious problem…”

 “At Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership … we have taken public surveys in each of the past three years measuring confidence in our nation’s leadership.. The results haven’t been pretty. In the fall of 2005, some 65% said we have a leadership crisis in our country. By 2006, the number had risen to 69%. And last fall, no less than 77% declared there was a crisis of leadership. 79% said the United States would decline unless we get better leaders.”

 “Please note that this survey did not reflect just an unhappiness with President George W. Bush. It was widespread across 12 different institutions and leadership groupings. Only the military and the medical profession were given relatively high marks this past fall. The institutions and groups with the lowest levels of confidence were smack in the middle of the recent financial meltdown. Four of the five lowest rated groups were business, Congress, the executive branch, and the press. No wonder the “leaders” of these institutions had so much trouble persuading the general public about the seriousness of our financial mess. What we see today then is a leadership vacuum.”

 According to the survey, when asked “How much confidence do you have in the leadership of the following sectors?” with one = none, two = not much, three = a moderate amount, and four = a great deal, here were the results:

Military                                                    3.15

Medical                                                    3.02

Supreme Court                                      2.90

Educational                                            2.84

Nonprofit and Charitable                 2.83

Religious                                                 2.80

State Government                               2.78

Business                                                  2.75

Local Government                             2.70

Congress                                                 2.53

Executive Branch                               2.43

Press                                                        2.26

In his book Eyewitness to Power, David Gergen identifies seven characteristics that are needed for the leaders of today’s organizations:

An inner mastery,

A central, compelling purpose rooted in moral values,

A capacity to persuade,

Skills in working within the system,

A fast start,

A strong, effective, team, and

A passion that inspires others to keep the flame alive.

 As we talk about the paradigm shift going on in the church in the western world, from an attractional and maintenance model to a more missional model, one of the key ingredients is leadership. What does a survey like this tell us about how our religious leadership is being perceived by the culture around us? What does this tell us about the kind of leadership challenges we should expect and how we should respond? There are leadership skills, habits, and capacities that are essential for pastors and religious leaders, that we may have never developed or been told that we needed before.

 David Gergen says we have a leadership vacuum today. Do you think that is true of the church? Can you identify some church leaders that you admire and respect? 

 The Allelon Missional Leadership Network is one group that has helped me think through what church leadership for our times needs to look like. I believe leadership is about:

Creating an environment,

Character and authenticity and courage,

Allowing the vision to emerge from the bottom up, not giving it from the top down,

Creating meaning in the midst of chaos, and

Shaping a new imagination, not tips and techniques.

 We have a leadership crisis. We have a leadership vacuum. We are in a time of transition. How will God create a new leadership to move us forward during this time of great uncertainty and great opportunity?

 

 

Different By Design

Will Mancini brought this to my attention. Wayfarer is a ministry with a mission statement and values worth engaging.

Mission statement: Wayfarer lives to design collisions that awaken lives to rediscover Christ.

Values:
Christ before Christianity
… because following a person is different than fitting in to an institution

Rhythm before Regimen
… because greatness must be inspired before it can be managed

Wrestle before Settle
… because easy is not always best

Go before Know
… because sometimes the Promised Land is only visible as you begin to walk

We before Me
…because I may be good but we are better

Cultivating a New Imagination in the Church

In Stephen Ambrose’s book Undaunted Courage: Merriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and The Opening of the American West, Ambrose describes a cultural imagination that was as limited as what we see in the church today.

When Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated as president in 1801, nothing moved faster than the speed of a horse. Nothing had ever moved faster, and as far as anyone in 1801 was able to tell, nothing ever would. And except on a racetrack, no horse moved very fast. Road conditions ranged from bad to abominable, and there weren’t very many of them. The best road in the country ran from Boston to New York. It took a light stagecoach three days to make the 175 mile journey. The 100 miles from
New York to  Philadelphia took two days. South of the new capital of  Washington DC, there were no roads suitable for a stagecoach; everything moved on horse back. To the west beyond the mountains, there were no roads at all, only trails. To move men or mail from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Oceantook six weeks or more; anything heavier took two months at least.

People took it for granted that things would always be this way. Henry Adams, writing in the 1890s about 1801, observed that “great as were the material obstacles in the path of the United States, the greatest obstacle of all was in the human mind. Down to the close of the 18^th century, no change had occurred in the world which warranted practical men in assuming that great changes were to come.” Sound like the church today?

Since the birth of civilization, there had been almost no changes in commerce or transportation. Americans lived in a free and democratic society, the first in the world since ancient
Greece, but a society whose technology was barely advanced over that of the Greeks. The Americans of 1801 had more gadgets, better weapons, and a superior knowledge of geography over the ancients, but they could not move goods or themselves or information by land or water any faster than had the Greeks and Romans. Describing the mindset of the time, Henry Adams wrote, “Experience forced on men’s minds the conviction that what had ever been must ever be.” Sound like the church today?

But, only 60 years later, when Abraham Lincoln became president, Americans could move bulky items in great quantity farther in an hour than Americans of 1801 could do in a day, whether by land (25 mph on railroads) or water (10 mph upstream on a steamboat). This great leap forward in transportation – by a factor of 20 or more – in so short a space of time must be reckoned as the greatest and most unexpected revolution of all – except for another technological revolution, the transmitting of information. In Jefferson’s day, it took six weeks to move information from the Mississippi River to Washington DC.  In   

Lincoln’s, information moved over the same route by telegraph all but instantaneously. Time and distance, mountains and rivers meant something entirely different to Thomas Jefferson from what they meant to Abraham Lincoln.

 Merriwether Lewis spent countless hours studying with Thomas Jefferson before embarking on his great trip of discovery with William Clark. By the time he finished studying, Lewis knew all there was to know about the Missouri and what lay west of it. The problem was that no citizen from the original thirteen states, had set foot between a point west of St. Louis and the Pacific Ocean. The maps of this land had all been drawn by people who had never been there before! And the best scientists in the world could not begin to fill in that map until someone had actually walked across the land, taking measurements, and reporting back on what it really looked like.

I believe 2008 is a little bit like 1801. In the North American church of today, we think the way the church is now is the way it always has been and the way it always will be. We have lost our missional imagination. We have lost our ability to dream and see new forms and shapes of the church that God might be bringing about, right under our very noses. The biggest obstacle holding us back from a vibrant and vital future in the church is ourselves. It is our lack of imagination that keeps us stuck, repeating what we have always done. Instead of cultivating a new imagination, we run off to conferences where people “sell” us on their tired, worn out programs. We run to Christian bookstores and buy the latest fad, because we assume they must have better ideas than we do. They don’t. Many of the ideas on the Christian market today are awful. They are terrible. But, we buy them anyway, because we can’t think of anything better.

But, what if we are on the verge of a creative breakthrough, like they were in the early 1800s? What if we are on the brink of an inventive wave that is getting ready to sweep the church? What if the seeds of landmark ministries are being planted as we speak?

This is not something that we can plan for, but it is something we can get ready for. We can learn adaptive skills, missional habits, and flexible behaviors, that will help us make some shifts when they begin to emerge.

It was a favorite saying of one of Thomas Jefferson’s 20^th century successors, Dwight Eisenhower, that in war, before the battle is joined, plans are everything, but once the shooting begins, plans are worthless. The same can be said about exploration. In battle, what cannot be predicted is the enemy’s reaction; in exploration, what cannot be predicted is what is around the next bend in the river or on the other side of the hill. The planning process is as much guesswork as it is intelligent forecasting .

The North American church of today is in an age of exploration. We can make plans, but when we move down the river, we must be ready to quickly throw them away, when we see what is around the next bend. A missional church is built on the cultivation of imagination of regular, everyday Christians. If we are not yet fanning those flames, it’s time to get started.

 

A Strategic Proposal for Implementing Presbyterian Global Fellowship Values

by the reverend doctor D. Paul La Montagne

After the 2008 General Assembly I was very troubled and reflected and struggled to find a good strategy for living with (or without) our denomination. In the course of reviewing various options I examined the Presbyterian Global Fellowship closely for the first time. I was deeply moved by their missional values and especially by the way in which they had given those values priority over the travails of the PC(USA). PGF values could guide a strategy that would move us forward in this difficult time. But translating values into operating strategy is an important and a difficult step. What follows is a proposal for a strategy based upon PGF missional values. Once I had constructed it I realized that I could give both it and PGF my commitment.

Alan Hirsch

PGF's new friend and headline speaker at last month's Inside-Out Conference was apparently quite impressed with our own Mark Labberton.  Check out Alan's thoughts (and blog)!

Po-Co Reflections

A few colleagues and I sat down yesterday at the coffee shop here at Fuller Seminary to chat about our thoughts and reactions to the Inside-Out Conference.  We all agreed that Alan Hirsch had some great thoughts and challenges that Presbyterians should be heeding, and we all enjoyed networking and seeing old friends.

Subverting the church

A few days later but I'm Josh and I was invited to blog during the Inside-Out Conference.

This is and was the challenge for me on day one: to reimagine and engage with a Jesus that is subversive to the ways that we think about and practice life in the church.

I love interaction with people and the ability to talk in multiple venues with speakers and friends. Today, I had the opportunity to engage in multiple conversations with Alan Hirsch, author of The Shaping of Things to Come and The Forgotten Ways. Personally, I loved our conversation offline in the hallway, in a small group setting with our church leadership team and in a Irish pub in the evening. His plenary session had plenty to think about but my mind was already hoping for more one-on-one conversation. Some conferences give the opportunity for this and others don't. Today I was allowed this great opportunity.

It's late and I need to crash so let me keep this short and simple. I was personally challenged today in specific ways:

(1) Alan asked an offhanded question tonight during his first talk, "What are we doing keeping the people of God from being the people of God?" This is a question we need to ask ourselves if we want to encounter a subversive Jesus...the Jesus of the Bible. What does this mean for an ordained pastor who is already a part of the church organization that seems to be feeding the passivity of people through producing religious goods and services? It's not a question I want to dig into tonight but I need to do further wrestling later.

(2) This insight has been galvanizing over the last few months but today in conversation with Alan and our church leadership team was a definitive moment of clarity. For missional transformation to happen and for the local church to be transformed, it must begin with people like you and me. We (the people of God) need to make the commitment to go on mission together and see where God leads us. As a leader, I think I need to ask the hard questions of people, drilling down so that they start to discover the prophetic imagination that God has given them and then I need to get out of the way of what God is and will do in them. I also need to get in the game and reimagine a prophetic imagination of my own in relationships with people in my world.

(3) One of Alan's suggestions to us was "Experiment like mad." Don't think of it as failure but recast or reshape new initiatives in light of experimentation. Our church needs to let go of the pursuit of excellence and a set of metrics that don't seem to get us anywhere different and be encouraged to use our innovative DNA and risk experimentation that might include failure that we would learn from.

For more info about me or further thoughts about similar topics see my blog.

Off to bed and another great day tomorrow or is this today?

A church that looks like Jesus

Day #2 at the Inside-Out Conference.

When I am confronted with the reality of the church (and my church) and the Jesus I know from scripture, I am challenged with a Jesus that I think would come into our meetings/gatherings and act rather disturbing in our midst as we go about out business. In fact, I'm not sure our business would continue the way we know it.

With both plenary speakers from last year, Michael Frost, and this year, Alan Hirsch, I am left asking difficult questions about what we are doing and why. Why do we worship in the from and fashion that we do? How is missional living shaping anything we do from small groups to meetings to worship services? When will the church growth model of church, we are so fond of, finally go out of style in the U.S.? What will it take to finally change our ways? How much does the church have to decline? How many people have to leave? How many students will not connect with the modern church we've created?

I heard from someone working in the background of PGF that the production crews (made up of a wide variety of people and backgrounds) from last year and this year loved Frost and Hirsch. They were laughing at the their jokes and following with their incredible story telling. I'm not sure all the people at the conferences loved their messages. Honestly, their message is difficult to handle when we start to wrestle with real questions about a real church and what it means to follow Jesus.

What do we do when the message inside a conference is less than good news to those attending but sounds like good news to those on the outside? I believe we need to listen up and hear where the laughter is coming from. If we identify that a group of people who are apparently outside the conversation enjoy the message, then we need to bring this sense of the redemptive work of God to our churches and communities.

Inside-Out: Evening, Day 2

Why go to a conference like Inside-Out?

I should start by giving a list of 5 fluffy reasons like: "You'll come home with 100 new ideas for your church and a 12-step program for missional transformation!"

Inside-Out: Morning, Day 2

We're on Day 2 of the Presbyterian Global Fellowship Inside-Out Conference in Long Beach, California. Worship started off with a great shout this morning, and I must say its such an amazing experience to sing with a room full of Presbyterians passionate about involving themselves in the Kingdom of God.