It is Easter Monday. Hundreds of thousands of folks who worked hard to prepare their houses of worship for this most holy of our religious observances can now rest abit and reflect about the meaning of it all. Hopefully, those reflections will be full of the knowledge that God loved us so much that He gave his only Son, and that Son died for us bearing the weight of the sin of the world, and rose from the dead, showing us that truly, Jesus was the the Messiah, the Son of Man, God Incarnate.
It was in that resurrection that we can catch a glimpse of the glory that awaits us upon our physical death. Stunning! Awesome! Miraculous! Indescribable!
The concern that all missionary leaders face is now that we have passed Easter we will lull our ways back into our congregational routines which can be so human, demanding and draining. These routines can easily sap the spirit and dull awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Fanning the flame for the people of God can be a big challenge.
We now enter into a time that leads up to the observance of Jesus' ascension and the spectacular event of pentecost. We are fortunate to be a church that liturgically celebrates these observances. We can make them come alive through drama, music, visuals, re-enactments, and especially story telling. We must remember that it is our responsibility to keep God's story alive, not only for renewal but for those who have never heard them. Alot is at stake. Let's not let the work in preparing for Holy Week and Easter tire us from remembering some of the best of the story that is yet to come.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Invite, Welcome, Connect
Evangelism in the Episcopal Church is often maligned, dismissed, considered disrespectful of others' beliefs to the extent that we are rarely engaged in it. I have been convicted that I will never again let someone's dismissive remarks about the 'E' word go without a response. We have talked ourselves out of believing the critical need for each of us to share the Gospel, not only personally but corporately. The personal thing is hard. I have often heard it said, 'I joined the Episcopal Church so that I would never have to say the word 'Jesus' outloud.' This remark usually comes from someone who was raised in a more fundamentalist theological background who has found the Episcopal Church to be an open minded, non-pressuring kind of place in stark contrast to their upbringing. I am glad that our church has created a safe place for those who were beat over the head with fundamentalism. However, we do no one any good by dismissing evangelism altogether.
The Diocese of Texas has undertaken a Newcomer Ministry Project that takes a comprehensive assessment/look at the way we corporately invite, welcome and connect new persons into the lives of our congregations. The invitation speaks to the ministry of evangelism. The welcome speaks to the ministry of hospitality. The connection speaks to the manner in which we connect persons into the Body, listening and discerning spiritual gifts, God-given passion and talents and where these people may find a significant outlet for ministry. It takes all three acts of invitation, welcome and connection to open ours doors and closing our exits.
The response to this focus has been significant. It appears that people are realizing the call to evangelism is not one to be dismissed and that intentional work is needed to do this ministry well. We are seeing people get energized by the thought of approaching evangelism in these essential ways. There is alot of work yet to be done but this is a good start.
The Diocese of Texas has undertaken a Newcomer Ministry Project that takes a comprehensive assessment/look at the way we corporately invite, welcome and connect new persons into the lives of our congregations. The invitation speaks to the ministry of evangelism. The welcome speaks to the ministry of hospitality. The connection speaks to the manner in which we connect persons into the Body, listening and discerning spiritual gifts, God-given passion and talents and where these people may find a significant outlet for ministry. It takes all three acts of invitation, welcome and connection to open ours doors and closing our exits.
The response to this focus has been significant. It appears that people are realizing the call to evangelism is not one to be dismissed and that intentional work is needed to do this ministry well. We are seeing people get energized by the thought of approaching evangelism in these essential ways. There is alot of work yet to be done but this is a good start.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Timely Opportunity
As I watch the devastation of Japan with the earthquakes, the tsunami, the unbelievable speed at which normal life was destroyed in a matter of minutes for hundreds of thousands of people I reflect on the incredible life God has given us and how fragile our lives and world really are. In an instant life can be over. In an instant life as we know it can be changed for ever. Truly, the only constant in our lives is God, the Alpha and the Omega. The only source of hope is the power of the Holy Spirit to sustain us in times of dramatic challenge such as these. We have the power to manifest the love of God through our response to others who are going through crisis. Those of us who are blessed with more than we could possibly ever need have a responsibiity to give to those who are suffering. And there is always suffering in our very backyards. Every time we support those in need out of our gratitude to God we are drawn closer to Christ. And when we turn away from the opportunity to care by not reaching out with our time, talent or treasure, we distance ourselves from Christ.
Those of us in positions of leadership have the responsibility to guide others toward opportunities to give. God calls us to help others understand how imporant giving is to personal transformation. We should step out fearlessly in this regard. People will be changed when they engage in the sorrow and need of others. As leaders we need to model giving beyond what might be expected by those we lead. This is a time of extraordinary opportunity. How will you draw others toward giving to others in need?
Those of us in positions of leadership have the responsibility to guide others toward opportunities to give. God calls us to help others understand how imporant giving is to personal transformation. We should step out fearlessly in this regard. People will be changed when they engage in the sorrow and need of others. As leaders we need to model giving beyond what might be expected by those we lead. This is a time of extraordinary opportunity. How will you draw others toward giving to others in need?
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Getting off the Wheel
I have a unique perspective. Serving on a diocesan staff I am invited into alot of congregations to consult, do a bit of work, celebrate, and challenge. This is a privilege that I do not take for granted. It is also an opportunity to observe. And alot of what I am observing is a total consumption into busyness. All the activities of a church seem important when they fit nicely into their liturgical calendar correctness and congregational expectations of predictable activities. But they are a bit like a hamster's wheel. You know, the kind that are in their cages in order to provide a tool to keep them physically active and distracted. Please don't hear that I think all of a congregation's activity isn't important or necessary. It is just obvious to me that they are very distracting and time consuming. Racing around on a wheel keeps us internally focused and unable to get off very easily. They consume our energy to the point that we get exhausted and have to step off occasionally just to catch our breath. That leaves us unable to step back and really spend time and energy evaluating the effectiveness of our activity or putting energy into creative endeavors that truly take us out of our comfort zone.
Evangelism can take that kind of energy. One of our congregations in the Diocese of Texas recently decided to take its church into homes on a Sunday morning. It had an objective of getting into neighborhoods, into parishioners' homes which would be a comfortable place to invite 'guests' who were unchurched for fellowship, a brief worship experience, food and fun. They met in 12 venues across a broad geographic area. Almost 100 'guests' attended with many demonstrating a desire to know more about the church. I spoke to the rector and he said this event has changed his church. The benefits were many, not to mention introducing their congregation to many new people. It truly was an evangelical event that took the church into the community in a creative way and made an impact far beyond the metrics.
This sort of activity took months of planning and a willing spirit, believing that risking to do such a thing on a Sunday morning with most of the parishioners was a risky endeavor. But isn't having faith and being willing to do the extraordinary for God risky? Indeed it is. This sort of activity meant falling off the hamster cage wheel of predictability and diverting that energy into an opportunity that would enrich the life and mission of a congregation in extraordinary ways.
When was the last time your congregation took a major risk for God? What is stopping you from getting off the wheel?
Evangelism can take that kind of energy. One of our congregations in the Diocese of Texas recently decided to take its church into homes on a Sunday morning. It had an objective of getting into neighborhoods, into parishioners' homes which would be a comfortable place to invite 'guests' who were unchurched for fellowship, a brief worship experience, food and fun. They met in 12 venues across a broad geographic area. Almost 100 'guests' attended with many demonstrating a desire to know more about the church. I spoke to the rector and he said this event has changed his church. The benefits were many, not to mention introducing their congregation to many new people. It truly was an evangelical event that took the church into the community in a creative way and made an impact far beyond the metrics.
This sort of activity took months of planning and a willing spirit, believing that risking to do such a thing on a Sunday morning with most of the parishioners was a risky endeavor. But isn't having faith and being willing to do the extraordinary for God risky? Indeed it is. This sort of activity meant falling off the hamster cage wheel of predictability and diverting that energy into an opportunity that would enrich the life and mission of a congregation in extraordinary ways.
When was the last time your congregation took a major risk for God? What is stopping you from getting off the wheel?
Friday, February 25, 2011
Customer Centered Questions
Tom Ehrlich writes a number of blogs. I found the one he wrote today on "Customer Centered Questions" to be dead on for congregations that truly seek to be missionary focused. Take a few minutes to read it, then start asking your leaders the questions.
Mary
February 24, 2011
Ask "Customer-Centered" Questions
By Tom Ehrich
At dying churches, leaders are asking questions like these:
• What do WE want?
• What will please our loyal members?
• How little can we change and stay alive?
• How can we stay true to our identity?
• What can we cut next?
The attitude behind those questions is, in all likelihood, the primary reason for their dying. They will blame location, denominational politics, cultural shifts "against religion," recent clergy, and the recession.
But it's their attitude – call it "provider-centered" or "us-centered" – that is killing their church.
Thriving churches, on the other hand, are asking exactly the opposite questions:
• What do other people need from us?
• How can we deploy our present constituents to serve people outside our ranks?
• What changes must we make in order to connect with a changing world?
• How is God trying to change our identity to be more like that of Jesus?
• How can we improve our giving so that we can do more serving?
Call this attitude "customer-centered" or "other-centered."
You can see the difference in church web sites. A "provider-driven" site features photos of the building and information about what WE want to do. A "customer-driven" site features people, in all of their diversity, and tries to anticipate what site visitors need.
You can see the attitude on Sunday morning, when "us-centered" congregations talk with each other and ignore visitors, whereas "other-centered" congregations turn outward toward visitors, the unattached, strangers, and the different.
A provider-driven church will grudgingly rent its facilities to outside groups, with lengthy rules about usage; a customer-driven church will give its facilities away gladly, as well as its coffee and clean floors.
A provider-driven church will sing hymns that members enjoy singing; a customer-driven church will expand its music to embrace new constituencies, such as Hispanic and African-American, as well as contemporary Christian music.
The list goes on and on. The difference is profound, and prospective members can sense it immediately. Many never get beyond the web site that takes pride in a building but says nothing about mission. Or they attend a Sunday service, face tired old words and music, get frozen out, and never return.
If you wonder why the average age of mainline congregations is pushing 65 and young adults are missing, this is why. You can't build an enterprise without doing everything possible to connect with the marketplace.
Leaders make the difference. On their own, most folks won't venture into the uncomfortable, beyond the known, or outside their walls. It takes bold, risk-embracing and confident leaders to do that work.
While old dialogs are still going on, entrepreneurial leaders need to be asking better questions, imagining vigorous responses to a changing world, and shaping a future that is radically other-oriented.
Leaders need to fight against the inertia that constituents inevitably try to impose on them. Leaders need to risk being unpopular. The most change-resistant will threaten reprisals. But leaders need to push through such self-defeating behavior and take the congregation's future, not its momentary satisfaction, as their charge.
That is a tall order, and it's the reason leadership groups need to form strong bonds of trust and mutual support. It's why Benjamin Franklin said to his fellow signers of the Declaration of Independence, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
Mary
February 24, 2011
Ask "Customer-Centered" Questions
By Tom Ehrich
At dying churches, leaders are asking questions like these:
• What do WE want?
• What will please our loyal members?
• How little can we change and stay alive?
• How can we stay true to our identity?
• What can we cut next?
The attitude behind those questions is, in all likelihood, the primary reason for their dying. They will blame location, denominational politics, cultural shifts "against religion," recent clergy, and the recession.
But it's their attitude – call it "provider-centered" or "us-centered" – that is killing their church.
Thriving churches, on the other hand, are asking exactly the opposite questions:
• What do other people need from us?
• How can we deploy our present constituents to serve people outside our ranks?
• What changes must we make in order to connect with a changing world?
• How is God trying to change our identity to be more like that of Jesus?
• How can we improve our giving so that we can do more serving?
Call this attitude "customer-centered" or "other-centered."
You can see the difference in church web sites. A "provider-driven" site features photos of the building and information about what WE want to do. A "customer-driven" site features people, in all of their diversity, and tries to anticipate what site visitors need.
You can see the attitude on Sunday morning, when "us-centered" congregations talk with each other and ignore visitors, whereas "other-centered" congregations turn outward toward visitors, the unattached, strangers, and the different.
A provider-driven church will grudgingly rent its facilities to outside groups, with lengthy rules about usage; a customer-driven church will give its facilities away gladly, as well as its coffee and clean floors.
A provider-driven church will sing hymns that members enjoy singing; a customer-driven church will expand its music to embrace new constituencies, such as Hispanic and African-American, as well as contemporary Christian music.
The list goes on and on. The difference is profound, and prospective members can sense it immediately. Many never get beyond the web site that takes pride in a building but says nothing about mission. Or they attend a Sunday service, face tired old words and music, get frozen out, and never return.
If you wonder why the average age of mainline congregations is pushing 65 and young adults are missing, this is why. You can't build an enterprise without doing everything possible to connect with the marketplace.
Leaders make the difference. On their own, most folks won't venture into the uncomfortable, beyond the known, or outside their walls. It takes bold, risk-embracing and confident leaders to do that work.
While old dialogs are still going on, entrepreneurial leaders need to be asking better questions, imagining vigorous responses to a changing world, and shaping a future that is radically other-oriented.
Leaders need to fight against the inertia that constituents inevitably try to impose on them. Leaders need to risk being unpopular. The most change-resistant will threaten reprisals. But leaders need to push through such self-defeating behavior and take the congregation's future, not its momentary satisfaction, as their charge.
That is a tall order, and it's the reason leadership groups need to form strong bonds of trust and mutual support. It's why Benjamin Franklin said to his fellow signers of the Declaration of Independence, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."
Monday, February 21, 2011
The Spirit is Moving
Last weekend I had the opportunity to make a brief address to our diocesan convention about congregational development news in our diocese. In my mind it was perfunctory, a report of activity of the number of churches worked with, updates on our diocesan sponsored church plants, conversations we are having with congregations who want to do some creative 'planting initiatives'. This is my world. I really didn't think this was an extraordinary report. Little did I know the absolute BUZZ it would create. People stopped me in the convention hall to slather praise about it. I met a priest in a church three days later who said, 'best report in 21 years'. What was that about??? It really took me by surprise to see the reaction it stirred. Apparently my report's impact was all about the 6 congregations who have in the last year stepped out, tried to gather folks creatively to start satellite, daughter, spin off congregations, all with the pure motive of evangelism. Imagine that!! Congregations that love the Good News of Jesus so much that it motivates them to do this challenging work.
Something is afoot here. These are congregations who, with joy and anticipation, want to multiply for all the right reasons. This isn't about being mad, leaving, taking people out. No, it is about evangelism, pure and simple.
I think the news that congregations are doing this was met with great surprise and a reaction of hope. We all know these are tough times in our culture to start churches. We all know God calls us to do this very thing, no matter how big the challenge. Obviously, the Spirit is moving in ways that we can't fathom. Thanks be to God that we are seeing this work in our corner of the Episcopal Church. I hope this movement is contagious for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Countless lives are waiting to be touched, even transformed by our faithfulness to the mission of the Church. Let's allow the Spirit to open our hearts and minds to the possibilities right in front of us! How have you been inspired to act? What are you going to do about it?
Something is afoot here. These are congregations who, with joy and anticipation, want to multiply for all the right reasons. This isn't about being mad, leaving, taking people out. No, it is about evangelism, pure and simple.
I think the news that congregations are doing this was met with great surprise and a reaction of hope. We all know these are tough times in our culture to start churches. We all know God calls us to do this very thing, no matter how big the challenge. Obviously, the Spirit is moving in ways that we can't fathom. Thanks be to God that we are seeing this work in our corner of the Episcopal Church. I hope this movement is contagious for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Countless lives are waiting to be touched, even transformed by our faithfulness to the mission of the Church. Let's allow the Spirit to open our hearts and minds to the possibilities right in front of us! How have you been inspired to act? What are you going to do about it?
Monday, February 14, 2011
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day. The ONE day we set aside to say, "I love you". Funny that we have to have a national day to remind us to tell each other how much we care. I guess that is a good thing. It's too bad that we have to be reminded by florists and greeting card manufacturers and advertisers.
We hear alot about God's incredible, immeasurable, unbelievable love for us. But do we work to make sure that our congregations reflect that love, not only inside, but especially outside our walls? What power does that love have to change the world if we don't share it with those who need it the most?
I have the privilege of working with lots of congregations. Each one is distinctive. Each one has an intangible but palpable spirit. It usually doesn't take very long for me to sense that spirit. I often wonder about the courageous people who walk into our churches at a time in our culture when the act of entering a church on a Sunday is counter cultural. It would be a whole lot safer going to Starbucks and sitting on an outside patio or by a fireplace on a cold morning drinking a cup of jo then entering a strange place with an even stranger liturgy with people saying rote prayers who seem to know exactly what to say and do next. And to experience that odd time in the service when everyone turns around and says hello and in many places people get out of their pews and greet each other, but as a first timer it feels so lonely. These are the congregations that describe themselves as 'friendly communities' when actually they are just 'communities of friends'. People are often so in tune with saying hello to their friends and acquaintances that newcomers become invisible. Imagine how these visitors feel. The love of God is often not felt at those very awkward moments for these courageous souls who braved the visit. And the church can become a place that feels void of spirit because of people's insensitivity. Simple overtures, a sincere smile, an introduction, asking a few inquiring and caring questions, can translate into God's touch one for the other.
Valentine's Day is an okay reminder. Those of us who have experienced the profound love of Jesus MUST share it with a world that is yet to experience what we know is the most important and life changing love of them all.
Not being sensitive to the simple acts of kindness we can easily do for others is denying the power that we have to let God show His love through us.Every day for the people of God should be Valentine's Day!
We hear alot about God's incredible, immeasurable, unbelievable love for us. But do we work to make sure that our congregations reflect that love, not only inside, but especially outside our walls? What power does that love have to change the world if we don't share it with those who need it the most?
I have the privilege of working with lots of congregations. Each one is distinctive. Each one has an intangible but palpable spirit. It usually doesn't take very long for me to sense that spirit. I often wonder about the courageous people who walk into our churches at a time in our culture when the act of entering a church on a Sunday is counter cultural. It would be a whole lot safer going to Starbucks and sitting on an outside patio or by a fireplace on a cold morning drinking a cup of jo then entering a strange place with an even stranger liturgy with people saying rote prayers who seem to know exactly what to say and do next. And to experience that odd time in the service when everyone turns around and says hello and in many places people get out of their pews and greet each other, but as a first timer it feels so lonely. These are the congregations that describe themselves as 'friendly communities' when actually they are just 'communities of friends'. People are often so in tune with saying hello to their friends and acquaintances that newcomers become invisible. Imagine how these visitors feel. The love of God is often not felt at those very awkward moments for these courageous souls who braved the visit. And the church can become a place that feels void of spirit because of people's insensitivity. Simple overtures, a sincere smile, an introduction, asking a few inquiring and caring questions, can translate into God's touch one for the other.
Valentine's Day is an okay reminder. Those of us who have experienced the profound love of Jesus MUST share it with a world that is yet to experience what we know is the most important and life changing love of them all.
Not being sensitive to the simple acts of kindness we can easily do for others is denying the power that we have to let God show His love through us.Every day for the people of God should be Valentine's Day!
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