The Emmaus Project

When our family was in Scotland several years ago, we came across this wall of an old church. I remarked, “Look at how the church was willing to change over time in order to meet its needs.” A friend remarked, “Look at how the church keeps making the doorway smaller and smaller, until no one new is able to get in.” My husband said, “But these are ruins–which means that the church died in the end despite, or even because of, the changes.”

What do you see when you look at this old church wall? What do you see when you look at the churches in your neighbourhood? Is there evidence of a faithful willingness to change when God has called a congregation into something new? Is their evidence of hospitality in those buildings? Evidence of growth? Of decline?

And when you stand back and think about it, what does your own church building say?

Some time ago, I discovered the work of The Clergy Health Initiative. This is a $12 million, seven-year program at Duke Divinity School intended to improve the health and well being of United Methodist elders and local pastors in North Carolina. On February 12, I read their blog post, which was written by researcher John Jameson. It cited the story of a pastor in Illinois whose first appointment out of seminary was to Wheatland Salem Church, a rural congregation averaging 50 in worship attendance, struggling to survive. Thirty years later he is still there, and the church has thrived during his tenure, erecting a new building to house its multiplying ministries, and growing to be the second largest church in his conference. Read the whole entry here: http://chi.divinity.duke.edu/

We in the church routinely hold up “successful churches”. Contests like the Presbyterian Record’s search for The Most Beautiful Church do it. Books like The Purpose Driven Church do it. People like you and I, standing in the parking lot and sighing wistfully about the church down the street do it, too.

Most of the time, I love hearing about what other churches are doing. I believe that in sharing stories of good news we can learn from one another, find new ideas and be encouraged. However, too often we feel more than just admiration. We feel inadequate. We lust. We secretly (or not so secretly) criticize with surprising venom.

One of the biggest reasons that we feel threatened when we hear a ‘successful church’ story is because we are convinced that our own congregation is not. We do not feel confident that God is among us. We are sure that we should be doing more. We think that if we were working harder, or had better leaders, or had more bums in the pews on Sundays then we, too, would be a ‘successful church’ story.

Yet if we look carefully, every one of our churches is a ‘successful church’ story. In each church there is the Good News of Jesus Christ. There are moments of grace, happy brides, mourners who receive comfort. There are sustaining Christian friendships, children who learn to sing “Jesus loves me this I know” and youth making their way in a confusing world with the help of seasoned Christians. Maybe not all at the same time, or all at the same church, but the evidence can be found. To have that in our mind when we hear a ‘successful church’ story could radically change our responses.

We are praying that the Emmaus Project gathering will have a humble quality about it, that ministers and elders will come neither to boast nor to envy but to share our journeys in a spirit of mutual servanthood. So many of us long to be free of the competitive spirit that pervades much of our church work.

God, help us!

This week, an article arrived in my inbox from Rev. Jeff Crawford (he is the Youth Ministry Consultant for the
Synod of Central, Northeastern Ontario & Bermuda). As he said in his email, the article is mostly about the Anglican church being “a generation away from extinction” but Presbyterians get a ’shout-out’. If you haven’t seen it yet, have a look: www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/anglican-church-facing-the-threat-of-extinction/article1462222

This is not the first doom and gloom church report that has appeared in the media. But it was an interesting contrast to another article that caught my attention this week. It seems that a church in Fayetteville, Altlanta has decided to put their building up for sale. Not because the church has died–on the contrary, the church is very much alive. According to the article, “In this time of economic famine, Rolling Hills wants to lose the mortgage, air-conditioning bills and insurance costs and move members off the pews so they could do more work in their community, in downtown Atlanta, and in Mexico and Honduras”. Read the whole article here: www.ajc.com/news/fayette/church-s-radical-act-101316.html

Some of us are axious about the possibility that the church may not survive. Yet there are signs, like Fayetteville, that tell us God’s church will surely continue, even if in a different form than we can see right now. I hope that our denomination is willing to be creative and take the risks necessary to let us be a part of that future.

“Our society needs more `meaning makers’…people who make sense of life…people who make sense of God…people who have integrity…people who reside in today’s world revealing with their lives and their lips that Jesus’ death is the source of vital life.”

 –Don Posterski, Reinventing Evangelism

This week, presbyteries are submitting the names of the ministers and elders who will attend the Emmaus Project event. It is exciting to see that so many people are keen on being there and exploring how God might be transforming the church. It is also quite something to see the short biographical sketches that accompany their names. Many of the people coming to this conference are not only ministers and elders in their own congregations, but serve in presbyteries, synods and at the national level, too. And that is just their church work. These are hard-working, busy people.

Seeing those biographies, it strikes me that the registration process is not just a list of names. It is a bold statement. People from all over the country are giving four whole days of their life to this event. They are setting aside every other demand on their time (and for most people, there are many). They are placing the church at the top of their priority list. They are saying the church is worthy of their time, energy, and effort. That is significant.

It is significant because fewer and fewer people seem to have time for church. Even among the ones who identify themselves as Christians, and even among those who are part of a believing community, being physically present at church is not regarded as particularly significant. Many families come to Sunday worship, but only in between hockey and soccer seasons, or when they are not visiting their in-laws, or when it is a special season like Easter or Christmas. We’ve all heard the “I can appreciate God on the golf course” speech.

Not that a lack of church attendance is always due to a lack of faithfulness. Nurses work shifts, children get sick, business requires travel. Our world is increasingly busy, and many of us who value Christian community still struggle to find the time to be regularly present for one another. There is a reason the church adopted a year of Sabbath a few years ago.

This registration is not just about compiling a list of names—it is an affirmation of faith. People across Canada are placing value on being present for one another and seeking God together. We are choosing to talk face to face, pray side by side, and let our voices mingle in worship. We are willing to share the precious gift of time in pursuit of God’s future for our denomination.

That is a welcome sign of hope for a weary church.

Every minister has their own sermon-writing rhythm. Some look at the scriptures weeks and even months in advance, planning their themes and making notes. At the other end of the spectrum are those preachers who get up very early on Sunday morning to think, pray, and prepare a few hours before the service. Most of us fall somewhere in between those two extremes.

Here it is on Friday, for instance, and I am glad to have my notes for Sunday finished. I am the sort of person who doesn’t leave too much to the last minute. Still, at the January meeting of the Emmaus Project planning team, I had a moment of panic when the committee was talking about worship for the upcoming conference in May.

Each team member will be leading worship at least once during our time together at the Nottawasaga Inn. Months ago, we decided on our scripture passages and most of us have some idea about what ideas or themes we might develop. But none of us has actually written anything. Then Wes Denyer had an idea: “Why don’t we”, he said thoughtfully, “share our sermons ahead of time? Next month we can start setting aside time to preach to the group. That way we can collaborate on ideas, encourage one another and make sure we are not repeating what someone else has already said.”

My first thought was, “But I’m not ready! I haven’t written my sermon yet!” That was quickly overshadowed by my second thought: Collaboration? In sermon writing? Who has ever heard of such a strange approach? Some of us work with musicians, to be sure, and some have worship committees that look after various elements of worship. But the sermon is almost always left to the preacher, and the preacher alone.

Wes’ suggestion did not hang in the air very long. The team immediately began discussing the benefits of such a collaborative effort. Collegiality, teamwork, cooperation and consensus have all been at the heart of the Emmaus Project and here was a way that the team could put it into action in a new way. We would be vulnerable to one another, listen carefully to one another, and leave behind the competitive spirit that so often pervades ministry.

Despite the fact that I now need to get hurry up and get prepared, I am excited about the prospect of sharing with my colleagues and receiving what I trust will be their grace-filled feedback. I suspect that our worship at the conference will be deeply enriched by our collaboration, opening new doors for the work of the Spirit. It won’t be long and we will know for sure!