The Emmaus Project

Often when I am on vacation, I find that I have enough time and distance to mull over how things are going in my home congregation. Without the day to day pastoral demands or weekly worship preparation, it is easier to have a big-picture view. It is a great time  to do a bit of leisurely thinking, dreaming, imagining. This summer, I have been mulling over some of my Emmaus experiences.  

One of the clearest messages from the Emmaus Project gathering in April was that many of us long for fresh and engaging experiences of Christ. A recent article on worship from the Alban Institute picks up on this very same hunger, and the church’s struggle to address it. Here is an excerpt:       

Many mainline churches quit asking long ago whether our worship leads people to an encounter with Christ and the Holy Spirit. Think about why we do what we do in worship. Do we worship the way we do because it is how we have always done it? Do we worship the way we do because it is what we are best at? Do we worship the way we do because it makes certain members of the church happy? These reasons reside at the center of what has caused so many people to walk away from the church. Many people have wanted a tangible, transforming encounter with God but have never found it in worship, because worship has been focused on everything but that transforming encounter. To foster an encounter with God means designing worship that is deliberately focused on making a spiritual and psychological impact on people. If people are to experience God in worship, it needs to resonate with where they are psychologically and spiritually. If we don’t offer people a venue through which they can access the spiritual, they will gladly find some other venue or ignore their spiritual yearnings and substitute the pursuits and pleasures of the world…

I hope you will read the whole article here:

The Alban Institute – 2010-07-12 Why Do We Worship the Way We Have Always Worshiped When People Keep Changing?.

Does your presbytery worship together in ways that connect you with the gospel in deep and meaningful ways? Has your congregation sought to make changes that encourage the transformation this article hopes for? What do you long for in worship and where do you find it?

Perhaps this summer while you’re out in a canoe or sipping a glass of wine on the back deck you’ll find a few unhurried moments to consider it. Enjoy your vacation!

Some of you may have read this article by Stephen Farris, called Pilgrims, Roosters, Sore Feet and Healing Spirit: A Conversation with Paul Myers, in the current issue of the record. If you haven’t, you might be interested.

http://www.presbyterianrecord.ca/2010/06/01/pilgrims-roosters-sore-feet-and-healing-spirit/

According to Farris, Myers’ book, “names our near fanatical attention to getting the exact wording of proposed changes to our rules of process just right, while congregations die around us….”.  I was disappointed, however, that although Farris alludes to some of the themes I hear talked about in so many Presbyterian circles today (dying churches, misplaced veneration, whether we will greet a new reformation) he refuses to engage them. I would have loved to hear more. Perhaps it is simply a discussion for another forum.

Some of you may not know that one of the companions we invited to join us at the Emmaus event was Brian McLaren. He is a well known author (A New Kind of Christanity; Everything Must Change), as well as a speaker and musician. Unfortunately despite his interest, Brian was unable to join us due to scheduling conflicts. I saw a video of him this week, however, and am sorry that he couldn’t be there. Perhaps if there is ever another event, he will be able to come and share the journey with us…

The video that I watched was his 2010 commencement address at the Virginia Theological Seminary on May 20th. With roots in the Episcopal church, and as the recipient of a degree that day, Brian spoke with warmth and wisdom. He addressed the fresh graduates with a beautiful sense of hopefulness, and urged them to cultivate friendship both within and beyond themselves. In it there is much that is relevant to those of us on the Emmaus journey, from his comments on ‘nibbling ducks’ to his advice that says, “You’ve got to smoke what you sell”! 

Watch it here: Brian McLaren VTS 2010

I hope you take the time to listen. And I would love to hear your response to what he has to say. Was there anything in there that rang true for you as it did for me? Are there pearls of wisdom for us, as leaders in the church, to hear? Would you want him to come and offer that same advice to your colleagues in presbytery?

In Ontario, the weather has been hot for the last few days, and especially hot when you consider that it’s only May. In the Toronto Star this morning, an article about the weather caught my eye because the headline read, “Beat this heat? We’d rather complain”. http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/814469–beat-this-heat-we-d-rather-complain

Canadians love to complain about the weather. Presbyterians love to complain about presbytery. At least, that’s how it seems to me. We say things to our congregation like “Ugh. Presbytery tonight” (insert eyeroll here). Or we create a Facebook status that says, “Off to presbytery. Wish me luck.” Some presbyters complain and don’t go that often; some presbyters go and complain the whole time. Either way, most of us are well-rehearsed grumblers.

If we hope that presbytery will be transformed into a lively, engaging and effective community, we need to sing a new song. It will take some concerted effort, to be sure.  I have been startled at how I fall into that same old rut without even thinking! I am trying to be more intentional about what I say (and what expression I wear when I say it).  I am trying to remember what will be great about presbytery, like seeing my friends or talking about the mission of the church.

I wonder what you hear when you listen to people talk about presbytery in your part of the country. What do you hear coming out of your own mouth? If the old song isn’t all it could be, perhaps it’s time to try a new one. We can sing it together.

At the Emmaus gathering, I sat next to Bill Easum at lunch. I asked him if he thought that effective ministry always made a congregation grow, since every example he gave in his talks included descriptions like, “that church qualdruplied in size”or “they grew to be over a thousand strong”. After a long conversation he said that no, not every thriving church would or needed to grow into a giant congregation. “Some churches are strong and stable without much numnerical growth” he said. 

And yet, numbers are the first place we start to assess struggling congregations. When the worshipers have dwindled and membership has declined, presbyteries are often called on to assess its ‘viability’. In my presbytery, that might include a program like Natural Church Development. Or, as was the case with a report last week, it might involve a series of indicators tied to money and worship attendance. There does not seem to be any national standard or common practice. 

Michael Kooiman from the United Church of Canada wrote a blog postcalled “A New Measure of Viability” suggesting a very different way of deciding whether a congregation should continue in its current form. They include:  

Environmental Footprint: How much gas do you burn? Is your building insulated? Have you upgraded windows or doors? Are you heating the neighbourhood or operating as a good steward of the environment? 

Social Capital: How much social capital does your congregation generate? Are you feeding the hungry in your area, are you significant contributors to local causes? Do you have actual congregational volunteers actively engaged in bettering the community? 

Rental Decisions: Is your congregation engaged in cost recovery through renting space? Who do you choose to rent to, and what criteria have you set? Related to the above, are you strengthening the community or selling your soul? 

Congregational Vitality: This is the most subjective measure, but an important one, nonetheless. Does your congregation reflect the neighbourhood? Do you have enough volunteers to manage the administration of your congregation? Do you offer programs that enhance the discipleship of your members? Are your people happy? 

Articulate Christian identity: Do your members share a common vision of the Christian life (at least a common continuum of belief)? Do they have the ability to articulate their faith, and have they found ways to share their faith with those within the congregation as well as those outside it? Would renters/neighbours identify the congregation as a community of faith? How is the mission of Jesus Christ alive in this congregation? 

You can read the whole post here: www.emergingspirit.ca/a_new_measure_of_viability 

These measures appeal to me becuase they look at more than simply financial reports, but they do present challenges in their application. Building rentals, for example, are quite common and may represent good stewardship–but who decides what qualifies as ’selling your soul’? And a question like, “Are your people happy” is a complex and subjective one that depends on who is asking and in what forum.

I think that our denomination would be wise to spend some significant time and prayer considering this, given the decline of many congregations across the country. Our presbyteries are going to need more and more help discerning and making decisions about closing churches in the years to come. Perhaps those presbyteries that have been creative and courageous and have found some kind of viability criteria would share, with the hope of helping others facing the same questions. Anyone?