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!