I had the privilege of giving the opening keynote address at the annual COM-CPM Leadership Event for the Synod of Lakes and Prairies. They asked me to do a presentation on my sabbatical study last year, which is in a paper I've entitled "A New Church - A New Day." It was the first time I had an opportunity to go through my entire sabbatical study, rather than just presenting a piece of it to the Session, a piece of it to Presbytery Council, a piece of it to our Committee on Ministry, and a piece of it to the Presbytery as a whole. It got me excited again as I went back through my paper to prepare for the address.
My plan is to change my paper a bit, based on the discussions during my presentation at the Synod event. Then I want to get down to some serious editing, and begin to look for a place to get it published.
In the meantime, I hope to begin blogging my study paper, a bit at a time, until it's all on here.
I'd value any feedback, and look forward to sharing.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
If there weren't a Presbyterian Church in your neighborhood...
I've been pondering recently Cynthia Campbell's question to me a few months ago. She asked, "If there weren't a Presbyterian Church in your neighborhood, why would there need to be one?" This seems to pose really two issues.
First... We need to know our neighborhood! We need to be aware of the people in our neighborhood, the demographics of our neighborhood, the needs of our neighbors. In other words, we need to be involved in our neighborhood! It used to be, of course, that most all congregations were "neighborhood churches." But as mobility has increased exponentially in the past several years, this usually is no longer the case. To be sure, we have many folks in the neighborhood of Central Pres. that come to church here. But our members come from all over Omaha, and even neighboring communities. As a result, our church is not in touch with our neighbors. I sometimes wonder, what do our neighbors think of us? What do they think - if anything - as they walk and drive past our church each day? What I know is that our church needs to explore ways to get to know our neighbors and to know what their needs are. Then we need to design ways to meet their needs, not always expecting (and certainly not requiring) that they come into our church building, but that we reach out to where they are.
Second... We need to understand who we are uniquely as Presbyterian Christians. What do we have to offer our neighborhood and community, not just as a church, but as a Presbyterian church? We need to celebrate and live out some of those things that are distinctive to our tradition. Those things include a belief that the church is a community of individuals that live in a covenant relationship together. It includes a belief that the world and its concerns matter to God, and they therefore matter to us, and they demand our involvement in the affairs of the world. It includes a belief that God took the initiative to love and claim us as God's own children, and God's love is both unilateral and unconditional. It includes a belief that we are to live our lives in a response of gratitude and faithfulness to God, being good stewards of all that we are and all that we have. It includes a belief that we also are stewards of God's creation, and we therefore have a responsibility to care for the world that has been entrusted to us. It includes a belief that faith is a matter of our intellect as well as of our heart, and that it is not antithetical to question, examine, debate, and discuss issues of faith that are dear to us. It includes a belief that we do not demand a uniform code of belief in order to be a Presbyterian, but that we are free to differ in our beliefs, as long as we are still within a Reformed understanding of the Christian Faith, and that those differences make us stronger.
We Presbyterians offer unique perspectives to God, faith, Scripture, worship, and the world, and we need to claim and celebrate those perspectives as we go into our neighborhood and get to know the people around us and their needs.
First... We need to know our neighborhood! We need to be aware of the people in our neighborhood, the demographics of our neighborhood, the needs of our neighbors. In other words, we need to be involved in our neighborhood! It used to be, of course, that most all congregations were "neighborhood churches." But as mobility has increased exponentially in the past several years, this usually is no longer the case. To be sure, we have many folks in the neighborhood of Central Pres. that come to church here. But our members come from all over Omaha, and even neighboring communities. As a result, our church is not in touch with our neighbors. I sometimes wonder, what do our neighbors think of us? What do they think - if anything - as they walk and drive past our church each day? What I know is that our church needs to explore ways to get to know our neighbors and to know what their needs are. Then we need to design ways to meet their needs, not always expecting (and certainly not requiring) that they come into our church building, but that we reach out to where they are.
Second... We need to understand who we are uniquely as Presbyterian Christians. What do we have to offer our neighborhood and community, not just as a church, but as a Presbyterian church? We need to celebrate and live out some of those things that are distinctive to our tradition. Those things include a belief that the church is a community of individuals that live in a covenant relationship together. It includes a belief that the world and its concerns matter to God, and they therefore matter to us, and they demand our involvement in the affairs of the world. It includes a belief that God took the initiative to love and claim us as God's own children, and God's love is both unilateral and unconditional. It includes a belief that we are to live our lives in a response of gratitude and faithfulness to God, being good stewards of all that we are and all that we have. It includes a belief that we also are stewards of God's creation, and we therefore have a responsibility to care for the world that has been entrusted to us. It includes a belief that faith is a matter of our intellect as well as of our heart, and that it is not antithetical to question, examine, debate, and discuss issues of faith that are dear to us. It includes a belief that we do not demand a uniform code of belief in order to be a Presbyterian, but that we are free to differ in our beliefs, as long as we are still within a Reformed understanding of the Christian Faith, and that those differences make us stronger.
We Presbyterians offer unique perspectives to God, faith, Scripture, worship, and the world, and we need to claim and celebrate those perspectives as we go into our neighborhood and get to know the people around us and their needs.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Felipe Martinez
On my way between Louisville and Chicago this spring, I stopped in Indianapolis to visit with Felipe Martinez. Felipe was a candidate under care of Blackhawk Presbytery years ago when I chaired that committee. He was an exceptional candidate, and became an outstanding pastor. He now is the Associate Executive Presbyter of Whitewater Valley Presbytery. Felipe is a native of Monterrey, Mexico, and I wanted to get his perspective on how churches might do things in new and different ways. Here are some of the things that Felipe shared with me during the course of our conversation.
Whitewater Valley Presbytery is in a partnership with a group headed by Stan Ott, called Acts 16:5 (www.vitalchurchesinstitute.com). It is a program to help congregations consider how they are the church. What are they here to be and do? The Presbytery has entered into a contract with the group, and then invited congregations to participate. The cost is $1,300 per year, and about 14 churches are participating.
The Presbytery also is in an international partnership with a presbytery in Cancún. That Presbytery has a strong expectation of the leadership of their elders, which is something that the churches in WWV Presbytery are learning about.
Felipe mentioned that it might be worth looking at the Riverside Presbyterian Church in Sterling, Virginia (www.riversidechurch.com). They are a congregation that has intentionally chosen not to own a building. I will definitely follow up by contacting this congregation during this extended part of my sabbatical study.
Whitewater Valley Presbytery is in a partnership with a group headed by Stan Ott, called Acts 16:5 (www.vitalchurchesinstitute.com). It is a program to help congregations consider how they are the church. What are they here to be and do? The Presbytery has entered into a contract with the group, and then invited congregations to participate. The cost is $1,300 per year, and about 14 churches are participating.
The Presbytery also is in an international partnership with a presbytery in Cancún. That Presbytery has a strong expectation of the leadership of their elders, which is something that the churches in WWV Presbytery are learning about.
Felipe mentioned that it might be worth looking at the Riverside Presbyterian Church in Sterling, Virginia (www.riversidechurch.com). They are a congregation that has intentionally chosen not to own a building. I will definitely follow up by contacting this congregation during this extended part of my sabbatical study.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Joanne Lindstrom
Joanne is the Director of Experiential Education and Field Studies at McCormick... what I've known as a Field Ed. Director. Here are some of my notes from my conversation with her.
Scripture says that "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Word shapes and forms our culture. We have to keep our faith language and culture alive, and not be shaped by the business model of our culture.
She's very familiar with the Church in Ghana. She told me that the churches there are in the business of planting other churches. That's their mode of, and passion for, evangelism. For example, a church of 1,000 members might have 7-10 "daughter churches" of 100-200 members each, and the 200 member churches each might have one or two "daughter churches." In other words, instead of expecting people to come build up one congregation, they go to where the people are and begin a community of faith there! That reminded me of how Central Pres. ended up located where we are now. The congregation was downtown, but began a Sunday School mission in a small chapel at our current location. As that mission grew and grew, the congregation decided to move to the site. We went to where the people were. What can we learn from that attitude as we move into new ways of being the Church?
Joanne then asked a fascinating question: "Are we interested in 'growing' or 'swelling'?" In other words, do congregations just want to get bigger (i.e., have more members), or do we want to figure out what it means to grow in faithfulness and discipleship?
Scripture says that "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Word shapes and forms our culture. We have to keep our faith language and culture alive, and not be shaped by the business model of our culture.
She's very familiar with the Church in Ghana. She told me that the churches there are in the business of planting other churches. That's their mode of, and passion for, evangelism. For example, a church of 1,000 members might have 7-10 "daughter churches" of 100-200 members each, and the 200 member churches each might have one or two "daughter churches." In other words, instead of expecting people to come build up one congregation, they go to where the people are and begin a community of faith there! That reminded me of how Central Pres. ended up located where we are now. The congregation was downtown, but began a Sunday School mission in a small chapel at our current location. As that mission grew and grew, the congregation decided to move to the site. We went to where the people were. What can we learn from that attitude as we move into new ways of being the Church?
Joanne then asked a fascinating question: "Are we interested in 'growing' or 'swelling'?" In other words, do congregations just want to get bigger (i.e., have more members), or do we want to figure out what it means to grow in faithfulness and discipleship?
Cynthia Campbell - McCormick Seminary President
In the midst of her busy schedule, Cynthia Campbell was gracious enough to sit down and visit with me about my sabbatical work.
She began with what to me is an intriguing, compelling question: If there weren't a Presbyterian church in your neighborhood or community, why would there need to be one? This is a question worth pondering... and worth finding an answer for!
Cynthia was also very helpful to me when she asked what it was that sparked my sojourn in this area. I replied that, although I've been thinking and studying and praying and reflecting for years on different ways of being the church, the specific thing that sparked this sabbatical was our financial situation at Central. And, I said, chief among the drains on our finances is our building... with utilities alone costing us between $25,000 and $30,000 each year! Then there is the usual upkeep and repairs, but there are the long-term, major needs that we need to address in our building: the heating system (not just the boiler), deterioration of some of the stained glass windows, the continual moisture problems that we have, etc.
Cynthia replied by saying that if the church building is problematic, then we need to deal with the building! That helped bring things into focus for me. Merging with another congregation in our building, or bringing in other non-profit corporations in our building is not going to solve the building problems that we have. We either need to fix the building permanently, or else abandon the building and come up with something new. I know this sounds radical, but it makes sense to me. I already have passed this along to our Long-Range Planning Committee and to our Session. I also just shared this in my newsletter page at church that will be mailed out this week. We'll see how this "plays" in the congregation in general - although this seemed to make sense both to the LRP Committee and to the Session.
She began with what to me is an intriguing, compelling question: If there weren't a Presbyterian church in your neighborhood or community, why would there need to be one? This is a question worth pondering... and worth finding an answer for!
Cynthia was also very helpful to me when she asked what it was that sparked my sojourn in this area. I replied that, although I've been thinking and studying and praying and reflecting for years on different ways of being the church, the specific thing that sparked this sabbatical was our financial situation at Central. And, I said, chief among the drains on our finances is our building... with utilities alone costing us between $25,000 and $30,000 each year! Then there is the usual upkeep and repairs, but there are the long-term, major needs that we need to address in our building: the heating system (not just the boiler), deterioration of some of the stained glass windows, the continual moisture problems that we have, etc.
Cynthia replied by saying that if the church building is problematic, then we need to deal with the building! That helped bring things into focus for me. Merging with another congregation in our building, or bringing in other non-profit corporations in our building is not going to solve the building problems that we have. We either need to fix the building permanently, or else abandon the building and come up with something new. I know this sounds radical, but it makes sense to me. I already have passed this along to our Long-Range Planning Committee and to our Session. I also just shared this in my newsletter page at church that will be mailed out this week. We'll see how this "plays" in the congregation in general - although this seemed to make sense both to the LRP Committee and to the Session.
Conversation with David Esterline and Ken Sawyer from McCormick Seminary
David and Ken were both very gracious, and came at our conversation from their very different perspectives: Ken as a church historian, David as a cross-cultural professor and a child of missionary parents. Among other things, they offered some extremely helpful questions to consider.
Do we want to focus on pastoral leadership or plural leadership? In other words, in this study I'm doing, do I want to explore further dimensions of pastoral leadership for a new day, or do I want to expand the conversation and explore further dimensions of plural leadership... or developing multiple leaders in a congregation? It's clear to me that both aspects of the question are important. However, I think that plural leadership is something that we, as a Church, are going to have to concentrate on more and more. What gifts, skills, and support can we provide the elders and deacons of our congregations in order to help them exercise their gifts for ministry in a congregation that is moving into a new way of living out its faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
One of the things Ken and David asked is if congregations want to be ethnically diverse or homogeneous? As our society continues to evolve into a rich mosaic of cultures, I think that most of our congregations will need to explore what it will mean to welcome - not just into worship, and not just into membership, but also into leadership - a broader spectrum of ethnic people.
They identified three pre-corporate models for the church: intentional communities in covenantal relationships, house churches, and store-front churches. I've got some leads on some of these kinds of congregations, and will be following up on conversations with them during this part of my sabbatical.
When you look at two or more organizations sharing a building, it's important to remember that sharing space is not the only issue. Sharing time is also a critical issue to work out.
From David's international perspective, he asked a fascinating question: "If you want to look at alternative ways of being church, then where are the Africans in your community, and what are they doing?" It makes me realize that I need to have some conversations with our Sudanese Presbyterian brothers and sisters.
Do we want to focus on pastoral leadership or plural leadership? In other words, in this study I'm doing, do I want to explore further dimensions of pastoral leadership for a new day, or do I want to expand the conversation and explore further dimensions of plural leadership... or developing multiple leaders in a congregation? It's clear to me that both aspects of the question are important. However, I think that plural leadership is something that we, as a Church, are going to have to concentrate on more and more. What gifts, skills, and support can we provide the elders and deacons of our congregations in order to help them exercise their gifts for ministry in a congregation that is moving into a new way of living out its faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
One of the things Ken and David asked is if congregations want to be ethnically diverse or homogeneous? As our society continues to evolve into a rich mosaic of cultures, I think that most of our congregations will need to explore what it will mean to welcome - not just into worship, and not just into membership, but also into leadership - a broader spectrum of ethnic people.
They identified three pre-corporate models for the church: intentional communities in covenantal relationships, house churches, and store-front churches. I've got some leads on some of these kinds of congregations, and will be following up on conversations with them during this part of my sabbatical.
When you look at two or more organizations sharing a building, it's important to remember that sharing space is not the only issue. Sharing time is also a critical issue to work out.
From David's international perspective, he asked a fascinating question: "If you want to look at alternative ways of being church, then where are the Africans in your community, and what are they doing?" It makes me realize that I need to have some conversations with our Sudanese Presbyterian brothers and sisters.
Sabbatical resumes - as do posting here
The second, and longer, part of my sabbatical began on Sunday, and so I resume this blog, sharing learnings and ideas, and beginning to formulate possible ways of being and doing church differently - both for the congregation I serve as pastor, as well as for the Presbytery I serve as Stated Clerk.
I'll begin by posting some of the ideas that came out of conversations with people from the latter part of my short-term sabbatical in April and May.
After those posts, then I'll begin with the new things. This part of my sabbatical extends through September 5, so I probably will not post every day, but will add new things here as my conversations with others and my study and reading progress.
As always, I would welcome responses, ideas, challenges, and suggested resources from anyone who would be so kind as to offer them here.
I'll begin by posting some of the ideas that came out of conversations with people from the latter part of my short-term sabbatical in April and May.
After those posts, then I'll begin with the new things. This part of my sabbatical extends through September 5, so I probably will not post every day, but will add new things here as my conversations with others and my study and reading progress.
As always, I would welcome responses, ideas, challenges, and suggested resources from anyone who would be so kind as to offer them here.
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