Godly Vision

George Bullard is a church-leadership consultant. In a recent column, he has some very helpful comments on the sort of vision Christian leaders need to cultivate, in order to be most effective in serving God.

He begins by highlighting the sort of vision commonly practiced by many church leaders, which is little more then warmed-over tips from secular management literature:

"Leaders — even in Christian congregations — approach vision like church is an organization, a sports team or their country. It is about winning. It is about reaching tangible goals in the short-term. They cannot divide the success they see in the world around them from the success only God can offer.

This translates in everyday life for many congregations as a numerical measurement. Vision is a growing membership and attendance. Vision is program events that are wildly successful. Vision is surpassing the budget. Vision is filling the worship center. Vision is a full schedule of ministries. The source of these visions is our own pride."

In order to practice godly vision, we need to be in relationship with God. That means more than lip-service, or slapping "I love God" stickers on the bumper of the car. It means getting serious about spiritual discernment.

Bullard also makes the point that congregational visioning is a long-term process. No quick fixes. No handy-dandy questionnaires:

"Vision is not about quick results. Its fulfillment does not have to be fast. It is a commitment over a long period of time. Vision is not about what we will do this year. That is focusing on tactics. Vision is not about the next one to three years. That is focusing on strategies. Vision is about the long-term.

Vision is about changed behavior that develops in congregations over a period of years, and becomes hardwired in the Christ-centered, faith-based culture of the congregation."

There are things - good things, in many cases - that can get in the way of faithful visioning in congregations. Like the American flag in the sanctuary (full disclosure: we have one in our sanctuary - as pastor, I've chosen not to fight that particular battle, though I know it can be mildly idolatrous).

There's a whole raft of secularist assumptions related to money that likewise creep into congregational life: like the judgment that high-rolling big contributors are the people churches ought to be seeking out as members. Of course the church needs money to operate, but if money were the be-all and end-all, then the most successful church would be the one wealthy enough to hire employees to do all the work (hardly the sort of foot-washing servanthood taught by our Lord).

I think we also wander far afield from the Great Commission when we imagine that our goal in attracting new members is to replicate ourselves, to find more nice people like us to sit in our pews. In my experience it's people who stand out from the herd and bring gifts no one else can offer who have an outsized impact on the mission of a congregation.

If there's one thing Superstorm Sandy has taught our church in the coastal town of Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, it's that the church is most effectively the church when we're doing mission ourselves. I have the feeling we were more authentically the church cooking food on our gas stove for the neighborhood, on those dark nights when nobody had electricity, than we've been while cooking any number of fellowship meals since (not that I'm knocking congregational fellowship, which is important in its own way - it's just not the main thing).

Finally, as Bullard makes clear, God is not in the reassurance business. God's in the transformation business:

"To be captivated by God’s vision is a paradigm shift. When such a shift occurs then everything goes back to zero....

When our church buildings, our unwillingness to take a stand for where God is leading us, and the pride we feel in our heritage are in conflict with God’s transformative vision, too many congregations reject God’s vision. They want change they can see and immediately measure. That is a transactional vision. God’s transformational vision is unseen and long-term."


Amen.

New Ways of Believing, Behaving & Belonging

Following up on my March 18  "Gutenberger or Googler?" post, I'd like to share this, which is from Diana Butler Bass, a Christian sociologist whose studies of the mainline Protestant churches are incisive, but also notably lacking in the "sky is falling" panic some other commentators display.  Monmouth Presbytery leaders will remember Diana from the leadership-training event she led for us several years back.

I find Len Sweet's distinction between Gutenbergers and Googlers to be a useful distillation of a whole lot of more complicated material about generational differences in religious participation, most of which has been out there for some time.  It may be useful to consider Diana's three sets of questions (below) as a template, and lay them on top of Len's Gutenberger vs. Googler distinction.

The first set of questions, I'd say, are those typically asked by Gutenbergers, and the second by Googlers:

***

Three deceptively simple questions are at the heart of a spiritually vibrant Christianity--questions of believing, behaving, and belonging.

Religion always entails the "3B's" of believing, behaving, and belonging. Over the centuries, Christianity has engaged the 3B's in different ways, with different interrogators and emphases. For the last 300 years or so, the questions were asked as follows:

1) What do I believe? (What does my church say I should think about God?)
2) How should I behave? (What are the rules my church asks me to follow?)
3) Who am I? (What does it mean to be a faithful church member?)

But the questions have changed. Contemporary people care less about what to believe than how they might believe; less about rules for behavior than in what they should do with their lives; and less about church membership than in whose company they find themselves. The questions have become:

1) How do I believe? (How do I understand faith that seems to conflict with science and pluralism?)
2) What should I do? (How do my actions make a difference in the world?)
3) Whose am I? (How do my relationships shape my self-understanding?)

The foci of religion have not changed--believing, behaving, and belonging still matter. But the ways in which people engage each area have undergone a revolution.

- Diana Butler Bass,  "A Resurrected Christianity?" , The Huffington Post, April 7, 2012.

***

I'm of the same mind as Diana: that, of all the different categories of churches that are part of the American religious scene, we in the mainline Protestant churches are probably best-positioned to offer the Googlers an alternative to religious practices and traditions they find stifling.  To do so, we're going to have to change, too, of course - but the changes we need to make in denominations like the PC(USA) are not nearly so game-changing as they would be for the Conservative Evangelical, Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches.

All this reminds me of a pithy little quotation I came across recently.  It's by General Eric Shinseki, the former U.S. Army Chief of Staff. Remember him? He's the one who abruptly went into retirement, after standing his ground against political pressure from civilian hawks like Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, who were urging him to soften his prediction that several hundred thousand ground troops would be needed to secure Iraq, following the invasion by Coalition forces.  History has proved Shinseki was absolutely right; the number of troops that had to be committed to stabilize Iraq was pretty much what he'd predicted.

All this is to say he's a person who tries to base his prophetic statements on actual facts, not on what's politically expedient in the short term.  Coming from him, therefore, the following quotation is all the more enlightening:

“If you don’t like change,
you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”

 - General Eric Shinseki

We in the Mainline Protestant churches have a window of opportunity, in the next few years, to save not only ourselves, but also our particular version of the gospel proclamation, from irrelevance.  Let those who have ears, hear...

Well-Connected

We Presbyterians are well-connected.

Such is the testimony of Andrew Yeager-Buckley, who has recently accepted a position as Program Assistant in the Office of Mid-Council Relations at our denominational headquarters in Louisville.

Andrew, who is well-known to many in Monmouth Presbytery from the time over a decade ago when he was active in Presbytery youth programs, grew up in the Hope Presbyterian Church, Tinton Falls.  After traveling to the Presbyterian Youth Triennium as a teenager, he was elected co-moderator of the Presbyterian Youth Connection national organization.  Entering the working world some time later as a young adult, he was employed in the Youth Ministry area at the Louisville headquarters, then worked for the Presbyterian Publishing House, and will soon start in the Mid Council Relations Office, working closely with that office’s Director, the Rev. Jill Hudson.

In an e-mail to me, Andrew shared some special words of appreciation for Monmouth Presbytery, that, with his permission, I’d like to share:

“Monmouth Presbytery is a major part of my story. Its ministries and staff all played a part in my faith journey and the development of my sense of call. When asked I’m quick to say that my family, local church, camp and presbytery staff were all part of my spiritual development. As a small church member the presbytery helped connect me with some amazing opportunities. Beyond the programmatic opportunities I was always grateful for the various church professionals, active elders, and clergy like you that would take the time to say hi and check in with this 16 year old elder from Hope Church at meetings. In the moment having folks like Charles Cureton and Kim Long pulling me aside at presbytery meetings and wanting to check in didn’t mean a ton. Years later it’s clear that those moments are what truly have always made me feel welcome in the church wherever I am.”

We Presbyterians like to call ourselves a connectional church.  I’d be hard-pressed to find a better expression of connectionalism than this testimony Andrew has shared.  Think of it: a couple of ministers like Charles Cureton and Kim Long, who – to young Andrew – were strangers, who saw him give the traditional “I’m back from Triennium” report at a Presbytery meeting, and who not only remembered him, but came up to him some time later to “check in” on how he was doing.

It seems like so little – but, to a young man seeking to discern God’s direction for his life, those casual expressions of interest proved to be of vital importance.

God’s Spirit is at work all around us in the church – especially in our connections with one another.

All Ministry is Interim

Paul Rack, my Stated Clerk colleague from the Presbytery of Elizabeth, has served in the past as an interim pastor. He knows what he's talking about when he writes in a blog posting from several months back:

"Because we live in a culture of transition, all ministry today is transitional; it necessarily has a temporary, provisional, and 'between' or 'on the way' quality. The great value of Interim Ministry is that it has always addressed issues of transition in congregations. There are therefore many lessons we may learn from Interim Ministry that apply to all ministry in a time of pervasive change.... Churches no longer actually settle into any traditionally recognizable, sustainable, stable state. For the sake of a dynamic ministry in Christ’s name, every new minister needs to be prepared to keep positive change and adaptation happening, no matter how much congregations may crave stability."

Paul goes on to reframe some traditional agenda items of interim pastors to apply to all churches, whether literally in an interim period of pastoral leadership, or not:

1. Coming to Terms with History
"In a time of radical transition and change, however, our history is not necessarily a positive thing to get in touch with. Too many churches are so cognizant of their heritage that they lose sight of the world they are situated in today. Church becomes an exercise in nostalgia or even grief over some perceived golden age."

2. Discovering a New Identity
"As superficially beneficial as [the classic demographic-study] approach may be, it still ignores a more important and primary theological question: 'Who are we, and what is God calling us to do, as God’s people in this time and place?' Ministry now involves drawing people into discernment and conversation about their own callings from God."

3. Shifts of Power/Leadership Changes
"Congregations have to recognize and empower new leaders all the time. This grows naturally out of the focus on identifying people’s particular callings.... Secondly, the very character of leadership in the church is flattening and spreading out. We have always depended on top-down, centralized systems of organization. But these are being rapidly replaced by organic networks, empowering people to follow their own callings."

4. Rethinking Denominational Linkages
"Too often the denominational structure is a gauntlet of inertia, suspicion, old habits, and entrenched interests that must be navigated by a church requesting support in doing anything innovative, different, or 'outside the box' in ministry. Presbyteries are learning at least to give lip-service to the idea that they exist to support the mission of local churches. Increasingly they now have to back up these words with real actions, putting the health, needs, and mission of congregations ahead of the presbytery’s own issues."

5. Commitment to a New Future
"The insight that 'all ministry is interim ministry' means that even 'permanent' Pastors are called to have the orientation towards the future that good Interims have. In short, all Pastors will want to find the courage to be active change agents, leading the people of God into a new future. In practice this entails a kind of ruthlessness about ridding ourselves of whatever holds us back from effective mission in Jesus’ name today."

His blog entry is worth reading in its entirety.

I've been in my present pastoral position for 20 years, but never before have I had been aware of more rapid change in the character of congregational life. Participation in church activities, particularly weekly worship, is more sporadic now. Members still look favorably upon the church, and will turn out in great numbers for specific events, but they seem less inclined to include Sunday worship in their list of "must-do" weekly activities. This is especially true of regular, weekly volunteer commitments like choir and church-school teaching.

There seems to be a nearly universal decline in regular financial giving as well, much of which is generational. As my generation, the baby boomers, comes more and more to displace the older generations in church leadership, we just haven't risen to the occasion when it comes time to take out our checkbooks - and what's true for us is even more true for the generations younger than us. Again, church folk will respond to specific appeals with remarkable generosity, but the regular pledge seems to be falling into disfavor.

Curiously, we're also seeing a big uptick in the numbers of people who attend worship regularly but never become members. We need to do more to intentionally relate to this "friends" group - some of whom cheerfully sign up to help with various tasks and even submit pledges, but always decline the invitation to come out to a new members' group.

The proposed new Form of Government, if approved by a majority of the presbyteries this year, will provide Sessions with considerable freedom for innovation of this sort. The old membership categories will no longer be mandatory. I don't know, at this point, what I'd recommend changing about the way we structure our membership rolls - to better relate to this amorphous "friends" group - but I'm open to suggestions. I know of a few churches that have established a separate category of "Friends of the Church." Maybe that would be a good place to start.

Increasingly, Americans are not joiners. As sociologist Robert Putnam has demonstrated in a much-quoted book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, sign-me-up membership in various organizations like service clubs - and even bowling leagues - has been in free fall for decades. It's taken the church a little longer to catch up with this trend, but it's now upon us in earnest.

This isn't to say the church is in decline. God's just changing us into something different than what we've been. We have an old saying in the Reformed Tradition: Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda ("The Reformed church is always being reformed"). What's changing is our understanding of membership. We're moving in the direction of becoming a more informal, gathered community with less sharply-defined boundaries. As the computer revolution continues, online points of connection - while they will never replace face-to-face community - will continue to grow in importance.

I think Paul's right. All of us in church leadership, ministers and elders alike, would do well to acquaint ourselves with the sorts of things interim pastors know. That's because, in changing times like these, all ministries are interim.

Bartimaeus and the Outreach Committee

Like most other things in this world, when committees are good, they're really, really good. And, when they're bad - well, you know how it goes. In light of that reality, I thought you all might enjoy this little piece (if you haven't seen it before). It's slightly adapted from the original by Andee Zetterbaum, which someone posted on the PresbyNet computer network some years back...

So, herewith, the missing and corrected verses of Mark's gospel. Or, as it should more properly be known, the story of Bartimaeus and the Outreach Committee.

46. They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.
46a. "There's no need to pay attention to him," advised several of his disciples. "We already support the Center for the Preservation of Blind Beggars, so we're doing our share for the community."
46b. "If you have to say anything to him, just direct him to the CPBB--they're the agency that can best deal with his problem," said another.
47. When Bartimaeus heard that it was of Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
48. Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
48a. Jesus turned to his disciples. "That man needs me. I want to pause for a moment in our travels to help him."
48b. "Sounds like exactly the kind of project that should fall under our Outreach Committee," said a senior member of Jesus' band. "Go talk to them, and they'll help you."
48c. "Outreach Committee?" said one member. "We're in the middle of a journey to Jerusalem, and that's got to take precedence. Maybe when the journey is done, we can think about doing something for the blind man."
48d. Other committee members pointed out, "We have only limited resources, so we need you to focus on healing only the members of your own band. Maybe someday when we're richer and have several healers, we can look at helping outsiders."
48e. Finally the committee chair suggested, "Why don't you put your proposal in writing so we can take it up at our next meeting?"
48f. Jesus grabbed for a piece of bark, and with a stick, scribbled on it (in words of one syllable), "I want to stop and help that man." He handed it to the committee chair.
48g. Three weeks later, the committee chair found him and said, "We REALLY liked your ideas, but because we're all too busy to help with the project right now, we'd like you to come to our next meeting in a month, to talk with us about it. Then the liaison can present it to the Session the following week. And, oh, by the way, would you like to serve on the Outreach Committee?"

Scholars' notes:
Jesus, having accepted that invitation, was swallowed up in committee work, and disappeared from sight forthwith. The entire remaining episodes of the Gospels are mere fantasy and writers' inventions.

Bartimaeus was hired by the Outreach Committee chair as its public spokesperson, and later became a consultant in organizational communications, pioneering the science of obfuscation and procrastination. Unfortunately, his supremely important role in history was lost due to a scribal error in the late 2nd century. However, echoes of his story surface from time to time in folk wisdom, where his name has been transformed from Bartimaeus into Murphy (as in Murphy's Law).

No other records of the committee chair or its members survive, and the character "God," who is mentioned earlier in the annals of Jesus and Bartimaeus, is still trying to figure out how to get Session approval and support for various projects. A good course in memo writing is recommended to enhance God's career development.

Who Can Be a Clerk?

Most Presbyterians know that a Clerk of Session must be an elder. It's not so well-known that the Clerk of Session need not be a currently-serving member of Session.

Form of Government G-9.0203b says: "The clerk of the session shall be an elder elected by the session for such term as it may determine." It says nothing about having to be a current Session member - which is quite intentional. The language is permissive, either way.

A Clerk who is serving a term on Session concurrently with serving as Clerk is entitled to join in debate and vote on motions brought before the Session. A Clerk who is not an elected Session member is not entitled to vote, and should refrain from joining in debate - although most Sessions offer their Clerk the privilege of the floor in order to address matters related to the smooth handling of Session business.

It's common practice, in many of our churches, for Clerks to be elected on an annual basis, along with other corporate officers such as the Treasurer and the President of the Board of Trustees. Generally, in "unicameral" congregations (where the Session members are also the Trustees), the Clerk of Session is also the Secretary of the Corporation.

Unlike members of Session (who, according to G-14.0222, can only be re-elected once, after which they have to sit an election out before returning), the Clerk of Session may be re-elected any number of times in succession. Many churches in Monmouth Presbytery are fortunate enough to have Clerks who have served for quite a number of years. Long tenure in the Clerk's position is generally a good thing, because knowledge of the church membership and of the responsibilities of the office is a real plus. (As any new Clerk will tell you, there's quite a learning curve associated with stepping into the job for the first time, so it's good to be able to stick around for a while!)

Most pastors will be quick to affirm that a seasoned, experienced and supportive Clerk of Session is one of the greatest assets to their ministry, freeing them from minor administrative details so they can focus on caring for the flock.

So, we've established that the Clerk of Session doesn't have to be a currently-serving Session member. But, is it a good thing? Ultimately, that decision is up to the Session. Sessions that look outside their own membership to find an elder to serve as Clerk often do so because (1) it broadens the range of people they can consider, enabling them to find an elder with just the right skills, and (2) it frees up another seat at the Session table. (Most Clerks have their hands full with their clerkly duties and probably couldn't chair a committee or work group anyway.) Some Session members, upon being elected as Clerk, have actually resigned their position on Session, so as to enable someone else to come on board to fill their unexpired term.