Monday, November 30, 2009

A year and an island

Tomorrow marks an official year since I have been at Bethel. The crazy thing is, it feels like I have been here forever (in a good way) but yet the time has flown by. Heather and I have made great friends and surrogate family more quickly than I ever would have imagined. It is truly amazing to be in this community. I talk about it all the time so I am sure most of you are sick of hearing it. Our community is full of truly amazing people of all walks of life. The diversity is rich: socio-economically, ethnically, sexually, and generationally. The best part of all of this is some how within our differences people have figured out how to have unity. This is the type of community I have longed to be a part of my whole adult life. In a world that is so divided around every issue imaginable. We have found a way to be connected around community, care for the world, and desire to walk in the way of Jesus.

As one of our church members has said, “we are like the island of misfit toys.” To many this may seem offensive; to me it is one of the largest compliments I could ever receive. We all have our damage, our pains, our addictions, and struggles; yet together we have become a whole body. We are a body that needs each other simply to exist. We recognize a similarity, a connection with one another that draws us in, yet at the same time it compels us out. We go out into the world seeking other “misfit toys” to find a place they can call home and connect with others. Bethel is a beautiful place that I am honored to call home….a place of unity through our diversity. Thank you for giving me the honor to serve alongside each of you for the last year. Heather and I look forward to many years to come.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Small church mentality

Small churches are great. The ability to get to know people, the chance to be as involved as you want, the ability to make decisions quickly. But with these great things come with some struggles as well. The struggles are often lumped under the category of small church mentality. In a book called unique dynamics of a small church, Dudley says this...

". . . The small church is the right size for only one function. The members can know each other personally. It is often a single-cell entity with all members somehow involved in the workings of the cell."

Single-cell means one core group, rather than many different organizations and interest groups. Parishioners feel like members of an extended family. For many people the small church can be quite comfortable and fill definite social needs. Members in such a parish tend to like things exactly the way they are.

The small church often makes it difficult for new members to enter because it is frequently subconsciously afraid it will "lose" something by being too open. Most small churches will not grow because they are already as large as they can be in order to remain what they are - a single-cell primary group that offers security with a group of people that can be trusted. Often they are ethnically or culturally oriented, which can be a hindrance to growth. For the above reasons "they also offer the most resistance to those who seek to help the small church to grow, or change, or disappear."

Like in classic science, if a church wants to grow it has to think about cell division. It must break down the small church mentality. each part of the community must begin to open itself up to others, to growth and division. This is where the concept of small groups becomes so vital. the church can divide into interest groups, age groups, value groups, groups with similar passions, etc. the difficult part of this concept is that unlike in a small church everybody won't be at everything in fact they wont even be invited to everything.

one of the struggles becomes how do we not create cliques in the process of creating small groups. i think keeping small groups from become cliques is about keeping a mentality of openness. First, all groups are also open to cell division. second, groups cant become exclusive and pull away from the overall vision and values of the church. Plus attitudes need to be right. Its not about being best or exclusive its about walking out life with others.

So how do we drop the small church mentality? Well this is something I am trying to figure out and help guide our community through. I think first and foremost it’s about extending our vision. It’s not about making people happy. Our goal should never be just to keep the people in the church pleased with what’s inside our space. Our goal should be to get outside of our walls to open ourselves up for cell division to occur. To welcome groups to form by nurturing people’s interests and ideas. We should dream huge dreams not just for our churches but for our communities, states, nation, and world. keeping an expansive vision constantly opens the community up to the vastness of god’s kingdom. Faith and the way of jesus is bigger than just us and our wants its about others…about making a difference… transforming the world…through love…liberation…and grace.

More to come….

Transforming the Mainline Church: #3 chapter number 3

Chesnut talks about how many of our churches get stuck back in their history. For his church it was in the 1950’s. “Getting stuck in ones history can become a vicious self defeating cycle.” The problem is we go back to the glory days and try to recreate them but the period when those methods worked has changed so we are trying to create and archaic system in a new time. This is destined to fail.

23- “a mature society must make a particular effort to reward its innovators, because its very maturity discourages innovation….It is not so much a question of possessions as of the attitude one takes toward them. If affluent individuals commit themselves unreservedly to the conservation of their resources, affluence can be a deadening force. But if they regard their resources as providing a wide margin within which they can enjoy the luxury of creative experimentation with their environment, affluence can be a blessing…few understand how essential …flexibility is for continuous renewal. Assets committed to the goal of continuous renewal will never be a burden”

“Flexibility, creative experimentation, innovation, risk taking, continuous renewal- sounds sort of entrepreneurial, doesn’t it? Like the parable of the talents, with the same promise and the same warning.”

It is in flexbiltiy freedom and innovation that our communities will continue to exist and thrive.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Transforming the Mainline Church: #2

Chesnut’s 6 principles on what a city church must do to thrive and survive in a changing environment. (p.1)

‘City churches drawing their membership from the city as a whole, as well as from their immediate neighborhoods, are in a unique position to reach all sorts and conditions of people, to become diverse and inclusive communities of faith”

Churches must be ready to meet the people of their area at the people’s own level of need and understanding. This may mean, as an example, that churches of a more formal tradition of worship would be open to adopting more informal styles, including the use of gospel music and so on.

Churches must extend their outreach through the mass media, advertising, and active promotion of their programs.

Being actively involved with the church’s immediate neighborhood through cooperative, ecumenical mission outreach and community development work.

Offering holistic, seven-day-a-week programming.

Offering the lost and lonely a community of caring and sharing, of solace and healing, of values and vision for a purposeful life.

Transforming the Mainline Church: Lessons In Change from Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Hope Robert A. Chesnut

Books on church transformation and growth tend to be from the perspective of “conservative evangelical” pastors or churches. I believe mainline congregations have a lot to learn from the successes and the failures of these churches. I have read tons of these books and in general they say similar things. Each year a new slant will garner about 100 new books on growth and transformation. At times these texts are annoying to me because having grown up in conservative evangelical churches I have intentionally left their walls for more freedom. While there is conversation about growth I often feel like the only interest of such texts is numerical growth and not growth of the person or the spirit. (I know this is my own bias but this is also my own blog so what can I say) Transforming the Mainline Church is one of the first books that I found that is written from a mainline perspective. Chesnut is a Presbyterian pastor. His book walks you though his glorious and tragic years at East Liberty Presbyterian Church.


One of the things I enjoyed this book was his scholarly perspective. He continually refers to theologians and theological perspectives that influence the decisions we make in our churches. While his book is based in his history it all flows from a paper he wrote in his undergraduate nearly 50 years previous.

Before I go any further let me tell you this is one of the most profound books I have ever read in this genre. While you will see a lot of things I have gleaned from this text in the next few posts what is most transformative for me has been Chestnut’s ability to remain through conflict. It was a few months ago that a mentor pastor (thanks sam) told me that every pastor faces deep conflict in their congregation and while I might not have experienced much of it yet I will. The question is, do you leave when conflict arises? Now I’m not talking about little conflicts that we face every day, I’m talking about the kind of conflict where your character and calling is called into question…The kind of conflict that makes you despise the church…the type of conflict where it would be clearly easier to leave than to stand strong for what is right and just.

I would like to think I would stand but you never know till the time comes…
One thing is certain my father has met this moment and continues to stand. Thanks for good examples pops and sam.