Yearly Archives:

2013

blog, Leadership

The Church Draft

 

As millions of football fans will undoubtedly will be glued to their televisions and social media, they will hunger for the latest information about NFL draft picks. The NFL draft is part pageantry and part celebration for football teams and their fans. Draft day means that a team can have hope for a better season as new athletes come on their roster.

This is also a tense time for football teams. Owners, coaches, agents and managers are all trying to work together to pick the best player. With all those high powered people trying to work together sometimes egos, tempers, and anxiety can play a major role in the team’s success. In order to get the best draft position teams will give away players, negotiate terms, trade draft spots, and participate in a number of complex agreements. The world of the NFL draft is truly a dizzying drama for teams but also there is tremendous opportunity.

In the world of the NFL, resources and money are seemingly endless as players are paid multi-million dollar contracts. For churches, the search for staff and volunteers is a frustrating process. Many churches lack the financial resources for say a full time youth minister or education minister. Often volunteers have to take on that work load without pay. Unlike the NFL, churches do not have ability to search for and pay for staff that could grow their organization.

In the church world of limited resources, what if churches joined together to have a Church Draft?

I live and minister in a small community with five mainline churches within a mile of one another. Our worship is similar and so are our ministries. We pastors get along very well. Back in 2009, we started meeting regularly and formed a clergy organization. We started to dream of the ways in which we could work together. We already had a number of connected ecumenical gatherings, but we wanted to do more.

One day, I jokingly asked if I could steal one of the other pastor’s secretary since we were in search of one. He replied that I would have to trade my choir for her.  A few months later we were searching for an office manager. I went back to the same pastor and reminded him of our trade agreement but this time it was for real. I wasn’t going to give up my choir but we negotiated terms to share his staff person for our church office administrator position. BOOM! It worked. Fast forward a few years, and now all of our churches are talking about sharing a community youth minister and are supporting community based youth ministry! And, we continue to negotiate and draft ministry people to work in all of our churches.

In our community, it makes sense to work together and “draft” staff and volunteers. Each individual church may not have the resources, but together we are able to work together as one team and not five teams working against one another. Churches in the 21st century need to think about their staff and volunteers as players in the big game of ministry and not see each other as competitors.

Alan Rudnick is the author of “The Work of the Associate Pastor”, Judson Press. 

mission

A garden center, a sign, and the missional church

My parents used to tell me that first impressions matter.  So my mom always kept a very clean house in the chance someone came to visit or if I or my sister brought a friend home unexpectedly from school.  My dad always keep the cars clean and the yard mowed.  We always had clean clothes and reasonable times between haircuts.  Probably not much different from your family.

Organizations also present “first impressions” with their buildings, employees who welcome, or the cleanliness of the facility.  The front door might be one of the most important features of these organizations.  Here are a few front doors I have come across in Midwest stores recently.

This is posted on a sliding door into a business. This store is a large chain and is located in the upper middle class section of town with low crime.  Nothing about this sign says to me I am welcome to shop there.  I have never seen a sign like this on any other business, that does not mean do not exist but I have never noticed one.  I just found it to be a weird notice and felt it to be unnecessarily hostile.

This is a welcoming place. It has the clearly marked sign open, the door is open, and the hours are posted.  There is plants that greet you from the parking lot to the door letting you know that this place holds a variety of , trees, flowers, porch/deck furniture, and other yard DYI things.  But what you see outside is only a small taste of what is on the inside.  The staff  don’t just grow plants in a bucket.  They are gardeners as well. They are capable of listening to garden ideas and advising how to proceed because they live in both places.

Churches have signs as well.  Our churches often put up intentional or unintentional signs up with our actions.  Perhaps they act like the fist sign.  Your life will be scrutinized here.  We will judge you and use a filter process to decide if you are like us.  We will examine every aspect of your life until we are satisfied you look, sound, and act like we think you should.  If you do not agree to these terms you are free to leave the facility.

What if our church and the way it functions looked more like this garden center?  What if we were more inviting and welcoming? What would it look like if we could find the balance between being welcoming to all and strong in our Christian identity?  What if we found a way to interpret and discern what God is doing in the world? A missional church needs to examine their church “signs”. What signal are they sending?

Much like the garden center, there is a a need for churches to have a welcoming presence with their building, signage, and people. The church must missionally welcome people and empower others to action. The missional church needs to have a welcoming presence of hospitality and be able to discern how God is calling us to act.  God is at work cultivating our missional gardens and we need to realize what it takes to welcome and send others into his vineyard.

social media

In the wake of Boston, social media heals

It was last week American experienced its first terrorist act through the lens of social media. Millions turned to Twitter, Facebook, and other social media networking sites to gain information on the bombings in Boston. During 9/11, many turned to TV and radio to seek information but in 2013, social media led the way in information and healing. This is a different internet age.

When the bombs when off in Boston, I was driving my friend Gary Long to the airport. Gary checked his iPhone and said, “A bomb went off at the Boston Marathon.” Immediately, my Twitter and Facebook media feeds contained with first hand accounts, information, and pictures. At times media reports were riddled with errors and misinformation. Our culture’s need to immediately digest information fed inaccuracies.

Quickly after the bombing, social media was ablaze with pictures and stories of regular people rushing to the scene of the explosions. There was something different about this act of terrorism. The shock was lessened by bystanders heroic action rather than fearful reaction to the explosions. The emerging story on Facebook and Twitter was not about details of death, grief, and loss but stories of healing, hospitality, and love. Google quickly set up a missing persons exchange to find loved ones in Boston.

Facebook messages of prayer and sentiments of grief for Boston filled my feed:

 

After the wake of the Boston bombings, social media became a tool for American to heal. A tool used to gather together as a digital community. Social media became the mechanism by which people shared a common grief and a common resolve to heal. The pictures and stories of average people doing powerful things to save lives gave us hope. Social media brought us together. We all saw the pictures, witnessed the tragedy, and experience grief through social media.

In the end, the power of social media brought us together to pray, cry, and mourn. But, we didn’t stay mournful long because our collective social media conscience encourage us to respond with healing and prayer – not anger or fear. As we move forward as a country, social media will increase our sense of national community and will play a greater role in healing.

trauma

How to talk to kids about trauma

Credit: Yahoo.com

As the country saw the horrific bombings at the 2013 Boston Marathon on television, we learned that there were adult and child victims. Television crews and photographers were at the finish of the race and they captured the raw footage. Every news channel covered the carnage and trauma. There was blood, smoke, yelling, death, and fear.

As we Americans experience the 24-hour news cycle of this deadly event, our children will hear about the Boston Marathon. Kids will talk about it in school and talk about what they saw on television. We adults are able to respond in healthy ways, but what about children? How are we to talk to children about traumatic events?

Keep Calm. Younger children may not hear much or anything about the trauma but keep to your family routine. Kids will look to adults and parents on how to act. If you act different children will see it. Older children might have seen the trauma on television and they will observe if their parents are freaking out about it. If possible, turn off the television and keep children focused on regular activities: games, bike riding, homework, sports, music etc… Your ability to keep calm will help your kids.

Listen. Children may have questions. Leave time to listen to their concerns. Children may ask, “Will this happen to me?” Or, “Will this happen again?”. The important thing to remember is to give children your attention and not to avoid the subject.

Respond. Do not lie to children about what happened. Keep it simple. Focus on the basic facts of the trauma. In Boston, for instance, say that someone hurt a group of people during an event. Continue to share with children how much they are loved and how they are safe from the perspective trauma. Tell them that good leaders take care of people when people are hurt (doctors, police, firefighters, etc…). Remind children that we take care of one another.

Empower. Older children can learn from the trauma. Remind and tell the stories of heroism. Encourage your kids to help others when in trouble. Teach them how to call 911 when needed. When some time has passed from the trauma, have your family practice what to do when someone needs help.

How to talk to kids about trauma is extremely important. Adults should not avoid the topic but reinforce how much children are loved and that they are safe. Evil is in the world but we are called to vanquish evil with the light of God and the goodness we can bring to those in need.

religion

Religion scholar: Nothing wrong with Nazi assignment

Here in Albany, the story about the school teacher who assigned a “think-like-a-Nazi” essay brought the region into a collective gasp. In turn, the school district  issued an apology and put the teacher on leave. However, the story suddenly turned national as the USA Today and Washington Post picked up the story.

Just about everyone who read the story thought the assignment was a bad idea. However, Boston University religion scholar, Stephen Prothero thinks that no harm was done when the teacher gave the Nazi related assigned. He writes:

I think it’s Greenfield [New York City Councilman] who is lacking in common sense here. And it’s the superintendent who is being illogical.

I suppose it is possible that the teacher is a closet Nazi attempting to reconstruct the Third Reich in Albany. But isn’t it more likely that he or she is trying to teach students about the dangers of propaganda and the horrors of the Holocaust?

Consider the student who felt “horrible” about doing this assignment. Is that really a bad thing? How are high school students today supposed to feel about Nazism and the Holocaust?

Apparently, what they are supposed to feel (and think) is nothing, because the lesson high school teachers are going to take away from this fiasco is to avoid this topic at all costs, lest they risk losing their jobs.

When I was an assistant professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta, I used to teach Nazi theology. My students read sermons by Nazi theologians arguing that Jews were evil and were responsible for killing Jesus. They also read a book called “Theologians Under Hitler” by Robert P. Erickson, who tried to explain how and why Christian thinkers could come to believe that exterminating Jews was somehow Christ-like.

What do you think? Is Prothero on target here?

Culture

Breastfeeding in church?

breastfeeding in church

I’m a pretty big proponent of moms doing their thing. Moms deal with long hours, spending most of their time with kids, and generally have a thankless job. They work hard for no or little pay!  Mamas are great. My wife is one. Some of my best friends are moms.

Apparently in Fort Worth, Texas, a mama battle is brewing. It breaks my heart that folks can be so harsh on the mamas. And, the battle surrounds a church, of all places. WFAA.com reports:

Three simple letters — “Ick” — set off a firestorm after being published as part of a response to a question about the propriety of breastfeeding during a church service… The article — titled Distracting Behavior — resulted in hundreds of e-mails, phone calls, and Facebook posts bashing Molly Forthright’s “For What It’s Worth” advice column in the March issue of Fort Worth Magazine.

“I was in church last Sunday, and a woman in the row ahead of me began breastfeeding halfway through the service,” said the person seeking advice in the article. “I’m a big proponent of women breastfeeding their babies, but it was very distracting during a time that I wanted to focus on the sermon … What is proper church etiquette?”

How did the columnist respond?

“Ick. I know that many think a woman providing nourishment to her baby is a beautiful and natural thing, but putting on a show in the house of the Lord is unacceptable in my book,” Forthright replied. “In fact, I can’t think of a place in public where I would want to ever see that.”

The fallout from breastfeeding-gate brought a threat of a nurse-in outside the magazine’s headquarters in Fort Worth.

It is not clear the circumstances surrounding breastfeeding in this church. As a pastor, I don’t have a problem with breastfeeding in church. Moms have fed their children in my church. Usually, moms are pretty discreet about it.  Our church features comfortable “gliders” for nursing moms.  I can only imagine in Jesus’ day, when moms were in the temple, mothers had to breastfeed when their baby was hungry. I see breastfeeding in church as a mom doing what moms do.

What do you think? Is breastfeeding in church what mothers should do? Or, thou shall not breastfeed in thy church? 

Comment using Facebook below or use the comment section at the bottom of this post.

Christianity, Culture

Mumford: Don’t call me Christian

AlanRudnick.org welcomes Greg Mamula as a contributing blogger. 

I have become a big Mumford and Sons fan.  Before you cast me into some “band-wagon” “fair-weather” pop culture music participant, I must say I first listened to Mumford about two and half years ago and wore out their first album “Sigh No More” long before they were ever on American radio.  Their lyrics are powerful, their music is catchy, and their live performances are some of the best around.

I actually first saw them on a  live TV performance before I ever knew much about them.  I was inspired by the passion of performance and the fact the lead singer Marcus played a kick drum, while playing guitar, and singing at the same time. Their lyrics are full of religious overtones.  Huff Religion references a Rolling Stone Magazine article on the band’s spiritual lyrics:

During an interview last month, the Rolling Stone reporter, Brian Hiatt, asked Mumford whether he “still consider(s) himself a Christian. “Mumford gave the following answer: “I don’t really like that word. It comes with so much baggage. So, no, I wouldn’t call myself a Christian. I think the word just conjures up all these religious images that I don’t really like. I have my personal views about the person of Jesus and who he was. … I’ve kind of separated myself from the culture of Christianity.” His spiritual journey is a “work in progress,” Mumford said, adding that he’s never doubted the existence of God and that his parents are unbothered by his ambivalence toward the Christian label. 

I am a Christian and clergy to boot. For me it has strained relationships with family members, friends, and strangers I meet.  It is always a little awkward at first when I am sitting on an airplane or getting a hair cut and having someone ask, “So what do you do?”  Because “what I do” is in fact “who I am.” So when I say, I’m a minister, or I work with all the denominational churches in a region, I mostly just get blank stares.  They don’t know what to say or do to that response.

When I travel and people learn that I am a Christian, they respond in two ways. First if they are Christian they want to tell me all the things we have in common and assume we interpret the faith in identical ways.  This is often true but sometimes it is not.  It makes me grateful the Christian tent is a large one that can hold all sorts of people and perspectives.  Or people respond a second way, they want to tell me all the things wrong with the church, why they have never been or won’t go back, that we need to stop trying to be involved in politics, and how judgmental Christians are.  And usually they are right.

Mumford’s lyrics clearly demonstrate someone who wrestles with his faith more than most self identified Christians.  He uses biblical imagery that rivals that of Johns Gospel. He might not self identify as a Christian but he certainly believes in resurrection (see Roll Away Your Stone), redemption (see Lover of the Light), forgiveness (see Awake my Soul, Broken Crown, I Will Wait),  a new heaven and new earth (see After the Storm), and genuine love (see Blank White Page, Lion Man, Lovers Eyes).  Sure he uses the F word sometimes but I think it speaks to his honest passion and frustration with his humanity and need of healing.

Perhaps he is more Christian than he gives himself credit for.  Perhaps he just doesn’t want to have awkward conversations with reporters.  Perhaps like the Huff Religion article states, he “falls between Dorothy Day’s famous “Don’t call me a saint — I don’t want to be dismissed so easily,” and Soren Kierkegaard’s, “Once you label me you negate me.”

So take them or leave them for their music.  But don’t deny their journey or yours.  We are all works in progress.  My prayer is that you are willing to simply get on the path.

Greg Mamula is the Associate Executive Minister for American Baptist Churches of Nebraska.

Culture

When religious isn’t religious


As I started my daily read of newspapers, I was shocked (well, disappointed) to learn that our region was one of the least religious regions in America. A new Gallup poll found that, “Only 26 percent of those surveyed in this area say they are very religious, which puts the Albany-Schenectady-Troy region in ninth place among the least religious of the 189 areas polled.” Is this a situation when ‘religious’ isn’t religious?

What is frustrating about this statistic is that as you ride through the Albany region is that there are four to six churches per town. In my town, Ballston Spa, New York  there are six churches in a one mile radius. That is a tight area with a lot of churches. Those churches represent a range of Christian sects: Baptist, Presbyterian, non-denominational, Methodist, Episcopal, and Catholic. That doesn’t even count smaller non-Christian groups.

With so many churches in this area, you’d think that if you build it, people will come. That was true 50 years ago when returning men from War World II were looking to join a civic community were church attendance was expected.

The trouble with using a term ‘religious’ in a poll is that the word “religious” is seen as a pejorative term. As another Times Union article points out, that if the poll used the word “spiritual” the results may have been different. And, using both terms of “spiritual” and “religious” would most likely yield a higher religious or spiritual affiliations. Case in point, a Rasmussen poll found that 54% of American adults feel at least “somewhat connected” to their local church. In addition, 34% said they are “very connected.” The poll did not ask respondent’s religious affiliation. Church connection is another way to measure religious affiliation.

In 2013, ‘religious’ isn’t religious any more. More accurately, the term ‘religious’ carries many negative connotations. Even the term “religious conservatives” carries a reactive wince to many. How many times do we hear the term, “religious liberals”? Almost never. Many would see that term a contradiction but it is not. Most in the media just drop ‘religious’ .

The word religious is not inherently negative, but we Christians and religious folk alike must turn the tide of the negative sediment. In addition, news outlets and polling groups need to understand that they are using outdated and inaccurate terminology. We continue to be a “religious” nation without using the word “religious”.

Culture, faith

The War on Easter

As billions of Christians worldwide prepare for Easter this Holy Week, it seems that some television personalities think that our culture is waging a war on Easter. Bill O’Reilly declared on his show that the War on Easter is being waged via the Easter bunny:

But the war on Judeo-Christian tradition continues on in some public school districts… in some schools you are not allowed to say the word “Easter.” On Long Island, the East Meadow school district, holding a Spring egg hunt — not Easter eggs, Spring eggs. Same thing in Prospect Heights, Illinois. Manhattan Beach, California. Flat Rock Elementary School in South Carolina, and a school district in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. No Easter. They are having Spring egg events. Moderated by a Spring bunny, at least in San Diego. I know it’s stupid. You know it’s stupid.

There is a difference between saying “you are not allowed to say the word “Easter” and billing an event without the word Easter.  Perhaps it is overly sensitive to have a “Spring Egg Hunt”, but  I’m sure you are allowed to say the word “Easter” as a point of reference. I seriously doubt if two teachers were talking about their spring break plans that they would have to say “The holiday that celebrates Jesus’ resurrection” instead of “Easter”.

When it comes down to it, there’s nothing inherently Judeo-Christian about the Easter Bunny or Easter Eggs. Last time I checked the Bible, the Easter Bunny wasn’t there. There is nothing religious about a giant bunny magically giving children baskets of candy. Saying that there is a war on Easter is an affront to the nature of real wars in which people die.

The very word “Easter” is not very Christian. The modern English word “Easter”  can be traced to an older English word Ēastre or Ēostre or Eoaster, which refers to Eostur-monath, a month that the Germanic peoples named after the goddess Ēostre. The word Easter has connections to pagan rituals of celebrating the spring time. So, to not use the word “Easter” shouldn’t offend Christians.

I don’t believe in the war on Easter. Secular and public institutions are not the keepers of Christianity.  We Christians are keepers of Christianity. If Bill O’Reilly thinks the epitome of Easter is a public school Easter egg hunt, then he seriously misses the core message of Jesus. Perhaps O’Reilly misunderstands Christianity because he also thinks Jesus was killed over taxes.

Let us put down our Easter eggs as weapons and not allow the celebration of Christ’s resurrection be used as television entertainment.

Culture, Evangelism

New England mission field is not to be conquered

Having spent over four years in Upstate New York, I’ve experience my fair share of “New England” religion. Though New York is not part of New England, being so close to a New England state has naturally brought its culture over the border. I have church members who are former residents of Vermont, New Hampshire, and a few who grew up with “Chow-dah” and “Hah-vahd”.

New Englanders are hardy folk. They endure harsh winters and only one NFL team for several states. They are compassionate. Simple and respectful. They don’t wear their religion on their sleeve. They are rich and poor. Tall and short. They are Americans just like you and me.

In the last 10 years, several evangelical denominations and faith groups see New England as the last American mission field. This thinking is misguided and sees this region as a place to be conquered as if it was ancient military victory. Yes, everywhere we go is a mission field but the holier than thou attitude that some church planters exhibit smacks of arrogance.

Case in point are the tactics the Southern Baptist Convention is using to plant churches in New England. NPR reported that a church planter walked a traffic island with a very aggressive religious sign to drivers:

It’s not malicious… but they’re church-planting by stealth…On a recent February afternoon, horns honked and a middle finger flew as Cabral walked the traffic island. Drivers also kept engaging him, trying to answer the question on his cross, which he’d explain meant, “Are you ready to face God when you die?” Cabral would share how he knew that he was, then hand out a card with a gospel message and his church’s address.

Is that how New England is seen as a mission field? A place where the first exposure to an evangelism effort forces unsuspecting commuters to be confronted with judgement rather than the love of Jesus Christ? What of the existing congregations trying to reach out to their communities? Often, many of these church planting movements ignore existing churches in order that they reach number goals.

Treating the birth place of American religious freedom like it is a foreign mission field gives no regard to local culture, local needs, and local programs. Theologies of missiology explore existing culture rather than establishing a new culture and religious norm. For instance, recent statistics reflect new church plants instead of focusing on existing ones:

Since 2002, the Southern Baptists have spent roughly $5 million to plant churches around the region, and have another $800,000 committed for this year… They’ve started 133 new churches in that time, a nearly 70 percent increase that brings their regional total to 325.

What about the churches trying to reach their local community? What statistics and funding goes towards strengthening existing churches? Building new churches is a little more sexier than using existing churches. It looks good to show a mission board statistics on new churches. But, initiatives like Transformed by the Spirit seek to empower existing churches to find new life. Not considering what challenges and opportunities exist in current churches ignores the work already being done by other Christians.

Working with existing churches and their struggles is not glamorous as starting a new church. However, there are communities, people, and towns that need their congregations to be renewed and restored. Let us not see the “New England mission field” as a place to be conquered but as a place where we respect local church hopes and dreams.

Christianity, Leadership

Why Pope Francis is good for Christianity

pope francis

As Pope Francis starts his papacy, it is very clear that his leadership will set a very different tone for the Catholic Church. Upon leaving Rome, Pope Francis paid for his own room, rejected lavish apparel, and referred to himself more as a bishop and less as Pope.

At a time when priest scandals, closing churches, and aging membership threaten the growth of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis is starting his tenure on a positive note. In the face of alleged papal scandal and a retiring pope, Francis has decided to change the tone of the Church’s messaging. Last week, Pope Francis reminded Catholics that Jesus, not the pope, is at the center of the Church. He added that the center should focus on “poor, and for the poor.” Even the selection of his namesake, Francis of Assisi, invokes compassion, peace, and uplifting the poor.

At 76 years of age, Pope Francis is comparably young. This newest pope will need the energy to galvanize the Catholic base and gain the trust of the disfranchised. However, Francis is doing more work among Christians in general, not just Catholics. The sex abuse scandals not only eroded the trust of faithful Catholics, but also with the general population. Public polls show that lawyers and bankers are more trusted than clergy. The perception among the “nones”, who make up 20% of Americans, is that churches and organized Christianity is not worthy of their attention.

It appears Pope Francis is setting a new tone for 1.2 billion Catholics. The tone is not centered in doctrine, Church law, or hierarchy but on bringing unity to the Church and caring for the least of these. The LA Times interviewed one of the faithful and compared the last pope and current pope:

But devotees have been agog at the complete contrast in style between the two men. Benedict tended to be stiff and reserved in public, unlike Francis and his engaging manner. Benedict “distanced people, but this one — you can tell from his expression — he makes jokes, he is closer to us,” Lorenzo Tortorati, 33, said, adding: “He’s what you need for the church.”

Protestants and Catholics share a close historic relationship. And, the two sects have influence one another. The Reformation created a Counter Reformation. Vatican II brought the church to the modern world as Protestant churches were growing. Catholics and nominal Catholics have been looking for a positive leader who can bridge the divide of theology and ecclesiology.  Ashley McGuire with The Washington Post expresses the mood of Catholics and Protestants:

Pope Francis, meet a generation of young Catholics longing for you. Longing for someone to show us in the most tangible of ways that the Catholic Church defends the most vulnerable among us, be they in their mother’s womb or hungry in the streets.  Meet a generation of Protestants looking to see Catholics assure them that our faith is first and foremost about Jesus Christ. And what could remind people more of Jesus than seeing a man with authority take that authority and bend it like Beckham. Bend down on one knee and wash some feet.

Indeed, we Christians (Catholics and Protestants) have a common denominator in Jesus Christ. Pope Francis is good for Christianity. His leadership will help the followers of Christ to do the things that Christ commanded: Feed the poor, visit the sick, uplift the lowly, protect the weak, and proclaim the Kingdom of God.

Pope Francis is that type of John Paul II pope who Catholics celebrated and Protestants could agree with. Francis will bring Catholics into the future and we Protestants can join with them in the common cause in the name of Jesus Christ.

social media

The Bible: Satan, Obama, and Social Media

Viewers who watched “The Bible” mini series took to social media to quickly point out a disturbing observation. The character, Satan has a striking resemblance to Barack Obama. The actor, Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni, obviously wore makeup.

Twitter was abuzz:

What do you think? Accident or intentional?

UPDATE:

The producers have responded to the accusations:

“This is utter nonsense,” executive producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey said in a statement. “The actor who played Satan, Mehdi Ouzaani, is a highly acclaimed Moroccan actor. He has previously played parts in several Biblical epics — including Satanic characters — long before Barack Obama was elected as our President.”

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