To God, though we have lost our way in life, we are never forgotten. God has a way of nudging back on life’s pathway. God utilizes people, providential situations, and circumstances to get our attention. There can always be a “welcome home” party for us in God’s eyes.
Author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien, once wrote,
As churches emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, I often hear congregational leaders and pastors ask one another, “What’s next? What do we need to do?” Typical responses often center on the church becoming more digitally available to people. Indeed, churches have made essential investments in livestreaming worship, Zoom facilitation of small groups, technology, and making ministry programs more accessible. This is a pipeline approach: finding the direct vehicle to deliver religious and spiritual content.
As much as access to the internet has changed the way people relate to one another, work, live, and experience the world, the moveable type printing press has had an equal, if not greater, impact in the way people have access to information. The internet is over 40 years old, but the moveable printing press is over 500 years old. Much like the internet, the flow of information via a moveable type printing press made access to information economical and widespread in previous centuries. Christians saw the new technology as a way to share Christianity with the masses. Widespread efforts in literacy helped fuel the Protestant Reformation in Europe. The moveable type printing press enabled a free exchange of ideas and Christian theology, which were not available to the masses previously. The moveable type printing press disrupted the theological pipeline monopoly of the Catholic Church.
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This article originally appeared with the Christian Citizen
When I was a pastor in a small town, there was a great sense of community. There were Memorial Day remembrances, firehouse breakfasts, ham dinners, the Holiday Parade, the annual Day of Prayer, Rotary meetings and community trash pick-up days. Many participated in community events regularly. However, a segment of the community was absent from those events. They were people from the emerging community.
What is an emerging community?
As a pastor, it was easy to see and meet the visible people in the community: the mayor, fire chief, bank manager, restaurant owner, school administrators and business association representative. Those visible people in the community were easy to identify and were regularly a part of community events.
As the years went by, I began to learn about people in the emerging community — people who were not easily seen but growing in numbers and presence. Individuals and people in the emerging community did not look or act like people in the visible community.
A pastor’s calling requires a pastor to be at a community’s connection points. Pastors ought to place themselves in places and spaces in town meetings, community groups, nonprofits and schools — the visible community. There are also times a pastor looks for the edges of the community, or places of growth. The new local moms’ group, the new restaurant that attracts people in their 20s, the growing food pantry or the recently moved assistance office — the emerging community.
Aspects of the emerging community that have a visible and immediate impact often are a welcomed presence. The new coffee shop that fosters connection points for people to meet and talk. The new workout studio that encourages people to be physically healthy, while joining others on the same journey. The new comic book shop that brings additional foot traffic to the streets. The community garden club that beautifies the town. The new neighborhood that is built.
The growth in the emerging community is not always welcomed by members of the visible community. Cries of protest ensued when a nonprofit sought to move into town to aid low- to mid-income families. Some members of the visible community expressed fear and anxiety about tax-revenue loss, zoning violations, decreased parking availability and increased car traffic. It took lawyers hundreds of hours and a state judge to decide that the nonprofit was allowed to plant itself in the community. It was a painful process.
Emerging communities often have different ethnicities, economic makeup, religions, cultural values or family status than that of the visual community. It is uncomfortable and risky to place yourself into an emerging community that looks or acts nothing like your own. Pastors and church leaders are called to such places, as Christ was called to such places. Jesus entered into emerging communities that had Gentiles, Roman officials, soldiers, sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes. His religious contemporaries and members of the visual community did not approve. However, Jesus often came into the emerging community with no agenda. He sat, ate and listened. Only when a challenge or injustice arose did Jesus bring in teaching or a guiding moral principle, usually with story. He sought to make relationships, rather than fulfill a goal of setting priorities.
Churches, pastors and church leaders must understand that the way forward for a church is to be in touch with the visual community and the emerging community. The missional nature of the New Testament calls all who claim Christ to be in those times and places of discomfort to bridge relationships and connections that yield spiritual fruit down the road.
As the world now knows, the Philadelphia Eagles and Nick Foles won Super Bowl 52. The improbable start of Nick Foles from backup quarterback to Super Bowl champion is the stuff of Rudy-like movies that make you feel good. Everyone loves a good underdog story. In his victory speech, Foles shared something that every church, pastor, and lay leader should listen to.
Nick Foles’ faith has been well documented. He’s a committed Christian, shares his faith publicly, and even took seminary classes. The Eagles as a team have also been public about their Christian faith. If you have followed Foles’ story, you know that he almost gave up professional football altogether. He attributive his faith in God as motivation for sticking with football.
Churches should note the storied season of the Philadelphia Eagles. Faced with losing their starting quarterback, the Eagles had to readjust their game plan with the challenges of injuries and losses they faced mid-season. Foles stated something that all churches, in a time of decline, challenge, and changing religious environment, need to hear: Continue Reading…
I sat down with WSYR Channel 9 here in Syracuse, NY to give some reflection upon the horrible shooting in Sutherland Springs, TX at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. It’s not often we pastors and ministers have a chance to speak into national news stories.
I was very thankful that WSYR wanted to seek out a minister to provide some spiritual and pastoral insight. Click below to watch the video interview: Continue Reading…
As the nation is still comprehending how a person could walk into a church and kill over 25 people, The First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas is in grief and shock. Another American shooting – the worst in history. In 2015, Dylan Roof walked into a Charleston, SC church and killed nine people. The number of faith-based violence has increased from 22 deaths a year in 1991 to 74 in 2014. As the gun debate heats back up there is another debate stirring in congregations: Do we increase our church security? Do we need to be armed?
Amazon announced a new product and service to their line-up: Amazon Key. Amazon describes their new product as the way to, “get your Amazon packages securely delivered just inside your front door. Plus, grant access to the people you trust, like your family, friends, dog walker, or house cleaner.” This is one of many products that have taken over our lives by Amazon or also known as the Amazonification of retail… and life.
Amazon has started putting large retailers out of business. With their free two-day delivery with Amazon Prime, tablets that push notifications of sales, Echo devices that can order Amazon products, and other devices that can order via their website, Amazon has put their delivery method in the hands and heads of people around the world. Amazon has created a virtual e-commerce ecosystem that we can’t escape. Now, Amazon is testing drones to deliver products faster. Amazon not only sells products but now services of professional cleaning, installation, plumbing and more on their website.
This is a takeover of Amazon’s brand force. It’s the Amazonification of life: a total and complete delivery system of goods, services, and information. Amazon has disrupted the way people get their “stuff”.
Amazon’s virtual staying power taps into something that is happening in every facet of our lives: virtual delivery and engagement of life… including our faith. Amazon shows us how Christianity has been disrupted by factors and forces of our technological and mobile connected world.
“You didn’t visit Susan* in the hospital. You’re not doing your job. You’re not being a good pastor.”
Those words hung in the air for a few moments before I explained on the phone that Susan nor her family told me that she was in the hospital. It didn’t matter. The caller didn’t care. In the caller’s mind, I was responsible for information that I didn’t know about. It was very painful to be accused of not doing my “job”.
I’ve thought about that conversation many times in the years that have passed. So, I worked more hours and harder at being omnipresent. Continue Reading…
A breastfeeding mom in Virginia was told to leave her church’s sanctuary and go into a private room because “the church does not allow breastfeeding without a cover because it could make men, teenagers or new churchgoers uncomfortable.”
The Washington Post reported that Annie Peguero, mother of two, whose husband is on deployment, “posted her own livestream video on Facebook — with her baby, Autumn, at her breast — telling viewers what happened and urging women to stand up for breast-feeding.” Despite that Virginia law allows for mothers to breastfeed anywhere, the church clearly did not know about the mother’s rights. This isn’t the first time a mother breastfeeding became a national news story. A church in Dallas, TX in 2014 became the center of a social media debate about breastfeeding in church.
Currently, an individual can go into a church packing a gun in Virginia, but for some, a mother packing a nursing boob for a baby is just too much.
I recently had a Q&A conversation with Dr. Meredith Gould on her updated book, Deliberate Acts of Kindness: A Field Guide to Service As a Spiritual Practice. Dr. Gould is well known for her writing and work within the fields of spirituality, church communications, and social media (among other disciplines). She makes a compelling case to go beyond the proverbial random acts of kindness and to embody kindness that is intentional and authentic. It is a wonderful book that will help point readers to practical and spiritual direction for service in the church and the world.
Q1: You wrote the first edition of your book in 2002. What has changed in 15 years in our culture and spiritual lives of people that called for a second edition?
It’s been a little over four years since I wrote, The Work of the Associate Pastor (Judson Press) and a lot has changed. As church budgets get smaller and the pews reveal increasingly empty space, many church leaders cannot fathom having an associate pastor on a church staff. A Hartford Institute for Religion Research study found that from 2010 to 2015, part-time clergy jumped from 29% to 38%. If it’s hard enough to staff one pastoral position, how could a church even think about two?
The answer is: it’s time to consider another model of associate pastor. Continue Reading…
South Park’s 20th season featured the appearance of a cluster of unusual characters: Member berries. These little edible high-pitched grape-like fruits reclaim such nostalgic remembrances as “Member Chewbacca again?” “Aw yeah I love to member Chewbacca!”, “Member Ghostbusters?”, “Oh yeah, Ghostbusters!”, “Member Bionic Man?”, “Oh, I love Bionic Man!”, and so on. When one consumes a Member berry euphoric vibes and pleasant nostalgia are enjoyed.
The pleasurable memories of days of yore come to an end when Randy Marsh notices the Member berries begin to remember things with a racial context. The storyline runs its course and people become addicted to Member berries and Randy forms a support group. The citizens of South Park become drunk with nostalgia and long for the past. The allusion to Donald Trump’s campaign promises are clear, which is summarized by his call to “Make America Great Again.”
According to South Park’s wiki page, Member berries are, “the physical manifestation of the idiom “sour grapes”, used to refer to a negative attitude to something because they cannot have it themselves.” A true irony.
Not long after the episode, Carol Howard Merritt wrote a Christian Century piece, “The great power of nostalgia”. As I read it, the only thing I could think about was Member berries. So on Facebook I left a comment on her post referring to the South Park episode: “Member Chewbacca”. A humorous thread ensued.
In many ways, Christianity suffers from Member berries. Carol sums up the Member berry nicely:
In our churches, people long for the time when going to church was the center of a town’s social life. Mothers got to dress up after a week of housecleaning, fathers made professional connections, and teens met the people they would soon marry. The sanctuary was full, and everyone understood the importance of Sunday school.
In my 10 years of full-time ordained ministry, I’ve seen and heard a lot of Member berries in the church. “Remember when Pastor _________ was here, we were full.”, “More people used to come to this church meeting.”, “Years ago, we didn’t have problems filling volunteer spots.”, and “If just get back to the good old days, we’d be okay.” The sad thing is that there were challenges then, as we have new challenges now, but that’s what nostalgia does to us.
While churches are picking their Member berries and remembering a once full church the folks in their neighborhood are yearning for spirituality, connection, community, and real relationships. Churches often lament their problems through a lens that sees the past as the only way to a better future. This cannot be more wrong. The past was great for a lot of churches. People showed up to church, volunteered, tithed, things were closed on Sundays, and “everyone” was a Christian. However, as Robert Schnase reminds us in his book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations :
No church that is vibrant, fruitful, and growing performs its ministry exactly as it did in the 1950’s, and no pastor leading such a congregation is practicing ministry as she or he did in the 1970’s or 1980’s. Effective congregations change, improve, learn, and adapt to fulfill their mission…
Any renewal movement, congregational or otherwise, that is worth its salt does not find success in repeating the technical successes of the past, but finds renewal in envisioning their adaptive future. (There’s a reason Macintosh stop making the Apple II and starting making other stuff to became one of the most successful companies, ever.)
I’ve found that when a new vision takes shape and changes take place in church, Christians feel that the old was bad and the new is good. This is also wrong. When we begin to make changes in churches it is not because the past is bad, but what is being done is not effective. It does not connect with people today. It does not meant what was done in the past loses value. We celebrate honor the past by building on it as we move into a new future. As I used to tell a congregation in the middle of a vision process, “We are not changing the Gospel. We are changing how we share the Gospel.” Unfortunately, long term church people often get hung up on the “how”.
Member berries are great for a passing moment, but when Christians gorge themselves on Member berries they rob themselves of the ability to envision a new future. We cannot go back in time (if you can time travel, I want a ride in your Delorean). We can only create a new future in which God will do a new thing. Don’t we believe in a faith of resurrection and new life?
Do not let nostalgic Christianity think that the past was better and the future can never be as bright – those are the Member berries talking.
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