Good Question

One of the questions I constantly struggled with as a young pastor was “Why can’t I be content to be a small church pastor?” Except for the year and one half I spent as an assistant pastor in a five hundred member congregation in Lexington, Kentucky I never served a congregation of more than a couple hundred souls. As a General Presbyter, most of the congregations in the presbytery I served had fewr than one hundred and fifty members. Now serving as a synod stated clerk and as a presbytery transitional stated clerk the predominant size congregation in both places is only slightly larger than one hundred members.

I just read an interesting article on LinkedIn, Reality Check: We're All Going to Pastor a Small Church, by Karl Vaters. (http://www.christianitytoday.com/karl-vaters/2016/february/reality-check-were-all-going-to-pastor-small-church.html?paging=off&utm_content=buffer2cfe3&utm medium=social&utm_source =linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer) When I graduated from seminary most of us expected to either begin as a “junior” member of a pastoral staff, or to begin in a congregation of two hundred members and move to a larger congregation in a few years. Little did any of us know the nature of the church in the United States had already begun to turn in a new direction.

Very few classes were offered on serving a smaller membership congregation. One of the few exceptions of faculty members even talking or writing about the small church was Carl Dudley at McCormick Seminary. (http://www.amazon.com/Making-Small-Church-Effective-Dudley/dp/0687230446)

Not much has changed. Vaters states, Seriously, take a look at the class schedules for any ministry training school or seminary. How many of them are telling their ministerial students any of these realities, let alone teaching them the skills needed to pastor a small church? My observation is most of those teaching church administration courses in seminaries are still doing so from the perspective of larger sized congregations. Believe me there is a significant difference in how one deals with administration in a one fifty member congregation and one with five hundred members.

 

There is also a big difference in the kind of ministry and mission opportunities which are expected or which can be offered. It is not that ministry and mission activities cannot be offered with a small number of folks. One has to realize there is a limited number of people to participate. Therefore, a limited number of activities can reasonably be offered. The idea of a 24/7 programming, and multiple paid and volunteer staff is not a small church reality.

Smaller membership congregations tend to prefer pastors who will love and care for them, rather than program them into exhaustion. Smaller membership congrega-tions respond more to the shepherd than a blazing social prophet. In smaller congregations there is more opportunity to directly be involved with members in individual spiritual development. As Vaters asks about seminaries, How many of them are telling their ministerial students any of these realities, let alone teaching them the skills needed to pastor a small church?

Where do we prepare pastors to enter the tightly knit community of the smaller congregation? Where do we help those preparing to serve a smaller congregation accept that the relationships among the members are far more important than the finer points of theology or polity? What are presbyteries doing to help pastors, especially first call pastors, to deal with the disappointments and frustrations experienced when serving smaller membership congregations due to the pastors’ unrealistic expectations?  What is being done to help pastors develop the skills to serve multiple congregations without neglecting their own family, their own spiritual, emotional and physical well being? Where are those considering entering the pastorate told they will probably need to have gainful employment in addition to serving a congregation or congregations?

A reality check is not only necessary for pastors. A reality check is necessary for those overseeing the preparation, education, and supervision of pastors. We no longer are called to serve the congregations we fantasized about in the 1960s, 1970s, or early 1980s. Smaller congregations are the norm, not the exception.

Dilemma

I have a dilemma. I have encountered a situation where what I have said and what I do are not in sync. Let me illustrate.

I have said for years, “Sometimes you have to help the greedy to help the needy.” This has particularly been true when it comes to helping people who stop by the church or happen upon you on the street and ask for assistance. I realize some are just con artists. Yes, some will only use a financial gift for drugs or alcohol. Yes, there are stories of people who make more in one day in their begging cup than some do working an eight to ten hour shift. Still, I feel, in the spirit of giving alms to the poor, that I should still drop a few shekels in their cup, hat or hand.

Here is where my dilemma come in. I hang two bird feeders out during the months when it is cold, the ground is snow covered, and natural seeds are sparse. The feeders attract all manner of birds common to this area in the winter. There are cardinals, chickadees, sparrows, blue jays, finches, doves and some others I cannot identify. The doves are in the third or fourth generation which live in our neighborhood year round. They are too large to hang onto the wire cage feeders, so must rely on the seeds which drop to the ground while others are feeding.

We also have an abundance of squirrels. In the Fall, our hickory tree produces an abundance of nuts. The squirrels busy themselves eating and gathering the hickory nuts. Some they bury in the yard, others they carry off to store elsewhere. The squirrels also like to climb on and feed their gluttonous selves on the feeds I have put out for the birds. Don’t call PETA or ASPCA, but I do use many means of shooing them away from the feeders. One of the means is my bb/pellet gun. I do not shot them to kill them, using just enough power to “sting” them, and make them scurry away. Last year, it got to the place where all I had to do was open the sliding patio door and they would hightail it. Dang it, I put that feed out for the birds, not the squirrels!

Can you see my dilemma? When it comes to humans, if I am willing to risk feeding the greedy to feed the needy, why do I resent and chase away the squirrels from the bird feeders? St. Francis I am not when it comes to the squirrels.

I guess I am like many others who have a double standard in determining who or what to help. I guess I have a double standard and a limit to my generosity. I don’t mind frequently filling the feeders for the birds, and resent the squirrels sucking out the seeds like there is no tomorrow.

It makes me wonder where else in life do I have this dilemma. If I have it with the bird feeder, where else does it manifest itself in my life? What if it were me instead of the squirrels who was hungry in the winter? It makes me wonder about how we, collectively as a society, have the same dilemma, the same double standard?

Trickle or Full Flow

Image from covenantkeepsinc.org

Last summer I was watering some newly planted bushes and flowers. As I went along the length of the plantings the flow of water from the hose went from a steady flow to a small trickle. I wondered if somebody were playing a joke and had turned off the water. Nobody else was outside. I then began to follow the hose back toward the faucet. About half way I found a tight kink in the hose. It had failed to uncoil and folded upon itself. The flow of water was cut off from the source to the nozzle. Unbending the kink allowed the water to flow freely through the hose.

As I thought about that I began to think about it in terms of economics, not a subject in which I am proficient. For years I have heard of trickle down economics. As I understand it, trickle down theory posits that as the wealthy become wealthier their wealth will trickle down through the socio-economic strata finally reaching those at the lowest levels. Yes, it definitely favors those at the top. It reminds me of the story of rich man and Lazarus story in the Gospel of Luke (16:19-31). There was a wondrous feast on the table and poor Lazarus had to survive on the crumbs which fell from the table.

As I thought of it even more while hearing of the drought in the western states. Water is captured in vast lakes held back by dams. The pooled water is release through gates to increase or decrease the flow downstream. If at various points new dams are constructed it provides a new point for controlling the flow. Finally, at the furthest point downstream at best a minuscule trickle is available. Each dam becomes a kink in the flow. Is not this same way trickledown economics works?

It seems to me, God is not into trickle down economics. How does trickledown theory match up with passages such as Amos 5:22-25?

Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Image from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo3OM5sPUPM

Justice and righteousness are not just ethereal concepts. Justice and righteousness are directly related to personal and national economics. I am constantly challenged by that. Yes, I have a savings account. Is that savings like my having built a dam, a kink, in the flow of resources to others? Compared to others more upstream in the economic strata, I am not rich. However, compared to those more downstream, I am quite wealthy. Do I give to groups and causes which seek to improve the lot of those with fewer resources? Absolutely! What I have to wrestle with is that I am complicit in trickledown economics, like it or not.

This year, in the United States, elections will be held for local, state and national lawmakers and for president. A question we must ask in considering for which candidates we will cast our votes is “are they more or less into trickledown economics?” Do they believe that the bigger the pool of resources at the top needs to grow larger? Do they believe greater resources need to flow from the dams upstream and that kinks in the flow need to be straightened out so the resources can flow more freely? Just like my own situation each of the candidates is more or less complicit in trickledown economics. How does our understanding of Scripture and the theology it informs, guide our decisions in the voting booth?

If we want to witness to God's overflowing grace and mercy, if we want to be followers of Jesus, how much do we want to participate in trickledown economics and how much do we want our government to participate in it? My understanding is, God speaking through the Prophet Amos, would have fewer resources held back in the pools at the top and calls us to increase the flow all along the way. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Predictable

I have mentioned in previous blogs my “rules of engagement.” Here is another one original to me, as far as I know. Our habits, patterns and predictabilities are part of who we are. Also, they can be points of vulnerability; gaping portals through which others can enter our life to control, or to defeat us. Many know my preferred leisure reading is in espionage and political intrigue. One of the rules in spy craft is never be predictable, unless using it to lure another to you. Never use the same route to or from home. Change as much of your daily patterns as possible.

Our habits, patterns, and predictabilities are how we have arranged life so it is comfortable for us, and we do not constantly have to be thinking about what to do and how to do it. We do this as much in the church as any other part of our individual and corporate life. Meetings are always held at the same time. We sign the same hymns over and over again. Events and activities follow the same script year after year. When something new is tried the whole system is destabilized.

Yesterday I was reading a blog by Chris Currie which was published in The Presbyterian Outlook. Chris offers that the Presbyterian Church has become predictable. Here is part of what Chris wrote, 

I always think it is interesting when a popular comedian offers a more inclusive and prophetic form of ecclesial identity than our church sometimes does. What I mean is this: I think we Presbyterians have gotten too predictable. We all know which causes or issues are going to generate a press release and which ones do not fit our talking points. I can almost predict in boilerplate form what statement denominational leadership will make, what issues we will offer commentary on and about what issues we choose to remain silent.

I just wonder if being prophetic asks a bit more from us, even challenges us to take on our own ideological allies at times, calling to mind a Savior who was not completely at home in any one ideological camp nor completely against any of them either. (January 20, 2016 by Chris Currie, The Presbyterian Outlook)

There is a predictability to the reactions to our predictable actions. Newton’s Third Law applies as much to relationships as it does to physics. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In season 1 episode 3 of The West Wing, President Bartlett is fed up with proportional response by the military to terrorist attacks. He finds the proportional response too predictable and ineffective. The predictability allows the terrorists time and opportunity to vacate the predictable points of response. In the first Gulf War, “shock and awe” was to be beyond the predictable response.

Is it time, as Currie suggests, for the church to break out of our predictability? If it is, what would that look like? Are we willing to appear to be foolish or reckless to break out of our predictableness? How can we break out of our predictabilities to more effectively speak truth to ourselves and to the powers (which to many) are unjust, merciless, racist, and oppressive? How can we shed ourselves of our predictabilities to better proclaim and demonstrate the love of God in Christ Jesus?

Disruptions

www.innovativedisruption.com

I begin by acknowledging an article by Carey Nieuwhof sparked my thinking and I recommend it to you.
http://careynieuwhof.com/2016/01/5-disruptive-church-trends-will-rule-2016/

What do we mean when we speak of something or someone as being disruptive? The first thoughts in my mind picture a swirling, creating negative chaos, or an interruption. Most of us have created our space and activities in a fairly fixed pattern with which we are somewhat comfortable. In family systems language and in physics it is referred to homeostasis. Things are in an accepted balance.

Yesterday as I was doing some reading a large military helicopter swooped low over our neighborhood. It was loud. It shook the house with the beating of the rotor blades against the air. The incandescent bulb in the ceiling lamp responded with a dancing of the light on my desk. It was truly disruptive. Part of the disruption came as a result of my ages long fascination with whirly birds regardless of size.

In seconds I sprang from my chair, ran outside, standing on the cold paving stones of our patio and stood mesmerized watching this giant flying machine. Oh, did I forget to mention that I had no shoes on? The ‘copter had created a disturbance to by placid reading. For me it was a pleasant disruption, but a disruption none the less.

El Nino is creating massive disruptions to weather patterns across the globe. Some areas are experiencing unusual warmth while others are deluged with a chain of Pacific storms hammering the west coast. We are told the El Nino of this year is one of, if not the most, disturbing in recorded history. In one day a fifty-degree warming of the temperature was recorded at the North Pole. We are warned that some areas of the earth will be experiencing drought which will drastically affect food supplies. El Nino is disruptive.

Were it not for disruptions everything would continue to hang in its homeostasis. That seems to be the way many people want things in the Church. We know it cannot stay that way. We live in an ever changing, disturbed, world. Populations shift, economies ride a precarious roller coaster threatening to fly off the rails any second. All heads are bowed in silent meditation, all is still, when suddenly a baby wails. Some would find that disruption harsh and others would receive it as a sign of life and promise.

The answer to question 101 of the Larger Westminster Catechism refers to God as immutable, unchanging. Yet, there are instances in Scripture which reflect God as having a change of mind, most notably in the Exodus account. The Spirit of God is spoken of as a wind which blows where it will. In Acts the Spirit is a disruptive animation of frightened and cowering disciples into evangelists.

The precious balance we wish we could experience in the Church is a balance which would freeze the Church in time and space. Nothing would change. Nothing would grow and produce new fruit. Life itself is dynamic. The life of the Church is dynamic. Thanks be to God for the disruptions.

Disorientation

Matthew Christopher, abandonedamerica.us

History shows us that mighty empires only last so long. Think of the Roman Empire and it vast colonization. The Holy Roman Empire lasted about 800 years. The Ottoman Empire was around for approximately 700 years dissolving in 1922. The British Empire once ruled the waves. Empires come and go. Seldom do they go quietly into the night.

In this last season of Downton Abbey, it is easy from the first episode to see the trajectory to the end. Estate after estate, including Downton, will cut back on staff and activities until at last it will have to close down. Already the staff, which is not as large as in season one, is worried about “being let go.” Trauma and anxiety run high.

The same kind of things have happened, are happening, will happen to the church in its many forms. Once large denominations are mere shadows of their former self. Organization structures once developed as compound complex establishments filling multiple floors of massive facilities, are now reducing in staff and activities. Today it was announced that Presbyterian Mission Agency staff age 60 and over with at least 5 years of employment are being offered a voluntary separation option before involuntary separations are initiated.

We have already seen one megachurch collapse under its own weight and the death of it founder. The Crystal Cathedral in California was built to seat over two thousand seven hundred people. For some years it was nearly full every Sunday. Now, it is no longer under the operation by the Fuller family. It is no longer called the Crystal Cathedral. Now, owned and operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, and is known as Christ Cathedral. It makes one question to Saddleback and other megachurches like it when the founding minister leaves, dies or is caught in a moral fault. We have already seen this with Bakker, Swaggart and Falwell among others.

This week the board of the Presbyterian Mission Agency met via tele-conference. Two notable actions were to request the General Assembly to appoint a task group to consider merging the mission and ecclesiastical functions. The second action was to engage three other entities in a discussion looking toward sharing some functions and staff. These are just two more signs that what we used to be is not what we are and not what we will be.

So it has been for thousands of congregations across the country regardless of denominational name or theological hue. Congregations with membership once numbering in the hundreds now number in the tens. Larger edifices either stand vacant or have been sold off to become antique stores or microbreweries.

Some of a more cynical nature predict the day the last Presbyterian will turn off the lights and lock the door of the last Presbyterian church. As I have written before, I grieve the loss of the denomination I was ordained into and have given the majority of my life serving.

However, and that is a big HOWEVER, I do not believe God is finished with the Reformed/Presbyterian expression of the Church. As others have written we are in a time of disorientation. I trust God is leading us toward a time of reorientation. In just a few weeks we will enter the season of Lent as we anticipate again celebrating the Resurrection. Just as the two on the road to Emmaus did not recognize post-resurrection Jesus, we probably will not recognize the reoriented Reformed/Presbyterian church of the future.

Line in the Sand

altoday.com

Currently a group of people have drawn a line in the sand and have occupied a building in a national park in Oregon. Not only have they occupied the building they have weapons with them. They say they do not want violence, but they are prepared for violence should any law enforcement agencies try to remove them.

Having read part of their account of things over the years, it is not all that difficult to hear their frustration, anger, and feeling of being handled badly by the government. Not only are they mad, they are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore. I know there is another side of the story. There always is. They have drawn their line in the sand.

Drawing a line in the sand can have a couple of meanings. One the one hand, it can mean that one has reached their limit. “I’m not compromising one bit more.” On the other hand, it can mean a limit has been defined for another. “This is where it stops. If you cross that line, there will be serious repercussions.”

The famous line of Martin Luther, “Here I stand, I can do no other,” indicates he had drawn a line in the sand. It is interesting that while he had drawn a line in the sand he never left the Roman Catholic church. In our recent past there have been many lines drawn in the sand concerning decisions and policies of the church. For some the church crossed the line in the sand with the ordination of homosexuals. For others it was approval of same gender marriage.

It was too much for some to tolerate any further. They could not remain in any portion of the church which approved or allowed what they considered to be biblical absolutes of forbidden belief or behavior. Rather than crossing that line in the sand they withdrew and joined others who think like they do. One minister told me that the approval of the ordination and marriage issues was a clear indication of the church’s total abandonment of biblical authority. He had reached his line in the sand.

In earlier times the same was said about women’s suffrage, racial equality, ordination of women, and several other issues which became lines in the sand, indicators that the church had gone much farther than some were able to go.

The funny thing about lines in the sand is that they are drawn in the sand, not in a substance which remains relatively unchanged over a long period of time. Draw a line in the desert sands and the elements soon cover it with more sand. Draw a line on the sand along an ocean shore and the water moves more sand to erase it. 

Lines of demarcation drawn in the sand do not last long. As time washes across the lines we have drawn in the sand, the lines eventually vanish. There are times when we have to say, “I’ll not go one step further.” In the long run, lines in the sand are not immutable. If one draws a line in the sand today will it still be there tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, the next decade, or the next century?  Eventually, changing times and circumstances will blow or wash away our line in the sand.

https://www.wayostccs.com