It Takes A Church...

Consumers Find Ways to Spend Less and Find Happiness - NYTimes.com

New studies of consumption and happiness show, for instance, that people are happier when they spend money on experiences instead of material objects, when they relish what they plan to buy long before they buy it, and when they stop trying to outdo the Joneses.

via www.nytimes.com

Apropos to our Advent Conspiracy focus that started on Sunday. Thanks to Gail Hiduke for the article.

Religion. Sex. Power... and some thoughtfulness, too

Probably the biggest issue is that evangelicals have not thought strategically of how corrosive power can be, how corrupting for your personal life, and how vital it is to have a wellspring of accountable friendships and support systems to help navigate the minefields.

via www.patheos.com

A sobering but insightful discussion with sociologist Michael Lindsay on the perils of power and why so many politicians caught up in sexual scandal are evangelical Christians.

"Now Thank We All Our God"

Mark D. Roberts shares a touching Thanksgiving reminder.

When I think of gratitude in the face of suffering, I remember Martin Rinkart. He was a pastor in the city of Eilenburg, Germany during the first decades of the seventeenth century. If you remember your European history, this was during the so-called Thirty Years' War. Eilenburg, as a walled city, was often overcrowded with refugees. This often led to famine and disease. Conditions were so horrible in Eilenburg that thousands of people died, and, for a season, Rinkart was the only minister in town. During this period of time he performed up to fifty funerals in a single day. Over his lifetime he officiated at over 4,000 funerals. We can only imagine the horrific suffering Rinkart experienced.

In the midst of this ordeal he wrote several hymns. One caught on among German speaking people and, in translation, among English speaking people as well. What was this popular hymn? In the original language it begins: "Nun danket alle Gott, mit Herzen, Mund und Händen." In English translation the hymn is a Thanksgiving favorite:

Now thank we all our God
With heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom this world rejoices;
Who, from our mothers' arms,
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God
Through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
And blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us in God's grace,
And guide us when perplexed,
And free us from all ills
In this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God,
Who reigns in highest heaven,
To Father and to Son
And Spirit now be given.
The one eternal God,
Whom heaven and earth adore,
The God who was, and is,
And shall be evermore.

I've always liked this hymn. But I had probably sung it fifty times before I learned about its background. Now it means so much more to me. Martin Rinkart was calling for thanksgiving, not in a season of plenty, but in the midst of want. He was reminding us to look above our pain and to remember God's "wondrous things" and "countless gifts of love." The hymn acknowledges that we will sometimes be "perplexed" and suffer "all ills." But by lifting our eyes above these immediate circumstances, we are able to give thanks to God. The last verse looks, not to the good things God has done for us, but to the very nature of our good God, who deserves "all praise and thanks."

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/markdroberts/#iframe_height=300#ixzz16JTICNZx

Stop Skimming, Start Digging | YourChurch.net

Part of the reason I skimmed on my leadership is that I divided the secular and sacred, treating the executive/planning functions of pastoral leadership as less meaningful and holy than prayer and Bible study.

For years I preferred to do the easy things, not the necessary things. I don't enjoy conflict and tension. Who does?

When I stopped skimming, I began to see how much of my life was driven by external validation, other people telling me I was okay. Volunteers and staff didn't move toward me after difficult conversations about their performance. They distanced themselves from me.

I sometimes avoided meetings I knew would be hard. I skimmed on "truth" when it was uncomfortable.

via www.christianitytoday.com

A very challenging and yet, crucially, important article about the resistance that so many of us feel about "digging in" to the deeper issues of leadership.

My Church or Mega Church?

It seems to me that the mental models of churches fall roughly into two sets of aspirations:

1. “My Church”.  “My Church” is the church that fits us perfectly.  It is sweet and small and everybody knows me by name.  It’s “my” community, “my” house of prayer, these are “my” people.  We are not selfish with “My Church” indeed most of us are more than willing to have others come and be part of it…as long as it remains “My Church”.  My Church is quaint, peculiar and dated, it is hard to ever feel at home unless you already happen to be from there.  For those who do, it is long on community, love and belonging.  It offers tradition, stability and security comforting and confirming the experience of life of those on the inside.  It is filled with my favorite songs and traditions and ways of being church that fill “MY” heart and move my soul.  But it is so uniquely particular to the people who are part of it, that most of the time they don’t even notice that it is mostly ignored, mostly irrelevant and offers little to anyone outside of “me and mine.” “My Church” is a lot like my friends’ family cabin.  It’s cozy, it’s a bit in disrepair but it is filled with memories.  The furniture is old and awkward, the wallpaper is so dated as to inspire comment, the walls have “art” and artifacts that are sacrosanct because they were put there by someone beloved and long gone.   The appliances are relics but since they are not used that often are mostly fine for the task.  It’s not exactly the kind of place anyone else would care for, but for my friend and his family it is indeed “My Place”.  My Church is the same.  It’s loved because it is mine.  It may not fit anyone else, but really what matters to me is that it fits me.
2. The second mental model of church is “Mega Church”.  Mega church is the church that aspires to fit the masses. While inspired by churches that are genuinely big in size, “Mega Church” is mostly now an aspiration, a model, a way of doing church regardless of size. “Mega Church” is less about what fits me, as what would fit the most people most of the time in the most convenient way.  It is “user-friendly” or “purpose-driven” or “consumer-oriented”.  It is hip, up-to-date, and continually being remodeled to fit the demands of demanding customers. It is not exactly a place to be “at home” but more a place to “find what I am looking for”.  It mostly fits those who run the place, but in their anxiety to make sure it stays up to date it is in constant threat of pandering to whomever passes by.   “Mega Church” is more like a “mall” then a cabin, it is a big community gathering place where people come to get what they want.  Mega Church is not loved because it’s filled with memories, but because it is filled with energy.  It may not fit me, it may not really fit anyone perfectly, but it offers something for everyone (if only we can get them to “buy” into it.”

So, which church do you go to “My Church” or “Mega Church”? 

They are pretty different in the appearances they present and the experiences they offer.  Like all human institutions (no matter how divinely inspired and dutifully tended they have been) they both have attributes to commend them and they both have obvious shortcomings worthy of criticism. 
For all their differences, they both have at least two things in common: 

1.    Neither has the corner on a “biblical” (or “historical” or even “missional”) model. 
2.    And both are dying. 

We all know that “My Church” is in decline, it has been for a while.  Most of us who go to “My Church” have made an uneasy truce with the reality that this place really only fits me and my own, and when we are gone, it will be to.  Most of us who are members of “Mega Church” are less convinced.  We see the numbers of people and the energy pulsating from the next BIG event and assume that this model of church will be here for the next 500 years.  But it won’t.  Consumers are leaving “Mega Church” for a new hybrid version of both “My Church” and “Mega Church” called “No Church-except-My-Own-Do-it-Yourself Spirituality” (called the “Nones”, it the fastest growing church affiliation in America, often called “Spiritual But Not Religious”).

For  the past two decades or so, the tussle of these mental models has basically been around this assumption: To be relevant and to survive, “My Church” has to become more like “Mega Church”, but to endure and go deeper than the whims of a consumer culture, “Mega Church” has to become like “My Church”.  But what about a completely different model, a model that is as unique as each person and culture and as universal as life itself.  A model that offers both a sense of identity and belonging (for that is its true purpose) and a model that also continues to grow, change and adapt, for that very ability is in its “DNA”. 

Let me suggest a model from a most unlikely source; a model born out of the barrenness and emptiness, yearning and surprise that comes only when someone gets to the end of their abilities and finds themselves unexpectedly expecting.  It is a model with a “matron saint” (rather than a “patron saint”) and it is as unlikely to become a reality as Elizabeth was in Luke chapter 1. 
But the best thing about this model for church is that whether you go to “My Church” or “Mega Church” this model is actually pretty naturally, available for you and your church to consider:

It’s Mother Church. 

Mother church doesn’t exist to comfort “Me and Mine” nor does it exist to attract “Everyone”, it exists to both BE something in itself and Do something beyond itself.  It is a church that exists to BE generative and to give birth.  It is a church that’s purpose is to reproduce, to bring into the world the unexpected thing that God is already doing.

Next Post:  Elizabeth, Advent and A Church of Impossible Things.

The Leavers: Young Doubters Exit the Church | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

"Imagine a group photo of all the students who come to your church (or live within your community of believers) in a typical year. Take a big fat marker and cross out three out of every four faces. That's the probable toll of spiritual disengagement as students navigate through their faith during the next two decades."

via www.christianitytoday.com

The Challenge of every generation seems only more intensified in ours. The question, of course, is discerning what to do about it.

"The Lord Has Pleaded the Causes of My Soul"

 “0 Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul.”
         — Lamentations 3:58

Observe how positively the prophet speaks. He doth not say, “I hope, I trust, I sometimes think, that God hath pleaded the causes of my soul”; but he speaks of it as a matter of fact not to be disputed. “Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul.” Let us, by the aid of the gracious Comforter, shake off those doubts and fears which so much mar our peace and comfort. Be this our prayer, that we may have done with the harsh croaking voice of surmise and suspicion, and may be able to speak with the clear, melodious voice of full assurance.


Charles Spurgeon

Where is the Leader's "Dress Rehearsal"?

Where do leaders safely learn to fail? Where do we get a chance to learn how much we still have to learn?  Where do we get the experience of missing our marks, of flubbing the lines and tripping our roles without ruining the whole 'production'?

Darcy Rice is one of the elders in my church and widely respected theater arts teacher at a local high school.  He is really good at what he does.  Here he discusses the good fortune of having a bad dress rehearsal.

"I use every teaching skill and performance trick I have accumulated over many years as an actor, director, writer and teacher. I explain, encourage, cajole, insist, cheerlead, demonstrate and inspire. I do whatever it takes to get the best performance from every member of the cast. But ultimately, they must be allowed to fail.

This is the secret weapon of the first dress rehearsal. By allowing students to fail while still in the protected environment of rehearsal, we are giving them the greatest educational opportunity possible. Through a myriad of mistakes, dropped lines, misplaced props, mangled dances and the inevitable missed entrance, students are forced to take responsibility for their own work. It is through these “mistakes” that the greatest learning happens. The student who misses his entrance, and accepts personal responsibility for doing so, will never miss that entrance again."

Do we who work with younger leaders give them places to fail while protected?  And where do those of us who are often in the spotlight get the opportunity to work on and work out the things we don't yet have 'down'?  For me, being a supervisor to younger staff and a coach to leaders is an opportunity to keep cultivating a culture of rehearsal and learning.  Creating environments for every leader to be a learners is what good leadership is really about.

With thanks to Darcy Rice and you can find the rest of this good article here.

Our lives of love and service are the building materials of the new creation. (Miroslav Volf)

The Challenge of Change...

"The challenge of change for a congregation on a steady downward slope is precisely to redefine and redirect its mission. They have to realize that decline is not an end to mission. Yes, they are mere shadows of their past. Yes, rethinking mission is difficult, for congregations are burdened by big or deteriorating buildings, smaller staffs, a paucity of young families, and a shortage of hope. But expansion is not the sole gauge of mission orientation. One problem with this thinking is the belief that, for congregations, all things are equal. But congregations are not in the same place, same stage, or same circumstance. That's not reality." Peter Steinke