Last night, I was caught flat-footed. It was not a bad thing in the least.
During our congregation council meeting, I was working through a "Finding Your Story" process which I had found immensely helpful in my own understanding of my calling as a pastor and person. This process was actually meant to be done by groups as large as an entire congregation, so I asked my council to participate.
We spent 30 minutes dealing with six questions, the last one being, "The quotation reads, 'Your church can't be anything it wants to be, but it can be everything God wants it to be.' What do you think God's vision is for our church?"
During the duration of the question/answer time, I tried to remain as silent as possible. This exercise was the council's exercise of which I tried to facilitate not dominate. I wanted to hear what they thought of themselves. The conversation was extremely fruitful for me to just listen, and I did so for this question as well.
One of the answers caught me flat-footed.
"God wants us TO BE HERE."
That was it. An explanation followed:
One of the previous pastors came in and said he was basically told to shut the place down. The synod had done demographic studies and all sorts of other studies which told them the congregation would not survive and it needed to move to a nearby town if it had any chance to continue. The pastor had been sent to bury the last member and then shut the doors. But no one here wanted that. No one here wanted to see the doors of the church shut. We didn't want to move and then be absorbed by another congregation or what have you. Something then happened. There were about 60 of us in worship at the time, and that little group managed to build a fellowship hall and a church building. We managed to pay it off, and here we are now, thriving. God wants us TO BE HERE!
Other thoughts were added:
Yet, we don't want to get a big head about this, because then we get arrogant and think it was all about us. We need to be humble.
I added:
That's why we preach the Gospel. The Gospel tells us that it was and is God working through us to accomplish things. We know everything comes from Him, so when the Gospel is preached and takes hold of us, we cannot get arrogant. God wants us TO BE HERE and to PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL--WHAT HE HAS DONE.
Wrestling with God's vision for a congregation is a difficult thing. Oftentimes, congregations focus on what they believe they are supposed to be doing. Because of this, many times, it's not so much God's vision that comes through but the peoples' vision of themselves, but this seemed different.
GOD WANTS US TO BE HERE! Being. Not doing, being. A presence formed by the Gospel and proclaiming that Gospel. A presence formed by God's action in Jesus Christ and letting the community know about that action. Everything flows from this. Everything.
This caught me flat-footed because the answer came so quickly from one of my council members. It was not something agonized over and wrestled over with difficulty. It flowed. It caught me flat-footed because of its simplicity. It caught me flat-footed because it seemed right--deep down in the core of my being, I sensed it was the Truth. It caught me flat-footed because I expected something quite different, but what was said and brought forth was better than whatever expectation I had.
God wants us to be here.
Amen.
Showing posts with label Congregational dynamics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Congregational dynamics. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
It's Hard to Get My Head Around This
The last two days have been quite the whirl wind. I have been training and working with a new addition to our congregation's staff: a part time youth director.
Sometimes, I have a hard time getting my head around this fact.
When I first started serving this congregation nine years ago, we had a baptized membership of 189. Our average worship attendance was 65. Most would have not considered it a viable congregation--at least not for a full time clergy. Most would have considered it needing to be yoked to another church in a dual point parish.
Yet, the people here had a sense of call about them. They rejected any such notions and wanted a full time pastor. Not only this, they had discerned a call to add a part-time secretary--something they had never had in their history.
I came on board, and within a few months, we hired a secretary. Life was good.
I arrived in Cat Spring from a large congregation in Seguin. My previous congregation had nearly 1400 members, and the work load was intense. I generally was up at the church 4 nights per week. Sometimes, the meetings were grueling lasting two and a half to three hours. After four years there, I was tired, worn out, ready for a change.
Coming to Cat Spring was very, very different. There were hardly any meetings at all! There wasn't a full staff. But things were getting done, and getting done in a big way.
Congregational growth has been tremendous. In those nine years, our membership has more than doubled to 430. Our average worship attendance hovers at 120. Of course, if we weeded out the "summer slump" we would be at 140-150. Offerings are steady and very good. People do things--good things on a consistent basis--without having meeting after meeting after meeting.
As the congregation has grown, we have consistently added staff. First, the secretary. Then, a worship and music director. Then, came the leap of faith last year. The congregation decided to seek a part-time youth director. We budgeted for the position in the annual meeting, sent out advertizements, prayed, and waited.
Last week, the position was filled, and I woke up Monday, the head of a staffed congregation.
Now, at this point, there are some pastors who would begin telling you, "If you want your church and congregation to do the same thing, then here is what you need to do..." I'm not going to do that because I really don't know what technique to use to make any church grow. I really don't. I don't know the magic pill to make a congregation take off and grow like gang busters.
Too often, I think our congregations become obsessed with a theology of glory--a proverbial step by step plan that leads to growing attendance, offerings, and participation. If you do this, then you will be blessed by growth. If you follow the Lord just right, then He will add numbers to your congregation.
Problem is--I've seen numerous congregations strive to follow the right steps and still experience no growth. I've seen congregations throw out the welcome mat, make people feel warm and fuzzy, have all sorts of programming geared toward children, youth, young adult, middle-aged, and elderly; congregations who incorporate traditional and contemporary music; who become more conservative and more liberal, and nothing works.
I don't believe there is a secret formula to church growth or participation. I think much of it, like salvation, rests upon God's work upon the individual believer. I think much of it, like salvation, involves God's Spirit delving into the hearts and minds of people inspiring them to become a community of compassionate, caring, generous individuals who seek to do His will in the things they say and do. I think church growth revolves around God's action and not our own. Of course, we Lutherans proudly proclaim this to be Word, Sacrament, and the mutual conversation and consolation of the believers.
I do not know what the final outcome will be as this congregation moves into the realm of a staffed congregation. This congregation has never been there before. Sometimes such a move is met with tons of blessings. Sometimes, it so shakes the dynamics of the church that the opposite takes place. We are dealing with an institution made up of humans, after all. Yet, I keep reminding myself that it's not totally up to me. It's not totally up to my secretary or my music director or my youth director. Heck it's not totally up to the congregation members. For without God, we could do nothing. He makes the whole thing work, and if He needs me to lead a staff here at this church, I submit to His will.
I just have a hard time getting my head around it.
Sometimes, I have a hard time getting my head around this fact.
When I first started serving this congregation nine years ago, we had a baptized membership of 189. Our average worship attendance was 65. Most would have not considered it a viable congregation--at least not for a full time clergy. Most would have considered it needing to be yoked to another church in a dual point parish.
Yet, the people here had a sense of call about them. They rejected any such notions and wanted a full time pastor. Not only this, they had discerned a call to add a part-time secretary--something they had never had in their history.
I came on board, and within a few months, we hired a secretary. Life was good.
I arrived in Cat Spring from a large congregation in Seguin. My previous congregation had nearly 1400 members, and the work load was intense. I generally was up at the church 4 nights per week. Sometimes, the meetings were grueling lasting two and a half to three hours. After four years there, I was tired, worn out, ready for a change.
Coming to Cat Spring was very, very different. There were hardly any meetings at all! There wasn't a full staff. But things were getting done, and getting done in a big way.
Congregational growth has been tremendous. In those nine years, our membership has more than doubled to 430. Our average worship attendance hovers at 120. Of course, if we weeded out the "summer slump" we would be at 140-150. Offerings are steady and very good. People do things--good things on a consistent basis--without having meeting after meeting after meeting.
As the congregation has grown, we have consistently added staff. First, the secretary. Then, a worship and music director. Then, came the leap of faith last year. The congregation decided to seek a part-time youth director. We budgeted for the position in the annual meeting, sent out advertizements, prayed, and waited.
Last week, the position was filled, and I woke up Monday, the head of a staffed congregation.
Now, at this point, there are some pastors who would begin telling you, "If you want your church and congregation to do the same thing, then here is what you need to do..." I'm not going to do that because I really don't know what technique to use to make any church grow. I really don't. I don't know the magic pill to make a congregation take off and grow like gang busters.
Too often, I think our congregations become obsessed with a theology of glory--a proverbial step by step plan that leads to growing attendance, offerings, and participation. If you do this, then you will be blessed by growth. If you follow the Lord just right, then He will add numbers to your congregation.
Problem is--I've seen numerous congregations strive to follow the right steps and still experience no growth. I've seen congregations throw out the welcome mat, make people feel warm and fuzzy, have all sorts of programming geared toward children, youth, young adult, middle-aged, and elderly; congregations who incorporate traditional and contemporary music; who become more conservative and more liberal, and nothing works.
I don't believe there is a secret formula to church growth or participation. I think much of it, like salvation, rests upon God's work upon the individual believer. I think much of it, like salvation, involves God's Spirit delving into the hearts and minds of people inspiring them to become a community of compassionate, caring, generous individuals who seek to do His will in the things they say and do. I think church growth revolves around God's action and not our own. Of course, we Lutherans proudly proclaim this to be Word, Sacrament, and the mutual conversation and consolation of the believers.
I do not know what the final outcome will be as this congregation moves into the realm of a staffed congregation. This congregation has never been there before. Sometimes such a move is met with tons of blessings. Sometimes, it so shakes the dynamics of the church that the opposite takes place. We are dealing with an institution made up of humans, after all. Yet, I keep reminding myself that it's not totally up to me. It's not totally up to my secretary or my music director or my youth director. Heck it's not totally up to the congregation members. For without God, we could do nothing. He makes the whole thing work, and if He needs me to lead a staff here at this church, I submit to His will.
I just have a hard time getting my head around it.
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