Recently in Congregations Category
Julie Holm has an excellent article on how going to seminary is ministry.
It was after being recommended for in care that I was asked to be on the leadership group (of 3) that supported 40 ministry teams. I was the only nominee for the vacant position. I was already serving on a number of our church's ~90 ministry teams. Churches have few people willing to take leadership roles (the 80/20 or 90/10 rule: 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people). Those few who will are expected to, because the alternative is empty leadership positions.
Financial support of seminarians is an interesting issue. The two congregations I've been with both struggle to pay their staff - one pays a full time pastor plus part time staff positions: youth minister, music minister, accompanist, facilities manager, church secretary, and cleaning staff. The other pays only a pastor (full time) and part time accompanist. There's no money left to try to help someone through seminary (despite what the MoM may say).
And why should they? It's not like they'll be the beneficiaries of the education. The seminarian will likely go pastor some other church or do some other ministry. Why give money to help someone else's ministry, especially when our own ministries are struggling?
Perhaps the fundamental problem is that, for many, the church has been relegated to an hour on Sunday morning. For some, this is clarified to "on days when none of the kids has an activity like skating or baseball Sunday morning and when we weren't out too late Saturday night" (I know a paid minister who has to skip even some large celebrations - read Christmas - due to conflicts with primary job, secondary job, and kids).
It should be no surprise that paid ministers, seminarians, and lay leaders are burning out. While 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people, the other 80% of the people are expecting more.
I don't have an answer to this problem.
It was after being recommended for in care that I was asked to be on the leadership group (of 3) that supported 40 ministry teams. I was the only nominee for the vacant position. I was already serving on a number of our church's ~90 ministry teams. Churches have few people willing to take leadership roles (the 80/20 or 90/10 rule: 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people). Those few who will are expected to, because the alternative is empty leadership positions.
Financial support of seminarians is an interesting issue. The two congregations I've been with both struggle to pay their staff - one pays a full time pastor plus part time staff positions: youth minister, music minister, accompanist, facilities manager, church secretary, and cleaning staff. The other pays only a pastor (full time) and part time accompanist. There's no money left to try to help someone through seminary (despite what the MoM may say).
And why should they? It's not like they'll be the beneficiaries of the education. The seminarian will likely go pastor some other church or do some other ministry. Why give money to help someone else's ministry, especially when our own ministries are struggling?
Perhaps the fundamental problem is that, for many, the church has been relegated to an hour on Sunday morning. For some, this is clarified to "on days when none of the kids has an activity like skating or baseball Sunday morning and when we weren't out too late Saturday night" (I know a paid minister who has to skip even some large celebrations - read Christmas - due to conflicts with primary job, secondary job, and kids).
It should be no surprise that paid ministers, seminarians, and lay leaders are burning out. While 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people, the other 80% of the people are expecting more.
I don't have an answer to this problem.
OK, I'm overweight and I know it. I eat the wrong things and I don't get enough exercise. I have a treadmill in my bedroom, and yet I rarely use it. I lack motivation. I lack self-discipline. I need to start a new habit.
I think a lot of churches are this way. Sure, we could get out and stand up for an issue. Yes, we could volunteer at a homeless shelter. We could do a lot of things.
But our priorities lie in our own comfort and inertia:
Some churches don't have the money for mission and ministry because we are building a new building. Or buying new carpet. Or we're doing something else that makes the sanctuary more comfortable while we watch the big screen and the action on the stage...er, chancel.
Some churches have gotten lazy - and big. They have a lot of ministries or teams or groups to do all the things that the church has to do to keep being the church it is. These are the survival ministries: they make sure that what has been done is still done and that everything in the church appears as it has. These core ministries are sacred: to alter or lose one could threaten the life of the church.
Some churches are comfortable and risk-averse. But this is also unhealthy. These churches don't have the energy they once did, and a lot of that is due to their size (self-supporting ministries) and lack of exercise (not doing outward ministry).
There is a cure. Churches need to get up and start moving. Cut their diets of bureaucracy. Start doing work that serves others.
Like people, a church can't just go from being sedentary to being a triathlete. Small steps should be taken. Perhaps consolidate a couple of ministries or drop something that's not working rather than doing wholesale liposuction on its structure. And it's good to consult a physician (through prayer, in this case) before starting any fitness regimen.
But bloated, lethargic Western churches need to get healthy, and they need to start now.
As for me? I promise to run on the treadmill.
Tomorrow.
I think a lot of churches are this way. Sure, we could get out and stand up for an issue. Yes, we could volunteer at a homeless shelter. We could do a lot of things.
But our priorities lie in our own comfort and inertia:
Some churches don't have the money for mission and ministry because we are building a new building. Or buying new carpet. Or we're doing something else that makes the sanctuary more comfortable while we watch the big screen and the action on the stage...er, chancel.
Some churches have gotten lazy - and big. They have a lot of ministries or teams or groups to do all the things that the church has to do to keep being the church it is. These are the survival ministries: they make sure that what has been done is still done and that everything in the church appears as it has. These core ministries are sacred: to alter or lose one could threaten the life of the church.
Some churches are comfortable and risk-averse. But this is also unhealthy. These churches don't have the energy they once did, and a lot of that is due to their size (self-supporting ministries) and lack of exercise (not doing outward ministry).
There is a cure. Churches need to get up and start moving. Cut their diets of bureaucracy. Start doing work that serves others.
Like people, a church can't just go from being sedentary to being a triathlete. Small steps should be taken. Perhaps consolidate a couple of ministries or drop something that's not working rather than doing wholesale liposuction on its structure. And it's good to consult a physician (through prayer, in this case) before starting any fitness regimen.
But bloated, lethargic Western churches need to get healthy, and they need to start now.
As for me? I promise to run on the treadmill.
Tomorrow.
My church is Plainfield Congregational United Church of Christ, part of the Eastern Association of the Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ.
There have been reports of child molestation by church leaders. Firearm discharge inside churches seems to be on the rise.
With these and other recent events, any organization would do well to examine their security policies. Yet for churches, we might well consider the theological basis of our choices.
For Christians, there is the example of the one who walked with lepers, the lame, adulterers, prostitutes, people with boils, the demon possessed, women with chronic bleeding, and tax collectors. Yet we also have a duty to protect those who are vulnerable.
How do we live grace and faith in God's protection, while caring for those around us?
With these and other recent events, any organization would do well to examine their security policies. Yet for churches, we might well consider the theological basis of our choices.
For Christians, there is the example of the one who walked with lepers, the lame, adulterers, prostitutes, people with boils, the demon possessed, women with chronic bleeding, and tax collectors. Yet we also have a duty to protect those who are vulnerable.
How do we live grace and faith in God's protection, while caring for those around us?
Continue reading What Would Jesus Do... ...about Church Safety?.
...our praise band, "Inspiration!", is about to start the prelude for the service at the harvest festival in Forrest.. More later.
When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here." But He said to them, "You give them something to eat."This miracle is the only one reported in all of the gospels. It's too bad that, with all the hungry people in the world today, that we can't repeat it now.
And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people." For there were about five thousand men.
And He said to His disciples, "Make them sit down in groups of fifty." And they did so, and made them all sit down. Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them. - Luke 9:12-17
Or can we?
At 8:30AM today, I'll be rehearsing with my church's praise band. At 10:30, we'll be part of the service at the Harvest Festival in Forrest Illinois.
Three churches will come together to celebrate the harvest to which we all contributed. Two urban churches - * Grace Lutheran Church & School of Forest Park, IL and Plainfield Congregational United Church of Christ - sponsored acres of land tilled by members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Forrest Illinois. The harvest of corn will be sold at market rate, and the money raised will be used in a growing project in Africa. The United States Agency for International Development will match the money raised. So from the modest contributions of two churches and the labor of a third, sustainable agriculture will be developed so that people can feed themselves.
This is the work of Foods Resource Bank. 15 Mainline Christian denominations participate in reproducing this miracle of feeding the multitude.
I'd go on, but I have a celebration to prepare for.
Jesus said to them:
"You give them something to eat."
