The Power of Mission
Rick Warren, of The Purpose Drive Life fame, told at Washington Cathedral (as he has in many settings) of a significant turning point in his life. He visited an Anglican congregation in Africa. They could afford no building, just a tent. But the people of that congregation took care of their own children, and also all the AIDS orphans of the village, a couple of dozen children. Warren had a huge congregation with a large physical plant. A voice inside him asked persistently, “How many orphans are we caring for?” He knew the answer: none. His ministry had been focused on drawing as many as possible to Christ; but once they came to Jesus, it was largely up to them to determine what, if anything, that event changed about the manner in which they lived their lives. Even as a congregation, their impact paled in comparison to this dedicated band of disciples.
Sometimes, we Episcopalians act as if our purpose is to get people to attend Sunday worship. It is not. Rather, the purpose of Sunday worship is to strengthen and inspire people to do the real ministry of the church, Sunday through Saturday. We can never become who God is calling us to be until we get that straight.
A congregation that grows will not be a faithful remnant who continue to hold Sunday prayers in the face of dwindling attendance, casting about desperately for the all-important warm, ordained body to offer them the sacraments on a somewhat regular basis, while subdivisions are built and other congregations grow up around them. It will be the congregation that knows what its mission in its community is. Whether newcomers show up at the church door on Sunday morning, or discover the congregation in the midst of its ministry to the community, they will be drawn to the fire within the people and the power of their witness for hope and compassion. It doesn’t take a large number of people to build such a blaze, but they have to have that spark within them! Knowing and owning their mission, which is given from God, is one sure source of spontaneous combustion.
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11 comments:
As a priest working with a congregation to grow ministry to the community, and to the world, I see both the sacramental life and outreach to our community as contributing to "the blaze."
Methodist Bishop Robert Schnase says that there are "Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations":
• Radical Hospitality
• Passionate worship
• Intentional faith development
• Risk-taking mission and service, and
• Extravagant Generosity
Sunday worship energizes ministry, and feeds the spirit. Without worship, we run on empty. Without mission, we become self-referential and fail to live out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Worship and mission are the wings on which we fly.
Georgia DuBose+
St. John's, Harpers Ferry
from the Rev. Sue Doohan
I quite agree.
Over the last 35 years, amongst the 38 congregations of various denominations with which I’ve had intimate enough contact to get a feel for the place, what I saw precipitate decline was:
- grudging or slovenly hospitality
- rote and inattentive worship
- disinterest in faith development
- convenient mission and outsourced service
- token seasonal generosity within operational limits
Sometimes congregations with those characteristics were unaware of them and described themselves as warm, welcoming, communities overworked for Christ. Today’s busy lifestyles make it easy not to notice how often “belonging” is in name only and in reality folks spend almost no time together or at best sporadic time together conditional on whether something else comes up they “have to” do. There frequently is barely enough time to go through the motions of being church, let alone time for reflection and hindsight evaluation.
The biblical accounts of disciples literally dropping everything in order to heed the call of Jesus and folks’ lives never being the same after Jesus has touched them are food for thought.
Sue
Rev. Sue Doohan
HEARTHSTONE MINISTRIES
from the Rev. Gil Watkins
Let's also keep in mind that many and most of the small congregations
as they diminish in size, become "Chapels of Ease" controlled and run
by the power factor of those who are left!
It is no longer Christ's Church but their church.
Gil Watkins
St Peter's
Huntington
from Sue Doohan:
How true, how true. No doubt the voice of experience. Sometimes the roots of this problem lie in the small church’s “large” past when concessions were made to appease the big givers. Systems theory suggests that once a group gets into the habit of being directed by power brokers, after key power brokers are reduced from faces in the pew to names on a list and long ago bequests, certain faces in the pews will assume those on-site power slots and become the wielders of their own agendas because that’s the group’s familiar way of operation. By then, even if some attendees know the names of all those children in the old black and white photos framed in the parish hall, no one remembers if the original church leaders were on fire for Christ or not. Folks might be able to tell you who donated the money to build the education wing, but they won’t be able to tell you why. So the power broker system is perpetuated because the subliminal message maintained is “money talks or nobody walks.”
Sue
Rev. Sue Doohan
HEARTHSTONE MINISTRIES
from Hollie Mitchell:
It is so sad that those who toil in silence, fixing the toilet , painting the nursery, bringing in the flowers,and on and on, are not acknowledged. I always tell them, GOD knows.
STORY
One Sunday, one of the WHO'S watched as one elderly Lady took a pencil from the pew. The WHO was ruffled!!! Take a pencil !!!!!!!
So the WHO watched and next Sunday from a different pew, the elderly Lady took another pencil.
This went on for several Sundays. The WHO reported this to the priest and demanded he look into it and bring it to the attention of the Vestry.
the priest thought he would talk to the Lady first .
She replied to his question about the pencils,,,that her resources were meager ,,, and she wanted to help at Christ's home ,so she took different pencils home each week to sharpen them.
You will notice I capitalized the" L "in Lady.
tPeace,
Hollie
from Hal Foss:
These are nice stories, and they might make the heart feel warm, but it seems to me that they might be a bit wide of the mark. All of these examples speak of comfort, and lack of change. They do speak of love and they hint at sacrifice. They are all examples of private faith; the type of faith that comes to church, does the chores, and goes home, generally, without touching others.
No doubt there is a need for those with private faith, but it is not likely to be an important part of evangelism.
I have participated in, and led Faith Alive weekends all across the United States. It has been my experience that they only thing that gets people in the doors is preaching Christ crucified. "Christ crucified" can and does mean different things to different people, but one thing it never means is comfort at all cost and resistance to change. I don't see where Christ's primary mesage included either of these two concepts.
I don't know how you reconcile evangelsim and private faith. It hardly seems that the right answer to evangelism would be to drive all those seeking comfort out the door, but it seems equally incorrrect to enshrine resistance to change above evangelism, which is what most parishes do today. I don't know how to rock the boat without making some in the boat uncomfortable.
I find it very heartening to see this debate going on in the Diocese of West Virginia. I'm sure there are no easy answers, but it is in the process of the search that we will likely find a reconciling of such paradoxical notions of who we are.
By the way, as a layperson, I offer these ideas with great trepidation. I have not long wrestled with these conflicting ideas the way many in ther clergy have. Please be a little kind before you decide to hand my head to me.
God bless
[Hal Foss]
from Sue Doohan:
Bravo, Hal, for allowing the Holy Spirit to lead you to wrestle with conflicting issues. We clergy can do that ad nausea but it will never have a transformational impact on our congregations unless lay people take up the ball and run with it.
The fallacy many congregations try to honor is that there is some way to rock a boat without making some folks uncomfortable … not even Jesus could do that, hence “Christ crucified.”
“Faith Alive” was popular when I started paying attention to church back in the late 70’s, early 80’s … or maybe that was “Faith at Work”, memories fade as the mind gets older. There was also some good fruit from the Cursillo movement for a while. First fruits of all such efforts only become lasting fruits if there is intentional and uncomfortable follow through.
I, too, am glad to see this conversation taking momentum. As we move into Advent, I wonder if the fresh way Christ will come among us this year is in some bit of motivated change.
Sue
Rev. Sue Doohan
HEARTHSTONE MINISTRIES
I enjoy this exchange of ideas and find it very encouraging. My prayer is that all of us would be more than a little kind, and choose NOT to hand anyone’s head to them! May we all dare to be John the Baptist when the Spirit moves us. I thank you all for your thoughtful contributions, and unless anyone objects, I’ll post this thread on our blog, www.wvdisciple.blogspot.com
Surely, private faith and evangelism are not mutually exclusive attributes—we don’t know that the Lady who sharpened the pencils (one at a time seems quaint, but that’s what makes the story work) and the toilet-scrubbing fellow, did not also share their faith more openly when called upon to do so. Sometimes the witness of a quiet action is the most powerful of communications. I would hope that the writer of large checks and the outspoken preacher of Christ crucified are not too important personages to do a little tidying up, as well.
My experience is that those of us whose witness to the Gospel is a very public one, such as myself, require the practice of private, anonymous piety to keep the blood flowing in our message. Otherwise, it becomes hollow and lifeless. We need to sharpen the pencils without anyone knowing. However, just doing maintenance on the structures of the church without ever acknowledging the purpose of the church is pretty hollow, too. It’s great to know that Jesus died for ME, but it matters enormously to recognize that he died for YOU, too—and to have the courage to say so (appropriately).
Some of this is about personality, isn’t it? Not everyone needs to be extrovert or introvert, as God has seen fit to continue to create both. Perhaps he sees some use for all of us in his vineyard.
If you read my little volleys long enough (those who don’t have a life!) you’ll find that I will argue from opposite directions from time to time. Christianity, like life, is often paradox. So often, the correct answer is D: All of the above.
from the Rev. Eric Miller:
I am so grateful that these conversations are taking place. It is exciting and hopeful to witness the divine spark crossing parochial lines; rather, it is exciting seeing ourselves allow room for God's spark to burn w/in and w/out the diocese. May we all give God thanks and praise and continue our work of sharing Christ's love!
God's Grace,
Eric L. Miller+
from Sue Doohan
At my first parish we had a third service that was about as alternative as you could get. We used a side altar and anyone who wanted to could bring anything they wanted to and place it on the altar as a sign of their spirituality as they were experiencing it and they told the group why they brought what they brought. It was amazing how every week, what people brought became a beautifully coordinated collage. We used a Rite III format, dialog sermons, and for the intercessions we did “happymadsadorworried”. Everyone, kids included, said whether they were happy, mad, sad, or worried at the moment and why and then the whole group prayed about that on the spot. People came away with a closer sense of each other’s lives and a feeling of mutual support. This spilled over into the quality of community and volunteerism at other parish activities and at Sunday school and bible studies people were more open about their questions and struggles. We had the Rite I no music 8:00 service, the Rite II service with choir, and this service and some people came to all three. We also had the parish hall set up for coffee hour from 7:30 till noon, so folks could build relationships with each other during all the transition times. Sometimes providing time for familiarity to happen is the most helpful catalyst to mutual sharing and understanding of faith stories and theology.
Sue
Rev. Sue Doohan
HEARTHSTONE MINISTRIES
comments from Hollie Mitchell:
When I was teaching Bible studies in prison... They would write down their prayers and talk about them and then I would bring the prayer papers to church and place them on the altar on Sunday and let them stay for the week or so...
Hollie
and...
I also, for many years,brought Angel Tree into the churches that care to. This is where children of Prisoners are given presents at Christmas "from " their parents. This can be a once at Christmas thing or a year round participation to "break the chain "of violence and drugs.
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