A Church for Starving Artists

I’ve been doing church redevelopment work and culture shifting for a while.  I’ve participated in lots of training in theories and movements.  The big theorists’ names are familiar to many of us.

I’ve worked with congregations and mid-councils who have tried multiple programs and used a variety of consultants and spent lots of money on it all. But usually nothing changes and often things become worse.  Trust is diminished and impact is minimal.  And it’s all because of a single thing that Community Organizing has taught me this week.

Relationships are everything.  Our relationships with each other and with God make or break our best efforts.

If we do not have have authentic relationships, every theory we try and every movement we join will fail.  If we do not choose healthy leaders who have healthy followers, if we do not lift up leaders with strong emotional intelligence, whatever efforts we make leave our people anxious and frustrated.

Healthy relationships = healthy churches and systems. That’s pretty much where effective ministry begins and ends.

In my 33 years of professional ministry I have participated in many church fundraisers including this incomplete list:

• Roast Pork Suppers
• Turkey Suppers
• Ham Suppers
• Spaghetti Suppers
• County Fair Food Booths
• Bake Sales
• Cake Walks
• Plant Sales
• Pumpkin Sales
• Christmas Tree Sales
• Quilt Raffles
• Fall Fun Fairs
• Fish Frys
• Pancake Breakfasts
• Silent Auctions
• Car Washes
• Yard Sales
• Flamingo Flockings

In all the above situations, at least part of – if not all – the proceeds benefitted the general operating budget of the church.  They paid for everything from boiler repair to the pastor’s salary.

Yesterday, the Community Organizing trainees here in Baltimore were treated to the wisdom of Bob Connolly, one of the founding partners of The James Company .  He is among the best financial gurus in the non-profit world, mostly helping congregations with capital campaigns, strategies, and stewardship appeals using the principles of community organizing.

One of the things he declared yesterday was this:

“I’m morally opposed to fundraising.” 

Considering the fact that Mr. Connolly raises money for a living, I don’t think he was saying that “raising funds” is a problem. Money funds ministry.  Money can be a tool for resurrection.  I think he was talking about the kind of fundraising that is more about impersonal transaction than authentic relationship.

As he taught us yesterday, churches traditionally raise funds  three ways:

1. Annual giving.
2. Earned income.
3. Endowment.

Specifically, he suggested that our budgets should reflect 70-80% from Annual Giving, 10-20% from Earned Income, and 10% from Endowments.

But knowing how our budgets “should” be funded, the truth is that:

• some of our congregations are comprised of underemployed, unemployed or homeless people who can’t give much financially.
• some of our churches “earn income” by everything from selling pumpkins to renting space for piano lessons.
• some congregations have no endowment.

Mr. Connolly defines “earned income” as offering a service to the community and earning money from it.  Examples include providing affordable housing on church property or providing a community pre-school, and using the proceeds to support church mission.

Note: I don’t think he was talking about “fundraisers” that donate 100% of the proceeds to mission (on top of what those congregations already budget for local and global mission projects.)  I also don’t think he was talking about youth groups raising money for their special trips.

Instead, I think his points were that:

• Stewardship is about relationships: our relationships with God and each other.  It’s not about “sales” or “tickets.”
• If we are doing good ministry, there are people even beyond the congregation who will support it financially.  He suggested to a pastor whose members are homeless that the pastor should create a Prospect List.  Write down a list of people who love you (the pastor), who love your church, and who would benefit from a successful ministry here. Come up with a plan of needs to share with them. Do one-on-one meetings to ask.
• Many/most of our congregations have plenty of resources to support the church budget.  Unfortunately, we do not know how to deepen relationships with them, share what’s needed, or ask them to give.  And we are often not fluent in the language of gratitude for their generosity.

Making ministry happen costs money.  And Bob Connolly is an excellent go-to guy for figuring out how to raise money in your particular context.  But he is allergic to ministry that has nothing to do with authentic relationships.

This begs a couple of questions for us to ask:

• Do we have a relationship with the groups who rent space in our church buildings beyond the fact that we give them a key and they give us a monthly check?  (Note: if not, we are merely landlords, not churches.)
• Are relationships created and bolstered by the fundraisers we sponsor – or does everyone hate doing them?
• Do we expect all members to make a financial commitment based on their relationship with God, the people in the congregation, and the people outside the congregation who are served in the community?
• Do we keep excellent records and thank donors well?  Mr. Connolly says that quarterly statements with a personalized thank you note is the minimum.  Respect and recognition are essential.
• Do we expect the pastor to be the lead person in the stewardship program?  (Let’s not. It’s a little awkward asking someone whose salary is dependent on church giving to ask for more generous church giving.)

This post is way too long, but I love this final idea:  In the letter enclosed with the monthly or quarterly statement, say something like this:

Dear Joe,

Thank you so much for your donation of _____ last month.  We have a wonderful church and Pastor Lisa is doing a great job.  Because of your gifts last month, we were able to fund Vacation Bible School and many other ministries.  Coming up this month is the community Halloween party and the start of our weekly community dinners.  Please join us if you can! Thank you again for your ministry.  We really appreciate you.

Yours in Christ, _____  (a church leader who is not a member of the paid staff)

What do you think?

Image from a Florida congregation’s pumpkin patch fundraiser.

On the first day of Community Organizing Training in Baltimore I met Renovation Guy.  I was early to the church building where we were meeting, and Renovation Guy was waiting to get into the old brick building next door. His job involved gutting and then refurbishing the two story space for apartments.  He impressed me as a person with marvelous gifts unknown to an English major: electrical engineering, plumbing, brick pointing, floor refinishing.  RG is ruggedly handsome with a good sense of humor.

At 8 am the doors opened in both our buildings and we went our own ways.

On the second day of Community Organizing Training, Renovation Guy was just arriving and I saw – for the first time – that there were two Confederate flag stickers on his truck.  One sticker could possibly be an accident.  But there were two.  He really means it.

In the training that’s sacredly agitating us this week, we were asked if we have the stomach to do this work.  In particular, do we have the stomach to work with people whose opinions we find upsetting/repulsive/repugnant?  And if we cannot work with such folks, can we even pretend to love them?

Sometimes Jesus makes me crazy.

I remember meeting a new church member years ago and asked him to tell me about himself:  “I don’t like Democrats or artists,” he said without blinking.  This was a 20-something guy who was interesting and fun, but then he had to go make it difficult.

He wasn’t kidding either.  He didn’t like Democrats or artists.  Could I love this new member?  Of course I could, because . . . Jesus.

But the Confederate flag guy is another story.  And yet . . . Jesus.

If it takes partnering with people with whom we disagree and/or have offensive opinions to change the world for good in the name of Jesus Christ, do we have the stomach to do it?  What differences in opinions/life styles/habits make people difficult for us to love.  It’s a good question for us to ask ourselves so that we might be better prepared when we meet these folks.

I don’t want my new spiritual discipline to involve loving people who attach Confederate flag stickers to their trucks.  But maybe that’s today’s theological challenge.  Befriending those with whom I disagree might be the only thing that will begin to change the culture of our country.  Loving our enemies is never easy.  Errr.

Image of RG’s truck.

Where does your average person learn how to be a leader these days?

Yes, there are still Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops.  There’s Student Government and other organizations in high school and college. Choral groups and sports offer opportunities to lead.  We have bosses in our jobs and pastors in our churches.  Who taught you how to lead?

The Rev. Andrew Foster-Connors is one of the trainers of the intensive NEXT Church Community Organizing Training this week in Baltimore and he asked this question last night:  Where does the average person learn how to be a leader?

Sometimes people “become leaders” because they are the most popular kids or the richest adults or the first person to volunteer.  But our culture is awash in people in leadership roles who have no idea how to . . .

• Moderate a meeting
• Build a team
• Bolster community relationships
• Identify, mentor, equip, and evaluate future leaders
• Organize people
• Organize money
• Address conflict
• Listen to constituents
• Cast a vision

In the Church we preachers often lift up The World As It Should Be when we actually need to live in The World As It Is (with our eyes on The World As It Should Be.)  It’s not enough – if we take following Jesus seriously – to look at injustice in the world and say, “Well that’s just the way it is.”

But we need to know how to do more than preach (or listen to) a pithy sermon.  We need to know more than how to make (or listen to) a crisp statement about The World As It Should Be.

We need to know how to lead so that change actually happens.  This is community organizing. And it’s some of what I learned yesterday.

I’d love to hear what you are doing to become a better leader.  For the world to be as it should be, we need you.

Image is Follow the Leader by W. Stanley Proctor, a public art installation in Tallahassee, Florida.

It used to be true that we pastors used our Continuing Education time (2 weeks required in my denomination) to chart out a year’s worth of sermons or bone up on preaching in general, and that’s still happening for some of us.  But considering the breadth of knowledge needed for 21st Century Ministry beyond Biblical exegesis and theology and practical resource-mining, it feels rejuvenating for us to broaden our skills for a changing church.

The pastor who baptized me many decades ago shared that the entirety of his ministry involved “only” preaching, moderating the boards, marrying, baptizing, and burying, emergency pastoral care, general visitation, and leading Bible studies.

Today – in addition to all the above – pastors regularly deal with people struggling with mental illness, addiction, PTSD, and homelessness.

Required “Good Boundary Training” sprang up in the past twenty years but in order to keep up as well-trained parish pastors, I appreciate seminaries and Mid-Councils who require  – or encourage –  training in the following:

• Anti-Racism Training – Our overwhelmingly White denominations need to talk about race in new ways, especially in terms of understanding systemic racism and white supremacy.
• Basic Mental Health First Aid Training – We who serve congregations could use help identifying, understanding, and responding to signs of mental illness and addiction as rates are up in a variety of mental health challenges.
• Cultural Humility Training – We know that all Spanish-speaking people are not the same, right? That Immigrants from Nigeria and immigrants from Ghana are very different? Basic knowledge about cultural differences is good but cultural humility is better – digging deeper than cultural competence in order to better partner with our neighbors respectfully.
• Community Organizing Training – As we consider my favorite question:  What breaks God’s heart in your neighborhood? we increasingly need skills for speaking truth to power, including how to build group-centered leadership and how to bolster one-on-one relationships for the sake of shifting power structures for the sake of justice.

What training – beyond the usual seminary Continuing Education courses – have you found to be especially enriching for 21st Century Ministry?   And maybe it’s a seminary that’s introduced a new skill you didn’t know you could use for professional ministry?

I’d love to hear what kinds of classes your Presbytery, Association, Conference, Diocese, or Congregation are offering these days for equipping leaders.  Improv?  Trauma Informed Care? Entrepreneurship?  Non-Profit Management? Juggling?  Please share.

Image of my friend Jeff Kreibiel who passed away last April and the book he wrote that we used in Chicago a few years ago.  I am taking Community Organizating Training this week because it would have made Jeff so happy.  His book can be purchased here.

CHICAGO, IL – OCTOBER 19 : Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief Elaine Welteroth, Uber Chief Brand Officer Bozoma Saint John, Emmy Award–winning writer Lena Waithe and singer Jamila Woods before the 2017 Chicago Ideas Week event “A Seat at the Table: Finding an Equal Footing through Storytelling.” (Photo by Tim Klein/Chicago Ideas)

“Power is the ability to change the rules.”  Rashad Robinson, Executive Director, Color of Change

I am looking for a new call, as my current employer knows, and it’s a fascinating exercise in self-reflection and calling.  Whatever God calls me to do next, I hope to have some power.

Yep.  I openly wrote that.

Power makes it possible for me to make the way clear for uniquely gifted pastors to follow their calling.  Power makes it possible to open avenues for creative new ministries.  Power is not about me (although it’s fun to wield it and share the joy.)

Rashad Robinson of Color of Change has used his power to successfully convince PayPal to stop processing the funds of hate groups and Fox to cancel The O’Reilly Factor.

Lena Waite, who spoke in Chicago last week with the editor of Teen Vogue and the Chief Brand Officer of Uber could not have inspired the audience more if she had been standing behind a pulpit.  She uses her celebrity to advance the careers of other writers, clothing designers, and actors.  She spreads the joy and the opportunities.

This is my calling too and it’s really fun.  We all need mentors and mentees. What can we teach another person and what can they teach us?

As leaders, we are only successful if our followers are being prepared to take over.  If there are any senior pastors out there, consider how you can give your associate pastors experiences that will prepare them to be senior pastors.

We’ve been hearing terrible stories in the past weeks about a Hollywood guy who used his power to assault and threaten people.  This is the day we put in a more concerted effort to use our power for uplifting and inspiring people.

Think – right now – about someone you can professionally lift up.  Let’s do it.

Image from Chicago Ideas Week.  It’s ends today but it’s back next year.  Become a member here.

This post is written in honor of ZR’s ordination to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament today in Chicago.

We are handing out little containers of Play-Doh for Halloween this year in honor of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.  We also have M&Ms and Twizzlers for the purists, but I had a creative moment in Costco and thought, “Re-forming with Play-Doh! Brilliant!”

It’s really not brilliant but who needs five pounds of candy?  We once lived across the street from dental students who gave toothpaste to their Trick or Treaters and nobody egged their house, so I’m hopeful about the Play-Doh.

We find ourselves constantly reforming who we are as the Church – not because God’s message changes but because we are changing, now more than ever.  What used to be true (the earth was flat) shifted (the earth was round) and it’s still shifting (the earth is egg-shaped and threatens to be scrambled by nuclear war.)  Lord have mercy.  Christ have mercy.  Lord have mercy.

On my best days, I find deep joy in neon-colored Play-Doh, in the color combinations and the smell and the feel.  I love the little container with the snap on lid.  If only things were this simple.

We pray this weekend for children whose monsters are real, in the words of Ina J. Hughes.

We pray for parents who are looking for clean water while the rest of us buy Halloween candy.

We pray for all  who do not feel safe in their own congregations.  Let’s continue to reform the Church for the love of God and for the sake of the world God made.  It’s a world in trouble, but we have the power to change it.

The Atlantic magazine recently included this story from Ivana Trump’s new book:

It was New Year’s Eve, 1977; she and Donald Trump were together in the hospital room after their first child had been born, discussing the matter of what name to give their new infant. Ivana suggested that the son should be named after the father: Donald Trump Jr. Donald, however, balked at this.

“What if he’s a loser?” he said.

Steve Taylor wrote the song Jesus Is For Losers and I agree.  Actually, #@!*-ups of the World Unite offers the same sentiment and it’s a better song.

Jesus is for the losers, the liars, the crooked, the hated, the weak, the lost, the ridiculous, and the condemned.  Jesus’ point was to bring justice and healing and love to the world’s losers.

Our culture increasingly equates financial success with everything from goodness to intellect – which is obviously a false equation.  Nevertheless, many  believe that the poor are bad or lazy, when actually, most poor people are trapped.  They are poor because liberty and justice is not actually for all.

Last week I attended one of the New Poor People’s Mass Meetings in Chicago (and you can check out dates for future Mass Meetings here)

We heard brief stories from:

• a young mother whose children are sick because coal ash – which contains arsenic – is dumped in her neighborhood by corporations who would never consider dumping it in their own.
• another young mother who works two full-time jobs at minimum wage ($8.25 in Illlinois) and she cannot get ahead.
• a young war veteran who is dealing with PTSD after returning home from Afghanistan.

Some people would call them losers.  Some would call all of us who gathered in Stone Temple Missionary Baptist Church losers.  But there are many things worse than being tagged a “loser.”

Years ago on The Apprentice, Mr. Trump said this to a contestant named Alex:

“I’ve always said, if you hang out with losers, you become a loser.”

Embracing our inner (or outer) Loser is what Jesus was all about though.

What if he’s a loser?  What if she’s a loser?  It might actually be what saves his or her life.  And maybe it’s what moves us to walk alongside others who deserve a win.

After spending four days with “Mid-Council Leaders” of my denomination, I return filled with great joy.  These are my people.

These are people who know what it’s like to have a church on fire – both literally and figuratively, in good ways and in not-so-good ways.

These are people who care whether or not the Church is making a broad impact for good.

These are people who understand that authentic relationships have the power to heal, inspire, motivate, and move people.

Institutional Church Haters haven’t met the folks I’ve met.  My people realize they are God’s People and they share that amazing news with others.  This is why I serve The Institutional Church.  I see God in their eyes.

Have a lovely Wednesday.

I was about thirteen years old in my happy place:  the Public Library on the corner of Franklin and Boundary Streets in Chapel Hill.  It was summertime. I was looking over the biographies, bending down to see the books on the next-to-the-bottom shelf, when I felt a hand coming from behind me, reaching up into my shorts.  I jumped and turned around to see a boy I recognized from Junior High – a year or two younger than me – with a really creepy smile.  Really creepy.

I didn’t say a word.  I didn’t tell anyone.  I just got out of there.

#MeToo

It would not be the last time a male person grabbed me without my permission.  It would not be the last time I felt ashamed even though I didn’t do anything but be in the presence of a boy or man who took advantage of a moment in time.

I’ve shared before the story of a friend who was among the earliest generation of clergywomen, who – for decades – was the only woman at clergy meetings.  She told me that for the first twenty years of ordained ministry, there was never a meeting with clergymen when at least one of them didn’t say or do something inappropriate.  One of them actually said to her, after she rebuffed him: “If you’re here, we can have you.”  It was the price for being in a male profession.  It was the price for daring to believe she too could be a pastor.  They were married and single, older and younger.  It was never every clergyman.  But it was always one of them.

Maybe there are women out there who’ve avoided being grabbed or ogled or catcalled or pinned against the wall by a man without her consent, but I don’t know any.  The men who assault women are friends and strangers.  Assaults happen in homes, dorm rooms, and friend’s houses, in trains, buses, and cars, in offices, classrooms, and church buildings.

The good thing about #MeToo trending is that it reminds us that we need to make our culture safe enough for a young girl who was grabbed in the library to tell someone.

And we need to teach what consent means, maybe even in Church classes.

Image of my twitter feed trending with #MeToo.