A Church for Starving Artists

There are times when I visit churches and think to myself, “This church is dying but they haven’t realized it yet.”  They have enough financial assets and people to buy them time as things are not exactly growing. 

Maybe there are new members each year, but just as many members move or pass away or drop out and so the numbers are not increasing.  Maybe there is still a great capacity to do the ministry they’ve always done, but things are tighter.  There are fewer dollars and fewer people.

Many of our “best givers” (i.e. financial tithers) are dying with each passing year.  And many, many of our congregations are balancing their annual operating budgets with the interest – or even the principle – from investments made a generation ago by those who grew up in a culture when more people supported institutions (rather than institutions supporting people.)

Common Discernment Question for Church Leaders: 

“We have enough money to continue as a church for about five years. 

• Do we decide to close now, sell our building and share our assets with another church or start something completely new? 
• Or do we continue as we are until the money runs out and then we have no choice but to close?”

What’s the most faithful decision?

Churches with the resources to “buy some time” are fortunate but the question must be asked:  Why Buy Time?

• Is there evidence that – if you can simply get through a specific season – your church community will grow and thrive in the future?
• Are plans being made to make risky choices?  Try new ministries?  Shift the culture of the congregation?
• Are you buying time because this is a serious time of discernment after which your congregation or your church leaders will make a Big Decision about the mission focus?

Congregations with ample financial assets and large-ish membership numbers are very fortunate . . . unless there are no plans to change the way we’ve been the church together.  Otherwise those churches are same path as so many of our congregations that were once comprised of hundreds of members  but now have 10-30 members left.

Because I don’t want this post to be a total downer, know that there are courageous, risk-taking, Spirit-led congregations who are:

• Not “waiting for a rainy day” to use their assets for new ministries.
• Making hard changes in the way they’ve staffed churches from your basic Senior Pastor/Associate Pastor/Educator models to something more adaptable for a postmodern context.
• More interested in figuring out what Jesus calls us to do/be and less interested in perpetuating an institution, even an institution they love.
• Aware that their buildings are tools for ministry and not themselves idols to be worshipped.

It’s easy to avoid these conversations, but we need to have them.

Many weeks ago, the Sunday after George Zimmerman was found not guilty in Florida, I longed to find peace in a worship service.  I wanted to pray with others who might also be aching over the profound sadness and anger felt after a teenage boy is shot in this country for no reason while nobody is held accountable.

To my astonishment, neither Trayvon Martin nor George Zimmerman were mentioned in worship.  I left feeling a little empty.

I wonder about what was not mentioned yesterday in worship.

• Was there a church that failed to mention the tragedy in the Philippines?
• Was there a church in Illinois that failed to note last week’s vote in favor of marriage equality?  (I imagine that some congregations would be thanking God while others are asking for God’s mercy.)
• Was there a church that failed to mention the sacrifices given by our veterans and their families?

What was not mentioned yesterday in worship and why?

Was there a congregation two Sundays ago that failed to mention that we live in a world where someone can be shot while asking for help – especially if she is a stranger with dark skin?  I’d bet that most congregations did not hear prayers for the family of Renisha McBride.

Some churches do not like “to bring politics” into the pulpit.  But what’s political?

• Is it political to mention crises resulting from Acts of Nature?  Probably not.
• Is it political to ask God to work through our leaders to help victims of Acts of Nature? Maybe.
• Is it political to pray for our leaders and their families after an election? Some would definitely say ‘yes’ especially if they didn’t vote for them.

What is unmentionable  – or simply unmentioned – for pastoral prayers in your congregation?  And why?

Image of Renisha McBride – age 19 – who was shot to death in Dearborn Heights, MI trying to get help after her car broke down.

I grew up in a pretty town (Chapel Hill) beside a not so pretty town (Durham) which always brought me huge satisfaction and unseemly pride.

Now I live in a pretty village but take the train every morning, past abandoned shopping centers and rusty train yards, to get to one world class city with all the wealth and poverty of all cities.  The president often mentions that he’s from The South Side which is grittier and messier than The North Side, I suppose to have solidarity with the poorer side of town.

Neat and Tidy is a good way to live and many of us spend an enormous amount of money and energy trying to get there.  But life is not at all neat and tidy and – if we claim to be followers of Jesus – there is a call to notice, and maybe even seek, places and people who have been abandoned and forsaken.

So much easier to live in a gated community with manicured gardens.

I’m trying to Pray the Commute these days.  Yes, there are bleary-eyed human beings aboard the train who need spiritual attention, but looking outside the train offers a wealth of prayer possibilities.  The abandoned store.  The school bus.  The sad streets.  Once the store served local shoppers.  It’s fun to imagine who they were and pray for them.  The buses are full of kids who’ve been sent to new schools this fall.  Men sit on street corners looking like they don’t really have a place to go.  Makes for a rich prayer life and it’s transformative.  Instead of looking away from unscenic vistas, I stare and wonder. Or at least I try.  This is not a post about how well I do this.

How does the world change unless we stare at unscenic vistas?

Image of a train yard seen on Metra Electric in South Chicago.

Relevant Magazine has posted a good story called “Seek Impact.  Not Attention” regarding the universal longing to be liked.  We forget that ‘what happens off the stage always trumps what happens on the stage.’

A couple years ago, the Interfaith Youth Core – after becoming “famous”  – decided it was much more important to make an impact.  The word “impact” factors heavily in their materials these days.  And it’s more than a word.  They are making a global difference in teaching interfaith cooperation.

Too many churches are still interested in being popular.  Even now in the 21st Century, there are still churches where it’s impressive to be a member, where the wealthy and powerful gather to be seen.  Even within small congregations, there are people who vie for important positions.  Church roles like “treasurer” or “deacon” or “coffee hour lady” are the only position of power some people believe they have.  But Jesus’ followers are called to be servants who make an impact, rather than members who get attention.

As we evaluate the ministry we are doing in our faith communities, it’s not about the numbers in worship or the Yelp ratings or the preacher’s Klout score or  how comfortable we are.  What impact does our spiritual community have on the neighborhood and beyond?

Jesus had a deep impact on people and – at least for a moment –  earth became a bit more like heaven.  That’s what we’re called to do too.  And we can make a deep impact better together than we can individually.

That’s what the church is supposed to be about.

A professional peer and I were talking yesterday about (Middle Age Alert) “the way things used to be” and she said, “Remember when it was okay to drink and drive?  There might be a terrible accident, but people just wrote it off as a terrible accident and everybody moved on.”

Actually, I do remember that.  But things have changed, thank goodness.

It used to be okay . . .

• For single pastors to date their parishioners. Exhibit A: A whole generation of retired clergymen are celebrating their 50th anniversary with the organist from their first parish.
• For married pastors to flirt with their parishioners.  I’m not talking about pastors who side-hug their parishioners.  I’m not talking about the pastor who tells a lonely elderly widow that she looks beautiful.  I’m talking about those colorful pastors who make comments about a female parishioner’s legs.
• For congregations to give their pastors (inappropriate) financial gifts.  I know a pastor who was gifted the deed for a beach cottage from a parishioner.  I know another pastor who was granted $20k annually after his retirement “just to make ends meet.”  I know yet another pastor who was given a trust fund to cover his future travel expenses.

It’s interesting to consider what we might do today which will be considered Not Okay a few years from now.  For one thing, I’m thinking we’ll all be mortified about what Washington’s NFL team used to call themselves.

What do you think we’ll find shocking – and not okay – twenty years from now that is considered acceptable today?

What if you were best known for the worst thing you’ve ever done?

This question was posed recently by Catherine Hoke of Defy Ventures at a CIW event.  Defy Ventures gives opportunities to people with criminal records so that they – at least one day – will not be known first and foremost for the worst thing they’ve ever done.

Last week, my local newspaper posted a map marked with the addresses of known child predators in our suburb so that Trick or Treaters could avoid those homes.  I can’t get those marked men out of my mind.  Do they have families?  Do they also have children?  What were the circumstances of their offense?  I imagine that they are creepy-looking, oleaginous individuals who are very obviously troubled souls.

I’m probably wrong about that.  Still, I wonder about those who have been marked as Dangerous Forever.

It’s not that I take child abuse, for example, lightly.  But imagine if we were required to wear a t-shirt with “the worst thing we’ve ever done” on our chests:

• I kept porn on my work computer.
• I lied on my income tax forms.
• I sold coke to pay my way through college.
• I cheated on my spouse.
• I hit my child.
• I stole money from my parents.
• I was (and continue to be) a judging machine.

We who self-identify as followers of Jesus are ostensibly all about grace, but we have long memories too.  We are in the forgiveness business, and yet we don’t easily forgive. When one of us is actually caught doing something hurtful – often devastatingly so – we are mortified.  But, more often, we are simply not caught.

What if everybody knew us best for the worst thing we’ve ever done?

I write this because I struggle with forgiveness.  I clearly remember the sexual misconduct pastors who have impacted my own life and faith and their names are filed in my head for future reference.  I cling to the stories of people who’ve done me wrong.

Sometimes I do this out of fear.  I’m afraid that if I don’t remember, it will happen again.

Sometimes I am concerned that authentic transformation has not occurred deep in the offender’s soul.  [I remember forgiving an unfaithful boyfriend long ago and his response to my offering of grace?  He laughed.  Even he thought I was foolish to forgive him.]

We who know what it’s like to be released from our own chains are more willing and likely to release others.  But repentance – that churchy word for turning from the darkness towards the light – is crucial.  After someone has confessed and repented, there is still the matter of forgiving her/him.  It’s not easy.

But I’m pretty sure that God will not remember us according to the worst things we’ve ever done.  So there’s that.  If God can forgive . . .

Image is a sculpture made from welded bicycle chains.  Source here.

After reading this article about a woman who lost her husband, her friends, and her hair I said, to nobody in particular, “This lady needs a church.”

By that, I don’t mean she needs to visit her local sanctuary this Sunday.  She doesn’t need to sign a pledge card or join a committee.  She needs a church.  More specifically (and theologically true) she needs for somebody to be her church.

So, on this All Saints Day – one of my favorite days of the year – be a saint to someone who needs the church . . . which would be all of us.  In spite of all this business, scripture calls anyone who follows Jesus a saint.  Let’s be that today.

Image is All Saints by Vasilii Kandinsky (1911)

There was a fascinating program about genetic testing and Ashkenazi Jews here yesterday during which one rabbi shared that – when he was a young man – all the men and women in his community were tested genetically and the results were kept securely for the day when those men and women started dating.  Apparently, when the day came when you were interested in dating someone, you made this request known to the spiritual leaders, and then someone checked each member of the potential couple’s genetic tests to determine if this was or was not “a good match.”

It was, literally, a matter of life and death.

Matches between clergy and congregations are not exactly a matter of life and death, unless we are talking about the spiritual life and death of a clergyperson and a congregation.  Bad matches wound churches and pastors.

Recipe for bad matches:

• The Search Committee fails to share with the potential pastor the proverbial skeletons in the closet, the reality of the congregation’s willingness to grow and change, the difference between what they (the Search Committee) wants and what the rest of the people truly want.
• The person who is interviewed and newly loved by the Pastor Nominating Committee fails to show up.  (“Who is this person?”)
• The candidate looked like a perfect match, but in fact was not, because looks can be deceiving (and nobody asked the right questions.)

This is where God and – by God’s grace – the Commission on Ministry (or whatever you call the group that oversees such matches) comes in.  The COM is not God, but sometimes we might have a thoughtful question to ask like:  Did you tell your candidate about that sexual misconduct thing that happened a couple years ago?  We might ask clarifying questions like: Have you noticed that your three finalists have nothing in common except that they are all the same height?  We might make suggestions:  Please ask why she left her previous position after only one year.

Good clergy-congregation matches are like gold.  The pastor grows.  The congregation grows.  They get each other.  They challenge each other in all the good ways.

Obviously the Holy Spirit must be consulted and heard.  But God also speaks through the community.  The search for a new call and/or a new pastor is not a race (“We must have someone by the end of the summer!”)  And it’s not about pleasing an anxious congregation.  It’s better not to have a permanent pastor than to wish you didn’t have one.

And honestly there is nothing more fun than a good fit.

One day – God-willing – I’ll be a 60-something pastor.  The median age for pastors in my denomination is about 55 according to this 2011 study.  But we have a large number of 60-somethings serving every size congregation and, increasingly, pastors are waiting until they are 70 to retire because there are substantial financial benefits to working past 65.

There are issues for pastors and congregations involving clergy 60 and over.  Several examples in my denomination (i.e. one without bishops to move clergy around):

• What if you are 60 and ready to seek a new call because you’ve got some good years left to serve, but you are finding that most churches want a 40-something pastor who can “bring in younger members”?  So you stay where you are, realizing that  – in your heart – you are basically done.
• What if your pastor is 60 and, after 8-10 years of faithful and effective service, the church is ready for a change?  Unfortunately, however, all indications are that your current pastor is planning to stay until retirement in another 10 years. Everybody recognizes that the energy is low and you wonder if your congregation will be able to recover if the pastor stays too long.
• What if you are a 60 year old pastor and you know it’s time to go but you still have a mortgage and not nearly enough money to retire, and you don’t think you can be called to another church?
• What if you are a 60 year old pastor who has served small congregations – sometimes part-time – and you are looking for a new call, but your experience with small (dying) churches seems to hinder your search.
• What if you are a second career pastor just starting out at about the age of 60, hoping for a first call and it’s taking longer than expected because search committees want someone with more experience?

In the next 10-20 years, 70% of our clergy will retire, but in the meantime, what will happen with those pastors who still want to work to 70 or beyond?

My hope is that we will be courageous – and faithful – enough to seek what is best for the congregation.  But then again, retired pastors have to afford to live – perhaps for another 20+ years after retirement.

What’s the answer?

I honestly don’t know.  But we who are closer to our retirement than our ordination will have some tough decisions to make in the next few years.  One of my hopes is that at least we will try to learn all we can about the 21st Century Church.  Paradigms are not easily shifted.

Image is Henry Raeburn’s Skating Minister.  (Let’s not skate towards retirement folks.)

At the risk of sounding like a multiculturalism/diversity hater . . .

I’d like to talk about church staff diversity.  I’m having problems with it.

My basic theological and managerial assumptions are that 1) God calls all kinds of people to serve, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and age;  and 2) our leaders should look like our community.  In other words, if I serve a congregation full of biker dudes, our leaders should include biker dudes.  If we have no women in our congregation, we don’t need to call women elders and deacons.

But there are some disturbing trends I’ve noticed recently as congregations long to become more diverse:

• We call pastors and other staff who balance out what people see, rather than pastors and other staff who are genuinely called to serve our churches.  We want to look like the United Nations only for the sake of appearances.
• We congratulate ourselves when we hire a person of color (or some other ‘minority’) and then use that person as a trophy, congratulating ourselves for being so incredibly open/diverse.
• We happily call the pastor who expands our diversity while simultaneously refusing to allow this person to expand our horizons/ teach us something that might make us uncomfortable.
• We look at who is on staff (e.g. two women pastors) and proceed to look only at the opposite demographic to fill an opening (e.g. a male pastor) without considering whom God is calling to fill that position.  Note:  For 2000 years, our churches were staffed by men.  If we had three pastors, they were all men.  Seven pastors?  They were all men.  It’s not the end of the world to have an all-female staff . . .

. . . nevertheless, I’m a fan of diversity on a church staff – not just in terms of gender, race, etc.  but also in terms of touchy-feely AND erudite, goofy AND serious, extroverted connectors AND introverted spiritual guides.  Just as the world is increasingly diverse, so should our congregations be more diverse.

My big beef:  churches that look nothing like the communities around them geographically.  You know the ones.  Everybody inside is over the age of 60 and white while the neighborhood is filled with brown kids.

I never want to be called to a position because the search committee was looking for a middle-aged white lady (although, honestly, who is looking for this demographic?)  I want to be called because the Spirit of God has led me and a church/organization to each other in God’s great wisdom and creativity.

If you are part of a church search committee right now, please – literally, for the love of God – listen to the Spirit, and call the person whose name God is whispering into your ear.  Believe me.  If God is involved, your leadership will be quite diverse.

Image is a mosaic of some of the staff of the truly wonderful and authentically diverse Church for All Nations in Columbia Heights, MN.  Check them out here.