Streams from the River of Faith

The Christian church could be seen as a river.  Yet this river has some streams flowing from her source.  It used to be that those streams might be defined by the three major branches- Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant.  Then those streams would have branches snake off.  Protestant might then branch off in denominations- Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist.  But this river is changing.

We might instead of thinking of denominations consider labeling those Protestant branches as faith personalities or traditions.  I wrestled with this.  Consider.  Methodists who leave a Methodist church are not necessarily going to join another Methodist church.  Folks are not staying with a denomination.  A person might be a member of a Baptist, Presbyterian, and then a Methodist church in his/her life.  This is a growing trend.  A person may not see himself/herself as Presbyterian or Baptist anymore.  Now I teach Baptist heritage/history so this of course troubles me because I believe each denomination does have something to offer the larger church and does define how each local church ‘does church.’  Yet I don’t think we’ll all blend into one church.  Hardly!  I believe the personalities/traditions define us and are larger than denomination.

So what are they?  Mainstream, evangelical, etc?  Those terms no longer work either.  So here is what I propose:

Liberal  Moderate     Conservative     Fundamentalist
Bear with me a moment.  A person may not know this but when he/she visits a church he/she has a certain faith perspective/personality.  And when visiting they may not know why but they ‘connect’ in a church and do not in others.  Now programs, preachers, and friendliness play a part but yet for real commitment and involvement something has to connect to make the person feel this is ‘right’.  They can’t always articulate it but it is there.  So JOHN SEEKER is Presbyterian and visits a Presbyterian church but yet he is very conservative (not quite fundamentalist but leaning that way) and finds the local Presbyterian church personality to not ‘fit.’  That church is more moderate to liberal and he doesn’t know why but it isn’t ‘home.’   They deal with social issues, have women in the pulpit, and are not preaching about politics.  He visits a Bible church that has a local congressman visit that day.  They talk about major moral issues.  They pass out voter guides.  They use the KJV Bible and there is much talk about getting saved.  He feels at home.  He is a kindred spirit.   SUSIE VISITOR tries a local Lutheran Church.  She was Lutheran in the mid-west and tries this church.  Women can’t lead.  They are not fundamentalist but seem to be very conservative.  She doesn’t connect.  She goes to another Lutheran church that is welcoming to women.  They aren’t extremely liberal but are more moderate.  She has found her home.  She stays Lutheran but it is more about the connection than the denomination.  Are you seeing what I see?

The landscape is shifting.  Now churches do not fit neatly in either of the four boxes.  Some might but not all.  A church can lean between moderate and conservative.  A church can be conservative with moderate and fundamentalist members.  But the further away from one category you get the less likely you’ll find folks from the outer categories.

For example- a church that is moderate strongly may have a few folks on the moderate/liberal side and a few on the moderate/conservative side.  But far fundamentalist will lead to conflict and fighting.  A church that is conservative leaning fundamentalist will not have strong moderates or liberals.  And on it goes.

When calling a pastor the minister and church need to consider this.  Can churches changes? Slowly and with bloodshed. A church that is moderate might move either to the left or right (but not far left or right without much blood or years).  A pastor who is fundamentalist should consider this before taking a strongly moderate pulpit.  A moderate who is leaning liberal should consider this before taking a conservative leaning fundamentalist church.  Making sense?

What about defining those labels.  That’s tricky. I hesitate to try.  The more left a person/church is the more it is open to higher criticism of the Bible, women, social issues, working with other denominations/faiths, etc.  The more left the church/person is then the issue of homosexuality being open and accepted- from welcome but not affirmed to welcome and affirmed.  The more to the right one is the more women can’t lead, moral issues are conservative, politics show up more, evangelism trumps social issues, etc.  And homosexuality goes from loving the sinner/hating the sin to open damnation of homosexual from the pulpit.  Folks who are moderate to conservative obviously would move in appropriate directions from those two poles.

I hate to define but this is what I’m beginning to muse/ponder.  The Hartford material I recently commented on indicates that spiritual vitality being felt in a church shows up more in more liberal and more conservative churches (The two ends of the poles).  Why?  I believe because they know who they are and mainly in unison on issues folks usually fight about.  The rest of us are diverse on a host of issues which opens the door for conflict and conflict leads to spiritual distress.  I have no solution for that one!

So what does this mean?  I’ll muse on that next blog.

Musings about “The Decade of Change” Part 2

As I continue to reflect upon the Hartford Report (see two blog articles ago and also last one).  I see two major themes that the church needs to deal with in the 21st century.

ChurchHealth

I can’t say it enough or loud enough.  Churches that do not know how to handle their differences will struggle with spiritual vitality.  Just check out the data.  The Church will have diversity and there are issues that are huge but we must work to maintain healthy ways of communication or we will not be able to fulfill our work and ministry.  Folks simply will not come or at least stay in a unhealthy system.  Ministers need to learn family systems theory and basic church health issues.  Church leaders need to be learning this as well and the body as a whole need to learn and see modeled such behavior.  Bible studies on being the church, sermon series on the church, and open discussions about health and conflict need to begin long before there is an issue.  When things are going ‘well’ the church needs to talk about how to maintain health.  I person should not wait until they are in the ICU before they learn about proper dieting and exercise!  And thus a church needs to deal with this as an ongoing and routine way of being church.  Anxious presence, triangle relationships, manipulation, and other issues need to be taught and discussed.

Innovation

I believe the second theme is innovation.  It is true that more and more churches are becoming contemporary in worship style.  Yet not all churches can do this well.  Some churches would do well with adding another service rather than converting the existing service over.  Others may not even go in this direction.  And yet the key of innovation is something all churches can do and should do.  If a person could pick up the worship order from today and compare it to the one from 2005 then 2000 and 1995 and see it be the exact same order then innovation doesn’t not exist.  Boredom and apathy set in and folks lose focus in such situations.  See my suggestions in my previous blog.  A church can stay traditional and still be innovative.  I believe that churches were only one service exists blending some contemporary pieces in may be the only real big ‘change’ but the innovation can be present no matter the style.  Robert Webber wrote years ago about using ancient future worship on Sunday.  There are creative and innovative ideas that are hundreds of years old.  And they are new to those who have never experienced them.  We also can borrow and learn from other Christian traditions.  We can also set the creativity of the folks in the pew free to use their gifts in different ways.  Having folks make and present banners for worship, write original drama and music, read and speak, and using their own gifts will open up new energy and passion.  Simply doing some things differently and experimenting can make positive changes.  I wouldn’t change everything every week!  But slight and ongoing changes can be done from time to time that create a new sense of vitality and life.

I don’t propose these two themes as ‘cure alls’ for the entire church.  Issues of missions, small groups, church education, and other areas that need to be addressed are equally important.  But these two areas I believe are crucial for the church of the 21st century. If the church is fighting or boring then all the small groups, new programs, and other items will just be spinning wheels.

I’m passionate about other aspects of the church. I believe we must demand more from our adult discipleship.  I believe we need to offer opportunities for real spiritual transformation and also for serious Bible study.  I believe discussions on theology and Scripture are needed.  I believe a quality children and youth program is important. I also believe a church must be missional and reach outside the walls of the institution.  I believe a hands on approach to ministry is going to draw people in rather than simply sending a check. Yet I believe in stewardship and supporting our global partners.

Blessings,

Derik

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Musing about the “Decade of Change”

My previous blog deals with the findings of the Hartford Report.  I appreciate the fine work those folks do and commend their research to you.  On their web site you will find several resources/reports that are very helpful.  I particularly like their reports on church conflict and growing churches.

As I reflect upon the date that describes the changes and current status of the church 10 years into the 21st century there is so much to ‘muse’ about.

One could read it and try to determine a ‘magic bullet’ to ‘fix’ his/her church.  Remember this data is a description of what has occurred in the past 10 years but we can’t determine if the next will continue this path or whether there will be new trends.  Also there are many churches who do the same things the growing churches do and fail too grow numerically.  I also believe an over emphasis on numeric growth can be short sighted and dangerous.  While it is true that if a church does not grow numerically in time this is a deadly but a church can also grow numerically and not be spiritually healthy.  I’ve always stressed church health over church growth.  I believe if a church is healthy then growth will happen.  But real growth is not possible to maintain in an unhealthy church.  And the Hartford report backs that up.  One aspect is clear in this report and in previous research (again read their church conflict report on their web site) that if a church is unhealthy in conflict it will lack spiritual vitality and growth.  Conflict will kill growth.  So be healthy.  Learn to handle differences in a healthy way and people will be drawn to just such a fellowship.

Another issue to think about is how the church really is connected to what is going on globally.  The economic downturn hit the church hard.  It is true churches were not financially as strong as they should be before this crisis (only 30 percent described themselves as financially strong) but the crisis dropped that number to 14 percent.  That means almost every church you drive by is not growing financially and is having trouble paying the bills.  Almost every church I know has had to make ‘ends meet’ and is not able to expand ministries or do what needs to be done in their community.   In fact, one of the issues that leads to conflict is financial.  Therefore many churches entered the 21st century with the US economic crisis leading to members with the inability to give as previously and this led to major conflict which led to lower attendance and even worse financial problems.  Each fed the other.  Churches that were already unhealthy fought and the downward economy just fed the fuel to the fire.  This had impacted the high level of pastoral terminations, lower attendance, and the overall decline of denominations.

Now I do not believe it is fair to say it’s only the economy.  It is also not smart to think that if we can improve the US economy the churches will grow.  It is true that a better economy will help already healthy churches.  Churches where members are good stewards would have more money to do more.  But for those who fell into chaos and conflict it will take a long time for those churches to recover (if they can).  Hurt feelings over forced terminations and church splits will not disappear with a stronger stock market.  The damage has been done in many places.  And it isn’t just money that has hit the churches over the past ten years.  Folks have stressed they are ‘spiritual but not religious.’  This will not be an easy trend to reverse.  Folks are not going to come back to the church just because the job market looks better.  If anything once they have more money to do more they will find more things to do on Sunday than church.  I also would not turn to the stock market or government to save the church.  That will never work!  Our help is God and not Wall Street not DC.

Another interesting item is the worship issue.  Contemporary worship is growing.  But so is ‘innovative worship.’  Churches that simply are not contemporary in personality often find themselves fighting over the issue.  Or they try it and it doesn’t work.  Again is this a magic bullet?  Not necessarily.  It is true this is a issue that is not going away and contemporary worship will grow in American churches.  Even those that do not convert their entire worship style to contemporary are finding themselves using contemporary pieces in their traditional services.  This will continue.  But not all who do this will grow.  I believe it will work for many.  Many will start new services and those will be contemporary.  In fact many churches will add new services and the survey shows that those with more than one service grow.

But is contemporary the only way to go?  Not necessarily.  Traditional churches also grow.  But the key is in the word ‘innovation.’  The churches that have done the exact same things forever are struggling.  But any church can be innovative with splitting into warring camps.  A Roman Catholic church that switches to Latin Mass sometimes experiences growth.  A church that begins adding liturgical elements grows.  What?  The ‘key’ (I hate that word) is that they did things ‘different’.  People like diversity and people get set in their ways.  Change can cause conflict (especially in unhealthy churches) but some change is possible in any church.  Slight and small adjustments over a course of time can create excitement and energy.  And these changes can’t then become ‘law’ and nothing new can happen.

Why not switch items in your worship service from time to time? Do the choir’s anthem earlier and not just before the sermon (but don’t switch it forever….move it around from time to time).

Move the children’s sermon around-do something creative in it- or add one!  Or add new leaders in it.

Involve youth and children in worship.

Add drama.

Revamp the order of worship (You can do this and stay in the same style).

Add the Lord’s Prayer.

Use litanies, candles, responsive prayers- and it doesn’t have to be every Sunday.  Variety is the spice of life.

If you use power point screen some Sunday don’t!!!!! Or alternate how often you use it.

Include interactive prayers, moments in the service.

Have the choir sing form somewhere other than the choir loft.

Casual dress in the summer.

Silent prayers if they aren’t used too it.

Others can speak/lead parts that ministers usually do.

Have children collect the offering (or youth).

Move furniture around (if seats move reset the room).

Preach from a different place than the pulpit.

I would suggest a pastoral worship team invest in resources, workshops, and meet with other churches and find out what is going on elsewhere.  If you did everything I listed on one Sunday it will be crazy.  One element above is often enough.  And tweak it from time to time and try new pieces.  Just don’t stay in a rut.  Folks should say, “I wonder what I missed today?” (If they are absent).  They shouldn’t be driving down the road on vacation and look at their watch and say, “Right now they are doing the doxology!”

More later.

A Decade of Change- The Hartford Report

The Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary has released, “A Decade of Change in American Congregations, 2000-2010.”  This material is based on a major denominational survey and compares data from this recent 2010 survey with previous ones in the decade to give us a description of what is going on in the US church today.

The results?  Fewer persons in the pews and decreased spiritual vitality.  The picture today is a church that is financially struggling, full of conflict, lower attendance and declining spiritual vitality.  We are weaker as a church then we were 10 years ago.

Other notable observations include the increase of innovative and adaptive worship, rapid adoption of technology, dramatic increase in racial/ethnic congregations, and a increase in member oriented and mission oriented programs.

Worship

There is a huge increase in contemporary worship in the church today.  We have a 50 percent increase with 4 in 10 churches using electric guitars/drums in worship.  This began with evangelical churches but has begun to grow in the established Protestant churches as well.  The South in the US is leading the way with all of this.   Innovative worship is also increasing.  This is defined as making significant change in worship and does not have to be contemporary (a Catholic church could adopt Latin mass or a church could begin having communion weekly).  It means that the church changed their worship in some way to be different.

The results I saw where that the churches that grew either adopted contemporary worship or innovative but if neither was present there usually isn’t growth.  Where both are present there is a greater chance in growth.

Technology

By 2010 we find that 90 percent of churches use email and 7 in 10 have a website.    Churches are using technology more and more.

Finances

Churches are struggling.  Churches with excellent financial health stood at 31 percent in 2000 and the number is now 14 percent.  Many churches polled this year say that things are starting to turn around this year.  Of course this is tied to our overall national economic crisis but it is a bleak picture.

Conflict

Conflict is on the rise.  2 out of 3 churches have experienced conflict in one of the four categories:  worship, finances, leadership, and priorities.  In a third of the churches members have left or withheld finances and pastors have left.  Fighting is increasing at a fast pace.  This impacts in low spirituality vitality, attendance decline, and financial difficulty.

The survey shows many other interesting pieces.  Churches that have younger members bring in younger members.  Location is still vital and churches that are located in growing suburbs grow faster.

And of course this all means less people coming to church.  1 in 4 churches had less than 50 in worship in 2010.  And just under half had less than 100.  Median worship attendance dropped from 130 to 108 in 10 years.

What about the mega church?  Mega churches continue to grow but they make up less than half of one percent of the churches.  They did double in 10 years though.  As the survey says, “They are attracting an ever bigger slice of the religious attender pie, it is a bigger piece of a shrinking pie.”

This decline used to be in mainly the old line Protestant churches but is now in evangelical and other denominations as well.  Everyone is facing this.   There may be more ethnic churches starting their attendance is slightly shrinking.  Not near as bad as white churches but this is a troubling observation for me.  I had always held hope out for the non-white churches to be growing.  Hopefully it is a blip and not the beginning of their decline.

This also leads to a decreasing spiritual vitality.   The decline in attendance, conflict, money problems have hit this area hard.   One surprise was while this is declining overall the churches that are having high spiritual vitality are either very conservative or very liberal.  The others are not.

Observations

I’m still processing this data.  It is descriptive and not prescriptive.  The surveys are basically only able to tell us what is happening and not predict (things change) or offer concrete do this or that to determine the future.  It only shows what has been happening for 10 years.  Will this continue or not? If these trends continue we can learn things that might help our churches but things can change.  We are also impacted by our culture at large.  The economic crisis led to crisis in our churches and this added to conflict and attendance and spiritual vitality.  This does not mean if the economy improves the churches will also.   Will members return to giving?  Will the conflict leave such damage that some churches are unable to get their bearings again?

I’ll ponder this and my next article will address what I think about this data.  I will also be writing some articles of trends/ideas I have about the future.  I also am studying a previous conflict report this organization provided along with a survey on growing churches they did about five years ago.  I’ll respond to those as well in future articles.

 

9-10: Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago it was a Monday.   I was a newlywed and had been married since that past July.  I was an associate pastor on staff at a church in TN.  Katie was about to start a new job the next day at the Oak Ridge National Labs working in the ‘mouse house.’   I was busy working with youth and family ministries.  I was also the preacher and co-leader with our music minister with out contemporary worship service called “Celebration.”  My father had died just over two years before and I was still dealing with that shock.  He had only been 52.  It was September 10, 2001.  And to this day I can not tell you one thing I did on 9-10.  It was just another Monday ten years ago.  I don’t remember it a bit.  I don’t know what I had for lunch or dinner.   I don’t know where I went.  I don’t know if it was a busy day or a slow day.  I don’t know whether we went anywhere or who I spoke too.  I do not remember that day.  It was just a random day in September.  Who remembers days chosen at random from ten years before?  Our minds don’t work that way.  If things go ‘normally’ we can’t really remember specifics of such days.  We can look back to periods of a year and remember basically what was going on but that’s it.

Then 9-11 happened.  And that day I remember so much more.  It was not a random day.  Because of the events that day I will never forget that Tuesday.   Strange uh?  I don’t remember any other 9-11.  Not a single one.  I’m sure if I dug out college notes and seminary notes (I am a strange bird because I have kept all my class notes in seminary and some college) I would find papers with 9-11 from throughout the 1990s.  I bet if I found old planners I would find various things I had done on 9-11 in 2000 or 1999 or 1990 and so on.  But without something to kick start my memory they are just days.

But not September 11, 2001.

Since then 9-11 passes in a much different way then those before 2001.  I’m always nervous on that day.  I don’t fly on that day.  I don’t really feel easy until 9-12.  I’m always worried.  The first anniversary of 9-11 fell on 2002.  Katie and I were still a new couple but not newlyweds.  We had moved.  I had accepted a pastor’s position in KY and that 9-11 we led in a worship service/memorial service.  9-11s that followed brought thoughts and prayers on that day.  The third anniversary, fourth, fifth, and on they march.  I had five 9-11s in KY.  I then moved to VA where I now pastor.

Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of that day that changed so much for all of us.

I thought about that when I watched my children play today.  They are too young and don’t even know what 9-11 is yet.  They are still innocent.  But one day they will learn all and with technology one day they will watch those towers fall and hear those audio files that claim, “We have some planes….”

I wish I could have the innocence they still have today.

But I don’t and those of you reading this do not.

So what will we do tomorrow?  Will we ignore the day and pretend that it is just another Sunday. I suppose some churches will.  Or will we make it a patriotic rally and forget it is the Lord’s day?  Some churches will do that too.  Or will we instead worship a God that loves us and longs for our world to be better than it was on 9-11?  Tomorrow I hope to lead our church in that direction.  We will not ignore 9-11.  We will pray, sing, and we will worship God.  We will seek God for healing and hope.  We will confess our pain and our sins.  We will turn to the God who cares about all days and especially 9-11s.

Sunday night our church is having a cook out and beginning our Sunday night children’s programs.  That is very appropriate.  For after we worship God and pray for peace that morning it is good that we gather to be a people and that we join children (most of whom do not remember that day) and continue to walk to the future.

I pray that the future we walk to will be better.  I am not naive enough to not believe there will be other days of infamy for as long as humans live there will be.  But perhaps we can do more and we can love more and we can become more who God wants us to be.

Blessings,
Derik

9/11: Ten Years Later

Where were you on 9-11?  Everyone I know can answer that question in very vivid and clear memory.  None will forget.  And now we are 10 years down the road.  This coming Sunday will bring pain and hurt for so many.  Families will grieve remembering the loss from that day.

I will never forget the shock and horror as the events of that day became clear.  The images of that day will stay with us all.  There is a web site that has archived that day and the week that followed by allowing you to watch all coverage of major television stations.  I’m sure this will serve as a way for future generations to study and understand this moment.  The more we move from that day it will become a moment of history for more and more.  When I was a child people would talk about JFK’s death and where they were.  I could not.  I was not born then.  So for me his death was history and for others it was memory.  And there is a big difference between the two.  Many conspiracy theories exist from that day.  Some claim our government did this and some say it was bombs planted by our government that brought the buildings down.  That’s a pretty lame claim in my book.  Yet as the future moves on there will be those who like current day holocaust deniers that will continue that claim.  Archives such as this one may help debunk some of the silly talk that might otherwise be born from that.  Still as I watched those clips I had to stop.  9-11 is not history for me but memory.

Granted I was not at NYC, DC, or PA.  I did not lose anyone personally that day.  But I like millions others grieved with those that did and felt the horror and fear that more might happen.  We were living in Oak Ridge, TN and my wife was working on her first day for ORNL being trained.  I remember the fear in that community.  I remember my fear.

So here we are 10 years later.  We may answer where we were but a new question emerges.  Where are we today?

Where are we today?  What lessons did we learn?  What has this event done to shape us today?  Are we angry and bitter?  Do we embrace hate?  Or have we sought out a desire for peace and hope.  Do we still live in fear?  Or do we have faith?

As a believer our church will worship on Sunday.  10 years ago Sunday was packed.  I doubt it will be this year.  Oh, we will have a good crowd and I expect many churches will but we will not have that sense of urgency and hunger that existed very briefly ten years ago.

When the buildings fell and we began to ponder what life was about many called our church in TN.  We had a emergency prayer service that week and people came.  Many came who I did not know.  That Sunday many came to church.  Folks came hungry and thirsty.  Then the days turned to weeks and we moved away from that sense of spiritual urgency.

My prayer is that this 9-11 we might seek God’s grace more.  I pray we will hate less and love more.  I pray that we will hope not hate.  I pray that we will desire to be the people God has called us to be.

A Prayer for Christian Unity

God of grace and God of glory,

We are here to worship you!  We are here to give praise and proclaim the good news that binds all of us.  Those who form your church are diverse and that diversity may either make us stronger or serve to divide us.    We pray that our unique backgrounds, experiences, cultures, and traditions will draw us closer and not further apart.  May those various streams of faith flow together to give praise and worship to you.  For we are brothers and sisters who embrace the faith once delivered to the saints.  We may be friends and we may be strangers but together we are your family.   We gather weekly to worship you and to remind ourselves that while the storms outside may rage and the earth may quake under our feet we stand on a firm foundation that suffering, pain, hurt, and despair is not able to defeat.  We gather in large cathedrals and rural chapels.  Some gather to hear pipe organs and large choirs and others praise bands and singers and still others meet in quiet silence.

May we stand together and stand as one people with one gospel serving one Lord.    We stand as one in a world that all too often sees what is different and is quick to embrace hate and hostility.  We stand united as one in a society that judges one another by superficial means and artificial worth.  May we stand together and proclaim that we do serve the prince of peace in a world that answers division with tanks and weapons or criticism and sharp words.  We stand together in a culture obsessed with greed, crass commercialism, sensational gossip and cheap thrills.  We serve a God who loves all and so we dare to proclaim that we will live that love in word and deed.  We defy the culture that disguises slander as news and hate as humor we pledge ourselves to a Kingdom that is now and never ends.

May anything that may separate us be removed.  May our hearts be united and connected together to reflect your love and grace.  May we be the salt and the light and the people you have called us to be.  May we be the people you have called us to be!

So we praise you.
We worship you.

We open our hearts and our hands…..

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit we pray….amen.

(2011-Derik Hamby)