Christianity For the SBNR
Used to be, a young pastor graduated from Seminary, went to work for a guy like Michael Foss for a few years, then took a call at a small church somewhere. That’s not how it works anymore, which is why the Church needs books like this one from Pastor Mike as his parishioners call him. Pastor Mike offers a clear perspective on the challenging task of ministry in a healthy, mainline, Protestant congregation, the kind of perspective you can only get from doing this work for a while. I’d say he’s got it pretty much right; I can’t find anything much to argue with really. I’d offer one caveat though, for the young pastor who sits down to read the book. When being revived, some congregational systems won’t just resist change the way Pastor Mike points out, they will eviscerate you for even trying to do it. We are living in a world where 28% of pastors get pretty well chewed up by one congregation or another before we’re done. A sobering and sad statistic to be sure.
Reviving the Congregation is a very good guide to avoiding many of the pitfalls that could take you down that road, but Pastor Mike wasn’t exaggerating when he quoted a member of a different church who, disapproving of “contemporary worship,” (like that represents some sort of radical change), said, “We’re going to do the Lutheran liturgy right up until the last person in our church shuts the lights out” (p. 5). That story isn’t an anomaly.
The question is, what do we do when we’ve pretty well followed Pastor Mike’s handbook for leading change, but instead of a “lay leadership that not only embraces, but champions change” (p. 10) like his, we get a clear, unambiguous message that if we stick to our reckless agenda our ministry will soon lie in tatters on the ground. What do we do then?
Well, one approach is to blame the members of our church, withdraw to nurse what is surely a very raw wound, and let it fester while holding onto the self-righteous conviction that they simply don’t understand the challenges of ministry in the 21st century, (which has the seductive advantage of quite likely being true). You can do that because, and I’m guessing here, but I’m still pretty sure about it, you’d be completely justified in doing so. The trouble is, and you should trust me on this, I know what I’m talking about, it’s not a particularly productive approach. It will break your heart and it won’t do much for them either. That’s a problem because it’s still our call to serve them. (Yeah, I know, it’s a bitter pill.)
So assuming we reject the option of playing Moses after the people made that golden calf, (it’s in Exodus by the way; if you don’t know that, then Pastor Mike is right, you need to be reading your Bible more), but assuming we are rejecting that option, how might we approach this moment? It seems there is something we pastors lose track of in our genuinely holy desire to revive the congregation. There is a really good reason congregations don’t want to change.
We’ve been offering these basically good people, spiritual nurture and care, opportunities to serve, and fellowship, lo these many years. But now, when for many it seems like death is looming just over the horizon, and the world is devolving right in front of their eyes we pastors show up and want to change the only foothold they have on grace in an outrageously painful world. Wow, thinking that way, some of the heinous things they’ve done, (and I wouldn’t argue with you if you wanted to tell me that some of the things they’ve done are just plain wrong), seem tame by comparison. (I know, another bitter pill. Sorry, really, I’m sorry.)
So what do we do now? I think we can all agree that the church must radically change or it will surely die. But if we can’t agree on that, let me say this: it’s true that in most places there remains a group of people who still want church, who don’t roll their eyes when you talk about Baptism, who don’t run screaming from the room if an organ kicks up for a rousing rendition of A Mighty Fortress is Our God, who don’t look around in disbelieving horror as a rock band backs up a good-looking blonde dressed just this side of inappropriate, singing Lord We Lift Your Name Up High. There are still such groups of people, (more of them I suspect in West Des Moines than in San Rafael, CA). That being the case a well run church, and Pastor Mike’s church is certainly a Spirit driven, well pastored congregation, should be able to thrive for another generation or two. But sooner or later it too will have to deal with the evolution of human culture.
When the church ultimately comes face to face with that reality, that’s when we know that if we don’t make a radical change, we will surely die. That said, we can be equally certain that if we do radically change the church, it will cease to serve its purpose and again, we will surely die. Faced with this conundrum countless pastors try to run the gauntlet between changing the church enough to avoid repulsing those elusive “unchurched peoples,” and serving those who are already here. All too often the pastor who wants to revive the congregation under these circumstances ends up running headlong into a buzz saw. And I mean to tell you, it hurts; it’s scary and it hurts.
A congregation caught between these two fates is a real conundrum and I don’t know exactly what to do about it, but I do know where we have to start. We start by opening our hearts and loving them. Not that warm cozy kind of love, (though a little of that wouldn’t hurt), rather we need to offer the kind of love that seeks to draw out the beauty in every living soul. This is the kind of work Pastor Mike points to when he says our ministry must move from an informational system to a transformational system. (Actually he’s saying the church has to make that move. Trouble is, and here’s my only real argument with him, most of the church doesn’t seem ready to do that, so we pastors are going to have to do it first.) Christian faith is about transformation and the only way we are going to revive the message of the gospel, (never mind the Church), is if we offer, personally offer, a creative expression of love so compelling that people start to shine like lights in the cosmos.
Anyway, thanks to Pastor Mike. The church can use a book like this. Just don’t get too discouraged if your congregation doesn’t respond and flourish in quite the same way as St. Mark’s in West Des Moines, IA. It’s not necessarily your fault; it’s just the world we live in. [I know it can be brutal and because of that I work with pastors who are struggling in this kind of situation so if this happens to be you, first of all, I’m really sorry it’s happening. If you think I might be of some help, you can contact me. It is kind of expensive, but the first call is free but you can really get somewhere in one call and I’m happy to do first calls just as a gift to the Church. Please know I really do want to offer support and help. (Rev. Sam Alexander – My Work with Pastors)]
Grace and peace, Rev. Sam Alexander
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In