June Newsletter Article

One of my colleagues on the ELCA Clergy Facebook group posted an article about how "your church is dying but that's okay."  I'm going to post that article in a moment, but it got me to thinking again about my newsletter article for June, especially given some recent conversation at one of my congregations.  

For some bizarre reason we think our mission should be about "our church."  How we can and should keep it open and doing the exact same thing it's always done--as if the worst possible thing that could happen would be for "our church" to die, its doors close, and for an era to come to an end.  Now, I'm not denying the serious impact that such a thing could have on members of a congregation and a community....but in this equation, how does God factor in?  Where is our resurrection faith?  

The church is a living thing.  Congregations are living things.  They are going to be born, they are going to grow, they are going to travel through crisis and be expanded and pruned.  And...they are going to die.  Don't believe me?  Ask yourself why you haven't heard anything from the church in Ephesus lately.  But that does not mean that our faith dies.  That does not mean that fellowship has to die.  That does not mean that something else, even something better, won't be resurrected afterwards.

So...here's my June newsletter article.  Sit tight and I"ll post the other article in just a moment.  

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You may not realize this, but we have now ministered together to the communities of Winger and Bejou for six months!  Time flies, doesn’t it?

I’ve had a few people approach me lately with an important question that I think we should take some time to reflect upon together.  Because this is such an important question, my article this month is probably going to be a bit on the longer side.  Bear with me.  I’ll give you extra credit.

“Pastor, what do you think of the future of our church?  How are we doing?”

The first time I heard this question, I had to chuckle to myself.  It was a bit like one of those doctor shows where the family is gathered in the hospital room and in a hushed tone, with dramatic music in the background, one of the family members says, “Be honest, doctor.  Is he going to make it?”

Here’s my answer.

Congregations are like everything else under heaven.  They are born, they live, they die.  The question is:  What are you going to do with your life?  Are you going to live in denial, that the world has changed and that you have to change with it?  Are you going to be a hoarder, saving up money and material belongings, because you think this is what is going to solve all of your problems, provide comfort, and secure your future?  Are you going to allow yourself to be so stuck in your ways and your thinking that any deviation from your expectation will generate a horrible anxiety that will cause you to lock up and shut down? 

Or...are you going to live life to its fullest, enjoying every moment God has given you, and using every gift with which you have been blessed to the glory of God?  Are you going to live each day as if it were your last and celebrate all that God has done for you and through you?

Because, here’s the thing, folks.  If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord.  So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.  (Romans 14.8)  Framing the question in this way we realize that there really is no question.  We don’t have to worry about our future, whether we’re going to make it five more or ten more or whatever arbitrary number of additional years.  We belong to God, in our living and our dying.  So...without the burden of wondering about our security, the real question is:  What are you going to do now?

What are you going to do with this building God has blessed you with?

What are you going to do with the financial wealth God has blessed you with?

What are you going to do to support and minister to the community in which God has placed you?

What are you going to do to share this good news that God has given to you?

What legacy are you going to leave for future generations?  Stories about how cautious and careful you were to share and engage in the community?  Or stories about how fully you lived, sharing absolutely everything you were blessed with with the world around you?

In the past six months I have shared with both councils articles and stories of congregations who thought that they were dying.  Each congregation feared that they had come to the end.  Membership had plummeted, community demographics had changed, buildings were becoming burdensome—the congregations felt that they were dying.  In each of these stories the congregations decided that, “If we are going to go out, we’re going to go out with a bang.”  With faith in God and in gratitude for all with which they had been blessed, congregations zeroed out savings accounts and gave to partner ministries.  Buildings were updated and remodeled so that, if the congregation was going to be disbanded, at least the building could be given to the community in a “move in ready” state and used for some other purpose.  In all things, absolutely nothing was held back.  Everything was given to the glory of God—as it always should be. 

And in each of those cases and in every case like them, the congregation that stopped worrying about its living and dying and started living to its fullest experienced resurrection.  God gave them each new energy, new life, new purpose. 

“Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”  (Matthew 16.25).  It doesn’t get any clearer than that.  Being so afraid of dying because of what you think you’re going to lose, making every effort to maintain the status quo just because you think that’s what it means to be alive, storing up treasurers and money and refusing to change anything because to give on anything might mean the end...being locked in this way of thinking means you’re going to miss out on life—as an individual and as a congregation.  But being able and willing to lose all of this—money, things, traditional ways of doing things—will lead you into a new and wonderful experience of life.  It will be resurrection.

So, what do I think is the future of Calvary and Immanuel?  I have no idea.  That’s completely up to you and how you discern God's call to you.  How are you going to live?  Are you ready to give everything up and die so that you will live? 

In one of the conversations I had with folks who asked me this question I added something that I want to repeat.  My job isn’t to tell you what to do and not do.  My job is to open up conversation, discuss opportunities and possibilities, to encourage you, to challenge you, and above all else to pray for you.  What you choose to do with the things I say is completely up to you.  It’s your life together, your community, your congregation.  It’s up to you to discern your future together.  I’m here to help and to support and to sometimes lay out difficult truths.  What you ultimately do with all of that is up to you. 

It is my prayer for you that God would give you wisdom and insight to look at your present and your future not with fear or worry or concern...but with faith.  That whether you live as a community or die as a community, you belong to God.