Are We Understood?

I am a stickler for language. It's part of my personality. Good grammar, proper choice of words, the use of inflection in speech patterns - these things matter to me. So, what happens if I begin choosing words that are outside of my friend's hermenuetic? Can he absorb my tractate? In other words: What happens if I speak outside of my friend's ability to interpret? Can they understand what I say?

Language matters. In a Church like ours, a Discipling Community for All Ages, language shapes. How we speak gives witness to the shape of community we wish to be. Words we choose changes us.

In our world it easy to buy into the notion that words are cheap, that they are meaningless. I disagree. One of America's richest documents is a carefully worded declaration. Written by a master of words, Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence is a masterpiece of literature. The power of those words changed the world. Not only did they pull people together in North America, but the thoughts expressed in the words chosen inspired (and continue to inspire) people around the world.

If we are to be a Discipling Community for All Ages, we need to attend to our words. We must use words of discipleship. When we speak of being people of faith, certain words must permeate, words such as: Prayer, Worship, Scripture, Service, Relationship, Generosity. These are the words of Discipleship that point our way to living more deeply in Christ.

We also need to shape our words around the notion of Community. When talking about what we want for our community, we need to replace the words, "me, my and I" with "us, our, and we." We need to lift up words like "hospitality, welcome, outreach and return."

When we speak, we need to attend to the different ways words function across the generations. When I grew up, I knew that "Thy" meant "Your." This is not the case today. If you walk into a confirmation class, where they've been studying the catechism, and talking about the prayers of the church, you'll find that Old English is not understood. Poll our young people and they will tell you that the word, "thy" means "my." What, then do we do to the faith of our young peole when they hear and join us in praying "My will be done." Of course, we don't pray that, but that's what's heard and understood by those who never hear Old English, except in the Lord's Prayer.

To be a Discipling Community of All Ages, we need to attend to our language and always advocate for words that propel us toward the vision of being this sort of Church. If we use words that do not communicate, we speak a different language, unheard and misunderstood. If we are not understood, walls go up and people are not welcomed. To be a part of the community, then, outsiders have to learn the "code" of the church.

I invite you to listen to me and to challenge me on words that you think people may not understand. I am so steeped in the language of the church, that I need your help to make sure that I am choosing words that are not "church-ese" but words that communicate the love of God, known in and through Jesus Christ.

I also challenge you to advocate for words that are fresh and relevant in the community around us. This takes me to concerns people have voiced around the which version of the Lord's Prayer we should use. When we use the 1970 version of the Lord's Prayer (what we still call the new version) we need to remember that it is an attempt to use plainer language, words that are understood by people of all ages.

The other version, which we learned, which I treasure for my own prayer life, is a wonderful prayer, but it is the language of 1611. The "old version," the version steeped in Old English, is not the original version... This prayer was originally written in Greek. The Greek version is a translation of the Aramaic originally spoken by Jesus.

If we are most concerned about praying that prayer in the way Jesus taught us to pray, we should consider praying it in Aramaic, the Greek version or the English translation that is closest to the words Jesus originally spoke. If we choose to do the English translation that is closest to the words spoken by Jesus, then we have to go to the 1970 version. It is the most accurate translation of the original. It's an excellent version for use in the community.

Words matter. Let's work together and advocate that what we say we are, A Discipling Community for All Ages, becomes a reality. How we speak and the language we choose will help us be more who God calls us to be.

Jesus Remains the Same, We Must Change

I remember the plates well. They were sold for a small price and bore the name of our church. A line-drawing of the church was printed onto the center of the plate in shiny gold, the same gold that rounded the edges of that commemorative piece and adorned the edges with fancy decoration. They were made in the church’s centennial year. On each plate was the theme verse for the event, Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

To say that Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever is at the same time a declaration that God’s love for the world is enduring. It was not limited to the days of the past, but continues today. Jesus is God’s love active in this world: God’s absolute commitment to redeem this broken world from sin, death and the powers of evil.

Times change. Society changes. Families and friends shift. Businesses come and go on Main Street. Patterns of the past no longer remain as they once were. Once, people entered the church because the church was present in the community. People lived with an understanding that good citizens were active in their church. Babies born were automatically baptized into the community because that’s where they would be nurtured by the community of faith, discipled by the calling God, fed by the Holy Spirit. These things no longer hold true. People no longer engage the faith as they once did.

We live in a time different from the past. We need to come to terms with this shift, because it means that we have to be church in a way different from the past.

It is time for us to risk ourselves for the sake of becoming God’s people doing new things for this new time. Our mindsets need to change. Knowing that people will no longer come to the faith because they are born into the faith community, we are now called to figure out how to be a discipling community that reaches out. We need to re-learn how to share the life-changing news of God’s love and call to discipleship that the world needs. We must learn the actions of people of faith who live in a society no longer so friendly to the ways of faith.

Jesus calls us to reach out. He says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing… and teaching… and remembering that He is with us always.” (Matthew 28:19-20) The Scriptures promise that we “…will receive power” through the Holy Spirit and that this Spirit will drive us to be Christ’s witnesses where we are and beyond (Acts 1:8).

The church of my childhood was a wonderful community in which to be raised. I honor my parents and the people of that small Lutheran church for the ways they shaped me to be the person of faith I am today. I attended the church because it was easy to do so then. It was easy because everybody was there. In the 1970s it was the only show in town. My guess is that most of us can say the same. The church of the past, however, is gone. Society will not return to the way it was. For this reason we must change.

You see, God has entrusted into our hands the wonderful message of Jesus Christ. When people no longer come to us, we must find ways to go to them. We find ourselves in a day and age much more like the first three centuries of Christianity than the last 17 centuries. Now the message of the cross is not known by many people under the age of forty.

To be a discipling community for all ages calls us to trust that God’s love in Jesus Christ remains the same. Though the world changes and though we must change, too, God’s love for us and for the world remains constant. It is in this knowledge that we can move forward in ministry. Let’s do this with confidence and commitment.

Time for a Band

Worship is central to our community of faith. We gather as a community to be fed and challenged by the renewing presence of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God has been calling through the voices of many people within our church for the addition of a worship band to our community. As these voices have been calling, the Worship Committee has been wrestling with how to renew a sense of energy and community within our second service.

We seek to be a discipling community for all ages. With this in mind, it makes sense to begin working toward the goal of featuring an alternative and less formal style of music and worship alongside our traditional liturgical worship service. While the traditional liturgy we do from week to week is inspiring and edifying to most of us present week after week, it does not move all people toward praise of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Creating a second style of worship will help us communicate the good news of God’s love for us through Jesus Christ for people who are not enthused by liturgy.

We are beginning a process that will slowly move us toward the goal of offering two styles of worship every Sunday. Over time we hope to distinguish the first service as a traditional liturgical service, retaining the excellent liturgical practices of this community. In the months ahead, the second service will begin to shift toward a less formal service that involves additional styles of music that are more contemporary and global.

To begin this process, we’re looking for people who would be interested in being part of such a group. To make a go at this, we need musicians to play and to sing. A variety of musicians are needed. If you have skill as a singer or as an instrumentalist playing keyboard, guitar, percussion instruments, flute, violin, bass guitar, or other, you could be a valuable part of raising up an additional musical group within GSLC.

If you have gifts and passion to offer toward starting a new musical group within our congregation, and you are not already using your musical gifts in a fulfilling way, please consider becoming a part of this emerging ministry. To enter into it, talk with Pastor Jordan about your interest and then attend an “interest” meeting on Wednesday, May 20 at 7:00 p.m. in the chapel. Bring your instruments, and we’ll play together.

To be successful, we’ll need to have people cheering on this effort to try something new among us. This means that even if you can’t sing or play an instrument, your enthusiasm and other expressions of support can make a world of difference in such an endeavor. We need people to remember and to remind that growing congregations typically have at least two worship styles from which to choose each week.

Please note that this group is not to be considered, and should never be thought of as, a replacement for the choir. The choir has a long and strong history that we need to uphold and support. Their musical ministry is extremely valuable and we will continue to honor and cherish their beautiful music. It is my hope that the resulting new music group would not take anybody away from the choir, but stand with it as an additional way in which people can serve God through their musical gifts.

Please consider this invitation to serve by offering your musical gifts and/or supporting this attempt to reach out to people not already being fed by the liturgy.

Over the last several months, we’ve been working toward building an understanding of mission: What God is doing and what God is calling us to do. Certain themes have been emerging as we’ve been reading and reflecting on scripture in worship and during committee time. They’ve been showing up in my devotional time and in the books I’ve been reading about mission and the Church. I’ve also been hearing some of these themes as I’ve been visiting with people.

As these themes have coalesced, I’ve been toying with a phrase that pulls everything together as descriptor of a path forward for us as a congregation: “A Discipling Community for All Ages.” It is a description of what it means to be the Church.

In it, I hear the call of Jesus in at least three different ways. First, I hear the command of Jesus as he stands on the mountain preparing to leave his disciples. He leans forward and says, “I’ve been given a lot of authority on heaven and on earth. Here, now, is what you are to do: Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always.” As Matthew records them, these are the final words of Jesus to the community of faith. After giving them their marching orders, he ascends to heaven. “Go. Make Disciples.”

The Church is always called to be a discipling group. It is absolutely central to who we are, what we’re called to do and what Christ expects to be our central activity. To be a discipling congregation we need to reclaim the wonderful faith practices that help us grow as disciples: Prayer, Worship, Bible Reading, Service, Relationships, and Generosity. A discipling church focuses on these things all the time. They are traditional faith practices that keep Jesus in the center while challenging us to be God’s people active in the world for the sake of the world.

When these things are not central, the church loses its way, people lose sight of the wonderful gift of faith, we become “spiritually unfit.” Prayer, worship, Bible reading, service, relationships and generosity help us grow as people of faith. When we all focus on these things, our church becomes a better tool in the hands of God, who loves us deeply.

The second part of the phrase focuses on the word community. Nothing feeds faith like the community of God’s people. Discipleship does not happen alone on a mountain. It takes a community. The church has always been a gathering of God’s people. It is a social entity, a public gathering of people who worship with each other, who share the Christian meal with one another, who pray for and support each other in all of life’s ventures. The life of the community must be nurtured as carefully as discipleship.

For people of faith, the community of the church always begins in the community gathered and nurtured in worship. What we do together in the name of Jesus Christ makes a difference. The Sunday morning coming together is absolutely critical to the well being of the community. How we function when we are present in the community makes a difference to the health of the congregation. The more fully we enter into the work of the gathered community, the stronger the community becomes.

As a congregation, we need to grow in our involvement in the worshipping community. We need to be present more often and when present, we need to encourage one another to participate fully in the activities that are central to our Sunday morning gathering. The act of worship is not something that happens in the front of the church, but a work of the people that begins with our coming together. Our work is carried out in song, scripture and prayer. We worship as we eat at the table, and as we are sent on our way at the end of the service. For the sake of the community, we lend our voices and our hearts to the activities of our weekly gathering so that God’s community of faith can flourish and grow. The act of worship is a whole person experience: heart, soul, and strength – mind, spirit, voice and body. Worship is not a spectator sport. There is no audience. It is a full-participation sport: in which we all contribute and involve ourselves in this primary action that forms the basis of our community.

There’s another aspect of community building that we need to lift up. We need to be a congregation that works hard to foster relationships with each other. We need to create both time and space for us to linger with one another. While we work to build community within worship, we must also work to get to know each other before and after services, and at other times as well. Our hospitality committee began laying a foundation for this work a little more than a year ago when they printed and prepared nametags for all of us. I support them in their efforts because they know that it’s good for us to wear them. When we help others know our names, we offer other people the gift of relationship.

But we need to go farther. We need to cultivate an environment where friendships naturally form and flourish. As we come and go, we need to make sure that our facility helps further the ministry of hospitality. We must no longer pretend that it is acceptable to be without bathrooms in our primary area of activity. We must work together to make bathrooms in the narthex area a high priority. If we are to care for the community, we must do this for the sake of our older people. It is also absolutely necessary for families. As your pastor, I repeatedly hear the request for a bathroom. When I tell where the bathrooms are located, I often see the look of horror in the face of people who cannot circumnavigate our building. I see the look of frustration in the young parent who can’t imagine corralling two or three kids through the maze of our building to a location unknown. Without adequate bathroom facilities, we cannot say that we are as hospitable as we should be.

So, we’ve talked about being a discipling community: a community that focuses on teaching people to follow Jesus by practicing the faith while befriending each other and fostering relationships with each other. It’s time, now for us to finish the phrase.

If we are to be a discipling community for all ages, we must reclaim a commitment to reaching out to those in age groups that are currently missing from among us. As we give thanks for the things we do that feed us as we are, we must also find ways to focus some of our attention and energy on the things that will help us reach those who currently find our ministry less engaging.

In particular, we must create a worship environment that engages people of all ages. While we are good at engaging people of certain generations, we have not kept pace with the hopes and dreams of those who are my age and younger. If you’ve been reading my blog or sitting at the council table, you already know that on a given Sunday we are not likely to have many people aged 15 to 44. In fact, on a typical Sunday only 12% of us are likely to be of those ages. That means that if we have 200 people in worship, only about twenty four of us are between the ages of 15 and 44.

The good news is that we have a group of very devoted people for whom our ministry works well. What we do connects really well with people of older generations. For the sake of those who are older, we should continue to do what we do well. At the same time, though, we need to begin changing ourselves and creating worship space and styles that will engage people of younger ages, too. We can no longer pretend as if it is OK for us to ignore the needs of younger folk for the sake of keeping things the same. We need to work together to bring change to our congregation.

The last part of the phrase calls us to attend to the things that need to be done differently for the sake of being a discipling community for all ages. It calls us to continue worshipping and doing other discipling activites that meet the needs of our older members, while challenging us to think outside of the proverbial box that we’ve built for ourselves, so that we can tend to the spiritual needs of our younger members.

Jesus calls us to make disciples of all nations. He does not call us to make disciples of all nations, as long as they are of a particular age set. Instead, this call challenges us to create space in our current practices to find new ways of being the church for the sake of younger and middle aged people we are not currently retaining.

A Discipling Community for All Ages: It’s a wonderful phrase that points us toward new life.

Imagine, this congregation feeding a multitude of people in various ways. Imagine the freedom we could have as a congregation if we began blessing attempts to reach out at a younger audience not already present, while at the same time retaining a worship style and service that is near and dear to the hearts of those of already regularly present. Imagine the excitement we could have among us if there were more young people among us.

You see, I dream of a day when this church is deeply dedicated to being a discipling community for all ages that is bursting with enthusiasm. I can see a time when we no longer look at other churches with despair and wring our hands at how easy it is for them to attract young families. It is possible for us to be so engaged with younger people that we are renewed as a congregation. But it does mean that we will have to stand as a congregation and be united in our determination to be a discipling community for all ages. We may even have to give up some things so that there is room for others to emerge.

We will not give up our liturgical tradition. I cannot imagine a time without a liturgical service as a part of Sunday morning. I can, however, imagined a time when, in addition to the liturgical service, we have a second service geared toward young adults and youth: an innovative service with new instrumentation, new music, a service with surprises. I can imagine this.

I’ve been pastor here for almost three years. From the very beginning of my time here, I’ve had people asking for us to develop a band. About a year ago, I even had a member of our congregation offer to provide technology to help us add a visual dimension to our worship. There are voices among us calling for global music. There are people asking to use their talents in ways that we do not currently practice. There are voices from among us calling for new ways to do worship. I welcome those voices. We need to hear these requests and to encourage those voices to be heard, because these are some of the voices from among us that are challenging us to step out and to try new things because they love Jesus and want this church to be renewed in ministry.

So, what is God trying to do among us? I hear God calling us to be a discipling community for all ages. God calls us to be people who are deepening our faith life through prayer, worship, reading of scripture, service, relationships and generosity. God calls us to do these things in the context of the community while building the community to be a place for people of all ages.

I hope that in the weeks and months ahead we’ll have the courage to grow in our understanding of what God calls us to be. I hope we’ll allow ourselves the freedom needed to discover a passion for what God calls us to be. I hope that we’ll grow in our determination to enter into new ways of ministry to be who God calls us to be.

We Were Featured in the Paper

Joe Orso, of the La Crosse Tribune, featured my blog in his article today. Thank you Joe! I appreciate the questions you asked and the time you took to visit with me about what I hope to do with the blog. Orso's article is titled Pastor Hopes Blog Connects With All Ages, Community.

In his article, Joe said, "I talked to Jordan about attempts I’ve seen online in which Christians trying to reach out end up using technology to remind people who have left the church why they left."

This sentence assumes that our decline has been due to people leaving the church. Of course, there are some who have left the church, but the decline we are experiencing is not due to people leaving. Rather, it's a combination of funerals, sociological factors, and the difficulty of figuring out how to be the church in a society that has changed so much over the past few years.

The funeral part of the quation is self explanatory. Over the past thirty four years, we've averaged 26.7 funerals a year: more than 900 people.

In earlier times, funerals were normally offset by baptisms, but this is not the case today. There's been a major shift in society with which the Church (all mainline churches) still needs to grapple: the world around us can no longer be considered a Christian society.

Now, to some that statement may sound like I'm just another in a string of preachers condemning people for waywardness. I'm not. When I assert that the world around us can no longer be considered a Christian society, I point this out as a sociological reality that stands in contrast to the past.

Those who study such things, point to 1960 as the end of what many call Christiandom. From 1960 on, sociologists say, there has been a major shift in America. Prior to 1960 it was almost a given that most people were connected with a worshipping community, as had been the case for centuries in the western world. 1960 is chosen as a date for the end of Christiandom for symbolic reasons. It's the year when a theater in a small community in one of the Dakotas made the decision to open on Sunday and succeeded to ride out public pressure to the contrary.

Today, we live in a post-Christendom world. This is not to say that the message of Jesus Christ is obsolete and to be thrown aside. Rather, it is an acknoweldgement that the assumptions presence in the past can no longer be assumed to be true in the world as it is today. Once, people automatically engaged the church when there was a birth. They were active throughout their lives. There was a communal understanding that to be a good citizen meant being connected with and participating in a Church. In those days, the church was the only show in town. There were no other activities, stores were closed, you couldn't even get a tank of gas. This description no longer describes life in America.

We are not living in a Christian society. Those who have grown up in the time since 1960 no longer turn to the church as the primary source of community. We are in decline not because people have left, but because of funerals and a major shift in the community around us.

This does not mean that decline is necessarily our future. Yes, society has shifted. Yet, the call of Jesus Christ still spurs us forward in ministry. Jesus calls us to be a discipling community for all ages.

Now, let's consider, again, about the role of numbers in the Church. The numbers of our church tell a story. They help us realize what's happening among us, currently. However, they are not the motivation that spur us to ministry. We are not thinking about engaging in ministry in new ways so that our sttistics look better.

It's all about the call of Jesus. He, who calls us to make disciples of all ages, calls us to do so in our local context. The Church knew how to do this in the world prior to 1960. Today, things are different. Yet, our model for ministry continues to assume that Christianity is the dominant force it once was. In this new world, we need to reclaim the call of Jesus to be a discipling community. For the sake of faithfulness, we need to keep our eye on what Jesus calls us to do.

The numbers tell us that we've not yet figured out how to be the church in this new world. Those who are most likely to be present among us are aged 65 and above. We need to figure out how to be a discipling community for all ages. We already do a good job for those who are older. We still need to figure out how best to disciple younger people in the faith.

This is our biggest challenge.

A Discipling Community for all Ages

There's a billboard on Mormon Coulee Road in La Crosse that has been catching my eye. It advertises Pepsi Cola. The back ground is blue and white letters spell out a compelling tag line. When I first saw it, I read the word "Awesome!" The 'o' of that word is the Pepsi logo.

Now that I've seen the sign a few times, I've realized that there's more to it than I first observed. The Pepsi logo also divides the word "Awesome" into two words: "Awes Me!" Depending on how you look at it, you see different things.

For many months I've been thinking and writing about our congregation's biggest challenge, the necessity of moving from decline to growth. I've been working on a compelling and simple tagline to give us direction.

A compelling tagline communicates purpose and direction. Pepsi's marketing department came up with one that communicates well. They want us to know that their product is "Awesome!" At the same time, they want you to know that it will awe you. For this reason, their carefully worded ad has punch.

When the church talks about purpose and direction it reaches to the words of scripture. A compelling scripture comes to mind. It was our centering word a few months back and it comes from the book of Matthew. Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you, and remember, I am with you always."

According to St. Matthew, these are the final words of Jesus to his followers. He utters them just before the ascension. They are final instructions for the ones left to carry on Christ's mission: Make disciples of all by baptizing and teaching. This is the direction Jesus intends for all who follow him.

We need a tagline to describe our Church, a memorable phrase to help us know our direction. Here's what I hope could serve as a faithful tagline for our congregation: "A discipling Community for All Ages."

I like this short phrase because it calls us to remember the mission Jesus gives the church: that of making disciples. At the same time it communicates that disciples are nurtured when they are enveloped by the love of the Christian community, that the community of the Church is essential to the task of discipleship.

The inclusion of "for all Ages" does double duty. On the one hand it calls us to remember that we are called to disciple people in such a way that the discipleship is lived out for a life time, and that Christ's mission is ours for all of time. It was first given us when Jesus called the church to this task before his ascension nearly two thousand years ago.

On the other hand, "for all ages" call us to remember that the church is a discipling community for people in all their various stages of life: young, old, middle aged or other. We need to reclaim this part of the call of Jesus. For right now, we are missing significant age groups from among us. I suspect that I'll write more about the "all ages" emphasis of this tagline in a future post to this blog.

Having a compelling tagline does not change much until it guides us in our work, worship, and ministry. When it is compelling among us, we will find ourselves frequently asking the following question when considering our various undertakings: How well does this activity help us be "A Discipling Community for All Ages."

Listen for this phrase in the weeks ahead. In your prayer time, ask God to direct us in the ministries of discipleship for people of all ages.

Addressing Our Biggest Challenge

Preaching a sermon in which the on-going decline of our congregation is highlighted is not easy to preach. I did so, today, after praying hard about this sermon for several weeks. I preached knowing that reminders of our decline are hard to hear. My hope is to call attention to the biggest challenge we face: that of turning from a thirty four year decline, to growth.

It is important for us to be clear about the decline at work among us. Recovery never happens without honesty. To change our path, we must honestly assess and truthfully encounter the challenge before us, while valuing all that good that has happened during this time. Remembering all the good we continue to experience, we are trying to figure out how to be the Church at its best in a time when so much has shifted in society.

Here's a snapshot of the decline we are experiencing. Over the past 34 years we have seen our membership decline by 60%. We have said goodbye to about 700 more people than we have welcomed into the congregation at the same time. Likewise, worship attendance has declined by 56 percent. The numbers behind this snapshot tell a story of decline. Neither the snapshot given here nor the numbers behind the snapshot, tell the stories of ministry done well that continued during this time of decline.

The "Biggest Challenge" we face is the challenge of moving from decline to growth. We can do this with God's help, as we refocus our attention on the call of Christ to be the Church at its best in our current context, for people of all ages. We can do this because Jesus calls us to do so.

In the weeks and months ahead we are going to focus on moving from decline to growth. As we acknowledge the decline we will not let the decline be our focus. Instead, we will spend our time asking the questions that have the potential to redirect us:

1. What is God trying to do among us?
2. What are we trying to do?
3. Why do we do what we do?
4. How well does what we do line up with what God is trying to do?
5. What does God call us to do?

I know that talk of decline is unsettling. It makes us squirm in our seats and raises our anxiety. Now we need must let this anxiety do a healthy work among us: We must let it challenge us to engage the questions before us faithfully.

Lent: A Time to Focus on Mission

God always calls the church to do God’s mission.  In the season of Lent, the first Sunday of which is March 1, we’ll focus on the basic building blocks of the mission given the church.  To do this mission, the Church must grow in its understanding of God’s mission in the World.  We must think more about what the church is called by God to be.  We must grow in our commitment to be God’s people in the world.   For five weeks we’ll be digging deeper into these questions to help us articulate the mission God gives us. 

The language I’ve chosen above is carefully worded.  You’ll note that whenever speaking of the source of mission I’ve used language that does not claim the mission as something we own or create.  Mission in the Church, is something that comes from outside of us.  Mission is not something that we determine or set up on our own.  Rather, it is something we step into as a response of a calling given.  

Mission is God’s doing.  God leads God’s people.  God calls the Church.  God forms the community of faith.  God gives us mission and calls us to follow.  The question of mission, then, becomes not whether or not this church has a mission, but whether God’s mission has a Church in which it can flourish and take root. 

The theme for the weeks ahead is “What’s God Trying to Do Among Us?”   We pose this question as a five week exploration of God’s intent in the world.  It is put before us with the hopes that the more we understand God’s hopes for the world (God’s dreams) the more we will be able to understand what we are to do.  The more we come to see God’s involvement in the world around us, the more we will discover how God calls us to be. 

Each week a different aspect of this theme will be explored.  First, we’ll begin by exploring the work of God.  Then we’ll explore the work of Jesus.  Next will come a time to consider the work of the Church.  Then we’ll spend two weeks considering how God calls us as individuals to be active in God’s work. 

For us to end thirty four years of decline and to begin a new era of growth, we have to start with a consideration of the basic building blocks of mission.  The more we engage God’s mission, the better able we will be to turn from decline to growth.  For this reason, I hope all of you will be involved in our Lenten series.  Each week we’ll explore the theme on Sunday morning.  On Wednesdays we’ll focus on another aspect of the same topic introduced on Sunday mornings. 

As always, your prayers for this congregation are important.  As we commit ourselves to turning from decline to growth, your prayers are even more critical.  It will take determination and hard work to discern the work ahead of us.  Prayer prepares us for God’s work.  In your prayers, pray that God will give us both the desire and the courage to do the work needed to transform our ministry. 

Generosity: Preparing to Turn from Decline to Mission

Recently, we’ve I've been talking about the importance of keeping our focus on God’s mission. I'm convinced that as we discover God’s mission, we will have a better understanding of why God calls us to be a strong congregation. The leaders of our congregation and I hope that we will focus our attention on turning away from 34 years of decline. We hope that as a congregation we will dare to be transformed, so that we can be a church home of choice for people of all ages. We believe that God calls us to greatness.

But, to be the Church at its best, we need your financial support, now as ever, more than ever. If we are going to turn from a 34 year decline we will need to do some pretty hard work. Raising funds for ministry is hard work that can easily derail our efforts to focus on what matters most. Money doesn’t matter most to the church… Yet, when a ministry isn’t funded at a level to do what people expect from the Church, it causes us to struggle. Money struggles in the church divert our attention from what matters most: following Christ in ministry to the world around us.

We need to focus not on money, but on mission. To do this well, we need to make sure that money concerns do not divert our attention. God, in God’s wisdom, calls us to tithe: to give ten percent of our income to do ministry. If all of us dared do this, we could change the world. We could dream enormous dreams as a congregation and we could accomplish them easily. If all of us trusted God enough to give 10% of our income, as God calls us to do in the Scriptures, we would find our lives greatly enriched: we would all know the joy of living lives of generosity. We would find that our fears of scarcity would be replaced with joy because our priorities would shift.

God calls us to be the church at its best. Today we ask you to extend your hands in generosity so that what we do together in the name of Jesus Christ can make even bigger impacts. For us to move out of the 34 year decline that is our recent history, we need to be set free from our biggest concern. While none of us can make this happen on our own, when we work together, in the name of Jesus Christ, we can make it a reality.

Recently, you picked up your offering envelopes for the year. Please use them regularly. Consider using the Simply Giving program to make your offerings automatically from your own account. Do all that God calls you to do. Generosity is a spiritual gift that has the power to transform our congregation.

What is God calling you to give? Please prayerfully consider this question as you give each week.

The Healing Power of Faith

Time Magazine, this week focuses on "How Faith Can Heal." It sits along side other major articles such as "The trouble with talking to Iran" and "25 People to Blame for the Economic Mess We're in."

Faith has a healing power to offer the messes we find ourselves in. The articles focus on the experiences of faith and healing by exploring scientific understandings about religious experience. All of this is good and well.

In checking out the articles in Time, I think the deeper power of faith to bring healing is largely ignored. As the articles explore religious experiences of the individual, they completely ignore the role of faith communities as centers for God's healing and redemptive work in the world. We need to focus more on the power of faith to bring healing to the world.

Now, just in case you're starting to get nervous that I'm about to advocate for a return to a church-state relationship, where the church is an extension of the state or where the state functions on behalf of the Church, don't worry. I value the separation of church and state. I'm not interested in a resurrection of the Moral Majority, nor will you ever find me advocating for a reinvigorated religious right.

The healing power of God comes from the power released within the community of faith as it becomes and furthers the emergence of God's kingdom in this world. As God's way emerges in the world God's will is done. God's way emerges and things become as God intends them to be: the broken ways of this world are replaced by the ways God hopes for. This healing power of God's kingdom is unleashed when the people of God heeds the call of Jesus to live the new way exemplified by and lived out by, Jesus Christ. God's healing power is made real when God's people fall in love with God and the neighbors around us.

If we are serious about healing this fractured world, we have to come to terms with our responsibility to live as God's loving people who value all the neighbors of the world. This includes Iran. We need to commit ourselves to the tasks of peace and justice. This is not to say that we need to become a floormat on which the dangerous people of the world wipe their feet. Instead, we need to look at the needs of those around us and to love others by living the ways of justice.

The real power of faith to bring healing in this world is found in the ways we (the people of God) live in the various communities of the world. Imagine the difference it would have made if the twenty five notorious people listed by Time as the people to blame for the economic meltdown underway had used their power and resources to protect the vulnerable. Their lack of concern for the "least of these," their love of money and advocacy for that which pays big dividends for the rich and powerful led us to our current turmoil.

It's too late to go back and fix what has happened in the past. Yet, the future is still ahead of us. The call of Jesus remains before us. And as I quote from the book of Matthew below, I've noted where the original language makes a careful distinction between the individual and the community. The individual is singular. The community is plural.

Jesus said, "You (singluar) have heard it said 'You (singular) shall love your (singular) neighbor and hate your (singular) enemy.' But I say to you (plural) Love your (plural) enemies and pray for those who persecute you (plural), so that you (plural) may be children of your Father..." Matthew 5:43-45a

The healing power of God comes from love lived in and by the community. When God's people work together for justice and peace, the world is healed and what God hopes for in this world begins to emerge.

Let our prayer continue to be as Jesus taught us: "Our Father in heaven... (note the plural, it is a prayer for the community to pray) ...Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." In seeking God's coming kingdom, we commit ourselves to the ways of justice: We live the ways of love.

Does the Church Matter?

I recently had somebody ask me whether the Church still matters, today. I responded that I definitely think the Church has a role to play. His question was posed more than three weeks ago, and yet it is still with me. It's been rumbling around in the back of my head and I don't always like some of the new answers I've been thinking about. Some answers are in the "yes" column... Others are in the "no" column.

When does the Church matter? The Church matters when it is the Church at its best: a community of God's people living out Christ's calling to be God's healing agents in the world. The Church matters when it provides food to the hungry, strength to those who struggle, comfort to the dying and friendship to those who are marginalized. The Church matters when it serves the community within which it is rooted: when it builds bridges between groups that present in the community that do not mingle with each other, when it provides space for addiction recovery, when it provides a home for flood recovery efforts in the driftless region. The Church does all these things and more. When the Church is the Church at its best, a community of God's peope living out Christ's calling to be God's healing agents in the world, the Church matters.

On the other hand, the Church doesn't matter much when it focues in on itself. When God's vision of being a blessing for the community is displaced by a myopic view that focuses only on the needs of the institution, the Church makes no impact in the community around it. When people focus more on membership in the church as a means to privilege or status than a calling to bring God's reconciling power to the world, the church loses its way. When we forget our calling (the calling to be God's reconciling agents for the sake of a fragmented world) the church becomes irrelevant.

God's love for us is shown through Jesus Christ. He sets us free from sin, death, and the powers of evil, so that we can be the Church at its best: God's reconciling and healing presence. How we live out Christ's calling to be the Church at its best will determine whether or not the Church matters. When the Church matters, it will be a strong and vibrant center for the community. When it isolates itself, when it fails to reach out in service and friendship to all, when it becomes overly concerned with self preservation, and/or when it values tradition over mission, the church matters little.

I am thankful for the good question of the one who left "organized religion" behind some years ago. He saw in his life that the church he experienced in his hometown had ceased to matter. It had become irrelevant. He wanted no part in a church that focused only on its own needs and failed to live out its values.

The challenge for us is to rise up as God's servant Church and to be the Church at its best. The mission to which we are called is what matters most. Our willingness to live it out determines the Church's value. May we be found faithful. May we always be the Church at its best: Christ's reconciling presence in the world for the sake of the world, a community not in and for itself, but a community that exists for the sake of the world.

MPS: Missional Positioning System

This week, I’ve been in Florida, attending a national event for senior pastors in the ELCA. It has been an incredible week. The speakers have been inspirational, the worship top-notch, and the opportunities to visit with other pastors about issues we face invaluable.

Some of the best conversations of the week happened during the down times of the week. Over beer and shared meals, pastors learned from each other while reflecting on topics covered in the daily sessions. Today, I drove with a colleague pastor to Miami’s South Beach. It was fun to see the art deco architecture and we enjoyed a good meal together along the beach. It was too cold to swim, but the car was warm, so we drove.

On the dash of the rental car was my GPS unit, a Global Positioning System. The electronic voice named “Samantha” told us how to get where we were going. “In point five miles, turn left on Ocean Drive.” Knowing our location, the onboard computer directed us in our adventure. Always calculating our goal, Samantha’s voice guides us.

There’s no such magical box for the Church. We know a bit about the future we want: we want to get to a point where we are the Church at its best, strong partners of Christ in ministry. We want to be a church of choice for people who wish to be followers of Jesus. We want to be vibrant proclaimers of God’s love and grace, challengers who lift up the call to follow Jesus into the acts of reconciliation for the world. We want to be a restored Church involved in God’s restorative work in the world.

We need to be the Church’s MPS. We need to be Good Shepherd’s mission positioning system. To know how we get to where we want to be we need to begin by describing our current position. A Global Positioning System takes readings from satellites to figure its location. As a church, we need to look to other constellations to help us get a good read on our current bearing.

There are constellations to help us discern our current location: Worship attendance figures, financial data, clarity present or absent about what God calls us to do and more. When we look at these things, we see that we have a ways to go before we are where we want to be.

We are a bit lost in mission: Since 1970 our congregation has lost half its membership. Since 1974, worship attendance has decreased by more than half. Five years ago, our staff included two full time pastors, an almost half time Christian Education Director, a Choir Director, and an Organist, a full time secretary, a full time custodian and a part time financial secretary. Today, to make financial ends meet, we have cut our pastoral staff to one and three quarters, we have eliminated our Christian Education Director, we have cut our secretarial staff. Still, financial concerns cloud our view. When we look at these constellations, these markers of our location, we see that we are not the strong congregation we once were.

Congregations experiencing decline often lose themselves in the fogs of anxiety and fear. As loss is experienced, the community of faith feels the tensions of the losses: conflict, strife, worry and blame cloud the path to recovery. When these fogs settle in and mission is not reclaimed, it is typical for a congregation to lose members, to see times of trouble continue, to experience declines in financial stability.

But we are not lost in these fogs. Perhaps, we are disoriented, maybe even adrift, but we are not alone in our straying. God, in Jesus Christ, comes for all who wander and who feel like they have gone off course. For the bewildered and the perplexed, the disoriented and aimless, God goes to work.

Like a foolish shepherd, God leaves the ninety nine behind and searches like hell for the vulnerable one that abandoned the safety of the fold. Good Shepherd has been found. God is with us. God calls us into ministry.

To find our way, we have to begin to ask anew what God is doing in this world so that we can understand more fully what God calls us, the Church, to be. Only when we know God’s mission will we know more about who and what God calls us to be. God’s mission must again become our mission.

Finding our way will take time and it will take effort. It will take resources and it will take commitment. With imagination and hope, we can do this. In worship and in prayer, we will find our way. I am dedicated to working with you to help us find our way.

To find our way, we must know where we are. Then, we must trust God's mission to guide us. God’s mission will guide us into the future God hopes for us . May God bless us in the journey. Practice your faith, give generously, and pray for the Church. God will lead us, if and when we are ready to be led.

Driftless, Not Aimless

Welcome to a blog I've started to collect and share thoughts I've been having about living out God's mission in the Driftless region of Southwest Wisconsin. In this blog, I hope to think about living as God's active mission partners.

My first audience for this blog is the people of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Viroqua, Wisconsin. Others are welcome to listen in. Good Shepherd is a church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is a congregation that needs to figure out its mission - it's reason for being the church.

I chose the name Driftless, Not Aimless for this blog for two reasons. I chose it because it communicates where we live. The Driftless Region is the context within which our Church. I also chose this name because it describes our determination to be purposeful. A church with a healthy sense of mission has direction and vitality. It is not adrift. It has direction.

I come to the task of writing this blog with some central convictions and points of view: I begin with the assumption that God is active in this world through Jesus Christ - that God's greatest hope is that God's intended and hoped for world (a world where all the brokenness of the world would be healed) is emerging for the sake of the world, and that the church is involved in this process. I believe I've said a lot in putting these convictions first. As I write them, I have many thoughts that enter my head, thoughts I plan to write about in the future.

In the months ahead, I hope to write about our need to reclaim a sense of Christian mission for the people of Good Shepherd. I hope you'll find this blog helpful and will welcome your thoughts and comments about writings I post. I invite you to share this blog with friends and family.