Interactive Church is the future!
Facilitating conversational community is not difficult and bears great fruit.
Here is a 10 minute video about the 4 kinds of questions that work well.
4 Kinds of Questions:
1) Ice-Breaker
2) Feedback
3) What Did You Hear?
4) Bull In The Middle
I love the ‘great co/mission’ in Matthew 28. We humans are invited into a co/mission with God and we are commissioned. What an amazing gift and grace we have been given. We partner not only with God, following that model of Christ, but we are giving Holy Spirit power to do so! This is incredible.
In Acts 2 (calling back to the words of Joel 2) when Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh, we, as sons and daughters, speak the words of God (prophesy) for all humanity – and indeed all creation.
My former tribe (Evangelicals) are having a tough time right now. They are getting blasted from without over their extreme support for the current President. They are wrestling within over issues of race and domestic violence.
Then last week, one of their most visible leader-author-pastors, Beth Moore, released a sincere and devastating letter that has been sent to me numerous times by friends who thought I would be interested.
‘Women in ministry’ was my first and most consequential break with my former denomination. They voted to not ordain women but to instead consecrate them. I petitioned to have my ordination moved to a consecration since :
A) consecration is ‘biblical’ and ordination is not.
B) because I am convinced that we should be moving to greater levels of inclusion and empowerment … not regressing.
I read Beth Moore’s words with great concern. She is right and that it heartbreaking.
What makes the situation even more troubling for me is the contrast with my current ministry situation.
When I moved to Southern California for school, I attended a UMC school where my PhD Advisor and the Pastor at my church were both ordained women. I then got job at a UMC church where both my District Superintendent and my Bishop were ordained women.
Last year I joined the UMC again, this time in the Pacific NW, and again my new Bishop and my District Superintendent are ordained women. In fact, my church growth coach, my ordination mentor, my ordination coach, my area coordinator and my education point person are all ordained women.
Every other month I sit in a multiplying ministry workshop where more than half of my peers are ordained women.
I can’t stress how big of difference it makes being in a denomination where women are empowered and equal. In fact, every time I share my basic lesson-learned on this topic a very bizarre thing happens:
I would share some of my lessons-learned but I fear they will be distracting to my larger point.
Here is what I really want to say:
I say all of this as a flawed product of a patriarchal system. I fall short at nearly every turn. I am trying and I am learning.
My encouragement to you is simply this: you can’t imagine how much better it is when everyone’s full personhood is recognized and affirmed. It changes so many aspects of spirituality, community, planning and dreaming, networking, accountability, gifting, and so many other aspects of religious life and sacred practice.
It is perfect? No. It’s human. AND that is the beauty of it! It recognizes each person’s humanity and God’s divine purpose in and for that humanity.
If you haven’t read her letter, please go and do so. I just wanted to chime in that there is a different and better way.[1] I am grateful for my sisters-in-Christ and partner-pastors who help me see a fuller picture of God and the divine work to which we have all been called.
[1] My favorite part of Moore’s letter is, “Many churches quick to teach submission are often slow to point out that women were also among the followers of Christ (Luke 8), that the first recorded word out of His resurrected mouth was “woman” (John 20:15) and that same woman was the first evangelist. Many churches wholly devoted to teaching the household codes are slow to also point out the numerous women with whom the Apostle Paul served and for whom he possessed obvious esteem. We are fully capable of grappling with the tension the two spectrums create and we must if we’re truly devoted to the whole counsel of God’s Word.”
The church is always changing.
It adjusts and adapts to cultural shifts and needs.
Change is often initiated when new technology meets evolving theology.
I talked about it in Why Do Church This Way? [link] or listen to the podcast audio
There are two interesting notes about these changes:
1) When new developments arise, the previous form does not go away, it continues on but without its former prominence or influence.
Phyllis Tickle points out in The Great Emergence that 500 years ago when the Protestant Reformation happened, the Catholic Church did not cease to exist. It had a counter-reformation and made some changes.
500 years earlier the same happened with Great Schism between the Roman West and the Eastern Orthodox. Both of which survived … just in modified forms.
500 years early in the period of Councils and Creeds saw similar issues of division and adaption.
500 years earlier (in the fallout of the the Axial Age) figures like Jesus had profound effects, and some divisions, with the existing religious order of their day.
We are 500 years after the Protestant Reformation we look to be going through something similar.
2) There is always an authority issue involved in change.
Like a song, most people focus on the lyrics and the melody – for our analogy that is the theology and the technology. The driving force is the baseline – this is the role of authority.
Authority was central in every change listed above:
I like to talk about collaboration, contribution, and conversation as locations of authority. I have a very de-cenereted and democratized ideal of the church in the 21st century.
I have to keep reminding people that this is not a “free-for-all” anything-goes anarchy. It is simply the church hosting a space and but not providing all of the content.
The current change is about control. We are no longer in control. That doesn’t mean that things are out-of-control!! It means that control was always an illusion at some level and required coercion and violence to maintain the illusion.
Opening up the microphone means that we are not in control of everything that is said. The desire for control keeps us from welcoming our congregation’s insights, experience, and perspectives as locations for God’s revelation and our theological reflection.
Admittedly, we are in the earliest days of the transition .. but here is the harsh reality:
People are voting with their feet and the ‘nones’ and ‘dones’ are the fastest growing religious affiliation in N. America. People are going to grow increasingly unsatisfied with being spectators at religious spectacles where their contribution doesn’t count and their experience and perspective are not valued.
Listen to the podcast and let me know what you think.
What does it mean to be an Easter people?
In what way are we aliens and strangers (1 Peter 2:11)?
Is it possible to opt out of the current ‘Argument Culture’?
You can say “a different way to be in the world” … and that first step is a change in your personal orientation.
The next step is then to talk about being “a different way in the world”, which is a communal commitment and expression.
The emphasis of the first is the “be”. A different way to be in the world asks us to consider how we approach the world, how we position ourselves, our posture toward the world, and our participation with the world.
The emphasis of the second approach is the “way”. This imagery rings familiar for Christians because Jesus proclaimed that “I am the way, the truth, and the life”. Following the teaching of Jesus is not just a different way to be in the world (though it certainly is), but the church is to be a different way in the world.
Sadly, throughout history, the church has often followed the world’s way. It has utilized power, violence, personal gain, and many other worldly-ways to accomplish its work. People have used God’s name to get their way – but they have not always done it in God’s way.
The gospel is not just a different way of being in the world. It calls us to be a different way in the world.
If you don’t like the way that the world works, if you don’t want to be that way toward your neighbor, the stranger, and even your ‘enemy’, Christ offers you another way of being in the world. Then, when a number of us do this together, it provides a chance for others to find a different way – a path that leads to a different place.
Not understanding this has led to ‘the church’ participating in partisan politics. Christians have become a part of the problem and are actually making the situation worse. This happens in Liberal circles, in Conservative camps, and with folks who have opted out of the process altogether because they are disillusioned and don’t want to vote for ‘the lesser of two evils’.[1]
Aligning with the Republicans and the Democrats is failing us. Fox News and MSNBC (or NPR) are not the problem nor are they the solution. To paraphrase the Apostle Paul “neither voting or not voting brings in the kin-dom of God” but right-living, peace and joy in God’s Spirit. (Romans 14:17) [2]
Cable news and social media are not the way. In fact, this is part of how we have been seduced by the ideologies of our day. Conservatives who want to legislate morality and Liberals who look to identity politics as an end in itself are practicing the way of the world. You can’t legislate morality and identity politics are great for liberal politics but not for sacred community.[3]
Jesus calls us to a different way of being in the world that does not use our race, gender, class, and sexuality as boundary markers. It includes and transcends the categories of identity and belonging (Galatians 3:28).
Likewise, the way is not found in military strength. It is not satisfied by consumerism or credit card debt. It is not found in reclaiming some idealized past or in returning to some romanticized notion from a previous era. It is not about becoming more orthodox in our beliefs or extravagant in our worship and sacrifice.
Once we discover a different way of being in the word (first step) and then collaborate with others to be a different way in the world (second step) then we may choose to partner with or support those elements of political parties that help bring about the greater good. These are the first two steps on a very long journey.
To be clear: I am not an idealist but I am a true believer. I am not after utopia. There is no pure or perfect to be had. Just writing this in English (or any language) is inherently compromised and corrupted. We have been formed and informed by the very words and ideas that we have been given. We are groomed and conditioned from birth in the way of the world.
Christ’s way will never be popular. It will always be a minority movement. It started that way and is perfectly suited to be that way. It does, however, provide a different way for an individual to be in the world and collectively we provide the world a different way than its round-and-round, dog-eat-dog, us versus them, march toward destruction.
Admittedly, I am being foolish here. I believe that there is a different way that isn’t measured in dollars, or troops, or ‘likes’, or members, or votes, or converts, or doctrinal purity, or visibility, or sales, or laws, or nearly anything that can be measured or quantified.[4]
The current way of being the world is being exposed as a rotten tree. We can smell its sour fruit. Its roots in division and deceit are coming to the surface. It can barely stand under the weight of its own burden. It provides no future or hope that the way forward will be satisfying or liberating.
Our hope is to follow the way of Christ, to live in the truth of God’s love, and to live life in the Spirit. If we did this, together, we would open up possibilities that are not even visible to us yet.
[1] If you are going to vote, I would certainly encourage you to vote for less evil. If nothing else we could use less evil.
[2] “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (NASV)
[3] Identity politics is great for politics. Of course someone’s politics should be informed by their social identity and location! What else would it be informed by – ideology?
[4] If you are looking for specifics, step one might focus on passages like the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 and step 2 might begin to look at passages like 2 Corinthians 5:19 in which God reconciled with the whole world through Christ and then gave Christ’s people the ministry of reconciliation. The first step is often personal and the second is always collective.
Last month I posted about measuring ministry differently for the new century.
In this video I want to talk about some other metrics for measuring church health.
We all know that “nickels & noses” doesn’t tell us if ministry is actually happening.
Neither do the following suggestions but at least they are more interesting:
Just remember:
“Growth isn’t always good and bigger is not always better.”
My friend Tad DeLay has written a second book, The Cynic and The Fool. I was first introduced to this concept by Tad a couple of years ago. I immediately asked him to come to the Loft LA as my conversation partner to talk about it. It was controversial to say the least.
I have held onto a very small part of the concept (that people are comfortable these days in the role of the cynic but that they want their leaders to be fools) and have radically changed my approach to ministry to account for it.
This weekend I will be presenting this concept in Sunday School, as part of the series ‘5 Favorite Ideas’, so I made a 10 min video to share and get the conversation rolling.
I would love your comments, questions, and concerns.
I would also love if you would share this with any leaders or pastors that you know. I want to have a much bigger conversation about the church being a different way in the world.
Beginning this Sunday, I want to put a series of ideas in front on my congregation and brainstorm them together during Sunday School. You can listen to the podcast audio here.
I am working on a clear way to present ‘Church 2.0’ or ‘ChurchNext’.
We will start with some history about different ways that the church has looked in different eras.
Here are the two really interesting things about that:
First, in each new era, the previous way still hangs around – it is just not as prominent.
So in the reformation, sacraments were still present but just not primary. Preaching was the main attraction.
Now in the ‘music’ era, we still have preaching and sacraments (for the most part) but in many circles they are secondary or driven by the music.
Second, I truly believe that we are about to enter a very different expression. This future of the church is going to be in:
Eventually people are going to get tired of being spectators at a weekly spectacle. In so many other areas of life, people’s participation really matters. They get to contribute their unique insight, perspective, and experience. Then they come to church, sing the songs on the screen then sit and listen to a TEDtalk style sermon (I am being cheeky here).
If that works for people, I celebrate that and congratulate them. I mean them no harm … but for so many other people it is just not satisfying.
People are walking away from the church in record numbers – nones and dones are the fasting growing segment of religious affiliation on the most recent census data.
But there is a different way to do church that opens up the conversation to inquiry and doubt … it facilitates a thoughtful space to ask difficult questions. That is my hope for doing church this way and for becoming a conversational community.
So why do church this way?
We know that the way we measure ‘success’ as church leaders is not an accurate way to address actual ministry.
The old line about ‘nickels and noses’ doesn’t tell us if we are actually doing God’s work in the world or meeting our communities’ needs.
It also doesn’t tell the story behind the number … there is no room for narrative.
So I have come up with a different metric that I want to propose.
Moving on from Nickels and Noses to:
Hands – how many people did we touch?
Feet – how many people came across our property?
Mouths – how many people did we help feed?
Eyes – how many people saw our us? Street fairs, facebook, youtube.
Ears – how many people listened to the podcast?
The advantage to this new approach is 3 fold:
Here is a short (3 min) video – let me know what you would add or change to this approach.
Earlier this month I responded to a survey being done by a grad student about new worship communities and churches in revitalization.
Below are some of my responses to the 3 questions – and here is a 10 min video with some pictures spliced for illustration.
1.What innovative practices set your faith community apart?
Vermont Hills UMC is attempting a hybrid expression that combines two very different ecclesial and liturgical formats. We have been a classic mainline worship format for our 50 years of existence. We never went through the ‘blended worship’ wars in the 1980’s and 90’s. We never had a worship band or song leader. It is just piano, occasionally organ, and a choir. We use singable hymns so that the singing is robust and fills the space with sound.
We have now added a coffee shop/living room feel that splices in conversation and a TedTalk style homily early in the gathering. Also, instead of the sermon, a different person (or persons) comes to a high-top table and has a conversation. Sometimes it is about the homily, or the passage of scripture – other times it is about an outside topic (such a non-profit that we support). This serves to ‘decenter’ the sermon so that our gatherings are centered around conversation.
Another innovation is that each time we do communion on the first Sunday of the month, we try something different. The two most recent communion weeks, for instance, were vastly different than each other. In January, we set up 6 round tables in the corners of the sanctuary (we have an odd shaped space) and had 8-10 people at each table. They served each other communion with a prepared litany, and commune together for the rest of the service. In February, we set up different stations – a baptismal font, a table full of prayer candles, etc. – and had them wander around the space doing different activities before they went to the communion station. A 6-minute video played on the screen for those who did not want to wander.
2. How does your faith community meet people where they are, literally and figuratively?
I have developed an ecclesiology called Church 2.0 where we provide the space but not all of the content. The conversations during our gatherings are unscripted so that people can bring their concerns and insights.
Another aspect of our service to the community is the many non-profits we participate in and support financially. In January and February, we have had a different ministry or group ‘come to the table’ and tell us about what they do and how we can get involved. This includes our backpack ministry that packs food for kids at the elementary school next door who would not have food on the weekend, and Neighborhood house that helps families get back on their feet. We have 7 or 8 of these ministries that we support and participate in.
3. How does your faith community develop and equip young leaders? eg internships, pastoral residencies for young clergy, intentional communities?
I have only been here 7 months but we already have a young minister going through the ordination process and several seminarians who help teach and lead. The format of ‘the table’ allows multiple voices to heard. Depending on the topic, they can help teach Sunday school, mid-week Bible study, ‘preach’ the homily, and be the liturgist as well. This gives them lots of opportunities to participate and practice. We will be developing a ministry team in 2018 for formalize this process.
Dialogue across the table is the key though. It is a platform that allows their voice to be elevated and broadcast. It is shared influence instead of one persons talking for 20-30 minutes week after week.
Bo Sanders: Public Theology 