Embracing Flux
Something striking at the annual gathering of Presbyters and Clerks from all over the US is that the committees formed by the last General Assembly charged with setting a course and direction for the future seem to be still stunningly close to the starting line since the race started 16 months ago.
The 2020 Committee, the Way Forward Committee, and the All Agency Review Committee gave a 90 minute report that revealed mainly they are still simply trying to get their heads around who and what we are.
The truth is that we are a denomination in flux.
The most evangelical wing of our church has left or is in the process of leaving. We are growing older, churches are becoming smaller, and our resources are shrinking. We are adjusting to that reality. We do not really see where that adjustment will end or what the end product will look like.
In other words, ambiguity and uncertainty are the standard context for our work and life together.
Everyone knows that uncertainty does not feel that great, but there is a flip side-- uncertainty is also a blank canvas on which to create. If nothing is certain or clear, then all avenues are still wide open.
For instance, we know the old model of being a congregation is in decline, but we have barely scratched the surface on what new communities might be and look like. Some of our congregations are looking to lose the anchor of a building. Buildings are expensive. Losing the building can actually be liberating. Resources gobbled by upkeep and repair suddenly are free to be used for staff or mission. Engagement in the world becomes easier. Other congregations are experimenting with ancient models in a new day. For example, some fellowships center on a communal meal that leads into worship that leads directly into engaged mission in the neighborhood. They meet at dinnertime on a weeknight. They spend the weekend on the streets doing their work together. Some congregations are resetting their mindset from "build it and they will come" to "go to them and they will build it." What that means is the congregation no longer expects anyone to come on Sunday morning, but rather know they need to meet the world where the world is with the presence of engaged compassion, then the people touched lead to the construction of a ministry immediately relevant, immediately engaged, and immediately responsive to the needs of the world.
The biggest bugaboo is money.
Creativity is high, but then it runs head on into the bank. How do you pay the bills? How do you sustain a community? How do you pay your workers? In California, how do you pay for housing?
Here is where the communal nature of our faith comes into view. Sometimes we miss little messages in the Bible. There in Acts 2 (2:44-45) it says, All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Churches can pool resources through a presbytery. Churches can combine in parishes (several churches share a single pastor). In California, the Synod of the Pacific has dedicated itself to a building and loan program that gives incredibly favorable terms to churches in need so they can get necessary work done without financial fear. Mission and ministry grants become conduits to future ministries within a presbytery, enlivening gifts that might otherwise sit in invested endowments as dead money.
Again, if we commit our creative imaginations to hard scrabble grunt work, things can get done and progress can be made.
So, even though those charged with determining a vision and way to realize it have met the flux that makes clarity hard to come by, there is still a vast dynamic energy unleashed by the flux itself. I believe clarity will come as we fully engage the flux.
In the beginning, when the earth was formless and void, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters...
God is still creating. So, can we.
The 2020 Committee, the Way Forward Committee, and the All Agency Review Committee gave a 90 minute report that revealed mainly they are still simply trying to get their heads around who and what we are.
The truth is that we are a denomination in flux.
The most evangelical wing of our church has left or is in the process of leaving. We are growing older, churches are becoming smaller, and our resources are shrinking. We are adjusting to that reality. We do not really see where that adjustment will end or what the end product will look like.
In other words, ambiguity and uncertainty are the standard context for our work and life together.
Everyone knows that uncertainty does not feel that great, but there is a flip side-- uncertainty is also a blank canvas on which to create. If nothing is certain or clear, then all avenues are still wide open.
For instance, we know the old model of being a congregation is in decline, but we have barely scratched the surface on what new communities might be and look like. Some of our congregations are looking to lose the anchor of a building. Buildings are expensive. Losing the building can actually be liberating. Resources gobbled by upkeep and repair suddenly are free to be used for staff or mission. Engagement in the world becomes easier. Other congregations are experimenting with ancient models in a new day. For example, some fellowships center on a communal meal that leads into worship that leads directly into engaged mission in the neighborhood. They meet at dinnertime on a weeknight. They spend the weekend on the streets doing their work together. Some congregations are resetting their mindset from "build it and they will come" to "go to them and they will build it." What that means is the congregation no longer expects anyone to come on Sunday morning, but rather know they need to meet the world where the world is with the presence of engaged compassion, then the people touched lead to the construction of a ministry immediately relevant, immediately engaged, and immediately responsive to the needs of the world.
The biggest bugaboo is money.
Creativity is high, but then it runs head on into the bank. How do you pay the bills? How do you sustain a community? How do you pay your workers? In California, how do you pay for housing?
Here is where the communal nature of our faith comes into view. Sometimes we miss little messages in the Bible. There in Acts 2 (2:44-45) it says, All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Churches can pool resources through a presbytery. Churches can combine in parishes (several churches share a single pastor). In California, the Synod of the Pacific has dedicated itself to a building and loan program that gives incredibly favorable terms to churches in need so they can get necessary work done without financial fear. Mission and ministry grants become conduits to future ministries within a presbytery, enlivening gifts that might otherwise sit in invested endowments as dead money.
Again, if we commit our creative imaginations to hard scrabble grunt work, things can get done and progress can be made.
So, even though those charged with determining a vision and way to realize it have met the flux that makes clarity hard to come by, there is still a vast dynamic energy unleashed by the flux itself. I believe clarity will come as we fully engage the flux.
In the beginning, when the earth was formless and void, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters...
God is still creating. So, can we.
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