Casting vision in status quo congregations

Last year, I made a decision to change the way I go about doing ministry in my parish. After prayer and scrutiny, I decided I needed new skills for the work to which I’ve been called. I spoke with people in my parish and sensed a shared concern for what we have called a “lack of focus.” I enrolled in the Sacred Practices Leadership Series (SPLaSh) and I began to seek out ways to do things differently.

I’m sure I’m not unlike many other pastors and church leaders in parish ministry these days. I feel well-equipped to run the business of the parish, yet I’m unfulfilled in living out my call in the true sense of being prophetic voice and leader for the cause of equipping saints and making disciples.

Debate. Decide. Divide.

I’ve been mulling recent stories (namely our denomination’s decisions regarding sexuality) and old stories out of my life and ministry. I’m troubled. And I’m hopeful. I’m troubled because of unfortunate effects that I see coming about. And I’m hopeful because I know—I hope—there are better ways to approach difficult issues.

An old story out of my life: In a congregation I once served, there was a small group of members, led by one really zealous member, who felt the congregation ought to take a stance on a current issue in the church. This group brought in fliers, held meetings, and brought in speakers to help educate others on what they felt was a critical issue. The trouble was this:

Year-end reflections on the Center’s work

It only takes the end of a year—and especially the end of a decade—for individuals and institutions to take a look back at what has happened and what has been learned. Wrapping up another year at the Center for Renewal, as well as the first five years of our work, it seems beneficial to look back, not at “the best of” or the “most influential” but at what we’ve done and what we’ve learned.

What we have learned from our work

Over the first five years of the Center’s existence, a wide variety of programs and resources have been developed in order to meet our vison of “renewing the saints and the church so that the light of Christ can be more brightly reflected in the world.” Our events, resources, and services, have shown us that:

Evangelism is inevitably linked with risk

Final part of the ongoing series

John Bowen (in Evangelism for “Normal” People) writes about rediscovering the stories of the first witnesses to Christ’s life, death and resurrection in the book of Acts, and realizing that evangelism is inevitably linked with risk:

    The risk of leaving the nest
    The risk of going to people
         who are different
    The risk of being different
    The risk of physical danger
    The risk of breaking the
         rules

Deep down inside we know this, and it is perhaps one of the primary reasons why we steer clear of evangelism. It’s risky to share a story, it’s risky to reach out and help someone, it’s risky to admit that we don’t know all the answers. But still, Bowen says, “The fact seems to be quite simply that the kingdom of God does not progress unless Jesus’ people are prepared to take risks.”

New article about the Center for Renewal

The national magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, The Lutheran, ran a full-page story on the Center for Renewal and Grand View University in its November issue. To read the article online, click here.

The only helpful correction that could be made to the article is in the second paragraph, in regard to funding. While Grand View funds the majority of the Center’s work, this is a cooperative ministry with the Southeastern Iowa Synod, and as such, the synod also provides funding for the Center’s work.

We’re grateful to The Lutheran magazine for running this helpful article. Since our work is pretty unique among our church colleges and universities, it’s great that others now know about us!

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Evangelism is a matter of words and deeds

[Part ten in an ongoing series]

Telling others what God has done is as central to our calling as it was to Jesus’ mission. Certainly we cannot avoid the fact that evangelism means speaking words of faith. But Jesus not only told others about God, he also demonstrated God’s love.

In John 5 we find the story of Jesus being criticized for healing a paralytic on the sabbath. In response Jesus answers, “My father is still working, and I also am working… Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.” “Jesus’ mission then,” Bowen says, “is not only a mission of words but also a mission of works…

New resource from the Center in trial mode

The most important thing congregational leaders can do at this point in time is to open ourselves and our congregations to ‘holy conversation’ about our context, call and gifts.

That’s the basis of a new resource that we are trying out at the Center for Renewal. Members and leaders of congregations know that ‘things’ have changed, but we’re largely unable to name what those ‘things’ are, much less discuss them, which limits our ability to do anything in response.

Our definition of renewal is that it is the ongoing conversion of the church through which we rediscover the ability to discern, proclaim and participate in God’s redemptive mission in the world. We propose that conversion can and will come through conversation. In order to support that conversation, we are testing a collection of seventeen conversation starters that congregational leaders can use in council/board meetings, with visioning teams, and/or in adult forums.

Evangelism is personal

[Part nine in an ongoing series]

In previous posts, an underlying assumption has been that evangelism is the work of the whole Christian community. I don’t want to sound like I’m completely contradicting that understanding, but evangelism also relies on each individual Christian doing her or his part. The problem is, viewing evangelism as the work of “the whole Christian community” can lead quickly to the conclusion that evangelism is somebody else’s job and not mine.