Churches in Conversation

 

 

 

In November, I was invited to meet with clergy and lay leaders in the Hudson River Presbytery in New York.  There, under the direction of Rev. Rhonda Kruse, their Connections and Change Presbyter, I had several occasions over two days to help foster conversation about creative responses to church decline.

The first was a shared Sunday worship service with three small churches who are located near each other but had never worshiped together before.  The church we met in–Bethlehem Presbyterian– was established in 1729 (see photo).  Talk about resilience!  With a combined choir to inspire us, four pastors led worship and gathered with members over coffee afterward.  The common refrain I heard was, “Maybe we should do this again!”

Later that afternoon, 70 people from around the Presbytery gathered to hear a summary of ideas from my book and talk among themselves about their own experiences of decline and revitalization.  It was a time to be honest about the struggles they were experiencing, and to recognize that they were not alone.  Presbytery staff were on hand to listen and respond to concerns, encouraging churches to consider options for revitalization, merger, or closure, depending on their circumstances.

On Monday morning, I was taken to the beautiful Stony Point Retreat Center, where the Presbytery Committee on Ministry was meeting.  Once again, I shared stories from the book and judicatory leaders clustered in small groups to talk about how to help struggling churches they are in contact with.

Over meals and on car rides, I listened to stories of churches facing incredible obstacles and still finding divine creativity in the thick of it!

At one point, I said to my gracious host, Rhonda: “I don’t feel I can do much for these leaders.  I’m just coming and going, but they are staying here to do the hard work.”  Her response encouraged me: “You’re helping them start the conversations they need to have.”

Since I started the book project, I have always believed that honest conversation, whether it includes lament, idea sharing, critique or celebration, is the best way to hitch our hearts to the Holy Spirit’s power to make all things new.  By listening and learning from each other and our neighborhoods, we recognize that God is already at work in us; we just need to catch onto what God is doing.

I appreciate the foresight the Hudson River Presbytery has had in helping their churches team up to converse about their future.  All our local churches are really Christ’s one Church, so why do we keep struggling alone?

If you are interested in having an honest conversation with other churches in your area about change, decline, and God’s new thing, and if you want help starting the conversation, contact me, and maybe we can make it happen.

Partners in Sacred Place Sharing

SOAR Powerkids

Recently, my church made a connection with an after school program for kids.  They needed a large room for martial arts classes after they lost their space at a nearby school.  They found our building, with its large hall and polished wood floor, and asked if they could rent the space from us for a small fee.  After checking out the insurance arrangements and how furniture would be moved before and after the program, an agreement was reached, and now, two afternoons a week, the upstairs is full of kids kicking and punching the air, testing each others’ strength,planning community service projects and, most remarkable, listening quietly and respectfully to their leader, a female martial arts expert.

The program not only teaches martial arts, it also focuses on character development, bullying prevention and civic responsibility.  While it is not a faith based program, it is consistent with many of the core values we teach kids in our own youth programs.

Your church may be sharing its building with other community organizations: a Scout troupe, an AA meeting, or a yoga class, for example.  You might think of these other groups as “tenants” who help you pay the bills.  But it’s possible that they are co-workers alongside you in the building of God’s reign.

Partners for Sacred Places is an organization that provides resources to help churches team up with other organizations for the building of community life through “mission based space sharing”.

In this Youtube video, they explain how they are creating a network to match local arts and non-profit organizations with churches for space sharing that is not only mutually beneficial for each group, but also creates “social capital” in neighborhoods, helping them build their own cultural life using the “moral and physical” presence of church buildings.  The video points out many other reasons why sharing space is a good idea for your church AND your neighborhood’s vitality.

Check it out!

 

 

 

A Favorable Review

I was honored to read a review of my book “Toward the Better Country” in “Preaching and Pondering”, a blog written by the the Rev. Jerrod Hugenot, Associate Executive Minister of the American Baptist Church of New York State.  You can read it here.

I was especially pleased to read that Rev. Hugenot was compelled by the book to get in touch with his own grief about churches facing decline.  I think it’s healthy for judicatory leaders and pastors to stay self-aware about our emotions and assumptions regarding struggling churches and the impact we can have on them.

Thanks to Rev. Hugenot for sharing my book with others in his region!  If any of my readers would like to write a review of my book, favorable or not, you can post one on the Amazon.com page where my book is sold.

 

A Parallel Start in New Orleans

Carrollton UMC

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.  (Jeremiah 29.11)

On a recent mission trip to New Orleans, I visited Carrollton United Methodist Church, where two brand new pastors are dreaming of a new venture: a parallel start.

My group was visiting a senior center that is housed at Carrollton each day, providing lunch and classes in sewing, Spanish language, tai chi, and more.  Guests play Bingo and lounge in the church’s windowed breezeway when the programs are over.

But the senior center is now the most significant ministry occurring at the Carrollton church.  A couple of small non-profits share the building, and they once built showers to host workers who came for Katrina clean-up.  But now the worship community is down to about 30 people and there is a sense that the building is haunted by its own unfinished business: how to be vital not just as a community gathering place, but as a church.

So the United Methodist Church has infused this congregation with funds to hire two new full time pastors, Sione and Billy, who had both started working there the day before we arrived.  These two have the task of maintaining the current organizations that house the building AND launching a new church development there at the same time.  That’s sometimes called a parallel church start.

Our hosts gave us a tour of their meandering building, which in some parts still has the lingering odor of standing flood waters. Its rooms are a mixture of forlorn memories and promising potential.  A large parlor will be used for worship by the older congregation.  The hall pictured above has been used for children’s programs, but badly needs a face lift and some blades for the ceiling fans.  There seemed to be kitchens everywhere we turned, including one in a closet, but none of them looked fit for preparing a large meal.

The closet kitchen

In every room, the two new pastors saw hope.  They were imagining how the rooms could be repaired, revived and filled with new ministry, the way Jeremiah did when he imagined a future for his fallen city :

Thus says the Lord:
I am going to restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob,
    and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound,
    and the citadel set on its rightful site.  (30.18)

There is no way to move forward in these times except with bold imagination.  But a little money really helps, too!  Kudos to the UMC for investing in the future with these two ambitious leaders.  May God bless them with a future and a hope.

There is not much out there to read about parallel church starts.  From the Episcopal tradition, check out this article, though it’s a bit outdated.  And this recent DOC newsletter mentions a parallel start project in Washington.  If you have more examples of parallel starts, please send them my way!

Toward the Better Country

Toward the Better Country: Church Closure and Resurrection

by L. Gail Irwin

is now available from

Resource Publications/Wipf & Stock Publishers 

You can order your copy here,

Web price:$17.60 plus shipping

Copies are also available online at Amazon.com

Book Synopsis

The pews of many mainline churches are clearly not as full as they used to be.  While committed Christians are trying everything they can to keep their churches open and thriving, history has shown that no local church is meant to live forever in its current form.    Like people, churches are born, live and breathe, fulfill their missions, and pass away.  And recent history shows that more churches will be closing or re-shaping their ministry in the near future.

Toward the Better Country tells about the grief stages, discernment processes and creative options explored by lay leaders, pastors and regional leaders who have dealt with this sensitive time in the life cycle of a church.  These are woven in with the author’s own experience of leading a church through steep decline toward closure.

This resource, based on interviews with over thirty lay, clergy and judicatory leaders, will offer healthy, practical ways for congregations to move through the terrain of loss, discern God’s path for their future and pass on their legacies to emerging ministries.  It can be used for personal reflection, leadership training, or in discernment groups in local churches.  Scripture readings and questions for conversation are included at the end of each chapter, along with a list of additional resources for churches struggling with decline.

Chapter Titles:

1. Introduction

2. The Rise and Fall of Sacred Places

3. Expressions of Grief in the Faith Community

4. Discerning the Failure to Thrive: Lay Leaders

5. Discerning the Failure to Thrive: Pastors

6. Discerning the Failure to Thrive: Regional Pastors

7. Multiple Paths to the Future

8. A Tale of Two Closures

9. Laying the Foundation for Future Ministry

10. Seven Ways to Say Goodbye

11. New Wine for New Wineskins

Appendices, Additional Resources and Bibliography

The Book is Here!

If you are part of a church struggling with vitality and viability, and wondering what options you have for continuing ministry, I am happy to announce that my book, “Toward the Better Country: Church Closure and Resurrection” is now available in print from Resource Publications/Wipf & Stock Publishers.

This has been a four year project for me and I am pleased to see it come to fruition.  My book is not perfect, but hopefully it will generate discussion that helps us all move the church forward into a new era.  I am happy that so many great stories shared with me can now be shared with others, and I encourage you to read it and let me know if it is helpful in your church.

For a brief synopsis of the book, click on the “About the Book” tab at the top of the page.

You can order the book now by clicking here , or at Amazon.com.  The book will be available as a Kindle e-book within 3-6 months.  Libraries and educators may be able to access the book through Ingram.

If you are part of a church or denominational group, and would like me to come and talk about the topic of church downsizing and closure, please leave a comment below and I will contact you.

 

In Defense of the Interim

An interim ministry position is a funny gig.  The Interim is not called but hired.  S/he is not installed, not permanent, and often not paid as much as the “permanent” (or “settled”) pastor.  I knew early on that interim work is viewed as a second tier career track, when a guy at a nursing home said, “You’re a pretty good preacher.  I’ll bet you could be a real minister.”  I didn’t bother to tell him I’ve been a “real minister” for 25 years.

An interim minister is always learning new names, always learning to call it the “Consistory” or the “Council” or the “Cabinet”, and always about to lose his/her job.  We often lovingly compile data that our successors don’t pay attention to.  We learn that we will not be able to change much about the churches we serve, and we have to sit on our hands and bite our tongues when it comes to being “change agents”, because there is only so much you can do in a year or two.

Perhaps one of the most misunderstood things about interims is that we are not “placeholders” who simply keep the congregation treading water until the new guy or gal comes along.  We actually have a unique perspective as the outsider sent in to engender trust quickly and help a group of people do some hard soul-searching that they usually do not want to do.  Sort of like a family counselor.

Interim ministry as a model has come under question recently.  Some churches prefer a “succession” model where another member of the pastoral staff takes the Senior Pastor’s position.  Some churches like to hire quickly and get by with pulpit supply so they don’t lose momentum.  There may be a place for these other models, but the 1-2 year interim that is tailored to helping a congregation re-examine its character and discern God’s direction is still, I think, a good idea, especially in these times of rapid change.  I like to see congregations ask interim questions like:

How has the make-up of our congregation changed in the last 5-10 years?

How have our community demographics changed?

What church programming has become outdated or ill suited to who we are now? 

Where is our revenue coming from and where will it be coming from in five years?

What happens in our church when we try doing something new, or doing something old in a new way?

And the All Purpose Transition Question:

What is God leading us to do and be in this time and place?

Here’s an article by Tony Robinson that I’ve been passing around at my current interim assignment.  I think it gets at why interim ministry is changing in character, but may be needed now more than ever.

I find interim work to be both humble (you won’t make a big “mark”) and courageous (you must say things no one else will say).  I am lucky to have been mentored by some great interim ministers like this clergy couple.  And so far, I’ve found it to be very, very REAL ministry.

Less Pulpits, More Ways to Learn

Bishop Kemper School for Ministry

At a recent gathering of clergy, we were talking  about how to encourage the development of more theologically trained leaders for our churches.  I was, at first, skeptical of the effort to train more leaders, knowing there will be  significantly fewer full time calls out there in the future.  “Why do we need more leaders when there are going to be less pulpits?” I asked.  But a colleague responded: “Because, while there will be less pulpits, there may be more opportunities to teach.”

What I think he meant was that, while the number of institutional churches with full time clergy may decline, there may be new settings emerging where people can receive faith formation and theological education.  Not just the traditional “Sunday School” model that we once reserved for children, or seminary for the few who can afford it, but training for everyone who wants it in Christian basics, ethics, biblical interpretation and other areas of higher level learning .  This kind of learning might happen in different settings, inside and outside the institutional church.

Here’s a story about how the Episcopal church is partnering four dioceses to bring seminary professors to the Midwest to provide theological education to lay people and those preparing for ordination, closer to where they live and work.  (See also The Christian Century (10/16/13) for another story about the Episcopal Iona School for Ministry in Texas).

One of the project’s students was quoted as saying the local setting makes theological education accessible to people from “any social class, age group, level of financial influence, and cultural or ethnic background.”

It’s not really fun to think about “less pulpits” existing in the future.  But it is fun to think about new ways of sharing the gospel and new settings emerging for faith enrichment and education.

What do you imagine?

Good News

I am happy to announce that my book “Toward the Better Country: Church Closure and Resurrection” will be published, probably in 2014, by Wipf & Stock Publishers.  I’ve added an “About the Book”  page to the blog and I will keep it updated as I learn more about the book’s release.

I’ve been asked if the book is “like the blog”.  The answer is no–in form, but yes–in function.  While the blog is essentially a collection of short essays, the book is a cohesive whole, organized into sections, including:

• Some history on why churches have always been closing
• Expressions of grief and how they effect congregations as they come to terms with their decline
• Various ways lay leaders, clergy and judicatory leaders can assess the vitality and viability of their churches
• Creative options churches have found for continuing ministry in new forms after a significant decline
• Two accounts of congregations that proceeded with complete closure, each different and each relatively healthy
• Legal, financial and ecclesiastical steps churches take to pass on legacies in the process of a closure, merger or property sale
• Ways that Jesus modeled healthy relinquishment of ministry tasks
• Stories about how former churches are being used in new ways, and reflection on how Christ’s ministry itself does not “die” but is being regenerated in new forms that we are only beginning to glimpse.

The book includes scripture and discussion questions and a list of resources (developed by people smarter than I am) for churches looking to engage the future in new ways.

I’m thankful that Wipf & Stock has accepted this project, and I’m looking forward to sharing the great stories told to me by church leaders, including some of you.  Thanks, everyone, for reading and sharing!

New Beginnings

One of my favorite quotes from a judicatory pastor I interviewed was when he was talking about how churches need to periodically assess their current state of vitality and viability.  He said,

You can always trust the Holy Spirit, but it sometimes really helps to know what the actual situation is.”

Recently, I tracked down “New Beginnings”,  a program designed by the Disciples of Christ.  “New Beginnings” is a church assessment program that uses trained clergy as consultants to work with struggling churches that want in-depth assessment of their vitality and viability.  In two visits, they assess everything from the structural soundness of your building to your finances, neighborhood character and whether your church parlor is still decorated in avocado green and burnt orange (you know who you are).  Then they work with your leadership to help you determine next steps for your ministry.

Last week I connected with Matthew Rosine, who has headed up “New Beginnings” for 7 years out of Indianapolis, serving a handful of judicatories (DOC, UCC and PCUSA) in a few states (mostly California and the Rustbelt, where church decline is more pronounced).

Matt told me that about 1/3 of the churches they work with have chosen relocation as an option to increase vitality in their ministry (I assume here he means selling their building and finding less expensive meeting space).  Another 1/3 have chosen to re-define their mission, to “re-invent themselves” for a new purpose.  About 15% have engaged in what he calls a “parallel start” (this means a church in decline shares its building and staff with a new church development).  Only 5-10% of the churches he has worked with have decided to close.  However, Rosine says, after a few years in the assessment business, he is seeing some churches now re-evaluating their earlier decisions, and some of those may choose closure eventually.

The cost of the assessment is borne by the congregation in most cases.  DOC churches get a small subsidy, but it’s not exorbitant.  Most churches pay $3,000- $4,000.  The consultant travels to your site twice, but the congregation has to be motivated to make its own plan and move forward based on the assessment, so this is not a “quick fix”.

Having the objective, outside view of a church’s vitality and viability seems really smart.  Insiders and stakeholders have trouble being objective about the value of their beloved buildings and cherished programs.

I believe it is possible, and sometimes more beneficial, for churches to do their own assessment of their situation, and I lay out some ways to do this in my book. But if you’re looking for an outsider’s view, I would recommend looking into this program.  If you are DOC, UCC or PCUSA and your Conference/Presbytery isn’t working with “New Beginnings”, tell them about it!

Here’s the link to their website, and here’s a story about a Presbyterian church that was motivated by the New Beginnings process to engage in a parallel start.