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| Bishop Alan Scarfe |
Changing the Conversation
Chapter 10: Where do we start?
By Alan Scarfe
“Where do we start?” is probably the most pressing question
as we move beyond the written page into the action phase of our engagement with
Anthony Robinson and his book “Changing the Conversation.” Robinson himself
writes of his own frustration with congregational groups with whom he has
worked as they reach this stage and turn further to him for their next steps.
His hope was that they would know at that point that the answers to that
question come from their own selves. Adapting the familiar words of Gandhi he
invited them to “be the change you want to see in the Church. If you want the
Church to be more spiritually alive and engaged, then do that in your own
lives, your own faith, and in your own leadership.”
To that end, he offers in this final chapter five possible
starting points for the “next steps.” All of them are obvious and none are
beyond us or require expert help.
1. First, start with study and conversation.
Take the discussions to the larger body of the congregation, and widen the
conversation and deepen the research. Give yourselves ten weeks and then ask
how you can build and share the experience.
2. Second, start with prayer and discernment. This is
appropriate for a congregation already sensing the urgency of their situation.
He invites them to ask God to help discern the essential from what is merely
important. In an metaphor which should please an Iowan’s ear, he says “prepare
the ground, loosen the soil, make sure you have good drainage, and enrich the
soil with compost or fertilizer if necessary. Prayer and s process of
discernment are a way of preparing the ground”. His focus again is on learning
what God would have us do – an essential recognition that we exist for God’s
mission and God’s mission alone. Churches do not exist for themselves but for a
higher purpose which we seek to capture in Iowa through our own vision
statement of being “In mission with Christ through each and all.”
3. A third starting point is for those places where it has been
difficult to get people’s attention, and yet the congregational leader has
opportunity to address the whole community through the sermon time. Start with
a sermon – perhaps about the changing landscape of the mainline church, or ask
what business are we in? or what is our purpose/mission today? There may be
resistance, but Robinson reminds us that “resistance and a certain amount of
discomfort are indications that you are on to something important.” The
discomfort congregations feel may be due to the fact that overtime they have
actually displaced God’s purpose for the Church and have forgotten their true
reason for being.
4. The fourth starting point is geared for those places that
are urgent and enthusiastic for change. Here the temptation is to move forward
into programs – a new worship service or a new ministry project. Do they
however fit into the longer term framework of a strategic and clear purpose?
Propose a long-term clarity of purpose and then seek only those programs and
activities which fit into Its fulfillment.
“Getting reasonable clarity about a compelling purpose is crucial for
congregational reform and renewal. Such clarity becomes the basis for
developing a vision (the three to five things we need to do in the next three,
five, ten years tomake progress on our purpose).”
5. Robinson’s final starting point may be available for some
congregations but not all and possibly not many in Iowa, and that is to use the
moments of leadership transition as a potential new start. Be clear to the
candidates that you are not “simply seeking a chaplain but a leader,” he
writes. Leaders think long term; tend to think in terms of systems and the
relationships between parts and the whole; have the capacity to motivate and
inspire others; emphasize things like vision, purpose values; can connect with
the multiple constituents in the congregation; and always think in terms of
renewal. Hold out, he urges, for such candidates and don’t settle for less. Consultants can also bring the same qualities
to a congregation which is not in search and that can be transformative to the
congregation at every level of leadership, including the incumbent ordained
leader.
Finally, we brought Anthony Robinson to Iowa for the
Baptismal Living Day on April 4th, and sought to introduce his ideas
in Changing Conversation because we are seeking new methods for new times.
These times for change are upon us, and the opportunities are fast passing us
by.
As your bishop I echo Robinson’s words “This can’t wait. We have to get on
this right away, today; not tomorrow or next year.” Jesus invited us to be
dressed for action with our lamps lit. “You know how to interpret the
appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the
present times?” (Luke 12:56).
We are
reminded that “(this) sense of urgency is a product of the gospel and of the
reading of our times. I believe that the gospel is true and that the gospel is
about saving lives. I am passionate about that.”
It is urgent work, but it will also take time and requires
patience. It will need time to ripen the new ides and the new learning. Yet it
is the Spirit who will be working with us in bringing about the change God
seeks.
In summary I take away from Robinson’s book the following
reflection. He offers us a platform, a comprehensive platform, for renewal that
makes sense, is approachable, and possible. We have to face up to the urgency
of the time, and yet be ready to show patience as we work through the concepts
offered to us.
Focus and a clearly identified purpose are key. We need the
discipline of attentiveness – keeping our eyes on the prize that is ours and
the world’s in Christ Jesus – and refusing to be distracted by the temptations
of immediate results that our commercial driven world exalts. The Gospel is at
the center of everything that is presented to us. Growing the people of God in
faith and in a sense of mission will secondarily grow our numbers, but that
attention to what helps us grow as such people is primary. That is why study,
prayer, discernment, challenging conversation, ongoing study is important.
These need to be a life force within each congregation, and not just for a
small few but with an urgency for all of us.
And finally, in all things God is at the center. It is God’s
purpose and God’s mission for which we exist as Church and as baptized people.
We are those who Christ invites to be willing to lose our lives that we may
gain them. As we say at the Eucharist, it is an invitation to “walk in love, as
Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God”.
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