Chapter Five – “Why are we here?” - Guest Blogger Jannette Domayer

Lenten Book Study - Changing the Conversation, by Anthony Robinson

Chapter Five – “Why are we here?” 

By Jannette Domayer, St. Thomas, Sioux City

Imagine that you own a business, and gradually the world changes out from under you. Let’s say you are an iceman, and people are starting to buy refrigerators. Now what? Or let’s say you are a mainline Protestant church in the 21st century, and . . . oh, wait. Umm …that’s us!

The analogy isn’t perfect, but the basic concept of facing the reality of a sea change is the same. One of the necessary conversations for the church is, “What business are we in?” In other words, what is our purpose? Can we be fairly clear about what energizes the people to gather week after week?

The risk of not having a sense of purpose is that the church will default to doing whatever makes the people happy and comfortable. Doing too much in too many directions can bring a lot of frustration and wasted resources. What church can afford to be wasteful, particularly with our people, who are the church, after all!

Robinson shares several sources to get the conversation started. John’s Gospel is one that speaks to me. “I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” (14:12)  The postcommunion prayer reinforces these words.  “And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do.”

I was also drawn to Hadaway’s typology of churches (which reminded me of a Facebook quiz, e.g., “Which Harry Potter character are you?”). The images for the four types of church are shorthand for the church’s purpose. Is your church a recliner chair, a guided missile, a factory, or an aspen grove?

Even one person is a mixture of elements from more than one of the church types. I confess having introduced myself as someone who has put in 20 years in the choir (established club member). I like accomplishing specific tasks and have  spent regular time making fund-raising toffee (corporate employee/factory worker). But I also seek out personal encounters of transformation. Gracious God, let me be even a leaf on an aspen tree!

St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Sioux City

In the case of our church, St. Thomas, Sioux City, the answer to “why are we here” is a function of where “here” is. Our grand building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is now in the midst of two urban renewal areas. Our neighborhood has one of the highest poverty rates in the city, and the population is highly transient. The simple fact of where we are has demanded that we respond to the needs in our neighborhood. As a result, our ministries include a food pantry and a community garden. Feeding, both bodies and souls, is an important part of our purpose.

St. Thomas has been reading Changing the Conversation since last summer, in the process of making some rather serious adaptations to the new reality. It is heartening that we are already taking a new look at what God is calling us to be. Let the conversations continue!

Chapter Four – “Who shall lead them?”” - Guest Blogger Kathleen Milligan

By Kathleen Milligan

 

As I began to write this blog entry, we were commemorating Gregory the Great, who took for himself a title the Popes of Rome have used ever since:  “The Servant of the Servants of God”.  It seems appropriate as we look at the conversation Robinson invites us to engage in his chapter on Leaders.  Jesus himself reminded his disciples that if they would be leaders they must first be servants.  We connect with that every Maundy Thursday when we wash each other’s feet. 

I went to seminary in the late 1970s, and the model we were trained for was very much as the Servant Leader.  Women were just beginning to come into the seminaries in significant numbers, and it was thought that we might be particularly well suited to a vocation conceived along these lines.  I spent the first few years of my ministry trying to serve everyone who asked.  I was often very busy, but it didn’t always feel very productive.  I came to realize that my training had taught us to be servants, without really giving us the skills and tools to lead effectively. 

I am sure that I fit most comfortably into the kinds of pastoral roles that Robinson portrays. And I find myself echoing some of the things Torey shared in his comments about the last chapter. The book makes difficult and painful reading at times, as I recognize the ways I could have been more effective had I been willing to be a little less comfortable. After 34 years as a pastor, 28 of them in the Episcopal Church, I wonder if I would be able to operate in new ways.   I find it easy to fall in love with congregations, and to want to be there for them.  But I do recognize the weaknesses of that model.  It becomes difficult to encourage people to use the gifts God has given them; gifts of intelligence, creativity, and edginess, if we don’t challenge them and indeed, ourselves, to look more deeply at our faith commitment; to examine what we really do believe, and to discern the moral and ethical dimensions of our lives in the world outside the church walls, as well as within.

I like the whole concept of “Conversation” when it comes to leadership.  When I first got to St. Alban’s, Davenport, almost 18 years ago, I was told that the average age was in the fifties, and that there weren’t many young children.  Actually, there were a number of young families with children; but they weren’t in the inner circle.  St. Alban’s had suffered a devastating fire in the 1970s, and the worship space had burned to the ground.  What I discovered almost 20 years later, was that the leadership group all had been at the church when the fire took place.  I made the observation casually to a few people and within a few weeks, it was being talked about at coffee hour.  When it was brought to the Vestry, (and not by me) a concerted effort was made to begin to include some of the newer members on the vestry and in other ways around the church.  Simply helping people to notice what is going on can be a powerful way to begin conversations.

Robinson seems to be pitching his argument at congregations which have a larger membership than many of ours in Iowa.  At least in this chapter, he assumes a paid staff, for example.  One of the leadership difficulties facing smaller churches is the “personpower” shortage.  We often have difficulty filling a slate for vestry, let alone building a separate leadership team. Thus one aspect of congregational discernment will always be the question of what we have the resources to do well.   A number of years ago, I became convinced that having committees just because “we’ve always done that”, was counterproductive.  We now do a great deal more of our planning and work on an ad hoc basis, and people can get involved in an area that currently interests them, rather than getting locked into something they made a commitment to once and can’t seem to get free of now. 

I take to heart the need to be more careful about education and training, first as catechesis, and then as a means of providing genuine support and encouragement, as well as accountability.   Thus, it will be important that the leadership training will be a part of an ongoing and mutually supportive process of discipleship development.   It will be important to encourage people, one on one, to seek out the kinds of training that is offered on local and diocesan levels.  It won’t be enough simply to announce the various opportunities.  Part of the process of discerning the leadership group will need to be assessing education, training and indeed formation needs.  We may need to find some funding sources for helping people to seek this training out.

I acknowledged earlier that my reading of this book left me feeling somewhat deflated and inadequate.  I find myself wondering as did Nicodemus “how can one be born again, when he or she is old”.  But I will choose to believe that this is possible, and will be possible as we desire and pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to renew leaders and congregations. 

Kathleen Milligan,

Rector, St. John’s Episcopal Church

Dubuque, Iowa

Chapter Three – “A New Heart” - Guest Blogger Torey Lightcap

The Rev. Torey Lightcap shares his thoughts on Chapter Three of Changing the Conversation: a third way for congregations. 


"What is received after or during the loss is something that is far more precious, far less explicable."

Chapter Two – “And Yet It is About You” - Guest Blogger Marcia Powell

Chapter Two – “And Yet It is About You”

By Marcia Powell

The comedy Rev is available on Hulu and BBC, and profiles the story of an Anglican priest named Adam and his efforts to make church relevant to his parishioners after he moves from a rural to an urban setting.  This is a show filled with adult themes and moral ambiguity, but it really makes me stop and think.  



This clip from YouTube shows Adam's struggle when a 'new contemporary service' from across town borrows his parish's building for worship during a renovation period.

Making the church relevant to the needs of people is not the same as building programs and processes with the priest-in-charge.  Take a moment to digest that, because this portion of the book  makes the problems it presents pretty clear.  

Now I don't want to seem to be uncharitable.  We've been raised in an industrial age,  which has focused on just-in-time solutions and want to DO something.  Unfortunately, that can mean treating nonactive church members as a problem we need to fix, much like a leaky faucet.  Sometimes, we even treat our ordained ministers like an on-call plumber, expecting them to do something. The analogy falls down, though, because in treating people and church as a problem to be fixed, we lose sight of what Jesus did.  Throughout the Gospel, Jesus loves and helps people, authentically, with their pain and flaws. At the same time, He challenged them to fix themselves through the relationships they had and the lives they lived. 

Watching the above clip is painful for me.  It's not what I want in a worship service, because it seems contrived, not authentic.  The theology is not my cup of tea, either, because it focuses on religio-u-tainment.  Perhaps you have an opinion on the value of such an effort.  But we know it is tough stuff to figure out how to remake churches.  We can get caught in stuck conversations--dead-end arguments that keep us from making progress on an issue, or in the false traditions that turn churches into exclusive clubs.

By the time the chapter ended, I found myself understanding the author's perspective much better.  While I cannot fix a societal end to Christendom, I am in charge of my personal commitment to Christianity.  I have the power to model the Love of Jesus, the power to invite and engage others in conversation, to learn of their needs and to grow with them.  This Third Way is really about personal commitment, outreach, and our empowerment as Christian People.  We need to create a hunger for the peace and justice that only Christ can satisfy.  The church, then, is the community of people, with the building site of secondary concern.

Radical thought?  It certainly is.  As one of my friends would say,  "It's about to get CRUNCHY in here.  Buckle your seatbelts."  These are, as Ellen said in the previous post, difficult topics to broach even though they are absolutely critical for our future.  Because our way forward is fanned by the Spirit, but it takes hard work and dedication to get that.  What conversations do you need to have with others in your church, as well as with those in need?  I'd love to have that discussion.

Marcia

Chapter One – “It’s Not About You” - Guest Blogger Ellen Bruckner

Chapter One – “It’s Not About You”

By Ellen Bruckner

I am a firm believer in conversations.  I love to spend time with friends and a cup of coffee or glass of wine.  These conversations are usually a lot of fun as well as a deepening experience.

Conversations that arise in study groups are generally very stimulating and I join way too many book clubs because of the opportunities for new ideas.

I was reared in an extended family that thrived on animated dinner conversations be it politics or the latest fashion trend and everyone was sure their opinion was most important.

And then, there are, of course, those conversations that are a bit more difficult.  You know – the ones with children about rules, the ones with bosses about performance reviews, the ones with health care professionals and loved ones, and those where one is confronted with one’s beliefs or habits that may be in question – “What do you mean I’m no longer able to drive safely?”

We all have our conversation groups and we all seek those conversations that stimulate, affirm, challenge and comfort us.  This is the thing about conversations, they keep us engaged.  We know there are others who enjoy being with us, who learn from us, who seek our advice and whose advice we seek.  So I agree with Robinson’s ideas that stories build relationships and these relationships keep us from feeling like we are the only ones in a particular situation.  We know this in our personal lives.  I believe this is also the case in our corporate lives as members of a church community in the Diocese of Iowa.  The more we, as members of one church, engage in conversations with members of other churches, the more we realize what we have in common and therefore that we are not in our Diocese and in our situation alone.

In chapter 1 of Changing the Conversation…a third way for congregations, Robinson outlines the shifts happening in our lives.  We see it, feel it all around us.  There are shifts in all aspects of life from our work like to our faith life.  People are no longer able to willing to do things the same way as the previous generations.  Focusing on our life of faith in North America, Robinson gives clear explanations about the end of Christendom – the shift in how culture views Church, the Church’s understanding of mission, the purpose of Church , and the role of all the people in a Church. 

And Robinson’s challenge to all of us is to commit to the conversations about these shifts – not the easy, fun conversations but conversations beginning with the identifying and articulating of our current realities.  We all exist within a community.  What are the realities of that community?  What are the demographics?  What is the economic outlook?  What is the quality of life?  How do we care for each other?  These and many more questions with which to wrestle and for which there will be a wide variety of answers are in front of us.  A real picture can only emerge if all the information is included.  Each organization/group within a community needs to dig deeply into itself with these reality questions.  These are tough conversations because we want to present ourselves in a hopeful light and we will look for answers with these hopeful lenses in place. 

Peter Block in Community…The Structure of Belonging offers questions that will get us to the realities we seek.  Knowing that all of our Episcopal congregations are doing the same kind of soul searching commits us to each other in this search and to the honesty that says we’re all in this together and “it is not just about us”.  We will keep the conversation focused on the realities and not on ourselves.

By honestly and accurately doing the hard work of identifying who we are in our contexts at this moment, we will then be given the opportunity to respond to God’s call to mission. 

To use a metaphor we Iowans understand, it is time to do the difficult tilling – to dig up the ground and uncover the rocks that have buried themselves over the years, to wake up the soil in order to provide the best possible growing experience for the new seeds.

 So what stands in our way of getting out the roto-tiller – maybe now is the time to make sure the tools are ready, to look for the new varieties of seeds that will do well in our conditions, to stir up the compost and till the ground, so that when the Son beckons us to dig deeply into our ground and the Spirit breezes begin to blow then we will be ready to hope for the new varieties to harvest.

 

Neighbors help neighbors - we know this in Iowa and we know we are all in this work together.  

An Introduction by Bishop Alan Scarfe

AN INTRODUCTION TO 

Changing the Conversation: a third way for congregations by Anthony B. Robinson

By Alan Scarfe, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa

As we enter into another season of Lent, I am inviting us to engage a book together. This is not intended to replace the various Lenten study projects that have been organized locally around the diocese, but to be a personal online project stimulated by weekly blog reflections which can be found on the Diocesan web-site. I suppose I am hoping it will be something that will also get us more familiar with our social media presence as a Diocese which now includes my weekly visitation sermon and a reflection on the congregations I visit. It may also introduce more of us to our own face book page and even to the study offerings of the eSeminary. So I am hoping for more than one accomplishment than us simply spending time together in virtual study.

The Diocesan book I have chosen is Anthony Robinson’s Changing the Conversation. Dr Robinson will also be our Baptismal Living Day speaker on April 5th, which will also be the final weekend of the blog reflections. Please look out for the invitation and registration information for the Baptismal Living Day which will be held at St Timothy’s Episcopal Church in West Des Moines. Once again I ask that you consider bringing a team from your congregation who can take the ideas presented and create a potential strategy for your congregation’s development. As the book title indicates, the writer asserts that in our anxiety and concern for the growth of our congregations, we are asking the wrong questions and need to change our conversation topics. He looks at the changing context of our society and the Church in the world and begins by seeking to alleviate our anxiety by insisting that change is all around us and much of what we are facing comes from issues much larger than ourselves.

Having said that, it also holds that we have much responsibility for our own growth. That involves taking seriously God’s call on our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ, and our need for inner attention to the life of the Spirit. Robinson asks us about leadership and purpose, and the importance of being directed outwards in our sense of service and mission. These are not new ideas, and you have probably been told these things before in different ways, but it is the way he makes them accessible to us and our communities that I found helpful. Some congregations have studied the book after I first drew attention to it last year. We have a lot to learn from how you might have applied some of the principles already in follow up to your study, and so I invite you too to participate and join in the conversation. I trust that we all will find it to be the right one.

+ Alan Scarfe

Lent 2014 - Anthony B. Robinson’s, "Changing the Conversation : A Third Way for Congregations"

     Bishop Scarfe has invited members of the Diocese of Iowa to read together Anthony B. Robinson’s book, Changing the Conversation : A Third Way for Congregations during Lent. 
    A sequel to Robinson's best-selling Transforming Congregational Culture (2003), Changing the Conversation focuses on congregational renewal and leadership. Robinson invites church leaders and members into ten crucial conversations that he suggests will change their congregation’s culture and help them respond with greater vitality, effectiveness, and faithfulness to our postmodern culture and its challenges.
    Robinson will serve as Keynote Speaker at the annual Baptismal Living Day on Saturday, April 5 in Des Moines.
    To participate in the diocesan wide online conversation, guest bloggers will be reflecting on chapters of this book each week.  All are invited to comment below the blog each week to engage in discussion.

Copies of the book (ISBN 0802807595) are available for purchase online.