This is something entirely new to me. I’ve not done anything like this before because it doesn’t really fall into the category of preaching the Gospel of Jesus. It’s not something I necessarily intend to begin doing regularly either, but the time is now.
If you are visiting with us this morning, I hope you’ll take this opportunity to listen and to join in the conversation at the end as Congress St. Church looks toward a new future. I hope you will be a part of this offering your new insights. I, too, am relatively new here, and your voices would be welcome.
First of all, I was asked this week if I had this “talk” put together and it was followed up with, “are you going to slap us on the wrist?” Not sure where that idea came from, but it couldn’t be farther from the truth.
It’s been just over four months since I started my new appointment here as your pastor. It’s been a fast and furious four months. Much has happened, much is in the works of happening and seeds are being cultivated for new growth to abound!
It was the week I moved that I drove to Lafayette to have a meeting with our District Superintendent. It was at that meeting, I heard for the first time, this congregation had a rather “troublesome” and well-known history within the former North Indiana Conference. Having previously served churches in the former South Indiana Conference, I had no idea this was the case and I was so grateful to be clued in 2 days before the moving truck came. As our four months have passed, I can honestly say, I have NO IDEA what the D.S. was referencing. I have seen nothing but evidence to the contrary. It is true, Congress Street has been much lacking in various administrative areas, but we are all working diligently through getting our house in order so that real ministry can take solid root!
As I have had subsequent conversation with the D.S. and when he heard Pam Detamore’s Mission Report at a Cluster Mission Meeting in September, he leaned over to me and said, “You aren’t dead yet.” I know this to be very true from all I have witnessed!
Within my first four months, I have witnessed a people poised with energy to make changes and to do whatever it takes to begin writing a new chapter in their church’s history.
Between the Listening Posts, various committee meetings, Church groups and one-on-one visitations, I have gotten to hear over 200 different voices. The two biggest recurring themes was 1) this church is very warm and welcoming. I heard stories from long-time members of how they were welcomed at Congress St. when it was difficult for them to find a welcoming congregation elsewhere in the community at that time. Secondly, the theme in every Listening Post and every conversation has been in people lamenting the lack of families and young people in the church. However, this church began to turn that corner before I even arrived. With the hiring of a staff position dedicated to Youth Ministry, we now have 18 different teenagers in and out of this building on a weekly basis. F.R.O.G.s started back up this fall and under the volunteerism of Sandy Oswalt and Kelly Ward, there is anywhere from 10-15 children attending FROGs on a weekly basis. We aren’t dead yet.
Patsy Krieg has announced this year’s Pumpkin Patch totals greatly exceeded the totals of last year. As I understand it, nearly $10K will be given to our three local mission projects. In addition to The Patch mission giving, as individuals, you have given over $3700 to Red Bird, the Food Pantry, Wesley Foundation, UMCOR, Operation Classroom, Heifer Project and One Great Hour of Sharing. You have donated products for the Food Pantries, the Senior Center at Jenks Rest, Operation Classroom book bags and are in the process of donating food to local animal shelters. Your mission heart is beating strongly!! Still to come will be the 14 families and nearly 30 children and teens you’ll be helping to provide Christmas for in this year’s Jubilee. We aren’t dead yet.
The Member Care Team, United Methodist Women and Patty Snyder, as I understand, continue to do great work of IN-touch ministries with those who are homebound. Those unable to make it to church have received flowers, communion, Sunday bulletins, visits and cards – with others in the congregation continually and regularly checking-in and visiting with them. We aren’t dead yet!
Today you have an opportunity to complete a special Talents/Needs Survey. This is work being done by the new Health Ministries Task Force. Led by Lay Leader Lynn Nelson, this is a new type of ministry that a lot of churches are just now venturing into. With Lynn and her team’s expertise, this group is already leaps and bounds ahead of others in the area. They have started a Walking on Wednesdays Class that saw double-digit participation this last Wednesday! We aren’t dead yet… we’re walking and side-stepping vigorously!
With just 6-weeks under their belt we have a new Music Director and Organist that is bringing new vitality and attracting a lot of new faces into the music program. If you missed last Sunday, you missed out on seeing the handbell choir ring for the first time. The Chancel Choir and the Handbell choir have been growing, having fun and providing us with some stellar music. This, too, is all a result of your willingness to get on-board, be involved and share some of your talents with others in the community of faith. We aren’t dead yet.
Participation in the Wednesday Brunch Bunch gathering flexes immensely from 5 to 12 people, but the fellowship and friendships that are developing there is fun to be a part of. On Thursday nights, an average gathering of 15 people is meeting at Nine Irish Brothers for theological discussion. This group has a 50/50 make-up. Half are involved at Congress St. Church and the other half are from the community at-large…Perhaps, looking for a church home where they would feel welcome or just seeking a weekly alternative to talk about world issues and get to know and understand the Divine in a setting alternative to a typical Sunday morning. We aren’t dead yet.
Finally, I would remiss not to say “Thank You” and praise to the Church’s Leadership. The committee chairpersons have done nothing but show extreme dedication and hard work ethic as they have tirelessly been trying to help get the Administrative picture of the church in good shape as we head into 2011. Congress St. Church does not lack dedicated leaders. We aren’t dead yet.
With everything I have just laid out as a foundation, we need to continue advancing forward. The financial picture of the church is not a pretty one at the present time. “We aren’t dead yet” isn’t the worse mantra a church could have, but it’s certainly not the most positive one either. Given the pledges to-date for 2011 coupled with the ACTUAL COST of running this facility and doing the mission and ministry that needs to be done, we are looking at nearly an $80,000 spending deficit in the year 2011. There’s where I chuckle at the irony of the church’s name and all that we know about the politics happening in the world around us.
As I have listened to groups and people…as I have culled through the recent history of Congress St. Church, one thing stands out prominently. The use of Endowment funds over the years has been spent primarily with the attitude “we need to survive.” Today, we must come together and look in another direction – “we need to thrive.” It’s as if Congress St. has been playing Catch-22. You have realized you need money to make ends meet, so you secure those funds and make ends meet. However, making ends meet won’t cut it for the work Jesus would be having us do in this community. If a church is “just making ends meet” they aren’t going to be attractive to new families. They aren’t going to offer the programming and spend the money needed to make themselves an attractive place to someone on the outside that may be looking for a community where they can participate in their spiritual journey.
“Making ends meet” and “we aren’t dead yet” are both phrases that might as well accompany a dying church. I have used this analogy in a few circles already, but it appears to me that Congress St. as a bad case of “retirement.” No, I’m not referring to the average age of the regularly gathering community. I’m referring to the way money has been perceived and used. Typically, when a person retires, they essentially begin operating on an income whereby they have their pension and, so far, social security. They can look at their pension and they can begin to figure out how best to spend those funds with the understanding those funds have to last until death. In the same way, Congress St. has looked at their Endowment not as something to use for extra-ordinary ministry initiatives, but as something that we have to draw from until we die. And you aren’t alone. History shows us that giving in churches with large endowed funds will typically be less than it was before the endowment was established and if the church wants to be just “not dead yet” or “surviving” that’s a perfectly acceptable attitude. HOWEVER, it’s not an attitude that needs me as your pastor. If you want to be “not dead yet” and if you want to “survive,” then why not ask for the appointment of a local pastor, save yourself some money in the Pastor’s salary and be “not dead yet” and “survive” a few years longer than you otherwise would.
If, on the other hand, you are ready to make some bold changes and make the decision to thrive, then I think we can work together to make this happen and make it happen gloriously and for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus in the Greater Lafayette Area. Today, I need to know if you’re with me. SO, are you with me? Are you wanting to continue surviving or do you want to be thriving? Surviving of thriving?
What if the difference means we really have to commit to financially supporting a youth program – top to bottom, from leadership to programming funds to numerous involved volunteers? Surviving or thriving?
What if the difference means taking a hard look at our current programs and make some bold, new decisions in how we do Christian Education and offer things for people wherever their spiritual journey is leading them? Surviving or thriving?
What if the difference means taking a look at our building? Seeing things that need to be improved and updated to be a modern space for the modern Jesus-seeker? Surviving or thriving?
What if the difference means you might have to let go of “this is the way we’ve always done it”? Surviving or thriving? Oooo…yeah, harder to answer, huh?
What if it means embracing a hospitality that isn’t sentimentalized over being comfortable, with warm and fuzzy feelings, but that in reality – and given the biblical accounts and early Christians, that hospitality is disruptive and dangerous. Surviving or thriving?
(As the way things unfolded, it felt right to just stop there, so we did; sang our last hymn; did the community blessing and began conversation.)
