"Stop the Decline"
I believe in zero. I know I am a dreamer, an idealist, and a seer of visions. What if zero was our goal? For our Presbytery, having zero membership growth in a year would be an amazing accomplishment. Every year since I have been in this Presbytery, and for many years before that, we have lost members. Indeed, our statistics for 2011will show that we lost 154 members. What would it look like, what would happen, how would it feel like if we stopped losing members? What if the Presbytery, which really means what if each of our churches, decided to name a goal that we stop losing members? What if we stopped the decline, here in our churches, in our presbytery? I am not talking about the whole denomination; I am not talking about the future of the Protestant mainline denominations in America; I am talking about us, each of our congregations, in our pews, every Sunday. What if we said “We want to stop declining?” Is it possible? Are we even able to talk about it?
I know all the responses to this crazy idea. Many will ask me why I am obsessed with numbers. Many will say numbers do not matter. What matters is faithfulness and vitality in ministry. I understand that our calling is about spiritual maturity, about Kingdom growth, about proclaiming Jesus and building relationships. I understand that our goal is about spiritual vitality in our hearts and in our congregations. I get that. I fully agree. I understand that there may be many expressions of spiritual vitality in congregations that are not growing. I understand that a vital congregation is not always a numerically growing congregation. Personally, I have been with many blessed, vital, devout spiritual people while they were dying. I understand that a vital church is not always or necessarily a growing church. But I do believe that every growing church is a vital church. Let us at least talk about growing. Let us name the vision that we would like to stop the decline. Stop the decline. Why not zero. Zero growth would, indeed, be fabulous.
I know all the responses to this crazy idea. All the sort of post-modern, missional, emerging, hyped-up, generous orthodox new leaders out there are going to tell me that membership does not matter. You will tell me that membership is an obsolete idea from the age of the institutional church, which is now gone and obsolete. Many will say that we should not even be talking about membership; we should be talking about discipleship. What matters is not having your name on the active list but taking Jesus into the streets. I understand all that. Indeed, I believe we are making a fast transition from an emphasis on membership to an emphasis on discipleship. But we are not there yet. And this year we are still counting members. And I expect that we will still be counting members next year. So let us count more of them. Counting more members is not going to usher in the Kingdom of God, but, my friends, it would certainly be more fun.
Numbers do not matter; I get that. But it sure does feel good that we had a positive cash flow in our Operating Fund. Numbers do not matter, I get that. But it sure does feel good that Dan and Alison Siewert had 40 people at the worship service in their home several weeks ago. Numbers do not matter, I get that. But it sure does feel good that the Presbytery of Carlisle has continued to be one of the top ten presbyteries in shared mission giving. Numbers do not matter, I get that. But it sure does feel good that we had 645 young people at Camp Krislund last summer. Numbers do not matter, I get that. But it sure does feel good that the Pittsburgh Steelers have won the Superbowl six times, more than any other team. Numbers do not matter, I get that. But it sure feels good that we have built four new homes in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and will be going in April to work on number five.
The Presbytery of Carlisle lost 154 active members in 2011. But actually just one of our congregations cleaned their membership rolls and lost 148 members. Can we as a Presbytery stop the decline? Can we talk about zero membership growth? That seems possible to me. We are very close. But it will only be possible if we start talking about it. It will only be possible if we are intentional about our goals and plans. It will only be possible if we make sure our own church is a place of deep hospitality in every way. It will only be possible if every person who walks into our church is called by name, is welcomed as a beloved child of God, and is spoken with authentically and intimately. It will only be possible if we stop being so resigned to our continuing decline and pray like we have never prayed for Christ to transform our hearts and bless our churches.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Andrew Walls
Book: Understanding World Christianity: The Vision and World of Andrew F. Walls. Edited by William R. Burrows, Mark R. Gornik, and Janice A. McLean. Orbis Books, 2011.
We need Andrew Walls. Never in my academic study of theology was I introduced to the work of Professor Andrew Walls. But in recent years I have read widely in the area of mission studies to understand, bolster and support my commitment to Presbyterian World Mission. I believe that our work in World Mission is the shining light in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) today; I am motivated to participate in and support this work. In doing so I have sought to develop a solid theological foundation for our international mission work. I have found that theological foundation in the work of Andrew Walls.
It may be a unique tribute to the remarkable influence of Professor Walls that there is a new book gathering a collection of essays which seek to explain and define his lasting influence. And this new book is now available while Professor Walls is still alive. Walls is still teaching from his position at the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World at Edinburgh, which he founded, but also in Ghana and regularly in the United States through the Yale – Edinburgh Group.
I believe every theological student, and our seminary curriculum, and our church leaders need to seriously engage the important work of Andrew Walls. To simply summarize the work of Andrew Walls is to say that we must live and work today within the context of World Christianity. For many of us, this insight has become common sense. But Andrew Walls is the scholar who first named this truth for the western Christian academic world.
This quote from Wilbert Shenk’s essay expands the point:
“It was impossible to understand either the contemporary world or the church without the aid of mission studies. A survey of the changes in church and world between 1568 and 1868 showed that distribution of the Christian population worldwide had changed little. But in the century since 1868 a momentous transformation had occurred. In 1900 Christianity in Africa was still negligible but by 1967 the trends were that Africa was rapidly becoming the continent with the largest Christian population. Failure to understand this massive shift was to misunderstand the emerging new world. Historical Christendom as a territorial reality was rapidly disintegrating.”
Indeed Andrew Walls has himself argued, “That we will begin to grasp the ‘fullness of Christ’ only as we bring together the insights that can be gained through comparative historical and comparative theological studies – Greek and Hebrew, Germanic and Latin, second-generation Africa Christian experience and second-century Gentile Christian faith.”
If we seek to understand the reality of the church in our world today, I believe that Church leaders must add the work of Andrew Walls to our reading lists.
We need Andrew Walls. Never in my academic study of theology was I introduced to the work of Professor Andrew Walls. But in recent years I have read widely in the area of mission studies to understand, bolster and support my commitment to Presbyterian World Mission. I believe that our work in World Mission is the shining light in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) today; I am motivated to participate in and support this work. In doing so I have sought to develop a solid theological foundation for our international mission work. I have found that theological foundation in the work of Andrew Walls.
It may be a unique tribute to the remarkable influence of Professor Walls that there is a new book gathering a collection of essays which seek to explain and define his lasting influence. And this new book is now available while Professor Walls is still alive. Walls is still teaching from his position at the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World at Edinburgh, which he founded, but also in Ghana and regularly in the United States through the Yale – Edinburgh Group.
I believe every theological student, and our seminary curriculum, and our church leaders need to seriously engage the important work of Andrew Walls. To simply summarize the work of Andrew Walls is to say that we must live and work today within the context of World Christianity. For many of us, this insight has become common sense. But Andrew Walls is the scholar who first named this truth for the western Christian academic world.
This quote from Wilbert Shenk’s essay expands the point:
“It was impossible to understand either the contemporary world or the church without the aid of mission studies. A survey of the changes in church and world between 1568 and 1868 showed that distribution of the Christian population worldwide had changed little. But in the century since 1868 a momentous transformation had occurred. In 1900 Christianity in Africa was still negligible but by 1967 the trends were that Africa was rapidly becoming the continent with the largest Christian population. Failure to understand this massive shift was to misunderstand the emerging new world. Historical Christendom as a territorial reality was rapidly disintegrating.”
Indeed Andrew Walls has himself argued, “That we will begin to grasp the ‘fullness of Christ’ only as we bring together the insights that can be gained through comparative historical and comparative theological studies – Greek and Hebrew, Germanic and Latin, second-generation Africa Christian experience and second-century Gentile Christian faith.”
If we seek to understand the reality of the church in our world today, I believe that Church leaders must add the work of Andrew Walls to our reading lists.
Monday, February 6, 2012
George Washington
There is fabulous new, Pulitzer Prize winning biography of George Washington titled Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press, 2010). The book includes a brilliant chapter, "Providence", on Washington's devout commitment to the Anglican Church and reflection on his theological perspectives. This one sentence from Washington himself certainly still rings true today:
"Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconciliable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause." (Chernow, page 132).
And here is an insightful description of Washington's personal attitude toward religion:
"Some of Washington's religious style probably reflected an Enlightenment discomfort with religious dogma, but it also reflected his low-key personal style. He was sober and temperate in all things, distrusted zealotry, and would never have talked of hellfire or damnation. He would have shunned anything, such as communion, that might flaunt his religiosity. He never wanted to make a spectacle of his faith or trade on it as a politician. Simply as a matter of personal style, he would have refrained from the emotional language associated with evangelical Christianity. This cooler, more austere religious manner was commonplace among well-heeled Anglicans in eithteenth century Virginia."
It seems to me that a low-key, sober, temperate, austere personal style is not a bad thing. It describes a quiet, persevering faithfulness which reminds me of many Presbyterian saints I have known.
"Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconciliable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause." (Chernow, page 132).
And here is an insightful description of Washington's personal attitude toward religion:
"Some of Washington's religious style probably reflected an Enlightenment discomfort with religious dogma, but it also reflected his low-key personal style. He was sober and temperate in all things, distrusted zealotry, and would never have talked of hellfire or damnation. He would have shunned anything, such as communion, that might flaunt his religiosity. He never wanted to make a spectacle of his faith or trade on it as a politician. Simply as a matter of personal style, he would have refrained from the emotional language associated with evangelical Christianity. This cooler, more austere religious manner was commonplace among well-heeled Anglicans in eithteenth century Virginia."
It seems to me that a low-key, sober, temperate, austere personal style is not a bad thing. It describes a quiet, persevering faithfulness which reminds me of many Presbyterian saints I have known.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Kaleidoscopic Fragmentation
Do we need another, new denomination?
“If the quest of the church is for unity in Christ, the on-the-ground reality has been kaleidoscopic fragmentation. And the kaleidoscope is spinning with increasing speed. In the past dozen years, formal organizational diversity among Christians has grown by 26 percent, swelling from an estimated 34,100 denominations in the year 2000to a projected 43,000 by mid-2012.”
Quoted from:
Dwight P. Baker
“Unity, Comity, and the Numbers Game”
International bulletin of Missionary Research
Issue 36:1, January 2012
“If the quest of the church is for unity in Christ, the on-the-ground reality has been kaleidoscopic fragmentation. And the kaleidoscope is spinning with increasing speed. In the past dozen years, formal organizational diversity among Christians has grown by 26 percent, swelling from an estimated 34,100 denominations in the year 2000to a projected 43,000 by mid-2012.”
Quoted from:
Dwight P. Baker
“Unity, Comity, and the Numbers Game”
International bulletin of Missionary Research
Issue 36:1, January 2012
Monday, November 14, 2011
Report to the Presbytery Nov. 15, 2011
What is the Question?
What is the question? As I ponder the life and ministry of our Presbytery, I am both grateful and bewildered. As I ponder the life and ministry of our whole Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) I am both grateful and bewildered. As I ponder the next steps of our common life I would like each of you to consider what you belief should be the guiding question for our common life. What is the question that should guide and motivate our future planning and our decisions moving forward? I wonder if we can agree on the question that should be front and center for our discernment as a Presbytery. What is the question?
With that thought in mind, I have been gathering questions from my reading. These are all important questions, but they each take us a different direction.
I highly recommend a new book by Alan Hirsch titled The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church. This book seeks to help the church move into a new future as a sent and sending people. The question that Alan Hirsch asks is this, “How did the early Christians do it? In fact they had none of the things we would ordinarily apply to solve the problems of the church, and yet they grew from 25,000 to 20 million in 200 years! So how did the early church do it?” Is that the proper question for us?
But then I thought that maybe our question needs to be more about our own spiritual lives in Christ. Maybe our guiding question needs to be the question the disciples asked Jesus, “How shall we pray?” Maybe our guiding question is a question about spirituality and prayer. I wonder if Richard J. Foster in his new book titled “Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey into Meditative Prayer” asks the proper question. Richard Foster’s question is this: “How does God speak to us? What should we expect or even hope for? Are there conditions of heart and mind that open us to God’s loving – and terrifying – voice? How can we develop an inward, prayer-filled listening?” Is that the proper question for us?
Or maybe the question is not about prayer and spirituality. Maybe the question is about the way we do things as a Presbytery. On this vein, I found a great question in a great book by Peter Block. The book is titled, Community: the Structure of Belonging. This is Peter Block’s question. Is this correct question for us? “The core question, then, is this: What is the means through which those of us who care about the whole community can create a future for ourselves that is not just an improvement, but one of a different nature from what we now have?”
This is an important question because many of us here, and many of us who will bother to attend Presbytery meetings, serve on committees and spend long evenings at session meetings are people that love this church. We have been blessed, nurtured, formed by this church. It is hard to imagine a new, a different, a future way of being the church because the way we do church now has been so meaningful in our lives. How can we create a future church that is not simply an improvement, but a church of a whole different nature? That is a good question. Is that our question?
Or I wonder if our question needs to be a bit more practical. Gil Rendle has written a new book focusing on the future of the mainline churches in America. The title of his book is, “Journey in the Wilderness: New Life for the Mainline Churches.” Should the question that Gil Rendle asks be our question? Speaking to us in these mainline churches, this is his question, “What have we learned by living in the wilderness for the last forty years that will sustain us in the future?”
I will appreciate any consideration you may have as to what is the proper question now for us as a Presbytery. Amen!
What is the question? As I ponder the life and ministry of our Presbytery, I am both grateful and bewildered. As I ponder the life and ministry of our whole Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) I am both grateful and bewildered. As I ponder the next steps of our common life I would like each of you to consider what you belief should be the guiding question for our common life. What is the question that should guide and motivate our future planning and our decisions moving forward? I wonder if we can agree on the question that should be front and center for our discernment as a Presbytery. What is the question?
With that thought in mind, I have been gathering questions from my reading. These are all important questions, but they each take us a different direction.
I highly recommend a new book by Alan Hirsch titled The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church. This book seeks to help the church move into a new future as a sent and sending people. The question that Alan Hirsch asks is this, “How did the early Christians do it? In fact they had none of the things we would ordinarily apply to solve the problems of the church, and yet they grew from 25,000 to 20 million in 200 years! So how did the early church do it?” Is that the proper question for us?
But then I thought that maybe our question needs to be more about our own spiritual lives in Christ. Maybe our guiding question needs to be the question the disciples asked Jesus, “How shall we pray?” Maybe our guiding question is a question about spirituality and prayer. I wonder if Richard J. Foster in his new book titled “Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey into Meditative Prayer” asks the proper question. Richard Foster’s question is this: “How does God speak to us? What should we expect or even hope for? Are there conditions of heart and mind that open us to God’s loving – and terrifying – voice? How can we develop an inward, prayer-filled listening?” Is that the proper question for us?
Or maybe the question is not about prayer and spirituality. Maybe the question is about the way we do things as a Presbytery. On this vein, I found a great question in a great book by Peter Block. The book is titled, Community: the Structure of Belonging. This is Peter Block’s question. Is this correct question for us? “The core question, then, is this: What is the means through which those of us who care about the whole community can create a future for ourselves that is not just an improvement, but one of a different nature from what we now have?”
This is an important question because many of us here, and many of us who will bother to attend Presbytery meetings, serve on committees and spend long evenings at session meetings are people that love this church. We have been blessed, nurtured, formed by this church. It is hard to imagine a new, a different, a future way of being the church because the way we do church now has been so meaningful in our lives. How can we create a future church that is not simply an improvement, but a church of a whole different nature? That is a good question. Is that our question?
Or I wonder if our question needs to be a bit more practical. Gil Rendle has written a new book focusing on the future of the mainline churches in America. The title of his book is, “Journey in the Wilderness: New Life for the Mainline Churches.” Should the question that Gil Rendle asks be our question? Speaking to us in these mainline churches, this is his question, “What have we learned by living in the wilderness for the last forty years that will sustain us in the future?”
I will appreciate any consideration you may have as to what is the proper question now for us as a Presbytery. Amen!
Letter to the Editor of the Christian Century
This letter is written to the Christian Century in response to their cover story in the November 15, 2011 edition, The Case Against Wall Street by Gary Dorrien.
Dear Christian Century;
Please help me know what to do. Since 2008 I have been trying to educate myself concerning our financial system, the banking industry and what exactly happened in 2008. The cover article in your Nov. 15 edition from Professor Gary Dorrien is the most helpful and clarifying introduction of our financial system that I have read. This article helped me enormously. But this article renewed in me the deepest stirrings of my soul to do something. I must change! I must respond! I must do something in my own life, as a faithful Christian, to respond! Please help me understand what my response may look like.
As much as I appreciate the Occupy Wall Street movement, and have followed their story closely, I cannot camp out in a park for a few weeks or years. I am the Executive Presbyter of a small Presbytery, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in central PA. I have a busy professional life. I have a home, and children and many daily professional and personal expectations. Life is good for my family now. I have a great job which pays me well and is very satisfying. My wife also has a good job in our local medical center. In response to this economic crisis we have been careful about keeping our own finances in order. Both my wife and I contribute significantly to our 403b retirement savings plans. As a Presbyterian, I am a member of a solvent, well established and truly stellar benefits and pension plan. Since 2008 we refinanced our home down to 15 years with a remarkably low interest rate. Wells Fargo Bank, one of the biggest in the nation, has given us excellent service and an excellent rate on our mortgage. Because we are able to maintain a large, monthly balance including direct deposit of our paychecks we receive outstanding service from our local PNC Bank. I never pay any fees for our routine banking. In fact, with their rewards program and interest bearing accounts, I make money from our local bank. We have no credit card debt. In many ways I have benefited from our financial system because I have a good, paying job with excellent benefits and I am in clear command of my personal finances.
But I feel this nagging emptiness and yearning when I ponder these large financial questions. I feel guilty and privileged in my settled, upper middle class life style. We are getting by quite well, and we are well prepared for retirement. But having my own financial house in order seems inadequate when, in fact, I am supporting financial institutions which are allegedly acting so inappropriately. I am participating in this financial system, which seems to be doing so much harm to our social fabric. Deep down I feel a nagging guilt about my own good fortune. What should I do? How should I act as a faithful Presbyterian, as a follower of Jesus, in America today?
Dear Christian Century;
Please help me know what to do. Since 2008 I have been trying to educate myself concerning our financial system, the banking industry and what exactly happened in 2008. The cover article in your Nov. 15 edition from Professor Gary Dorrien is the most helpful and clarifying introduction of our financial system that I have read. This article helped me enormously. But this article renewed in me the deepest stirrings of my soul to do something. I must change! I must respond! I must do something in my own life, as a faithful Christian, to respond! Please help me understand what my response may look like.
As much as I appreciate the Occupy Wall Street movement, and have followed their story closely, I cannot camp out in a park for a few weeks or years. I am the Executive Presbyter of a small Presbytery, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in central PA. I have a busy professional life. I have a home, and children and many daily professional and personal expectations. Life is good for my family now. I have a great job which pays me well and is very satisfying. My wife also has a good job in our local medical center. In response to this economic crisis we have been careful about keeping our own finances in order. Both my wife and I contribute significantly to our 403b retirement savings plans. As a Presbyterian, I am a member of a solvent, well established and truly stellar benefits and pension plan. Since 2008 we refinanced our home down to 15 years with a remarkably low interest rate. Wells Fargo Bank, one of the biggest in the nation, has given us excellent service and an excellent rate on our mortgage. Because we are able to maintain a large, monthly balance including direct deposit of our paychecks we receive outstanding service from our local PNC Bank. I never pay any fees for our routine banking. In fact, with their rewards program and interest bearing accounts, I make money from our local bank. We have no credit card debt. In many ways I have benefited from our financial system because I have a good, paying job with excellent benefits and I am in clear command of my personal finances.
But I feel this nagging emptiness and yearning when I ponder these large financial questions. I feel guilty and privileged in my settled, upper middle class life style. We are getting by quite well, and we are well prepared for retirement. But having my own financial house in order seems inadequate when, in fact, I am supporting financial institutions which are allegedly acting so inappropriately. I am participating in this financial system, which seems to be doing so much harm to our social fabric. Deep down I feel a nagging guilt about my own good fortune. What should I do? How should I act as a faithful Presbyterian, as a follower of Jesus, in America today?
Monday, October 31, 2011
Charge to the Mechanicsburg Church
Give Permission for a Jesus Movement
My charge to the beloved saints of the Mechanicsburg Presbyterian Church is a simple, direct, two words, “Give permission.” Give permission to your newly ordained and newly installed Associate Pastor. Give him permission to dream dreams, see visions and do ministry.
I have been in our Presbyterian Church for a long time, all my life as a believer, and for more than 25 years of professional service. I know this will be hard for you to believe in Mechanicsburg, but I have learned that there are people in our church today who are discouraged. There are people in our church who are kind of weary, whose hands are hanging down, whose heads are kind of drooped, and, believe it or not, there are people in the church today – some of the them are elders and some of them are ministers- who do not feel good about our Presbyterian Church.
Then we come to a day like this. Here we are celebrating that God continues to call, God continues to work in the lives of young people, God continues to call people into service and ministry in our Presbyterian Church. How sweet is that! How can we possibly be discouraged? When these newly called people come into our midst we must stand back in awe and wonder and simply give them permission. Let him go to live into this powerful call from God. Let him go to dream about the ministry which God alone has placed on his heart. Give him permission. Do not hold him back. Do not surround him with constraints and limitations and expectations and demands. Give him permission. Let him go.
I am doing a lot of reading, pondering and discussing these days on the relationship between institutions and movements. What is the difference between an institution and a movement? This fascinates me, and I believe I am on to something important with this question. An institution is structured and organized, it knows how to make transitions and perpetuate itself. A good institution knows how to make decisions as groups, and knows how to share power, manage risk, and implement plans and strategies. A good institution always has a plan for the future. I am an institution guy. The Presbyterian Church is a great institution. I love the institutional church. The institutional church has formed me and nurtured me. I trust the institution. I believe the institution is beautiful. Many of you are just like me. Yes, session members, I know who you are.
But today, for lots of complex, social reasons institutions, including the church, have lost their ability to transform hearts. Transformation happens in movements. Movements are free, fast and flexible. Movements are relational, not structured. Movements are about transformation, not planning for the future, but creating a new future.
This is my thought experiment. I believe institutions and movements need each other. Institutions bring structure and longevity. Movements bring passion, enthusiasm, flexibility and freedom. Without each other, movements and institutions, both will die. We are in a situation today in the church, it is an exciting time, when the institution needs to encourage, needs to give permission for a movement quality in our midst. But an institution can only encourage a movement quality if, and only if, the institution itself is strong, vital, self-confident, proud and trusting. If the institution is discouraged or paranoid then the institution will constantly snuff out any movements that emerge near it.
Give permission for Mark to inspire a movement quality for Jesus in the midst of your church. Give him permission to be free, flexible, spontaneous, creative and imaginative. Give permission.
Mechanicsburg Presbyterian Church, you are on my short list of our top-tier churches who are helping us live into God’s new future. Go for it!
“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3: 20-21).
Mark Englund-Krieger
October 30, 2011
My charge to the beloved saints of the Mechanicsburg Presbyterian Church is a simple, direct, two words, “Give permission.” Give permission to your newly ordained and newly installed Associate Pastor. Give him permission to dream dreams, see visions and do ministry.
I have been in our Presbyterian Church for a long time, all my life as a believer, and for more than 25 years of professional service. I know this will be hard for you to believe in Mechanicsburg, but I have learned that there are people in our church today who are discouraged. There are people in our church who are kind of weary, whose hands are hanging down, whose heads are kind of drooped, and, believe it or not, there are people in the church today – some of the them are elders and some of them are ministers- who do not feel good about our Presbyterian Church.
Then we come to a day like this. Here we are celebrating that God continues to call, God continues to work in the lives of young people, God continues to call people into service and ministry in our Presbyterian Church. How sweet is that! How can we possibly be discouraged? When these newly called people come into our midst we must stand back in awe and wonder and simply give them permission. Let him go to live into this powerful call from God. Let him go to dream about the ministry which God alone has placed on his heart. Give him permission. Do not hold him back. Do not surround him with constraints and limitations and expectations and demands. Give him permission. Let him go.
I am doing a lot of reading, pondering and discussing these days on the relationship between institutions and movements. What is the difference between an institution and a movement? This fascinates me, and I believe I am on to something important with this question. An institution is structured and organized, it knows how to make transitions and perpetuate itself. A good institution knows how to make decisions as groups, and knows how to share power, manage risk, and implement plans and strategies. A good institution always has a plan for the future. I am an institution guy. The Presbyterian Church is a great institution. I love the institutional church. The institutional church has formed me and nurtured me. I trust the institution. I believe the institution is beautiful. Many of you are just like me. Yes, session members, I know who you are.
But today, for lots of complex, social reasons institutions, including the church, have lost their ability to transform hearts. Transformation happens in movements. Movements are free, fast and flexible. Movements are relational, not structured. Movements are about transformation, not planning for the future, but creating a new future.
This is my thought experiment. I believe institutions and movements need each other. Institutions bring structure and longevity. Movements bring passion, enthusiasm, flexibility and freedom. Without each other, movements and institutions, both will die. We are in a situation today in the church, it is an exciting time, when the institution needs to encourage, needs to give permission for a movement quality in our midst. But an institution can only encourage a movement quality if, and only if, the institution itself is strong, vital, self-confident, proud and trusting. If the institution is discouraged or paranoid then the institution will constantly snuff out any movements that emerge near it.
Give permission for Mark to inspire a movement quality for Jesus in the midst of your church. Give him permission to be free, flexible, spontaneous, creative and imaginative. Give permission.
Mechanicsburg Presbyterian Church, you are on my short list of our top-tier churches who are helping us live into God’s new future. Go for it!
“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3: 20-21).
Mark Englund-Krieger
October 30, 2011
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