“What Is Our Church’s Job???,” Part I

 Our congregation has gone through a very powerful year. We have gone through conflict; we have worked hard to get back to the basics of how a congregation should be run. We have faced a major deficit, in part due to conflict, and in part due to the death of some key members. But we have also seen some of the best Cabinet meetings we have had in years; we have now had some successful fund-raisers; attendance has begun to increase.

 Some people would immediately say—”Please, don’t tell anyone our bad news!”. I would argue—its time to put everything on the table. One thing Jesus never did was sugarcoat. He was direct. He was honest. And it was his ability to tell God’s truth and sound human truth that helped people overcome their problems, their sin, and their fears.

 That, in part, is my job. I’m your pastor. It is both my “job” to tell you the truth and to help you face truth. Let me tell you this in an easier way—this was supposed to be the Column where I wrote about the summer’s Youth Mission Trip. That is an easy article to write. It combines the best of our service outward with the humor and energy of youth. But my “job” is to help our congregation. And this article is more important.

 We just came off of a special congregational meeting, appropriately constitutionally called and announced over 3 successive Sundays. A motion was approved, giving your Cabinet permission to consider suggestions from members, Boards, or from their own work, allowing for one-time changes to the Constitution, only if it truly honors the spirit of our congregation and a serious consideration to the work of Jesus the Christ. This sounds confusing. In the past several years, we found that our constitution, as it is written, could be interpreted in ways which could too easily be misused. We also found that there were times when board work could be shut down because we didn’t have enough people show up to meetings, and quorum numbers got in the way of people being able to pass any motions and get work done.

All churches go through challenging times. Now that more and more people move more and more, and now that Sundays are no longer allowed to be “set aside” culturally solely for worship time, all churches are seeing major changes in attendance and participation. Old models of structure are crumbling. At the same time, more and more people cry out a need for meaningful worship and participation in service which also provides meaning. But the number one thing people are asking for: TRANSPARENCY.

 At the special congregational meeting, it became very clear that transparency was what members wanted and needed. They wanted a “check and balance” to make sure that no Cabinet, Board, or member could do something that could be kept in secret or done without congregational input and participation. In our congregational tradition, we have valued, above everything else, the authority of the full Body of Christ to gather together and discern the will of God. But, as is always true, our strength is always our weakness. While we pride the right and will of congregations to have autonomy and power, unless we fully participate, we can easily go the way of a few holding too much power and misusing it. Our church is like every church. We have members that go on to Boards, don’t show up, and don’t follow through. We have others who use their verbal power to argue, sometimes shout down other opinions, and silence other members. Those other members stay away or quit boards (which is what we saw in the last few years).

 I was so thankful for what I saw in last Sunday’s congregational meeting. Older and newer members spoke up, both in agreement and disagreement. They respected, without shouting or putting down others, their important opinions. And, for the first time in my immediate memory, I heard things spoken about “how to do the will of God”, and “how to honor Jesus”. The key issue was giving to the congregation a guarantee of transparency.

 So that those reading are clear, a motion was passed, allowing our Cabinet to create a “Letter of Special Circumstance”, if, in prayer and consideration, that circumstance could better further the work of the church in faithfulness to God. No one is exactly sure how it can be used, but all are clear that the real conversation was about what it would mean if it happened. No Cabinet motion for Special Circumstance could be approved without: FIRST—communicating clearly, over 45 days, in this Column, and with worship announcements over 3 Sundays, what that motion would be, and SECOND—absolute right of the congregation to participate, in every possible way, the passage or non-passage of that motion.

 It both demands, and returns to the membership, its responsibility to participate. ALL Cabinet meetings are ALWAYS open to all members to attend. There should never be a time where people cannot KNOW what is happening in our church. All Cabinet minutes are in the office, kept for YOU. You have the right to know what is going on. And we have been asked, Cabinet and Staff, to make sure that all information is better shared to the entire congregation.

 That is our “job”. But it is not our only job. Becoming more and more Christ-like in our church and more intentional in our focus and mission is even more central. That is what I will focus on next time (and I promise a summary of what we did on the Mission Trip). In the love of Jesus—Pastor Joe