Fairlawn West

I am getting close to finishing reading the book Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Throughts on Christian Spirituality.

Towards the end Don Miller writes about tithing in the most clear way I have seen or heard. Here is the link for this piece.

These were my reflections after having read those pages:

Around four years ago a person who use to attend worship at my church and who was a member, told me, at a meeting on our church financial situation, that it was unrealistic for me to expect other people of this church to tithe. He told me it was perfectly logical for me as the pastor to tithe. However, I shouldn't expect that of other folks of this church. Rather, he said, the Trustees should come up with financial plans to get the best out of the money we do get and I should come up with plans and behave in a way so we would get more members. Thus, with more members we would get enough money to keep the church going (which is a message of survival by a body that seeks to share the Gospel of salvation with the world.) This would be without anyone else having to tithe or even to focus on percentage of income offerings to God.

This was a person that a significant number of people listened to around the church about money. I knew when he said this, then, that we were dead in the water. I could preach from scripture until the cows come home about tithing as an act of faith and discipleship, and the giving of our first fruits to the "temple" (or whatever is the spiritual center and nurturing place of our life), but it wouldn't matter because folks were more entrenched in the financial managament as part of the business of the organization than the teaching about faith and money...from their designated spiritual teacher, the pastor. (I'm still wondering why folks pay a salary for a "preacher" if they're not going to use his or her preaching for spiritual guidance in their lives let alone for the church...where that preacher has been called to preach the Gospel!).

Well, that man was right about one thing...the Loar family tithes. Not because I'm the minister, but because we want to be obedient to Christ and grow in faith. (We practice Biblical tithing...10% to the "temple" and then above that to other charitable organizations who serve people in need. We grow spiritually from both. And we don't fuss over whether it is gross or net income for the 10%.) That's why I knew the church was in dead in the water when this man said this about the rest of the church not being able to or not needing to tithe. Because that meant faith was dead here. Growing in Christ, to higher levels of commitment, was dead here. In truth, that was an act of disobedience to God.

When we study scripture we learn that tithing is an act of faith. It is a risk. But it is a risk in the midst of growing trust in God. If we only give what we have left over in our budget to God, even if it is 10%, we are saying, "This is my money. (creation)" God calls for disciples who will give first in faith to his purpose and live in trusting their whole life with him.

In the ways of the world, including putting primary trust in financial management skills, none of this makes sense. (I think financial management is important. BUT, it comes as a steward skill after we have given over our whole life to Christ including all of our time and money. That seems unreasonable in the world we live in today, including the way that most of the church functions today...which is a strong indication of how the church has truly become more secular than spiritual.) But then, if we really studied what Jesus says about and does with money, let alone what is said in the rest of scripture about money, we would know that Kingdom values are different from world values. (In the world we give of "our" money to charities, including the church. In Kingdom values we give over all of our life to Christ and then through spiritual discernment via trust in God, use our life to share the Gospel message of salvation with the world. In that framework, you don't even have to prime the pump with stewardship campaigns for people to give to the church. You don't ask them to "pledge" to meet a budget. In that framework people give because they are growing spiritually via the church and know that their identity is tied up with the church. In that framework, churches always have more money than they ask for. Notice, I didn't say "more than they need." Because the mission of Christ is never fulfilled.)

In the terms of the Kingdom of God tithing makes perfect sense. Check it out in scripture!

here is some email listserv discussion about authority and pastoral role:

...if we dont know how to submit to our leaders how do we know how to submit to God?

Bill Easum

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I never met a church leader who said they hadnt submitted to God. that easy to say. But Ive met few mainline christians who are submitted to their pastor or elders. That's the hard part. Its one thing to say you are submitted to God; its another to be in submission to your spiritual leader. One cant be seen or quantified; the other can. that's the only reason I put them in that order

Bill Easum
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...using the contrast between "traditional parish church" and "ancient monastic church". Monastic experience gave obedience to an abbot because of their authenticity as spiritual leaders and ability to mentor other leaders; but the parish experience gave obedience to an office as elected or appointed by others. Parish leadership couldn't really "command" obedience, and might or might not deserve obedience; but monastic leadership demanded and deserved obedience. It was part of the vows of obedience, stability, and courage.

Tom Bandy

One of the oft heard lines in churches like our's is, "I have the right to be heard and to vote as a member of this church."

What this line reflects is more of an autonomous individual than a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is most likely one of the great downfalls within the American church.

This leads to a question, then, about the role and the authority of a pastor as a leader. My ordination vows and my installation covenant at Fairlawn-West say I am to "preach and teach" the Gospel of Jesus Christ. However, when I arrived at F-W there was very little if any respect or deferrence to the role of a pastor. That has changed, but not totally. I still don't think folks really understand the role of the pastor. And they do not submit themselves in anyway to the preaching and teaching of the pastoral office. Many don't even know the foundation of the Bible, yet insist that as a "member" of this church they better be able to keep their right to vote.

When we function like that, we lose any sense of spiritual maturity or eldership. We are unsure of what is authoritative among us. And thus, we defer more via democratic vote authority to the lowest common denominator or the weakest in spiritual maturity among us. Thus, we find ourselves in the quandry of whether we are first a spiritual body or a democratic based social organization.

In the military, in corporations, even in the Boy Scouts its clear that leadership authority is to be respected and used to learn from. In the classroom teachers and students understand the role each is to play. Teachers have the responsibility to teach, but also the responsibility to evaluate the students. Yet in the church the pastor and spiritually mature elders are given little latitude to play out their role in teaching and preaching the Gospel. They are more often than not looked upon as one more voice in the mix of voices allowed to express their opinion in this democratic organization. Thus there is great confusion within the body because the authority for leading and teaching is watered down with the sense that "everyone" is authoritative. Even those who have no clue about scripture, the ancient traditions of the church or how to live in a truly centered spiritual life.

So, which is it? Are we a spiritual growing body which is led and taught by those called to be our elders, preachers and teachers? Or are we first of all a social, charitable organization which is guided by democratic votes at congregational meetings where members of whom not all have attended worship regularly or even more so, have not taken part in edification and nurture of their spiritual life within the body of the church, set the direction of the mission and vision of the church? My sense is we have opted more for the latter because we don't trust our leaders...particularly our pastors. And because I see that widespread, I don't take it personally. Yet, as the pasatoral leader of this particular congregation, it causes concern for me and at times, confusion.

It has been clear that some folks within our church from the first few months I arrived here 10 years ago never saw me as a pastoral preacher and teacher. They were more insistent on how they wanted the church to be run or kept rather than to have any openness to the authority of the pastoral role. That has shifted I would say about 145 degrees since then, but we still are not clear about this as a body/church. We still think that we need to spend more time protecting the rights of the individual rather than to promote spiritual growth and accountability for all within the rule of obedience to Christ our LORD. We are confused between being a voluntary democratic organization and being obedient disciples of Jesus Christ. How are we to sort that out? More often than not we don't sort it out for fear of offending someone or for fear of raising a rucus in the congregation. This is contrary to what Jesus, the disciples, the leadership within the early church and the Apostle Paul did. But how would we know if we haven't submitted ourselves to the discipline of the study of scripture and the Lordship of Jesus Christ?

The demise of the American church is that it adopted more of the democratic principles of freedom of speech and religion than spiritual rootedness in Jesus Christ. It became more a secular democratic organization than a spiritually centered, disciplined body led by those to whom we give authority to lead and teach us.

We also opted more for the individualism of American culture. Yet the historic and the biblical church functioned in expression, in learning, and in practice more as a body...as a community. This is hard for us to understand...again probably because we haven't studied our true past either biblically or as a church out of the Reformed tradition (all the parts of the UCC come out of the Reformed Calvinist tradition). But we have all learned and functioned in U.S. civil society so we defer to that way of life because that is what we know. In that society the emphasis is on individual freedoms including the right to vote. That does not necessarily always fit with the values of the body of Christ. And as I said above, there are bodies within the U.S. society whom we give room not to function with the emphasis on the individual e.g. military, corporate structures.

In Christ, we were made free. When we choose to follow Christ, we give up our freedom to be who we want to be and become obedient servants of our Lord Jesus Christ under the sovereign rule of God our Father. I submit that this is the next part of the journey that we face as a church. To sort this out and to become mature enough to trust spiritual elders to guide us and to give our life totally over to Christ. This will require great discipline within the freedom Christ gives us. There will be some compromises. However, I suspect, as we study and learn our spiritual roots, we will be confronted more than we expect by a rigor and a discipline of following Jesus. That's what precisely leads us to not only live in Christ, but also to die and rise in him as well. None of this makes sense. It sounds foolish. Precisely!!!

Grace and peace,
David Loar

The article below tells me that the more we spend on trying to shape the organization, the more we dim the mission of the church. Also, it says that the skills many of us have from working in charitable and professional organizations will not necessarily transfer to being the skills for church leadership. Those skills will be found primarily in reading the Bible and then transferring them into our context and time. For sure some of what we know will help, but mainly we are all rookies at church leadership. Which is why I have been moving to having the "leaders academy" (which is what Jesus did with the disciples, and even they still needed to wait for the Holy Spirit to accomplish their work). David

Why Church Isn't Really a Church http://www.christianitytoday.com/leaders/newsletter/2004/cln41025.html
Too often, it's just another charitable organization. But there's hope.
by Chad Hall, Leadership guest columnist
(Editor's note: 501(c)3 is the tax exemption code the U.S. government gives to not-for-profit, charitable organizations, including churches.)

Anyone familiar with Bill Hybels has heard it: "The hope of the world is the local church." On dozens of occasions, I heard the phrase and nodded in agreement. The phrase led me to commit or recommit myself to serving the local church. The phrase caused me to weep. The phrase gave orientation to my life and to my work.
But lately when I hear it, my response is different. No commitment. No tears. No direction. Just a one-word question filled with doubt: "Really?"

I'm starting to believe the hope of the world cannot possibly rest with the 501(c)3 not-for-profit religious organizations dotting our landscape and holding themselves out to be "churches." It just can't be true.
It's not that I doubt God or the unique and saving nature of Jesus; I truly believe Jesus is the hope of the world. I do not doubt that God's plan is to empower and inspire ordinary people to carry the life-giving message of salvation. I do not even doubt that communities of believers are the God-ordained means for carrying out this grand plan. What I doubt is that what passes for "church" these days is the manifestation of Jesus in our world. I even doubt that my own church is a church.

Jesus died for this?Why all the doubt? Like other congregations, the one I serve strives to be an authentic church, but we get in our own way. Simply put, our chief aim is not to connect people to God, each other, and the world, but to build an organization that does so. The distinction is subtle but significant.
Building an organization isn't an inherently evil thing to do, nor is it necessarily counterproductive to spiritual aims. Indeed, modernity gifted humans to become more efficient and effective in building organizations. Businesses, governments, and charities give us meaningful and productive work when they are better organized. There's nothing wrong with that. But building an organization is not the same as being a church, even if the aim of the organization is to do the work of Jesus.
Building an organization is an intoxicating substitute for being a church, because it allows us to work toward being a church without really being a church.

The pain of all this strikes church leaders especially hard. Deep down, not one of us believes the organization we serve is a true expression of authentic Christian community. Each of us thinks, "THIS is what Jesus gave his life for? No way!"

We are right to be suspicious. But we are also knee-deep in this pursuit of church and we find it easy to ignore the obvious sense of dis-ease that bugs us. After all, we attend seminars and conferences, we read books and go to school, we pray and fast, we develop our leadership and preaching skills—all to the aim of organizing the church so that it can express and grow the Kingdom of God. But we never get there. The organization gets tweaked, and sometimes overhauled. We try an array of programs, processes, personalities and powerfully alliterated points. But a real live church is still beyond our experience. We just cannot organize well enough to accomplish the goal of building a church. The best we will do is to build an organization that is well-structured, well-balanced, and well-aimed at being a church. But the organization will never be a church.

Whatever your definition of authentic church is, you know the congregation you serve is not there. Nor will it ever get there.

If not church, what is it? So what are these organizations we call "churches?" I have come to believe that there are three possible answers.

(1) Barriers. These organizations are barriers to church. The Bible is clear that all humans are created for the purpose being in communion with their Creator and fellow creatures. So when some hapless creature goes looking for communion in the most obvious of places (a church) and finds a group of people committed to building their religious organization on the backs and souls of spiritual seekers, the hapless creature goes away disappointed and disillusioned. Or worse, the creature assimilates and adopts the values and vision of the organization being built. Either way, the organization stands in the place and in the way of church.

(2) Non-players. These organizations are non-players, having little to do (positively or negatively) with church. Jesus is doing His work in and through people all around, and these so-called churches are not uniquely related to this work any more than are the public library, Little League, or Sears. The fact that some organization members are also participants in true church is merely coincidental.

(3) Catalysts. These organizations are catalysts for church. However, let us not mistake the catalyst for the community. At best, an organization can create communities of faith in which people live out Jesus-like lives and extend the reign of God. Organizations can equip these communities, can gather potential communicants together, and can facilitate the formation of authentic Christian community. But the organization is not the thing it is trying to form. It is a means, not the end.

The organization many of us have joined and even led is not really a church, but the organization might lead to "church."

How can we respond? What does all of this mean? I do not know if this means anything for you, or even if it should. This is my story, so all I can do is tell you four things it means for me.

First, I feel a great sense of relief. I can finally quit trying to make a tree into an apple, so to speak. The 501(c)3 not-for-profit religious organizations will not and do not have to become authentic Christian communities. Thank God! This shift in understanding means I don't have to get bent out of shape when a given congregation is filled with systems, values, behaviors, and people who are anything but the body of Jesus. I think many pastors might feel the same relief as they give up on making their congregation into a church—a task akin to climbing to the moon.

I am also relieved that Jesus is at work through channels other than local congregations. His Spirit is at work birthing churches in factories, neighborhoods, homes, support groups, chat rooms, and hospitals. These churches do not need to legitimize themselves by getting attached to a brick-and-mortar organization.

Third, I am not giving up on the local organization. I am now free to help these organizations produce churches rather than become churches. Any congregation is at once a mixture of all three possibilities: barrier, non-player, and catalyst. Some are such barriers, that there is little hope. Others are non-players to the extent that a new vision is needed. And some are catalysts that can ratchet up their church-producing efforts by modifying their organization and getting out of their own way. I can best serve congregations by working to diminish the barrier qualities, reveal the non-player qualities, and grow the catalyst qualities.

I think this is worthwhile work.

But more important than anything I do related to helping churches (again, a seductive replacement for being church) is the issue of who I am and who I am becoming. I desperately want to be part of an authentic Christian community more so than giving my energy to building a church. I am a young guy, but when I add up all of the hours, energy, books, prayers, and anxiety I have directed toward figuring out how to build a church, it is enormous, and it towers in comparison to the attention I have given to exploring and living out true Christian community.

Mine is a slow conversion.

For decades I have honored the local church as the hope of the world. Now, I have to learn how I and the community to which I belong can be this hope. As long as I shove that responsibility onto an organization, I will find the hope dimmed. The worship will never be engaging enough; the programs will never run smoothly enough; the small groups will always need some missing ingredient; too few, too many, or not the right kind of people will join the organization. And the organization will need me to fix it—and that's where my treasure will be.

Living out "church"So how can I start living out church? This seems to be an especially difficult task for a pastor. But I am going to give it a try. I'm starting by finding other Jesus followers who are interested in being church more than building church. I'm asking, "Who are the folks around me who might allow me to travel with them on their spiritual journey, and whom might we invite to travel with us?"

I am also attempting to be sensitive to where my loyalties are whenever I attempt to get someone to be a part of the congregation I serve. Do I have their best interest in mind, or do I simply want to build my organization? Do I hold out hope that they will experience and become part of a church, or are my aims less noble. These are tough questions, but leadership is a tough endeavor so I should expect no less.

Finally, I am looking beyond the congregation I serve to find, develop, and celebrate church where I see it. This means that my church might not be a part of the congregation I serve. And this also means that I must refuse to treat everyone in my congregation the same. Hopefully, some congregants will be a part of my church, but most won't. I'm going to deal with that fact and not refuse to experience church with some simply because I will never experience it with all.

If you're doubting that the local 501(c)3 is the hope of the world, here are some suggested next steps you might consider:
A Peculiar People by Rodney Clapp (InterVarsity Press, 1996): a great exploration of how Christians might live out our peculiar heritage in today's world.
The Gathered and Scattered Church by Eddie Hammett (Smyth and Helwys, 1999): how Christians are impacting the world by getting away from the church and how the organized church can facilitate this movement.
Chad Hall is lead pastor of Connection Church (or is it?) in Hickory, North Carolina, and he operates the website CoolChurches.com.

Here is an excellent article about spiritual transformation, leadership, organizational life and being the church. Do we ever reflect on how those four are connected? We need to spend a lot of time on that in these days because organizational skills, life, and demands are usurping the spiritual life of church leaders and thus the church as a whole. - David

http://www.christianitytoday.com/leaders/newsletter/2004/cln41025.html

I just read an article that reflects what is happening at Fairlawn-West. It is the same spirit and direction...and is most heartening to know that this same "spirit" is manifesting itself in other parts of the United Church of Christ after a long period of frustration with and criticism of the seeming liberal, secular norm that was being established in the guise of "church."

The article is in The Christian Century magazine and is about this year's annual meeting of the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC. Page 1 and Page 2. In learning about the author, Diana Butler Bass, on google, I found some other articles that relate to us in our journey over the past few years especially. She is the author of THE PRACTICING CONGREGATION: IMAGINING A NEW OLD CHURCH. Here is an index of what I found:

from US News & World Report - Religion in America: Pumping life into mainline Protestantism
from the Alban Institute - her chart of the differences between established and intentional congregations
from Religion & Ethics News Weekly - an interview with her about the emerging church
especially among mainline churches.
from the Washington Post - article about her study of the 50 most vital mainline, mid-size churches in America
site for her project - Project on Congregations of Intentional Practice
from Virginia Theological Seminary where she is on the faculty - her bio page with links to stuff she has written
a blog with great quotes, references and insight - of her stuff, especially faith, religion, nationalism
a review of her work - What Makes for a New Old Church?

The United Church of Christ General Synod a few weeks ago passed a resolution reaffirming the centrality of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in our past and in our present. This is a wonderful teaching tool and helpful resource in knowing about the roots of the UCC and what is at the center of what we believe and act upon today.

Reaffirming Jesus Christ as Our Lord and Savior and
Reaffirming Our Historic UCC Cross, Crown, & Orb with Motto Symbol

Here are some additional historical pieces and faith statements of who we are within the UCC.
What Is the UCC?
A Short History
We Share Testimonies of Faith, Not Required Statements as Tests of Faith in Jesus Christ

Last night we had a prayer vigil for the people of the Darfur region of the Sudan who are being eliminated through genocide at the rate of 400,000 in the last two years. Here are ways you can get more info and help to respond to this moral world tragedy.

Oxfam US
Reuters News background
SaveDarfur.org
A Public Christian Witness to the Need for Action in Darfur

You can keep up more closely with commentary by going to http://discipledavid.blogspot.com and http://readeachday.blogspot.com. Both provide commentary and links to other sites.