Bob Naylor: Returning to a Tent Ecclesiology - Church Buildings and Declining Memberships
A Word to Immovable Christians - It's Time for a Tent Theology - Ecclesiology Again
We recently relocated. The move was a catalyst for a moment of reflection on the places I have lived. Noble St., Buttonwood St., James St., Breeze Hill Rd., Silcam Dr., Spruce Hills., Higate Lane, Woodside Circle, Maple Ave., Gloucester Rd., Falmouth Rd. - these are the streets where I have lived! The places I have called home are many - Norristown, PA; Lancaster, PA; Danbury, CT; Lewisburg, PA; Fairfield, CT; Simsbury, CT; Greenwich, CT; Hilton Head, SC; Mashpee, MA. My parish and national staff ministries were lengthy....houses in the same community were changed. Where is my home? From birth until the present I have lived in 11 houses. I have been deeply involved in 7 hometown communities. I had significant community longevity - 21, 10, 14, 7, 10 years. But I had to leave the security and comfort of the familiar for new adventures.
A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.
8 _ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going._ 9_ By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise._
20 Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
As I mused on the places I have called home, I remembered these passages from Scripture, and the realities of many of our churches - I could give you numerous statistical data on the state of many struggling churches -, a few foundational thoughts on local church vitality came to mind.
Many Christians are stuck with a theology and ecclesiology of immovability. Immovability runs counter to the foundational truth of our Judeo-Christian heritage. We are wanderers, like Abraham and Sarah and Jesus. We move out chasing the new adventures in seeking and building the realm of God. We live in temporary tents along the way. It is on the journey that we find tastes of God's realm. This "settler" - "stay put" belief directly effects the vitality of our local church ministries.
Church members are often more committed to past ministry programs and historic buildings than to the journey and the call of the adventuresome God. This stifles our ability to bring new ways of proclaiming the Gospel for new days.
Along with an openness to new and fresh ministry programs, we are choking Christ's ministry and mission because many of our churches have structures that suffocate and repress the empowering of our ministry with enormous maintenance costs. Our ability to hire creative leadership, develop dynamic worship, spiritual development, and outreach witness ministries is smothered by having miniscule financial resources left after for building maintenance. This reality is particularly true for most "mainline" churches that have buildings that date back to the 19th and early 20th century. In one of the churches I served the maintenance costs required $300,000 for buildings and grounds before any staff or program or wider mission dollars could be allotted.
In many parts of the country because of a lengthy community history "mainline" denominational churches have over populated towns and cities. 100 and 200 years ago with the torpid speed of transportation and limited roads and bridges, churches sprung up within a small radius of each other. Thus was born the circuit rider preacher. Also, the history of many churches is filled with theological and interpersonal disagreements which led to new churches created by disgruntled members which were in close proximity to a former church.
Church leaders often see endowment funds as a stop gap measure to keep the building maintained while waiting for a turnaround rather than seeing them as a resource for creative ministry.
Downtown / urban / small membership church leadership often fail to analyze the community surrounding the church in an effort to shape its ministry in light of the community's spiritual and outreach needs.
Church future envisioning plans are perilously too short term. While 3-4 year planning and goal setting is a positive step in strengthening the witness of the church, an honest and candid 10-20 year view of cultural and local demographics as well as the church's spiritual and financial health is positively essential.
In these challenging times of ministry many mainline churches fail to address these realities and in doing so jeopardize the long term health of their ministry. The component parts of the equation are " church maintenance cost + an unwillingness to let go of the past and think outside the box for the future + too many churches of a similar theological viewpoint in close proximity + a settler / immoveable mindset = the long term death of a church.
There are some avenues to renew the vitality of these immoveable Christian / settler mentality churches.
Have a serious theological reflection on the journeying nature of our Judeo-Christian ancestry. Return to the "real" good-old-days when the tent was the worship and community gathering structure of the faithful. Reflect upon faith being a pioneer (Hebrews proclaims Jesus was the pioneer and perfector of the faith.) rather than settler community of faith.
Implement a serious discussion about the long term - 10-20 years - realities of and challenges to the church's ministry.
Discard the notion of seeing the church as a building rather than a community of believers. Remember that for many of us the geography of home changes many times in our lifetime.
Study the geographic placement of churches of the same denomination or similar theological ilk. In light of the long term realities consider discussing with those churches a shared approach to ministry. Shared ministry, union and federated churches of the same and similar denominations have been a model for ministry for a long time. At the appropriate time be open to the discussion of "whose" or "new" building will become the physical church home.
Consider endowment funds not purely for building maintenance until we "die" but also as a creative program funding resource that may bring increased vitality and renewal to the church. Spend the last dollar on faithful and joyful ministry rather than funeral expenses.
Consider new, less expensive overhead places for gathering as church......rental spaces, houses, storefronts, unoccupied business or factory space, schools. If the structure you call your church home is strangling its ministry and you decide to seek a new home, consider what physical objects, symbols have deep meaning and give identify to the church. Think creatively how they could be used in the new church home.
Consider times of ordained ministerial transition as opportunities to examine shared ministry possibilities.
If the merging of the community of faith and the selling of one of the buildings consider ways a portion of the money received could be used for the welfare of those in greatest need or creative ministry opportunities.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to help in the discernment process and to free you and others from an immoveable Christian theology and ecclesiology.
To use the Biblical tent image, in our lives almost all of us will pull up stakes several times and move to a new place that we will eventually, sometimes reluctantly, call home. As we journey on through life we will cherish important spiritual landmarks from each of our homes. Let it be so with our church homes. How quickly we forget the innocent theology of a children's song - "I Am the Church, You Are the Church": "The church is not a building; the church is not a steeple; the church is not a resting place; the church is a people." Let us be the people with the Spirit of the journeying Abraham and Sarah and of Jesus, the pioneer of the faith whose home was where his ministry was most needed.