What Do You Think?
Moving Forward
Have you prayed for forgiveness? You may remember from my previous writings on discerning God's will, this is the first thing we must do after we have acted in God's name. This has nothing to do with the outcome of the vote. If we had voted on Sunday to purchase the property, I would have still begun this column with the same question. Have you prayed for forgiveness?
As I mentioned on Sunday, I am quite proud of our congregation's conversation on this difficult question. We had a good number of people invested in the question and they spoke graciously, for and against, particularly at the informational meetings. Likewise, there were no threats to "leave the church" or "stop giving". Everyone who spoke to me, privately and publicly, did so in a Christ-like manner. Nevertheless, I am told, we did have a few individuals, who were not as gracious and Christ-like, as they might have been. I don't want to dwell on this, because they are a relatively small group. However, I do hope they will search their hearts and seek forgiveness, not only from God, but from those they have hurt with their words or actions. For if they do not, their transgressions will only fester.
They are not alone in their need for forgiveness. The rest of us, especially me, have to look at our roll in the discernment process. Did we worship, pray, read the scriptures, and consult the teachings of the church, as faithfully as we ought? Did we speak truthfully? Did our exuberance or our fear impede the Spirit in any way? Did we lead faithfully? Did we trust God and those whom God has called to lead us? Did we discern God's will or did we form our own opinions? These are but a few of the questions I would have asked us to consider, no matter what action we had taken on Sunday. Reflecting humbly on the actions we have taken, as well as the process that brought us to the point of action, and asking God's forgiveness for "what we have done and what we have left undone" is, perhaps, the most important part of any discernment process.
As I mentioned on Sunday, I believe, for a number of reasons, our congregation made the right decision. Nevertheless, like many of the young families I have spoken with, I am disappointed we were not in a place to move forward with the purchase. While there were a number of valid concerns, formidable hurdles and a myriad of questions to be addressed, I still believe in the vision of addressing some of the accessibility/safety issues, as well as partnering with Starting Point to provide this necessary housing for single women in transition in our community. Nevertheless, whether, or not, we decide to move forward with this particular vision at some point in the future, I don't believe we are far from doing "something great for God". How do we get there?
While this is a larger question than a newsletter column will allow, I think the short answer is that we must become much more intentional in our efforts to be a
community of faith. Frequently, I hear from young families: "None of the older generation seems to care about us or our kids." Likewise, I hear from the older generation: "Why don't the young families do more to help around the church?" As your pastor, I am well aware there is a generational issue, but it is not what these two groups think. We do have a number of young families, faithfully, stepping up. We do have a number of older folk who care deeply about the children of our church. The problem is their paths don't always cross. This is why Sunday morning - worship, church school,
and the fellowship hour - are so important. The more intentional we are about being together on Sunday morning, and the more intentional we are about getting to know each other - young and old - the stronger our faith community will be.
Another growing edge for our congregation is in the area of our church finances. This issue here is more of a spiritual issue than an economic issue. In 2001, we received $126,894 in pledges. We received $18,602 in unpledged income. We reported giving $2,568 to Mission Projects. In 2011, we received $149,949 in pledges. We received $31,918 in unpledged income. We reported giving $16,354 to Mission Giving. These are "actual giving" numbers, not "budgeted" numbers.
In that time, we also successfully completed a major capital campaign. My point? Though our membership has declined, our "giving" to the general fund and to mission has increased over the past decade. This is good news. The bad news? We are still woefully behind our sisters and brothers at Heritage. Their per person giving last year was $1121. Our per person giving last year was $535. What are we to make of this information? I'm not sure. Without knowing what individual households give, it is hard for me to know exactly what is happening. However, in talking with a number of former treasurers, as well as many of our elder members, it seems we are continuing a trend that has been going on for generations. Some of our members are giving all that they can. Some of our members have the potential to do much more. Again, this is a spiritual issue rather than an economic one. If we can begin to address this, as a community of faith, we will be freer to do something "great for God" in the future.
There are others, but the last growing edge for our congregation I will mention is trust. I know the history. I understand why it is hard for our congregation to trust leadership, pastoral and lay. Having heard some of what many of our members have endured in their personal lives, I also understand why trust in God does not come easily for some. All I will say here is this. The more we can learn to trust God, and others, in our life together, the stronger we will be.
People of faith, as we seek to find our way forward, I commend those who could see we were not quite ready to do this "great thing for God." I commend, as well, all of those who put so much effort into researching the question and preparing the proposals. However, I would also commend all of us to prayerfully consider how we may help our congregation grow from this experience, that the next time we are given the chance to do "something great for God", we will be ready.
See you in church!
