"So what are you doing, exactly?" That's the question people keep asking about Outside Church Walls, the Steering Team group. It's a great question, one that we keep asking ourselves, in fact.
We've gotten together four times now, and it's taken us this long just to get to know each other and understand our mandate, "[to] engage the diocese in reaching out into our culture for information and connection, identify the future God is calling us into, interpret the future for the people who are here, and begin plotting the course that will take us there." That's a wide open mandate, and we've spent our first four meetings talking about various aspects of who we are, as individuals and as a group, and how we can go about accomplishing this work we've been asked to do.
So we ask lots of questions, wondering about the church as it is, and wondering what we might be called to be. We've also done some reading on how change happens in groups, since the last part of our mandate is to plot the course that will take us toward living the future God has called us into. We read a book called Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (you can order a copy from Amazon by clicking here: http://amzn.to/XnjGdz). We started wrestling with the content of that book last Friday, and we'll have more to say about it shortly here on the blog.
But the question at the heart of it all is this: What is the future God is calling us to, and how do we get there? That's not a question our committee can answer; it's a question that God is answering, and our diocese is listening for that answer. So we're going to keep writing about the questions we're asking, and invite you into the conversations we're having, both here on the blog, and in your parishes and communities. Our goal in all of this is to be as transparent as we can. We want to show you, through our blog, what we're thinking about; you have the answers we're listening for- our job is to articulate them together.
We've already started asking questions, through our survey online, which asks: What six words come to mind when you think of the word "church?" If you haven't already had a chance to answer it, you can do so by clicking here: http://bit.ly/15AaGXT. But more importantly, you can help us by inviting people who don't regularly attend church to answer it for us. The whole thing takes as long to fill out as it takes to type up to six words, and the more people that fill it out, the better our data will be.
And I'll add another question, which I hope you'll comment on below: when you think about your community (however you define it), what is it that first drew you to that community, and why did you stay?
Looking forward to continuing the conversation!
Blessings,
R.C. Laird
For an effort to learn from and reach those outside the walls it strikes me as odd that, with perhaps one exception, the Steering Team are all inside players.
ReplyDeleteHow about adding some members who really are outside the walls?
You bring up an important point regarding the composition of the team, one that we have known from the beginning. It is difficult to find true outsiders who 1) are willing to make the significant time commitment to an effort in an organization where they have no connection, and 2) know enough of the history and core values of our small piece of the church to operate effectively out of the gate.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there are ways to deal with both of the issues above, we are trying to insure input from true outsiders. Our first effort is this church survey, where we are keenly interested interested in the responses from outsiders.
We are continuing to look at how we can engage outsiders, and would welcome further ideas. Thank you for your interest, and your comment.
Hi Anonymous, You raise a good question, one that has also crossed my mind. It may very well be that further along we end up with those "outside the walls" with us. This process is an evolving one, and will take some time. It's not going to be finished this month or even this year; we're taking a long view.
ReplyDeleteI had the same question as Anonymous, but I also understand that forming a group such as this is going begin with insiders, and that an outsider doesn't have a reason to invest.
ReplyDeleteIt might be interesting to have someone who came to the Church later in life, to provide a contrast to those who had a religious upbringing.
A great point, we do indeed have at least one member that I can think of off the top of my head who did not have a religious upbringing
ReplyDeleteRobert
What a great project. I was so happy to have been able to submit my six words! I am relatively new to Washington and have only a few friends here who are outside the church, otherwise I would be sharing this survey on Facebook and Twitter. But I realize this is a Diocesan initiative, and so local voices are important.
ReplyDeleteFor what it is worth, I fall into the category of having left church at a youngish age to categorize myself as "spiritual but not religious." I grew up in the Bible Belt, where many of my friends made the same decision. I differ somewhat from most of my peers in that I returned in my mid-30s and have since been highly involved in my various churches in Florida, New York and now here in Washington. I also work in marketing, and I see great value in having as many people on the "inside" of a project like this who have had the personal experience of whatever it is that has kept them on the "outside" of the church walls, so to speak.
In this time in our society, there is indeed much that God is calling us to do. I think one of the things that our episcopal church in particular struggles with is what are we doing that is relavent to the folks outside of our church? Our church is steeped in mysterious liturgy that is deep, meaningful and perhaps a bit hard to access as a newcomer. It's kind of like reading Shakespeare in that it takes a while to even understand the message.
ReplyDeleteWe are supposed to spread the gospel, feed the poor, and love the unloved... that is true, but what exactly does that mean? How would I use it at work? At the mall? Does it change the way I vote? Does it change the schools I send my children to? How I drive on the freeway? We seem to be very afraid of having that conversation with others, and I suspect it leaves many mystified.
I know many who use the phrase, "I"m spiritual, but not religious", (I work at a college after all) and I think we need to listen and explore that phrase very carefully. By finding out what being "not religious" means, we might figure out a great deal about how being religious is perceived. This might be a good question to explore next. What do you think?
Here's another crazy idea.... in my business we do a thing called usability studies, where we advertise to people on the streets, and ask them to come in and look at web sites. We pay them for their time with no expectation of further interaction, and in exchange they agree to give us candid reactions to what they thought the message was. They just give us their impressions of us, and nothing more. Should we do usability studies in churches throughout the diocese ... just a thought...
Elizabeth, thanks for your response, and welcome (somewhat belatedly) to Washington!
ReplyDeleteDave, there's a great deal of information about how people view being "spiritual" vs being "religious." The first is often understood as an authentic internal connection with the divine. The latter is currently associated with the institution of church, buildings and hierarchies, with the culture wars and with scandals.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting notion - usability studies. Would you be willing to talk with one of us about that a little more?
And to answer RC's question...
ReplyDeleteI came to the Church when I was in my 40s. What initially drew me to the first church community was the simple fact that it was community, in which I already knew a few of the people. I stayed because I liked the liturgy and came to feel more a part of the community. But learning a specified doctrine wasn't high up on my list, and a doctrine that focused on "who's in, who's out" would have driven me away. It seems that I have found a place to live into and explore my spirituality, ill-formed as it was at the time, and probably still is.
So, when I read, "belong, behave, believe" in Diana Butler-Bass' book "Christianity After Religion," it really struck a chord.
@Greg: Yes, I'd be happy to talk with you (or anyone else) about usability studies. I'm not 100% sure they would work given this context, but I think it would be worth a try.
ReplyDeleteRegarding spiritual vs. religious... that's a a pretty interesting... it will be interesting to see if the survey responses bear this out. Any data on percentages of people that fall into this category (vs. not spiritual or religous). In my crowd this seems to cover most people, but I wonder if that is true or just my crowd?
Dave,
ReplyDeleteI have some data on spiritual vs religious, but I can't find it at the moment. I'll try to scare it up.
Regarding the US, why don't you contact me via our group email, and we'll discuss that further: Olympiasteering@gmail.com.
Thanks!
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ReplyDeletethis topic? I'd be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Cheers!
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