I suspect your comments were based on the OCW's statement:
"We must shed our Sunday morning, location-centered notion of encountering God, worshipping God, and serving God."
To my way of thinking, the point OCW's was trying to make in no way diminishes Sunday morning and its efficacy in bringing people to Jesus; rather, the hope is to challenge us to broaden our thinking around where we encounter, worship and serve God.
And while I believe in my answer (of course), I also wonder, are we coming to a point in time where what the urban/ suburban churches do to grow may no longer work for rural churches or churches in communities on the decline? Might it be enough for big city churches to focus on worship infused with decent preaching and traditional music, as a means of drawing people to Jesus? The Episcopal worship service, in my opinion, scales beautifully. The music at Epiphany sounds significantly better with a twenty-five person choir than it did with the eight person choir that was in the stalls when I arrived five years ago. At Epiphany we have around fifty people who participate in the mechanics of a Sunday morning service each week, and for each of those participants there is an average of two in the pew who come with them.
The demographic possibility that presents itself to churches in Seattle helps tremendously for growing churches. Once the growth starts for urban/suburban churches it is sustained through good adult formation and relevant, engaging youth formation. But in my experience, formation follows careful (though not idiosyncratic), joyful worship. As a church begins to scale, more employees are hired and more programming and projects are started, then sustained by the additional people who are now involved at the church. Parishioners inspired by their church take that inspiration out into the world, beyond their Sunday morning, and invite friends back to witness what they are experiencing. You see the ascending cycle. And here is the paradox: the bigger the church, the less likely the clergy will suffer burnout.
Now having said all of that, I am not sure how this works for rural churches and churches in declining communities. Is Sunday morning there the same portal that it is for urban/suburban churches? What are scalable models? What counts as success for a church? How is success measured? Can and should it be measured, and who does the measuring? Could it be that over time the Episcopal Church becomes only an urban/suburban church?
I believe, as does the entire team at OCW, that God is the point and the purpose. Encountering God, worshipping God, and serving God happen everywhere. This must be true and because this is true, we also know that God is more than just an Episcopalian. God’s joy, known through the person of Jesus, is not the exclusive purview of the Episcopal Church. God’s presence and relevance does not hinge on our existence anywhere, let alone in every community in America. So talk to me. What is working for you? How is Jesus being known and shared and loved in your church? Do you need a church to do this? What does it look like? Your voice and wisdom around success for the Episcopal Church in all communities of this Diocese matters. Lend your voice to the conversation.
Doyt+
And while I believe in my answer (of course), I also wonder, are we coming to a point in time where what the urban/ suburban churches do to grow may no longer work for rural churches or churches in communities on the decline? Might it be enough for big city churches to focus on worship infused with decent preaching and traditional music, as a means of drawing people to Jesus? The Episcopal worship service, in my opinion, scales beautifully. The music at Epiphany sounds significantly better with a twenty-five person choir than it did with the eight person choir that was in the stalls when I arrived five years ago. At Epiphany we have around fifty people who participate in the mechanics of a Sunday morning service each week, and for each of those participants there is an average of two in the pew who come with them.
The demographic possibility that presents itself to churches in Seattle helps tremendously for growing churches. Once the growth starts for urban/suburban churches it is sustained through good adult formation and relevant, engaging youth formation. But in my experience, formation follows careful (though not idiosyncratic), joyful worship. As a church begins to scale, more employees are hired and more programming and projects are started, then sustained by the additional people who are now involved at the church. Parishioners inspired by their church take that inspiration out into the world, beyond their Sunday morning, and invite friends back to witness what they are experiencing. You see the ascending cycle. And here is the paradox: the bigger the church, the less likely the clergy will suffer burnout.
Now having said all of that, I am not sure how this works for rural churches and churches in declining communities. Is Sunday morning there the same portal that it is for urban/suburban churches? What are scalable models? What counts as success for a church? How is success measured? Can and should it be measured, and who does the measuring? Could it be that over time the Episcopal Church becomes only an urban/suburban church?
I believe, as does the entire team at OCW, that God is the point and the purpose. Encountering God, worshipping God, and serving God happen everywhere. This must be true and because this is true, we also know that God is more than just an Episcopalian. God’s joy, known through the person of Jesus, is not the exclusive purview of the Episcopal Church. God’s presence and relevance does not hinge on our existence anywhere, let alone in every community in America. So talk to me. What is working for you? How is Jesus being known and shared and loved in your church? Do you need a church to do this? What does it look like? Your voice and wisdom around success for the Episcopal Church in all communities of this Diocese matters. Lend your voice to the conversation.
Doyt+
No comments:
Post a Comment