Newsletter Article - June 2010 "Will your congregation survive?"

Will your congregation survive?

At the Greater Long Beach Conference Assembly, our Bishop Dean Nelson and the Synod staff spoke on the topic: “Will your congregation survive?” He shared a document which listed 13 trends in this increasingly dynamic society that are affecting the Church. (For the document the bishop shared, see this link: http://www.lifelongfaith.com/faithformation2020.htm)
The reality is that for the last few decades, participation in the Church in the U.S. (including the ELCA) has been on a steady decline. According to the document, “In 1990 about 20.6% of the U.S. population was in church on any given weekend, today only 17.3% are in worship.” Going to church has gone from a majority to a minority activity. The Bishop and the Synod staff described the need for the Church to do new things to respond to these changing trends, to explore ways we are called to be the Church in the 21st Century, and ways people are engaged in this in our Synod.
In the book “Living Lutheran: Renewing your Congregation,” Dave Daubert addresses the reality of Church decline and the Church’s move from the center to the fringe of society: “I see the world as changing and the church as having stood still too long. We have not been pushed to the side. We have taken our role as the church for granted for so long that the world has changed and passed us by. We have pretended that we could stand still and keep up with God and the world. We now find out that we can’t. A changing world demands a changing church.” In a review of the ELCA evangelism strategy, the congregations that were vibrant and growing and had a real impact were almost always clear about two things: “First, they were clear about their purpose or their vision for ministry. They had an understanding of what God was doing and how they could be a part of that…Second, these vibrant congregations showed an openness to change in order to be faithful. ‘We’ve never done it that way before,’ was replaced with, ‘What do we need to do to be effective for God?’”
As we reflect upon the steady decline in the broader Church, in the ELCA, in this Synod and here at Trinity, it may be discouraging. But let us not forget that ragtag band of disciples who after Jesus was killed. It had seemed that all hope was lost and the future of the Church uncertain. They didn’t know what to do. But then Pentecost came. The Holy Spirit came just as Jesus had promised. “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. (Acts 2:2)” And throughout Acts we see that the beginning of the Church. The Church began with this fearful and quite human group of disciples, but by being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, they were called out, outside their comfort zone and beyond their prejudices, to do the work of Jesus, and indeed “greater works (John 14:12).” The Holy Spirit guided them to places thought foreign, and to speak languages they didn’t even know.
This may be an uncertain time for the Church, but I believe the Holy Spirit is at work just as in the book of Acts, doing a new thing, and calling us out into the world. May this Holy Spirit bring us out of our comfort zones, and open our eyes to a new vision and our hearts to new ways of being Church, of serving, ministering, loving, working, and living. Amen.

Pastor Josh Ebener