Tag Archives: membership

Road to Emmaus

08 Monday Jan 2018

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The story of the Road to Emmaus has been on my mind for several months now.  It’s an interesting story:

13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.

17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

19 “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

(Source:  Luke 24:13-35)

When I reflect on this passage of Scripture, I’m drawn in.  Not in the typical way though.  I’m drawn in because of what happens in the story – observing it from the outside and hearing what happens.  And hearing the call of Jesus for the church.

I hear five stages that I think apply to discipleship today.

Stage 1 – Initial encounter.  We read this in vs. 13-17.  The disciples were doing their thing and then Jesus comes and encounters them.  And not only that, engages with them, even though they don’t recognize him.  How is this any different that what we are called to as church – to bring Jesus, to be Jesus’ presence with others, even when they don’t recognize Jesus yet.  And to engage.  How do we as church do initial encounters with people?

Stage 2 – Visitors/Spectators. We read about this in vs. 18-27.  The disciples are engaged in conversation, but aren’t called to anything yet.  And Jesus goes a bit deeper.  He tells them what he is about.  And they watch and listen.  And he leaves it there for them to decide if they will move to the next step.  Will they move on towards discipleship or let Jesus slip through their fingers.  Do we do this in church?  We’re really good at allowing people to be spectators, but how about nudging people to further commitment?  Do we make being a spectator too easy?

Stage 3 – Deeper engagement/commitment/membership.  We read about this in vs. 28-29. They’ve heard and they want more.  But they don’t realize yet what that means.  What do we do as church to offer people the opportunity to go deeper even without knowing what that means for them.  Is membership just a simple thing where people sign up and then get lost in the mix of other members, or does it mean more?  Can it be a step on the path to discipleship?  What are we doing to engage people who have encountered Jesus and want more?  How are we helping them to that deeper commitment?

Stage 4 – Discipleship.  We read about this in vs. 30-32.  It’s in the breaking of the bread that Jesus reveals himself to the disciples.  Their hearts are on fire now.  They have encountered Jesus and it has changed their lives.  And they are ready to go and do, to serve, to proclaim, to make more disciples.  And it is at this point that they are ready to follow Jesus, the one who encounters and engages them.  And it is at this point that Jesus steps aside to free them to go and do.  Do we do this in our churches?  Or do we stop with membership?

Stage 5 – Leadership.  We read about this in vs. 33-35. The disciples are truly disciples, and they are now in the role of making more disciples, of starting the process over again with others.  They go and proclaim Jesus to others so that others can encounter Jesus, be intrigued, want more, engage with Jesus, and become his disciples so they can go out and spread the word and start the process over with others.  How do we do this in our churches? Are we creating an environment where people can not only encounter Jesus, but become disciples and equip them to go and make more disciples?

If a church have these five stages in place, I’m willing to bet it’s a church that is thriving, where hearts are on fire, where people want more Jesus because they see how lives are changing, where the lay people are leading the way in service, and where disciples are going out making more disciples.

Church “Membership”

26 Tuesday May 2015

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Over the course of this past year I have done a great deal of thinking about the decline of church membership both in the US and in Finland.  I’ve talked with a ton of people, gone to many different churches, attending various services, read plenty of articles and books, etc.

It’s really been quite a fascinating year and I’ve learned a great deal.  One of the things that keeps coming up is discussions about church membership decline.

I have to be honest, I’ve never been quite comfortable with the term.  Something seems a bit odd in the phrase “church membership decline.”  Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve probably come across a million articles about church membership decline.  You’ve probably seen people write about why it’s bad and why it’s good and everything in between.

I think I’ve pinpointed my issue with the phrase.  I think it’s the wrong focus.  Not in the usual sense though.  Understanding how the church and society is changing is important – I’m not dismissing that in any way.

My challenge with the term deals with one word in particular – “membership.”  Membership implies a few things.  It implies that there are those who are not members.  It implies that there are privileges.  It implies there are those on the inside and those on the outside.  To me, I hear country club, BJs, and a host of other organizations that are concerned with the numbers.

Church for me goes beyond the numbers.  It’s about people and God.  Church is a place where the world gets turned upside-down and at the same time, common.  It is a place of paradox and predictability.  It is a place of change and comfort.  It’s an organization, but so much more – a community.  A community of people who believe, have questions and doubt.  A community who accompanies one another in their times of struggle, pain and grief as well as in times of joy.  A community that is committed to one another and to God as opposed to being committed to making sure everyone has the “right” belief first.

Does church have members – sure.  Given the laws in the US, it’s a bit of a requirement that a church has to have some kind of rules of who the voting members are.  So often though I have heard churches spend a great deal of time focusing on membership rather than being church.  Then again, I’ve seen plenty of examples of churches who exude what it means to be church – these are healthy congregations.  They range in size and location.  They aren’t concerned with the numbers sitting in the pews and whether they are “growing” or “declining” but rather are they growing in Christ.

Maybe that’s the key – change the focus away from the numbers towards the relationship and reason why a church exists at all.

Why People Leave Church

15 Thursday Jan 2015

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It’s a question that many people within the church are asking. Why are people leaving the church?

There are many theories about the flight of people from church. Some people are more blunt in their assessment, like the author of this article. The author is very open with his opinion on why people are leaving, similar to a way a person would write to a long-time friend whose friendship is close to ending.

Others take different approaches to this challenge. My point here though is not to go through the different theories people posit about why people are leaving the church.

It’s easy to come up with theories about why something happens. I have my own theories about this as well, as I’m sure you do. I happen to believe that a good portion of the reason people leave church is because church is no longer relevant to the person.

Of course some people leave because they have been treated poorly or even abused. Some leave for smaller reasons – at least that’s what they say. It’s likely that the small reasons are actually just the tip of the iceberg – the part that shows itself.

Why people leaving the church is an interesting question. I imagine we continue to explore it because we think that if we find the answer, the magic bullet, then we will be able to stop people from walking out the door, or maybe even reverse the trend.

That’s all well and good, but we may want to consider a different question – Why do we focus our attention on why people are leaving the church? Membership and attendance are organizational metrics. They serve a purpose and are sometimes a valuable piece of information. But they are not the end-all-be-all. People come and go. They join and they leave.

What if we turned our attention to something else?   I don’t mean that we should be asking the opposite question – what can we do to get people in the door? That’s still focusing on the same thing as people leaving.

Instead, what if we focused our attention on answering these questions – Why does the church exist? What is the purpose of the church? What’s the mission of the church? I wonder what answers we would come up with to these questions.

It has been said that what we measure, we value. If we value the numbers of people in our churches, is that the right thing to value? Or should we place value on something else?

There are many answers to why people leave church. I would guess that some of the answer lies in seeing people in church as a piece of data instead of a person.

This is not to say that all churches are guilty of this. I wonder what would happen if we looked at those churches and learned who they were, not necessarily what they were doing. What do they value – or rather, who do they value? And how?

Measuring numbers is easy – they are concrete. Measuring intangibles is much more difficult. Is there a way to measure the intangibles? If you get creative there is. But it depends on the context. What you measure, what a church measures, tells everyone else what is important to them. It also tells others about the direction of the church, and if you dig in a bit, why the church exists.

Finnish approach to declining numbers

12 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by in Finland, Theology

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I read a great article in the Helsinki Times yesterday about the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland’s (ELCF) efforts to attract more members.

There’s a few things to take note of from this.

1.  The ELCF’s situation is different from the US in that the ELCF has a long-standing relationship with the government of Finland – as one pastor here told me, it’s a national church, no longer a state church.  However, the state has some legislative requirements on the church – like taking care of cemeteries for one thing.  The church is allowed to collect a tax, but has to pay the state to collect the tax.  There’s plenty of other differences that I don’t understand yet, but you get the idea – the situation is not the same as in the US.

2. Helsinki is a changing area – demographically, and I would say in terms of being more post-modern as well, even though the article doesn’t state this.  There is lots of change happening in Helsinki, especially since it is, what I would consider, a very international city – people here are from all over.  This causes a place to change.  It requires change in order to adapt to the population.

3. It’s good to hear that the church is attempting to respond to these changes instead of just digging in and saying “but that’s the way we have always done it.”  They may not have all the answers, but they are giving it a try.  They may not have identified all the challenges or problems either, but the mere fact that they acknowledge that the situation has changed and they must respond is a good thing in my humble opinion.

4. Questions the article left me with.  Is the ELCF going to reach out to other Lutheran churches in the world to see what they are doing in similar situations and even in non-similar situations?  Maybe they already are – that wasn’t the point of the article.  I’m curious how the church is engaging youth.  I know that confirmation camps are really popular here and well attended.  What else is going on that is working?  How is the church engaging people online?  I know of one pastor who created a fictional character to engage with people.  It seems to be working – he is asked all sorts of great questions that people care about – things that people in the culture are concerned with.

The article is well worth the read.  What observations do you take away from it?  I welcome your comments.