Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Photo Credit: Simple Church
The Bright Promise of Alternative Faith Communities by Ann A. Michel A new type of congregation is emerging that combines religious practice with a distinctive element of local culture or community identity, such as artistic expression, missional engagement, table fellowship, or nature. Researchers Tim Shapiro and Kara Faris studied the key characteristics of these alternative faith communities in their book Divergent Church.
Convergence, a worshiping community in Virginia, focuses on the yearning to connect spirituality with artistic and dramatic expression. The Wild Goose congregation in Floyd, Virginia, is centered around Appalachian culture, particularly its music. Simple Church in Grafton, Massachusetts, embraces baking and breaking bread as essential to the life of its community. For Church in the Square in Dallas, Texas, its life as a worshipping community is deeply entwined with its solidarity with the homeless and mentally ill.
These unique, radically contextualized ways of being church cannot be easily replicated in different contexts. But their stories are an invitation to consider new and distinctive expressions of essential religious beliefs.
Tim Shapiro and Kara Faris attach a name to this type of religious community — divergent church. Their recent book, Divergent Church: The Bright Promise of Alternative Faith Communities (Abingdon Press, 2017) examines the emergence of a new type of congregation that expresses tried and true religious practices in creative ways. A key characteristic of the 13 congregations they studied was the “church plus” factor. The authors explain that “divergent congregations juxtapose their expression of the Gospel with some aspect of their culture that matters deeply to the faith community.” This concern or interest doesn’t just augment their spiritual focus. It is fully integrated into their very way of being church.A key idea shared by the divergent churches profiled in the book is that faith community is about a way of being, rather than about a doctrine or denomination. Accordingly, Divergent Church gives much attention to a set of practices that define and give meaning to these alternative expressions of church — the practices of building community, engaging in conversation, expressing oneself artistically, sharing meals, reaching out to the broader community, and extending hospitality. While these practices are found in traditional faith communities as well, in divergent churches they are “brought to life with a twist or an addition.” For example, Simple Church breaks bread in multiple ways, not just at the communion table or in the fellowship hall.
Inescapably, these novel faith communities push against traditional ecclesiological understandings. Shapiro and Farris review the question of what constitutes a church from the legal, sociological, and theological perspective. But ultimately, the question isn’t whether these new ways of congregating fit into traditional definitions of church, but rather how they might expand the horizons of how we define and experience church.
At the end of the day, the book affirms the creativity of the divergent churches, their ability to connect with people unlikely to be attracted to more traditional expressions of church, and perhaps most importantly their willingness to take risks for the sake of authentic community and honest encounter with the divine in everyday life.
The authors caution that these unique, radically contextualized ways of being church cannot be easily replicated in different contexts. But their stories are an invitation to consider new and distinctive expressions of essential religious beliefs. They invite us to consider what creates religious meaning within our communities and how that might be expressed more authentically and creatively through novel practices. If nothing else, the authors conclude that the presence of divergent churches is a summons to loosen up, experiment, and innovate.
Divergent Church: The Bright Promise of Alternative Faith Communities (Abingdon Press, 2017) by Tim Shapiro and Kara Faris is available at Cokesbury and Amazon.
Related Resources:
- “Divergent Church,” a Leading Ideas Talks podcast episode featuring Tim Shapiro and Kara Faris
- “PCUSA faith community takes flight, celebrating Appalachian music and culture.” Faith and Leadership. May 15, 2018.
- Networks and Third Places are Today’s Mission Field by Ken Carter and Audrey Warren
- “The Possibilities of Fresh Expressions,” a Leading Ideas Talks podcast episode featuring Ken Carter and Audrey Warren
- Congregational Revitalization New Church Starts Reach New Disciples Taking Church to the Community
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Does your church have the "church plus" factor? Lewis Center Director Doug Powe speaks with Tim Shapiro and Kara Faris about their book Divergent Church. They examine innovative, alternative faith communities that combine religious practice with a "church plus" factor -- a dedicated focus on some unique aspect of their church's cultural DNA like gardening, table fellowship, artistic expression, and more.
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4 Tips for Experimenting with Change This Summer by Doug Powe
Lewis Center Director F. Douglas Powe says that the summer is the perfect time for a congregation to test possible changes through short-term experiments. He offers four considerations to guide an experimental approach to implementing new ideas.
Episode 14
Photo Credit: Wild Goose Christian Community
Leading Ideas Talks Podcast: "Divergent Church"Does your church have the "church plus" factor? Lewis Center Director Doug Powe speaks with Tim Shapiro and Kara Faris about their book Divergent Church. They examine innovative, alternative faith communities that combine religious practice with a "church plus" factor -- a dedicated focus on some unique aspect of their church's cultural DNA like gardening, table fellowship, artistic expression, and more.
Listen now.
Lewis Center Director F. Douglas Powe says that the summer is the perfect time for a congregation to test possible changes through short-term experiments. He offers four considerations to guide an experimental approach to implementing new ideas.
An experiment is where you get to test something out. You go into it knowing that the results may not be what you expected. Many congregations struggle to do new things because they get shot down or folks are stuck in a malaise.
The summer is a time when things typically slow down in congregations. There is often a drop in attendance and giving. It is a perfect time to try an experiment. Here are four things to keep in mind when doing an experiment.
The truth is, many of the things we hold dear in our congregations started out as an experiment, even if no one called it that. People liked it and kept doing it and it became a tradition.
1. Think short termPeople fear doing new things because of what they might be required to give up. The value of initiating a change with a trial period is that it includes definite starting and ending points. Those who are afraid they will lose their favorite style of music or worship know a change is not forever. The truth is that many of the things we hold dear in our congregations started out as an experiment even if no one called it that. People liked it and kept doing it and it became a tradition. It’s not easy to go against things that have become established traditions, but starting with a limited time frame minimizes resistance and creates a better opportunity for others to buy into the change.
2. Plan well
Taking an experimental approach to change is no excuse for failing to think things through. In fact, it’s even more important to plan well. If, for example, the goal is to try a different, more relaxed form of worship, a team really needs to think through what that means and how it will function. Too often, we approach new things by cutting from what we already do without actually planning something different — for example, simply cutting the hymns and the anthems and calling it an alternative worship. While this is an alternative to the standard worship experience, it is not a well-planned, comprehensive worship experiment impacting all the components of the community’s time together. We often settle for the former, but we should be more intentional about doing the latter.
3. Adjust as you go
If I start a workout regime of running, and every day for the first week I lose steam half a mile from the finish, I may need to adjust my distance expectations and work my way up to my goal over time. The same principle applies to experiments in our congregations. If we’re not able to get where we want to go immediately, or if something is not quite working as we intended, small adjustments may be necessary. It can be tricky to make midstream adjustments; it may be that the experiment simply wasn’t given enough time to succeed in its original format. But still, adjustment should be considered a part of what it means to experiment.
4. Evaluate
When the experiment comes to an end, it’s important to evaluate the process and the product. Evaluating can be painful because it invites criticism, but it is a very necessary step. Often, we evaluate the outcome, but forget to evaluate the process that produced the result. By evaluating both we can learn if we had the right people at the table and if we got the results we were seeking.
This summer is a perfect time to try an experiment and do something new. It can allow you to determine if an idea is really viable or if just a few people think it will work. But to learn the most from an experiment, it’s important to plan well, make adjustments, and evaluate the process and the product.
Related Resources:
- Use Trial Periods for New Ideas by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
- Learning to Fail Fast by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
- 3 Suggestions When a Ministry Project is Unsuccessful by Vincent W. Howell
- Change Leadership Summer
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The Right Question: Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
When considering launching a new ministry, use the questions Tony Morgan suggests:
- Do we know what type of good fruit we expect?
- If so, will the new ministry produce it?
The Lewis Center is the home of the Wesley Ministry Network -- insightful video-based ecumenical studies that encourage energetic discussion and personal reflection. Ideal for your congregation's small groups, adult Bible studies, and Sunday School classes, courses include video lessons, leader's guides, participant's guides, and more.
Learn more and order now.
Churches can no longer open their doors and expect that people will come in. Effective congregations go into the world to encounter those in need of the gospel. "50 Ways to Take Church to the Community"provides tips on reaching beyond the walls of your church with worship, community events, ministries, and service.
Churches can no longer open their doors and expect that people will come in. Effective congregations go into the world to encounter those in need of the gospel. These 50 Ways provide tips on reaching beyond the walls of your church with worship, community events, ministries, and service.
Embrace an expansive concept of community
1. Learn to regard your community as an extension of your congregation. A church’s mission field goes beyond its membership to include all the people God calls it to serve. You are connected to individuals who never set foot in your building.
2. Know that what’s happening within the church — preaching, worship, music, Bible study — is no longer enough to attract people in an age when church attendance is no longer a cultural expectation.
3. Don’t sit in your church building waiting for people to come. Be prepared to meet people where they are.
Prepare spiritually
4. Acknowledge the synergy between the Great Commandment in Matthew 22 (love your neighbor as yourself) and the Great Commission in Matthew 28 (go and make disciples). Evangelistic outreach expresses our love of others.
5. Remember that Jesus primarily engaged people through everyday encounters, rather than in the Temple or synagogues. He fed people, met their everyday needs, and enjoyed the fellowship of others.
6. Express love and compassion for your community in big and small ways. Avoid judgmentalism.
7. Pray regularly for your neighbors and lift up community concerns.
8. Attend to the faith formation of existing members. Willingness to share faith and reach out to others develops as one grows in faith and discipleship.
9. Prepare spiritually for the transformation that creative, risk-taking outreach will bring.
Get to know the community surrounding your church
10. Review demographic data from public, private, and denominational sources, but don’t assume that statistics alone will tell the whole story.
11. Get out in your neighborhood. Walk the streets. Map the area, and record your observations. Note how the community is changing.
12. Assess community needs and assets. What are the needs of your context? Who are your neighbors, and how can you serve them?
13. Be attuned to where God is already at work in your community.
Listen and learn
14. Know that ministries that truly bless a community often arise out of conversations where you listen for the hopes and dreams of people in your community.
15. Interview residents of the community. Sit in a park, diner, or coffee house. Ask simply, “What are your challenges, hopes, longings and dreams?”
16. Get to know the major public officials. They are people with tremendous influence. They need to know of your church’s commitment to the community.
17. Involve many people from your church in this work. Hold one another accountable to the tasks of engaging and learning from others.
18. Discern clusters of issues and concerns that arise from these conversations. Ask what issues, suffering, injustices, or brokenness might you address.
Build authentic relationships
19. Strive for meaningful engagement with others, not superficial gestures.
20. Make sure you are reaching out to people for the right reasons. If your motive is simply to get them to come to church, people will see right through to it.
21. Maintain appropriate boundaries, and respect all with whom you engage.
22. Collaborate with others who are also passionate about the community. Don’t reinvent the wheel if you can partner with someone else serving the community.
Turn your existing ministries outward
23. Challenge each church group with an inside focus to find a way to become involved with the community outside the church. A choir might sing at a nursing home, or trustees could sponsor a neighborhood clean-up.
24. Extend recruiting and advertising for church groups and events to audiences beyond your congregation. For example, recruit for choir members in a local paper or community list serve.
25. Build relationships with those taking part in existing programs that serve the community, such as ELS classes, food pantry or clothes bank users, daycare families, etc.
Reach out through community events
26. Plan “bridge events” designed explicitly to draw people from the community by providing for them something they need or enjoy — block parties, free concerts, seasonal events, parenting classes, sports camps, or school supply giveaways, etc. Source: Get Their Name by Bob Farr, Doug Anderson, and Kay Kotan (Abingdon Press, 2013)
27. Hold these events off church property or outside the church walls in venues where people feel comfortable and naturally congregate.
Get the word out through a well-planned publicity campaign.
28. Encourage church members to invite their friends and neighbors. It is less threatening for them to invite someone to a community event than to worship.
29. Avoid explicitly religious themes: no preaching, prayers, pressure, or financial appeals that might turn people off or reinforce negative stereotypes about church.
30.Remember, the event itself is not the purpose. The purpose is to meet people where they are and build relationships. Mingle. Get to know people.
31. Have a well-trained hospitality team. Make sure guests are enjoying themselves and know their attendance is appreciated.
Gathering people’s names and information about them will permit follow up to those for whom it is appropriate.
32. Invite those who attend community events to another event — sometimes called a “hand off event” — planned to draw them into a deeper relationship.
33. Extend your congregation’s spiritual presence beyond church walls
34. Recognize that many “unchurched” people are spiritually inclined but apprehensive about attending church because they feel unwelcome, distrust institutions, or have been hurt in the past.
35.Pay attention to the heightened receptiveness to spiritual engagement around religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas.
36. Offer offsite worship services on special days, such as Christmas Eve, Palm Sunday, and Easter. Select familiar venues where people feel comfortable — parks, restaurants, parking lots, coffee houses.
37. Offer imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday in public places.
38. Partner with other institutions (such as nursing homes, hospitals, or prisons) or commercial establishments (restaurants, bars, shopping centers, or sports facilities) to offer worship services to their constituents or clientele on special days.
39. Plan creative outdoor events, such as live nativities or “blessing of the animals” services, to help make your church visibly present to the community in creative ways.
40. Hold your Vacation Bible School in a local park or recreation center. Canvas nearby neighborhoods to invite families.
41. Reach out to local media. Community outreach is often newsworthy, and reporters are often looking for religiously themed stories around the holidays.
42.Connect spiritual outreach to community service
43. Acknowledge that many served through feeding and clothing ministries, justice ministries, weekday children’s services, and other ministries of community service have no other connections with our churches.
44. Ask if these ministries inadvertently convey an “us and them” attitude or communicate that “you are not worthy of joining us.”
45. Identify aspects of church life, such as characteristics of the building or how people dress, that may make some feel unwelcome. Are there alternatives that may reduce barriers for some to enter?
46. Treat everyone as a person of dignity who deserves respect.
47. Extend genuine hospitality to those you serve.
48. Focus first on building relationships of understanding and trust.
49. Consider adding a spiritual or discipleship element to community service activities but without any sense of expectation or requirement. For example, have a service or study following ESL classes for any interested.
50. Seek to conduct each activity in a way that connects people to God and the church.
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Quotable Leadership: The overabundance of process in most organizations suffocates the sparks that drive innovation: creativity, inquiry, and risk taking. (Lisa Bodell)
Many Christians tend to oversimplify the essence of scripture's teaching with regard to money in such statements as "Christians must tithe" or "the faithful will prosper." But neither maxim accurately reflects the Bible's message. Drawing on the work of New Testament scholar Ben Witherington, To the Point: What about Tithing and the Prosperity Gospel?outlines a more nuanced, holistic, and contextually informed understanding of faith and money.
Putting Things in Context
The tendency to pluck a single Bible text out of context and universalize its meaning has distorted beliefs about money and possessions, according to Witherington. He counters this selective misuse of scripture by applying three contextual lenses. The first is the canonical context. Recognizing that scripture is not monolithic, one must honor the diversity of perspectives within the biblical witness.
The second lens he uses is understanding how the economic world of antiquity, based primarily on barter, differed significantly from that of today. “It was entirely possible for an ancient person to be prosperous and well-off while having little or no money at all,” writes Witherington. “Money in antiquity was always produced and managed exclusively by the elite members of society.” Additionally, while the individual is the primary economic actor in free-market capitalism, one’s livelihood was more a communal matter in biblical times.
Finally, it is important to understand that the Bible’s scriptural injunctions regarding wealth are situation specific. The book of Proverbs, for example, addresses a social setting of relative prosperity. It matters greatly whether Jesus is speaking to a rich young ruler or of a poor widow. The meaning of different teachings must be considered in light of the economic situation of the original audience.
From Tithing to Sacrificial Giving
Witherington flatly rejects the notion that Christians are required to tithe, arguing that the biblical mandate of tithing is no more binding on Christians than other aspects of Levitical law. Moreover, emphasizing tithing can promote the errant notion that a tithe fulfills one’s obligation to God, allowing one to do as one pleases with the remaining ninety percent. This flies in the face of the biblical verity that everything belongs to God. While the practice of tithing can serve as a symbolic reminder of God’s claim on our lives, sacrificial giving, not tithing, is the ultimate standard of Christian giving.
From Prosperity Gospel to a Gospel for the Prosperous
Jesus and Money rejects the “prosperity gospel,” which regards wealth as a sign of God’s blessing and a reward to the faithful, as without biblical foundation. “It is perhaps one of the greatest tragic ironies imaginable that the teaching of Jesus has been used by affluent modern Christians to justify the lifestyles of the rich and famous,” concludes Witherington. His critique is not only applicable to those who preach a prosperity gospel explicitly, but also to those who live the prosperity gospel while giving lip service to a different theological perspective.
But Witherington cautions equally against the opposite extreme — the notion that the Christian life requires asceticism or the renunciation of all wealth and possessions. He advances a measured, common-sense view of money that does not regard wealth as inherently evil nor poverty as a desired state.
Yet this shades-of-gray interpretation of scripture does not let anyone off the hook — especially prosperous American Christians. Witherington sets forth a number of principles for deprogramming ourselves from a lifestyle of conspicuous consumption and self-gratification. He calls on Christians to examine their discretionary spending, to learn to distinguish between needs and wants, to guard against wastefulness and unsustainable practices, to become more critical in assessing the underpinning of the capitalist economy, and to reevaluate debt and credit practices, both individually and collectively as a nation.
He also suggests that the practice of “making money now so one can live in luxury and idleness later is not a Christian motivation.” Even in retirement, one’s time and resources should continue to be devoted to significant ministry through serving and giving.
Dr. Ann A. Michel is associate director of the Lewis Center and lecturer in church leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary where she teaches stewardship classes.
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Now Available -- "Protect, Sustain, Grow: Best Practices for Handling Your Church's Money" Video Tool Kit
Managing church finances requires skill, dedication, and know-how, but also the heart of a steward. Protect, Sustain, Grow: Best Practices for Handling Your Church's Money provides practical advice, best practices, and resources for pastors, finance committee members, church treasurers, financial secretaries, and bookkeepers -- all those charged with the sacred trust of protecting, sustaining, and growing the resources God has entrusted to your church.
Learn more and watch an introductory video.
Managing church finances requires skill, dedication, and know-how, but also the heart of a steward. Protect, Sustain, Grow: Best Practices for Handling Your Church's Money provides practical advice, best practices, and resources for pastors, finance committee members, church treasurers, financial secretaries, and bookkeepers -- all those charged with the sacred trust of protecting, sustaining, and growing the resources God has entrusted to your church.
Learn more and watch an introductory video.
Editor: Dr. Ann A. Michel
Copyright © 2004-2018 Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
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