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During St. Thomas' recent Church Assessment Tool (CAT) work from Holy Cow Consulting our congregation had 210 responses which is about 2/3 of our average attendance. Holy Cow considered this to be a very strong response. One of the assessments is how members see their commitment and energy through a number of questions. St. Thomas came out as a High Energy/ High Satisfaction congregation with our scores compared to other churches rating us in the upper right hand quadrant. So what does this mean? (see followup below the image...)  This makes us a transformational system- in other words we are leading people into a transformational relationship with Christ. From Russel Crabtree's book Owl Sight; "Transformational systems have very different strategic and leadership needs. There positive morale and organizational capacities place a stewardship responsibility upon their shoulders: "From everyone who has been given much, much more will be asked" (Luke 12:48). As member satisfaction reaches 70 percent and energy reaches 85 percent, these churches cross a transformational threshold where strategic initiatives for mentoring, church planting, cataloguing of best practices and succession planning must be considered. I call this leadership style the fieldmarshal, because it requires optimizing a large array of strategic resources. while recovery churches are often seeking expertise, the expertise in transformational churches is often unconscious with in the system and leaders will need to bring their (the congregation) competence to consciousness before it can be shared.
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“Love as a redemptive impulse is primary to the gospel and is irreplaceable as motivation. Clearly without love, our spiritual pockets are empty no matter how smart we are. But Paul sees knowledge and insight as the necessary conditions required if love is to abound.” J. Russell Crabtree
Thanks to all who participated in the recent survey work from Holy Cow. This important tool called a “Congregational Assessment Tool” or CAT is one way for our leadership and all of us to assess how we are doing as a congregation. This tool is based on something called “organizational intelligence” or OI. The idea is that the more we know the “why” and the “who,” the better we can go about the ministry we are called to be doing. We used the same tool about four years ago after we had finished our capital project and were ready for the next steps. What was said? To sum up in a very short sentence, “I (we) love St. Thomas.” We again came out in the high energy and high commitment quadrant. What that means is that we have continued to maintain our ministry and leadership edge over the last four years. Now let me be clear—this is not a “Pollyanna-ish” look in the mirror! When we said we love St. Thomas, we as a body meant that while we like and take part in many aspects of the church, we really want this church to thrive and keep doing that same hard work. We also identified as a progressive and flexible church. What this means is that we see ourselves as willing to move out into new and different ways of doing church. We like to try new adventures and take some risks in what we are doing for ministry. Our community identified several paths we desire to walk down: Ministry towards those broken by life circumstances; Outreach to those on the margins of society; Continued efforts and work on welcoming and incorporating new members; Creating more opportunities to form meaningful relationships; and, Strengthen our process where members are called and equipped for ministry. All of these will require some discernment, and many people to help us walk down the road. However, they are exciting and aspirational goals. The best thing coming out of the survey is that we want and see these as very high priorities. Basically, we want to share the Gospel message of love of God and neighbor in real and tangible ways. There will be a number of opportunities to have some discussions around the survey results in the coming weeks and months. We will also take some time to do good discernment around our next steps. I find it hard to believe that I will celebrate my 12th anniversary as your rector this week. I can’t think of a better congregation or ministry to be part of right now. Let’s go about doing the hard work we are called to do with vigor and gusto. God is asking a lot. And we can respond with a yes! Tenacious Church: In defense of small congregations
A number of years ago I was invited to start teaching in our local formation school called the Kansas School for Ministry that would later become the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry or BKSM for short. This school has evolved over time and become one of the bright spots in the Episcopal Church in terms of innovation and support of cutting edge rural ministry. The work is primarily geared toward raising up lay and ordained leaders that will either be working for no compensation or part-time compensation in our rural and suburban congregations. The students currently come from four dioceses; Kansas, Nebraska and Western Missouri. My small part in this effort is to teach the parish administration/ congregational development class. Looking back I’ve taught about 40 people who are mostly now serving in congregations. They range in professions from retired police to professors to doctors, construction workers, farmers, teachers, and stay at home parents. One thing that I have noticed through the work they have given me in their papers is the TENACITY of our local congregations. A number of years ago there was a comic band called Tenacious D. I loved their music and spirit. The most famous of the duo was Jack Black who has gone on to some fame. Basically, the band is just two guys who love music. They both play guitar and sing with incredible intensity. They are a marvel to watch and absolutely hilarious. Part of what I love about this is the sharpness of their playing and a willingness to copy and modify other people’s music to make it their own! The history of their name is the tenacious spirit of wanting to be epic rock stars. Though they are small and low budget they can rock with the best of them. In my own experience our small congregations are just as tenacious and desiring of the ministry that is entrusted to them. Yes they have limited resources and people. However, they are doing some incredible work. Just last week I filled in at one of these congregations by presiding and preaching at a funeral for a long time member. I knew Ken from my time working with his church in Coffeyville as their stewardship consultant. During that time I helped their long time rector who was retiring and a newly ordained graduate of BKSM who was taking over. This church has had a great history and ministry, but as with many rural areas they find themselves in the midst of a declining demographic and economy. When I arrived for the funeral I was met with a myriad of people getting everything ready. The church would be packed with friends and neighbors. Even though they don’t have a priest currently; the bulletin was ready, the coffee hot, the church clean and they were ready to minister to their community. I had a full team of acolytes and altar servers and the congregation participated with gusto and energy. Looking around you could see their ministries that are still very active. The spirit was strong in that place. They desperately want clergy leadership and I’m sure with patience that will be coming (surely the Spirit will provide?). One of the exercises I have the students do in the class is to tell the story of their congregation through an administrative lens. They are to describe what is going on or not, who is in charge, how things are handled and what issues they see. The papers are insightful and tell and wide range of stories of our rural and smaller congregations. One thing is clear: they are thriving in their own way with gusto and tenacity. However, there is real frustration as they desire to be much more than they are. Some are resting on memories of when the church was able to more fully support itself. Some are still recovering from a lack of attention and resources from the diocese and other area churches. Some are trying to find new and innovated ways of being the church more fully in their local context. It is always inspiring to hear the stories and see the hard work that is happening. It reminds me of a revelation I had a number of years ago about what I imagined the early church to be. I’m not sure why, but I thought that the churches that Paul writes to where somehow large and foreboding mega churches. Well, maybe not that big. I was surprised when I uncovered in scholarship that the prevailing thought was they were communities of 25-50 people. Just like that church in Coffeyville and so many others around the nation. It is hard to imagine that the billions of Christians in the world today exists because of a small handful of faithful people tenaciously doing God’s work. So from the what I have learned from the students i’ve had the honor to teach and my own experience in the rural churches there are some things I would suggest need to be at the center.
St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church in Overland Park Kansas report on work of the Invite Welcome Connect initiative started in the fall of 2014. After about 6 months of discernment St. Thomas launched its IWC committee with the charge from the vestry and rector to rework our system of evangelism within the initial information that was gained from hosting an area wide Invite Welcome Connect workshop with Mary Parmer. The team meets approximately 4 times a year to review any goals, check on progress, and set new vision for this work. The team includes the IWC warden, usher coordinator, greeter coordinator, bread baker coordinator, rector, vestry member, parish administrator, assistant rector, children’s minister and two or three other lay members. Here are the various projects and goals sense that time that have been completed or on in process: Invite Started three “invitation weekends” per year with cards and other elements for members to invite their neighbors and friends to worship or an activity. We have had some small success with this. The weekends included added food for the reception time after services. We have made several videos for Facebook and Instagram along with advertisements for various “high” holidays. Efforts have included invitation cards for members to give to others in the weeks before as well. We have had a noticeable increase in attendance by as much as 15% on Ash Wednesday, Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday. Members are encouraged to “check-in” to St. Thomas for any and all activities they attend as a way advertising (no-cost to us!). As a part of this as well as the “welcome” component we have rework all internal and external signage with memorial money. This includes signs on all doors, information display on all rooms, large signs over entrances, and directional signs throughout the building. Welcome Appointed a welcome coordinator that looks over our welcome materials and process. Reworked our “red bags” that are for welcoming newcomers. Bags include freshly baked bread, information materials, custom pen (with light/ stylus), pencils, mint, and magnet for refrigerator with service times, address, phone, website address, etc. Trained and recruited new ushers and greeters. We now have 26 ushers and 32 greeters that are stationed throughout the building for each service, including special services.
Connect Over the last three years we have worked to look at all of our ministries in terms of how they connect with current members as well as new people joining St. Thomas. That work has included a ministry audit, some clarification of roles within the church, scheduling software (Ministry Scheduler Pro) and reworking of our website. Additional projects:
Here are the stats from the since the year before we started:  We welcome the newly baptized! Confess the faith! What a joy it is to baptize anyone. On this particular day I had the honor of baptizing Addie. She was filled with expectation and joy on this very important day. Someone capture this moment- the Kingdom of God very present!  “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt Ministry is all about getting your hands dirty in the midst of your community. I read the quote from Theodore Roosevelt for the first time when I was a young student. I really didn’t get it at all! I came across it again recently and it really spoke to me. What I think it hits for me is how important it is to use the one life you are given for the great good and with propose and dedication to a cause! As Christians we constantly hear the words of Jesus in our worship services and bible studies. They marinate us in the call to serve God by serving others and not ourselves. It is a challenging call that requires a sense of purpose and dedication on our own part to live into. It could be easy to just let those words pass on and say, “not me.” Or as Roosevelt states we could start critiquing others on how poorly they are doing! Lent is a perfect time to get in touch with this clarion call to services and purpose. Starting with Ash Wednesday and the hard work of dealing with our frailty and humanity as we admit we need forgiveness and repentance. Then we walk the 40 day journey of recommitment, self-examination, renewing purpose and recommitment to our faith journey. We are called to “dare greatly” with our life! In the ministry I have the chance to see people really embrace these principals. Amazing work and ministry can happen when they do. Even with the failures and misses that all of us experience- God does work through us. As we move from Lent to Easter I hope you take the call to serve God by serving others seriously. Each of us have something we are called and able to do. Will you take that up? Will you dare greatly? I hope so! “We are the EPISCOPAL BRANCH, of the JESUS MOVEMENT” -Presiding Bishop Micheal Curry
Recently I was asked to participate and also present at a conference called “Gathering of Leaders” to reflect on the theme of Evangelism in our current age. In particular what it means to me personally to be part of the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement as our Presiding Bishop is famous for saying. I’m sharing some of my thoughts collected for that presentation with you. I grew up for the most part in the Episcopal church in a Roman Catholic household. My mothers family is Irish-Catholic and so while she chose to take me weekly to the Episcopal church- all things at home still had the catholic flavor. Church for me was an Holy Obligation. We never missed church for any reason. Sunday after Sunday we attended- with strict orders that we didn’t eat until after mass and always wore our best clothes and shoes (that never fit, btw). We listened to the sermon and stuck around for coffee. During Lent and other seasons we fasted from red meat and other items we “gave up” as part of the devotion. I was taught to pray the rosary and had devotion cards and a bible. Like many people I don’t know how seriously I took my faith. It was real- but more of a habit than a genuine part of my life and daily thinking. I definitely thought of myself as Christian and tried to be careful not to sin, etc. However my faith was not one of the heart, yet. I attend church camps and happenings and eventually participated in college groups as well. I had tons of christian friends and non-christian friends. Eventual I found myself several years into college and very much headed down a road that was not going to be good. I was lost in terms of my relationships and purpose for life and was not doing well in most any area of my life. I got a birthday card from an old friend and camp counselor that was an invitation to reconnect. This person happened to be a monk- and in a very compulsive moment I quickly called and soon headed to go see him and spend a week at the monastery. In many ways what happened that week was ordinary. The prayers were similar to what I had been a part of all my life- but my heart was broken and very open. I was desperate for something more in my life. In the quiet contemplation one morning I had a very heartfelt time of prayer- and made a commitment to get back to my faith. I began praying daily, got re-involved in my local church and started reading the bible and other faith commentaries. I found my life transformed and new paths began to open for me. I also found the church- and was suddenly thrust into leadership of a youth group- something that would further transform me. I found Jesus for the first time on my own- and began to model my life as best I could around his teachings. Recently- I was watching a short testimony by Bono of the Irish Rock Band U2. In it he was reflecting on his own faith struggles and purposes in his life. He said, “You're absolutely right; it's a much grander vision (being a follower of Christ). ... We have a pastor who said to us, "Stop asking God to bless what you're doing, Bono." ... He said, "Find out what God is doing, 'cause it's already blessed." ... When you align yourself with God's purpose as described in the Scriptures, something special happens to your life.” I have found the exact same thing in my own life- the walk of faith is aligning your life with God and God’s purposes. So exactly what does that mean? Each day I pray to be open to the purposes for which God might use me as a priest, leader and passionate person. Through daily prayer and study- I try to aline my life in such a way that leads me on this very path. In terms of what we are doing as a community at St. Thomas, I believe we have been lead to more and more align our faith community with the purposes for which God can and does use us. God is certainly alive in this place and in our lives. The world around us is a very broken place. There is violence, greed, contention, division and evil: This is unfortunately not new. We are called to align our lives, commit ourselves to and work for God’s purposes in the world around us- now more than ever. In doing so we become the very thing our Presiding Bishop is calling us toward- the Jesus movement in this place. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it….. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."-Romans 8:35-39
Paul wrote these powerful words to the Church in Rome, a small gathered community, to encourage them in the midst of their struggles with their faith. These words came from one who had been a persecutor of the faithful and also persecuted for his faith-a complex individual who had found a deep and abiding faith in Christ. Paul had reconciled with God and neighbor, had found redemption in Christ and devoted his life to spreading the message and love to all that would hear. He is a true inspiration. The last few months have brought many conversations for me with people who are struggling with their faith. One who has lost hope in the church-having been ignored by his community after years of devoted service and now finding himself searching through some of the toughest faith questions in his life. Another who desperately wants to hear or feel the presence of God, but only finds silence-except in the service of others. Another who sees the lives everyone else is living- and can’t quite measure up in her own mind to her their own worth. Each of these people are asking the same questions Paul once asked himself. I think living in today’s world of rampant distraction and frantic electronic communication takes us away from the things that really matter. Like Paul, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ-but we are often so caught up in the world we truly just can’t see or feel that love. I’m not sure we can even see each other-or own frail humanity that is longing for connection and purpose. I don’t have the answers to these tough questions-but I have some inkling of how a community might dig through together to find some answers and deepening questions. At the corner stone of Paul’s writing is community. Each of his letters is written to a group of people trying to figure our how to be the Kingdom of God- and to live in God’s abiding and deepening love. It is a task we are also called to embody as a community of gathered followers and seekers of Christ. In the coming months we shift gears at St. Thomas from summer activity into the fall and winter times. We will be seeking new small group leaders and starting new small groups, offering new formation classes, starting grief groups as well as all of our outreach offerings and other ministries. These exist to encourage and deepen the opportunity to ask questions and explore our faith. I encourage you to dig a little deeper into your faith and make a commitment to being part of some ministry at St. Thomas. Deepen your connection to this amazing group of people- and be willing to show each other the love the Paul talks about. We are all asking these tough questions- lets go a little deeper together! In a few weeks the rhythm of our society will return to the fall season. Students and teachers will return to the halls of academia. Farmers will harvest their summer crops. Football will gear up as baseball winds down. The days will get considerably shorter and the temperatures cooler. Nature will reveal what’s hiding under the lush green of summer as colorful explosions burst forth from the trees and grasses.
I’m reminded of a poem by Carl Sandburg called Autumn Movement, “I CRIED over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts. The field of cornflower yellow is a scarf at the neck of the copper sunburned woman, the mother of the year, the taker of seeds. The northwest wind comes and the yellow is torn full of holes, new beautiful things come in the first spit of snow on the northwest wind, and the old things go, not one lasts.” Nothing really last forever does it? There are simple moments when it seems best if time could be frozen. Moments when it is all working just right; moments that yearn to be held on to forever. Like the seasons of the year, time will pass and as one thing is passing a new thing arises. While we yearn to hang on the beautiful things passing before us change is always moving us forward. In the spiritual life it is often the same. Jesus asks us to be alert and waiting for him at every moment. He also talks about being salt and light for the world. Paul asks us to be vehicles and the bearers of Christ to this broken world. Where do we get the energy for this work? How do we go about it? As fall begins and the season changes could you take time to reflect on where God is calling you to do new things in your life? What do you need to let fall to the ground? Hard questions. Maybe even frightening. A friend called the other day excited for a new venture. She decided to leave a long time job and start anew by finishing a degree. Why? There was a deeper calling for her that she felt needed answering. Another person called and found that it was time to let go of a long time burden he was carrying. Time to forgive and forget. He wanted to start new in some other relationships and felt his burden was hindering him form that new start. We can’t have spring without fall and winter. In much the same way we won’t grow in our relationships with God and each other without seasons of change and letting go as new birth comes forth. As we gear up for fall many new programs and studies will begin at St. Thomas. Perhaps it is time to deepen your spiritual journey. Maybe its time to let a ministry go… or perhaps you need to find a new start with something. What is God revealing as the old passes from you and new birth begins? |
AuthorGar Demo is an Episcopal priest serving in the Diocese of Kansas at St. Thomas the Apostle in Overland Park, KS. Archives
May 2018
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