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Do members matter?

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Adam J. Copeland

Originally posted at Gathering Voices: Faith Conversations from TheThoughtfulChristian.com

The church I serve has 133 members. We have records noting when each one of them was born, joined the church, and when the time comes we’ll record the date of their deaths as well. Much of my work as a pastor has to do with navigating the gray areas of life, but official membership is not one of those areas. We have a book. In it we record the names of church members. Case closed.

Screen shot 2011-02-28 at 3.53.25 PMExcept that, well, it’s actually a little more complicated than that — and more convoluted too. You see, in the Presbyterian church where we specialize in spiritual gifts of paper-pushing and rule-writing, we have made three categories of members: active members, inactive members, and affiliate members. (The definition of active and inactive members should be self-explanatory. “Affiliate members” are folks who retain their membership elsewhere but choose to affiliate with another congregation for a time.) And then, as if that’s not complicated enough, each congregation is supposed to review the status of members at least annually, counseling with those who “have neglected the responsibilities of membership.” That can get, well, rather tricky.

In our lovely denominational constitution, after several pages describing all this, there’s a little section on “non-member privileges” (“privilege” is not the word I would have chosen, but oh well). The point of this section is this: non-members have all the cool points as any active member — non-members can receive communion and present their children for baptism, they can participate in worship and the life of the church, they can surely share their financial resources, they can serve on committees — they just can’t vote or speak at congregational meetings. With as much sarcasm as I can muster: I’m sure there are hundreds of non-members crying themselves to sleep over not being to fully participate in congregational meetings; crying themselves to sleep.

With that inspired Presbyterian polity introduction, I can finally get to the point: why do we have members in the first place? And, truthfully, is it worth it?

Here’s what I know:

  • many many churches do not have accurate membership rolls
  • membership rolls can easily become about numbers rather than about faithful living
  • emphasizing membership can send the message that we want new members so we can declare our church club is growing
  • Jesus didn’t care a flip about membership rolls
  • membership in churches can feel a whole lot like membership in a health club, only without the cool ID card and parking pass

So, pretend for a second that you’re starting a new faith community, you’re planting a new church that’s about relationships and following Jesus and you’ve never even heard of the Presbyterian church constitution: do you even bother to have membership status?  Do you need to formally categorize those in your community? Do you want people to sign on a dotted line or walk the journey of faith?

image by Philippe Ramakers

Additional Resources from www.TheThoughtfulChristian.com

 

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Sermon: Critic or Judge?

Posted on February 27, 2011 by Adam J. Copeland

First Presbyterian Church of Hallock, Minn.

Feb. 27, 2011

Critic or Judge?

1 Cor. 4:1-5

I’m sure you have all been waiting with bated breath for tonight. Well…maybe not, but tonight is the 83rd Academy Awards and the presentations of this year’s Oscars. As they’ve done for the last while, the Academy has nominated a whopping ten films for best picture. Ten, rather than the previous five, gets more films more hype, and is supposed to give a better chance for those dark horse films.

You’ve probably seen articles and interviews with movie critics in the lead up to the Oscars. We just heard another on the radio this morning. Can you imagine the life of a professional critic? These folk get paid to critique hundreds of movies each year. Then there’s music critics, arts critics, wine critics, I’ve even heard of a wine critic who developed an allergy to alcohol and became a professional bottled water critic! … Continue Reading

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Oil price surge GOOD for drivers

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Adam J. Copeland

Yesterday’s headline on the front page of the dead tree edition of the Grand Forks Herald read, “Oil price surge bad for drivers, good for N.D. revenue.” I appreciate the difficulty of writing pithy headlines (and sermon titles), but I think either writer Dave Roepke, or perhaps his editor, erred.

It may be the case that many drivers see high gas prices as “bad,” but I don’t. In fact, I welcome them.

Gas prices in the U.S. need to be higher to bring about a change in our behavior — driving less, building more eco-friendly neighborhoods, supporting mass transit, walking/riding bikes. In other countries, as I noted in this post written when I lived in Scotland, government gas taxes are much higher, enough to make people think twice before buying a large car and contributing to climate change.

Yes, some people — many people — suffer when gas prices are high. That’s why part of the national gas tax needs to go to farmers and those with low incomes. But as visionary Thomas Friedman argued this week, “If Not Now, When?”

In a labored but effective metaphor Friedman says of the turmoil in the Middle East which has caused gas prices in the middle west to rise:

America, you have built your house at the foot of a volcano. That volcano is now spewing lava from different cracks and is rumbling like it’s going to blow. Move your house!” In this case, “move your house” means “end your addiction to oil.

Every US President since Nixon has announced, “We are addicted to oil.” That’s every President, Democrat and Republican. The right public policy is to fight that addiction with a national gas tax.

So, to the headline-writer in the Herald yesterday I say, here’s one Grand Forks driver who begs to differ. Even as I abhor the violence in the Middle East, I welcome the pain at the pump. If only our government officials would raise the stakes some more.

Jon Stewart adds his satirical genius below:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
An Energy-Independent Future
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook
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Did Jesus die for robots too?

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Adam J. Copeland

Originally posted at Gathering Voices: Faith Conversations from TheThoughtfulChristian.com

In 1968, international chess champion David Levy bet that no computer could beat him in the next ten years. Levy won the bet in 1978 prevailing against the most powerful computer at the time. Afterwards, Levy said it’d only be a matter of time until the computers were winning.

Move over chess.

To much fanfare, a computer named Watson won a Jeopardy! tournament last week, beating the two winningest Jeopardy! players of all time. One of those players, Ken Jennings, underneath his response in the final Jeopardy round quoted from an episode of The Simpsons, “I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords.”

Screen shot 2011-02-21 at 10.24.29 PMYou might be thinking, “oh, hey, big deal. Watson took up an entire room and was programmed to play one meaningless game show.” And, sure, that’s a fair point. I wouldn’t have thought twice about it had I not read Lev Grossman’s stunning TIME article, “2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal.” Among other things, Grossman describes the Singularity movement which addresses augmenting our bodies and minds with technology.

Raymond Kurzweil, a leading Singularitian, argues that genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics (artificial intelligence) are progressing at a rate so that a) in 2020 personal computers will have the same processing power as the human brian, b) in the 2030s human mind uploading will become possible, c) in 2045 The Singularity occurs and artificial intelligences will surpass human beings as the smartest and most capable life forms on the earth.

It’d be more comfortable to call this all poppycock and go on our merry way. But, even my beloved NPR last week reported that radiologists may soon be out of their jobs  — turns out computer image reading technology is progressing pretty fast these days, and machines don’t need pension or health insurance benefits.

But before I jump back under the covers and wish these scientific breakthroughs away, I can consider our congregation and see members living many happy years due to portable oxygen tanks, or thanks to major surgery, or after surviving cancer that a generation ago likely would have killed them. One could actually argue that, since a transplant patient takes daily drugs to avoid rejection, this person is already dependent on modern technology to survive. This person is already “post-human.”

I don’t have any profound theological insight here, but I do wonder about this: I know God can handle these changes, but can we? Can the Church? Can I?

The providence of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ will continue no matter what becomes of nanotechnology. Even if we finally develop a computer that looks, talks, and acts like humans, God will still be God. I trust that God will surely figure out the best way to deal with a person, say, whose brain has been transplanted into a robot (I’m guessing grace will have its part). But, partly due to the fact I seem to have few theological resources with which to approach artificial intelligence, I’m concerned as to whether the church is equipping its members to deal with such questions. What’s an appropriate Biblical hermeneutic when studying questions like, “If we have the scientific knowhow to transplant someone’s brain into a machine and keep that person’s memories and thoughts intact, should we?”

Did I miss a course in seminary? Did we cover whether they’ll be intelligent robots in the final Kingdom of God? Did Jesus die for them too?

image by Iva Villi

Additional Resources from www.TheThoughtfulChristian.com

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Into perils unknown

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Adam J. Copeland

Last week, with a heavy heart, I announced to the Session at First Presbyterian Church in Hallock that I have accepted a new position. Talk about bittersweet. I love and cherish that congregation and have been honored to be called their pastor. It will be — already is — very hard to leave. But, sad as it is, my partner and I intend to tackle our next adventure together: Megan has been assigned to med school rotations in Fargo.

Not many people on this earth can say, when moving to the twin cities of Fargo, ND and Moorhead, MN that they are moving 1) south, 2) to a warmer place, and 3) to a much larger metro area. What a life we live!

My new position is both very exciting and very scary. Beginning in April, I will serve as Mission Developer for The Project F-M, a new vision and venture to cultivate a 21st century faith community in the Fargo-Moorhead area. What does that mean? Beats me. Seriously….who knows what God might be up to.

This is a bit of what I do know. Calling a Mission Developer is the third step of a process begun several years ago when an idea struck in a church basement (why do all the best ideas come in church basements or parking lots?). The group gathered was discussing the fact that there exists 45,000 persons between the age of 20 and 40 in Fargo-Moorhead unconnected to an organized faith community. And so, The Project F-M began. After an initial phase and gathering of support in local churches, a Community Organizer was hired for a year to listen and assess the interests, stories, and build relationships among F-M’s young adults and larger community. Now it’s my term to jump in as Mission Developer.

Funding has come from generous churches, two ELCA synods, and the national Lutheran church. It’s officially an ELCA call so I’m very grateful that the ELCA and PC(USA) are in full communion. I look forward to serving with my brothers and sisters of the Norwegian sweaters.

Stay tuned for more about The Project F-M in later weeks. (Current web presence is quite minimal, but it’s here.) Now, though, please pray for a smooth transition, but mostly for the kind folk in Hallock who have welcomed me so well.

I’ll close with a prayer found both in Lutheran and Presbyterian worship resources:

Lord God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

image by Mattox

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Sermon: Assured of Our Foundation

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Adam J. Copeland

First Presbyterian Church of Hallock, Minn.

February 20, 2011

Assured of our Foundation

1 Cor. 3:10-11, 16-23

It didn’t take Megan and me long to figure out that Hallock was a special place. After my interview with the Pastor Nominating Committee in the summer of ’09, Megan and I were struck by many signs of the community — all the beautiful flowers in people’s yards, tasty dining at the Caribou Grill, seeing the many Canadian license plates in the motorhome park — and we gathered, quite rightly, that something good must be happening here. I admit, the sign up by the school, “Canada 20 miles” did freak out this Florida boy, but if I had decided to determine my life based on warm weather I wouldn’t have gone to St. Olaf or married a North Dakota girl! … Continue Reading

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Teachy preaching and its discontents

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Adam J. Copeland

Originally posted at Gathering Voices: Faith Conversations from TheThoughtfulChristian.com

A few months into my current call as a solo pastor, I was sitting in a committee meeting when a member described what she told a friend about our church. She’d told her friend about our great youth sunday school and the friendly atmosphere of our congregation and then she said, “and Adam is such a great teacher.” For a fleeting moment I beamed with pride. Then I realized in the short time I had pastored our congregation, I had not taught even one class. Unfounded praise indeed. So, I wondered, what could this parishioner mean when she described me as a good teacher to her friend?

It took me a while to figure it out, but finally I think I put a finger on it. My preaching (on the whole, at least) is very teachy. And this isn’t necessarily a good thing.

My default exegetical approach seems to be to look at a text from the Bible and read it according to a Reformed understanding of theology. I then can jump pretty easily to a few points about what God is doing in the text, and then, I connect those points to what God is doing in the context of my congregation. This makes for okay sermons, I guess. Nothing wrong with them. One could do worse. But I end up getting lots of teachy sermons.

I’ll say boring things like, “In this text, God is doing ______.” And “In this text Paul’s context was ______, and he wanted to get across to his audience that _________.” I explain. Or, I’ll use my go-to and pretty blase´ default homiletical structure: “on first reading this text seems to say ______, but we’re called to read deeper. Oh look! On a deeper reading we find a new complexity and then we see ________.” Teachy preaching gets at theological points pretty well. It may even be particularly appropriate these days when many people in our congregations do not know the Bible well and need a lot of contextual setup. It may also be appropriate considering our time’s declining denominational theological identity. But!

But, of this I’m also quite aware: my more teachy sermons tend to happen when I have a shorter time than I’d like to prepare for preaching — on a week of a funeral, or when I have several evening meetings, or presbytery commitments, or when I am actually spending time preparing to teach a class. On the whole, the less time I have to prepare for a sermon the more teachy it becomes.

Ok, confession over. Now I’ll take a stab at what my — and maybe your — preaching can do to get out of the rut.

Types of non-teachy sermons to wake us up:

  • Inspirational. It’s easy to crack on televangelists or overly-intense preachers, but I’ll give them one thing: they sure do try to inspire. Teachy sermons don’t tend to instill great inspiration or hope. Inspirational sermons get folks fired-up. Us Presbyterians, at least, could use a little extra pep every once in a while.
  • Testimonial. It’s a scary word in many straight-laced churches, but I’m probably not the only preacher who could use a little more personal narrative and conviction in my sermons.
  • Daring. Take a chance. Give a fully narrative sermon, preach from the first-person point of view of a Biblical character, or push the envelope with a difficult stand. (A friend of mine near a military base recently said he preached an anti-war sermon thathe was so nervous about he was physically sick on Saturday night. The next morning it was very well-received, especially by those serving in the military.)
  • Add your growing-edge here, whatever it might be — preach from a manuscript or without one, do text study with a pastor of very different theological background than you, talk over the text with the youth group and at a nursing home, go back to the original language for a change. Shake things up.

So what do you think? Am I overly self-analytical or on to something? Are teachy sermons your pet peeve or the good word your congregation needs to hear?

image by Terri Heisele

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