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Inviting God to Do a New Thing (Or Two) Agenda

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Inviting God to Do a New Thing (Or Two) Agenda Presbyterian Outlook Webinar with Nate Phillips @revnatephillips No More “Church as Usual” Inviting God to Do a New Thing (or Two) Agenda • Introduction and Prayer (10 min) • The Usual Church: An Overview (5 min) • Moving Forward (10 min) • 10 Commandments for the Unusual Church (35 min) • Wrap-up and Q&A (30 min) Introduction • Lumberjack Skypilot • Mission at the Eastward • The Old Manse Introduction • Lumberjack Skypilot • Mission at the Eastward • The Old Manse • A “First Follower” Opening Prayer “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” - Thomas Merton The Usual Church - 10,000 ft Over and above all other things, you can count on the church for showing the world how to split up. Since the beginning, it has modeled a mastery of divorce, for that there is no denial. Congratulations, church. A few of its ruptures are well-known by a place, like Chalcedon, where, in the fifth century, a council created language for the nature of Jesus and the Coptics broke away. Some are notorious by their theological arguments, like the Trinity-based “filioque,” which drummed out the East–West schism in the eleventh century. Others, like “The Reformation,” which plucked the Protestants from the Catholics in the sixteenth century, are best remembered by household names like Luther and Calvin. - Do Something Else, p. 101 “…about every five hundred years the Church feels compelled to hold a giant rummage sale. And, he goes on to say, we are living in and through one of those five-hundred-year sales.” - Phyllis Tickle, The Great Emergence, p. 4 The Usual Church - Decline Research from Pew ❖ In 2007, Presbyterians made up 1.9% of US population, now we are 1.4% ❖ In that same time period, religiously “unaffiliated” rose from 16.1% to 22.8% of the US population. ❖ From 2007 to 2015 PC(USA) membership declined 29% - 2,209,576 to 1,572,660. ❖ We are welcoming our fourth child in June, at this rate the PC(USA) will shut the last door around the year she graduates high school. The Usual Church - Factors Research from Pew ❖ PC(USA) is the second oldest religious group in the US. ❖ Our median age is 59. 38% of our members are over 65. ❖ PC(USA) is 88% white. ❖ In terms of racial diversity, mainline protestants are far behind US Muslims, Catholics, Buddhists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Assemblies of God. ❖ Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) members rank fourth (behind Jewish, Hindu, and Episcopal) in percentage of households that earn more than $100,000 annually. We are fifth in measuring those with a college degree. ❖ Studies show a strong correlation between religiosity and privation. Moving Forward Moving Forward Moving Forward The Usual Church "So here is my modest proposal for the transformation of church and society, a simple two-point plan: One: Begin to think of salvation as the transformation of your entire self from death to life rather than as mere forgiveness for sin with a ticket to heaven. Two: Stop telling people outside the church how they ought to behave and give full attention to the transformation of your own soul. That’s it. When Christian people live lives marked by hope, joy, and a fresh, new way of living, we will be transformed people, and we will transform the world." - Lawrence Wilson First Commandment Be Led by Jesus • The Perfect Pastor • Karl Barth and the Isenheim Altarpiece The model of the biblical witness in his unity of form is John the Baptist, who stands so notably at midpoint between the Old Testament and the New, between the prophets and the apostles ... In this connection one might recall John the Baptist in Grünewald's Crucifixion, especially his prodigious index finger. Could anyone point away from himself more impressively and completely? –Karl Barth First Commandment Be Led by Jesus • The Perfect Pastor • Karl Barth and the Isenheim Altarpiece • New Abbey, Corey Marquez Second Commandment “Belove” • Christianity After Religion, Diana Butler Bass “To believe” translated in Latin as opinor or something like 'opinion.' Yet, in religious usage, “to believe” translated in Latin as credo, Something like "I set my heart upon' or 'I give my loyalty to.' She writes, “In medieval English, the concept of credo was translated as 'believe.' That means roughly the same thing as, in German, belieben, 'to prize, treasure, or hold dear. That comes from the root word Liebe, 'love'. Thus, in early English, to 'believe' was to 'belove' something or someone as an act or trust or loyalty. Belief was not an intellectual opinion..." –Diana Butler Bass, Christianity After Religion Second Commandment “Belove” • Diana Butler Bass • Union Coffee, Mike Baughman Third Commandment Listen Closely • Richard Rohr on Mystical Experience Until someone has had some level of inner religious experience, there is no point in asking them to follow the ethical ideals of Jesus or to really understand Christian doctrines beyond the formulaic level. In fact, moral mandates and doctrinal affirmations only become the source of deeper anxiety and more contentiousness! And then that very anxiety will usually take the form of denial, pretension, and projection of our evil elsewhere. –Richard Rohr Third Commandment Listen Closely • Richard Rohr on Mystical Experience • Lunch for the Soul, Becca Messman Fourth Commandment Speak Openly • Ed Stetzer I recently reviewed the stats for the 25 largest faith groups in the United States. In the year I reviewed, the only two orthodox Christian groups growing on the list were the Assemblies of God and Church of God (Cleveland). So, what do all of the declining denominations have in common? Most are mainline, a few are evangelical, but most simply are not as excited about what they believe—and don’t think it needs to be propagated as much— as the Pentecostals. –Ed Stetzer Fourth Commandment Speak Openly • Ed Stetzer • Metrotheology, Chip Graves Fifth Commandment Become Multi- lingual • Peggy Olson, Mad Men "The sermon is the only part that's in English, and it's hard to tell sometimes." –Peggy from Mad Men on the impenetrability of the pre-V2 Catholic mass Fifth Commandment Become Multi- lingual • Peggy Olson, Mad Men • The Slate Project, Jason Chesnut Sixth Commandment Go with What Ya Got • Parking lots and Publications • St. Paul’s Alexandria, Oran Warder Seventh Commandment Count What Counts • Quantitative vs. Qualitative Metrics / Transactional vs. Transformational Relationships • Bill Perkins “This week my metric is keeping people alive and giving them hope.” –Bill Perkins from Friendship House reflecting on a string of sub-zero degree days in his city Seventh Commandment Count What Counts • Quantitative vs. Qualitative Metrics / Transactional vs. Transformational Relationships • Bill Perkins • Shobi’s Table, Margaret Mary Kelly Eighth Commandment Change Sunday Morning (but not how you think) • Tom Long “If we think of the repertoire of church music as a spectrum from traditional at one end of the scale to contemporary and avant garde at the other, most congregations draw vertical lines defining their desired band width. ‘We do this kind of music, but not those kinds,’ they say. The vital congregations, however, did not draw vertical lines but a horizontal one. Above the line is excellence, below the line is inferior music, and the vital congregations sought musical excellence across a broad range of musical idioms.” –Tom Long, Beyond the Worship Wars Eighth Commandment Change Sunday Morning (but not how you think) • Tom Long • Growing PC(USA) churches 13% 22% 26% 17% Research from US Congregational Life Survey 13% 22% 26% 17% Research from US Congregational Life Survey Eighth Commandment Change Sunday Morning (but not how you think) • Tom Long • Growing PC(USA) churches • Church of the Pilgrims Ninth Commandment Bury the Ego • The Cooperative Parish “Successful cooperative parishes are driven more by a passion for Christian mission than by a struggle for survival. It is this passion for mission that fuels their creativity and enables them to adapt in imaginative ways to settings that are basically hostile to traditional congregational life. Congregations in such demanding settings are most likely to thrive when they move beyond a concern for survival and toward a commitment to mission.” -James Lewis in Cooperating Congregations Ninth Commandment Bury the Ego • The Cooperative Parish • Lebanon Lutheran Cooperative Ministry Lebanon Lutheran Cooperative Ministry Called staff: Each congregation contributes a proportional share based on worship attendance. Visitation pastor: This share is based on percentage of visits done to the congregation by the visitation of the pastor. Office and ministry expenses (VBS, confirmation, youth, etc.): All four churches pay the same amount. Since all have the opportunity to benefit equally, these are divided equally. Tenth Commandment Make Friends • The Feed Truck “I can’t always put my finger on what the ministry is or does; there is no bullet-point list. But there’s not a week that goes by where I don’t hear someone say, ‘Oh this is a church thing?’ Then they act surprised because nothing about it felt obnoxious or offensive.” -Jessica Winderweedle, The Feed Truck Tenth Commandment Make Friends • Feed Truck • Matt and Nate Thanks so much, man.
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