Many Protestant congregations have gotten trapped in a "culture of smallness."
They don't value growth, they resist change, and they look askance at megachurches. True virtue, they want to believe, lies in the small, in face-to-face intimacy, in the pastor who knows every story well. Some of this attitude is defensive, of course. Their churches aren't growing, so they develop an ideology of non-growth.
It stands to reason that a denomination named after its older members would have a lot of older members. Given that the word presbyter means "elder" we ought not be surprised to hear that the median age of Presbyterians is 58 and that 39% of our members are retired [according to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Research Services.]
For all the talk about our failure to reach and mobilize young adults -- a hobbyhorse I ride with regularity -- many of our congregations have directed their efforts to make older adult ministry a specialty.
A major new survey of the religious leanings of American adults has found that the country's spiritual landscape continues to shift -- with barely half of adult Americans identifying themselves as Protestants and with 16.1 percent claiming no religious affiliation at all.
The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey found that for many Americans, religious affiliation is anything but permanent. More than a quarter of American adults (28 percent) have left the faith tradition in which they were raised, switching to another religious tradition or to no affiliation at all. If switching from one stripe of Protestantism to another also is counted, 44 percent of American adults have either changed their religious tradition, gone from no faith tradition to choosing one, or dropped any affiliation at all.
LOUISVILLE -- Elder Roger Shoemaker, a member of Southern Heights Church in Lincoln, Neb., has become the fourth candidate to stand for moderator of the upcoming 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Shoemaker, 74, was endorsed Feb. 16 by Homestead Presbytery.
The only elder in the race, he joins Bill Teng of National Capital Presbytery, Bruce Reyes-Chow of San Francisco Presbytery and Carl Mazza of New Castle Presbytery as a candidate for the denomination's highest elected office.
NEW YORK -- Serene Jones has been selected to become the 16th, and first woman, president of the historic Union Theological Seminary in New York City. The announcement was made Monday by David Callard, chairman of the seminary's board of trustees.
Dr. Jones will assume the presidency of the seminary on July 1. She will succeed Joseph C. Hough, Jr., who is retiring after serving as Union's president since 1999. Dr. Jones, the Titus Street Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School, will come to Union after seventeen years on the Yale faculty. At present she also serves as chair and faculty member of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Yale University. Jones has held faculty appointments at Yale Law School and in the Department of African American Studies and Religious Studies.
No institution exercises greater impact upon the life of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s retired church professionals than the Presbyterian Board of Pensions. Outlook editor Jack Haberer sat down to talk about that with BOP President and CEO Robert Maggs.
JH: Rob, when it comes to retirement, the first thing that comes to mind for most of us is, "How am I going to survive?" That puts a lot of weight and responsibility upon the administrators like yourself for pension programs. Tell me about that.
RM: I think that first thing we have to do is to get people thinking about retirement early on. I like to say, "Start thinking about it the first day you have your first job." So our job is really to educate people, especially our plan members, from the time they're in seminary right through their career until they have filed that application to receive a pension. The pension is going to be a good pension. Someone said this is the best pension plan in America. That was a "Jeopardy" question, I think. But the pension alone doesn't do it. So our job is to explain to people all the risks and rewards and joys and concerns that can happen during their life, how it's going affect their financial future and what they should be doing to hedge those risks, if you will. That includes savings through a retirement savings plan. It includes good financial planning. It includes programs that help people take care of their mental health, their physical health, as well as their financial health so that they can have productive careers.
We all know that it's important to care for our health and finances as part of retirement planning. However, we often neglect more obvious, but no less significant, issues, such as where we will live and what we will do with our time. As one Board of Pensions seminar asks, "If you are what you do, who are you when you don't?"
Entering this new stage of life can be a challenge, especially if you don't start thinking about it until you're already retired. Consider this example from Jeri Sedlar and Rick Miners' book Don't Retire, REWIRE!
[Bill] had come to realize that a traditional retirement like his father's was not for him. He wanted to do something productive -- but he didn't know what. He just knew that he didn't want anything as demanding as the 24/7 existence he had been living for the past three years (xi).1
The Board of Pensions of
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):
www.pensions.org
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):
www.pcusa.org
Presbyterian Association of Homes
and Services for the Aging:
www.pahsa.org
Presbyterians across the church have had July 2009 marked on their calendars for years, in eager anticipation of the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. Or perhaps not.
Lutherans adore Martin Luther. Methodist hearts are strangely warmed by John Wesley. Anglicans even have a sardonic fondness for Henry VIII. But Presbyterians are uncertain at best about John Calvin and his legacy. Calvin is not a Reformed idol.
Our reluctance to venerate John Calvin would have pleased him. Calvin did not want the reverence of future generations. Among other safeguards against idolization, he specified that he be buried in Geneva's common cemetery in an unmarked grave. Although there is a Rue Calvin in Geneva today, his house no longer stands, and no one knows quite where it was.
(PNS) LOUISVILLE -- This is a good year for Easter to come early!
The date of Easter this year, March 23, is the earliest it has been for almost 200 years. With all of the pain and suffering in the world, the conflict in our church, and the deep yearning for the good news that can only be answered by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, an early Easter is just what the world needs.
If ministers have the fortitude to greet arriving and departing worshipers on Sunday, they will find themselves whipsawed between conflicting needs.
Longtime members want the pastor's attention and believe, quite justifiably, that they deserve it. Visitors, new members and those not yet incorporated into church life need the pastor's attention, too.
On a recent Sunday, I talked with a needy member at the front door and watched helplessly as a dozen newcomers left church without any connection. We didn't get their names or e-mail addresses, or say a word of welcome, or convey a desire to embrace.
If I had focused on the newcomers, of course, it would have been the member who left feeling ignored.
LOUISVILLE -- Former General Assembly Moderator Rick Ufford Chase and his wife, Kitty, have been named transitional co-directors of financially-troubled Stony Point Center, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-owned conference center in New York.
They will share the full-time director's position beginning August 1, succeeding William Pindar, who recently resigned.
"Kitty and Rick are uniquely qualified to lead Stony Point Center into its vision for the future," said Gary Batty, president of the Stony Point governing board. "Not only do they have extensive backgrounds in peace and justice work that is deeply grounded in the practice of their faith, they also bring a passion for modeling an intentional community at Stony Point Center -- both strong components of the vision."
Thank God that Easter comes around every year.
Thank God that Good Friday comes around every year.
Thank God that Maundy Thursday comes around every year.
Thank God.
The liturgical cycle provokes Christians to remember and re-engage the defining events from Jesus' days on earth, which in turn invites us to remember and re-engage the transforming power of the gospel.
We need that liturgy cycle to overcome the effective efforts of a massive conspiracy against remembering.
Is torture always wrong, or are there situations that may make it necessary? And how might followers of Jesus best deal with this question?
For the past few years many Americans have been concerned about the use of techniques commonly understood to be torture, which the U. S. administration has defended as necessary to gain information from detainees. About sixty people came together at Columbia Theological Seminary, in Decatur, Ga., February 3-5, to seek ways of helping Presbyterians deal with this challenge.
Geneva -- (ENI) The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Samuel Kobia, has announced that he will not seek a second term at the head of the world's biggest Christian grouping.
"Kobia made his intentions known today stating personal reasons for his decision not to seek a second term," the WCC announced on February 18 after almost nine hours of deliberations behind closed doors by its main governing body, the central committee.
"The central committee received this news with regret but accepts the decision of the general secretary," said the WCC moderator, the Rev. Walter Altmann, in a statement.
The WCC committee was to consider an extension to his current term, which ends December 31, 2008.
In 2003, Robert Jenson and Carl Braaten edited a little book entitled, In One Body Through the Cross, challenging churches in North America to discover their unity in Christ. In that book, Jenson and Braaten note that congregational life in the United States "often proceeds with little sense of contradiction between division from others and life as a realization of one church of Christ."1 We are no longer offended by denominational differences and indeed regard such variations as normal, i.e., as "the natural expression of a Christian marketplace with churches representing different options for a variety of spiritual tastes."
As one fascinated by the future and its possibilities, I find scenario planning -- creating stories of possible futures, and watching for signs as to how the future is unfolding -- to be a stimulating framework for observation. Peter Schwartz, in The Art of the Long View, and his consulting firm, GBN Global Business Network, popularized this planning technique that is used in for-profit as well as non-profit and governmental organizations. I like to think that my passion for scenario planning both honors and invokes the tradition of the Bible's visionaries and dreamers, whose own scenarios of what God's future would hold were awakened by the touch of the Spirit in their respective contexts and cultures.
Cleopas asks Jesus, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? (v.18). But Cleopas himself appears to be uninformed about the transformation that took place among the multitude at the Cross.
The popular mind thinks that there was a murderous mob around the Cross crying, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" But such was not the case. The city of Jerusalem was and is relatively small with limited public space. Pilate's judgment hall could not have held more than a few dozen people. The High Priest and his supporters were naturally present for the political trial of Jesus. There is no hint that the supporters of Jesus were allowed into the room. On that occasion the High Priest's men (in the hall) responded to Pilate with the cry, "Crucify him." But on the street it was a different matter.
To worship is to be open to mystery,
The unexpected,
The soul before unknown,
The darkness of the light, and
The lightness of the dark
To receive what can only be given,
never taken, never controlled,
For good or ill.
Of course there was no fool like Henry VIII, and no fool's gold like desiring a male heir to the throne. He never did sire (a legitimate) one, but his daughter by Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth, reigned powerfully for 45 years.
Of course, Anne Boleyn was only legitimate because she insisted that Henry would have to divorce his Catholic wife, Katherine of Aragon, in order to have her. Just shunting Katherine off to a nunnery would not be enough, because then she would still be the Queen. And so Henry does the unthinkable: he divorces his Queen, permanently breaking relations with the Catholic Church, and thus establishing, by default, the Church of England. Protestantism, here, could hardly be deemed a theological Reformation. But, as we all know, that's not the end of the story.
As an advocate for overcoming disciple-making mediocrity by adapting the purpose-driven approach to ministry, I recognize that some leaders question whether this innovative strategy can indeed reflect non-negotiable Presbyterian beliefs and values. And some leaders wonder whether the Missional and Emerging Church movements have supplanted the purpose-driven approach as the best way to re-tool a congregation for life-changing ministry.
To some observers, the phrase "purpose-driven Presbyterian" is simply an oxymoron, since the concept was developed by Pastor Rick Warren at Saddleback Community Church, a Southern Baptist congregation! Yet the six Great Ends of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) i.e. (G-1.0200) mirror Warren's premise that Christ's church exists in order to cultivate worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission. (Two of the six "Great Ends" concern "mission," expressing our Reformed conviction that salvation is holistic, involving both the "proclamation of the Gospel" and the "promotion of social righteousness.")
It is clear that Jesus carefully planned the first part of the Triumphal Entry. He chose a village where he had friends. One of those friends was alerted to ready a colt and tie it in front of the house at a specified time. Its owner was waiting and watching. The disciples were told where to find the colt and both parties memorized passwords.
It is also clear that Jesus engaged in similar planning for the Last Supper. A man who could recognize the disciples was waiting with a water pot to lead them to a house where the owner had already offered his large, furnished upper room to Jesus. Those involved used passwords again. Meticulous planning clearly surfaces in both of these occasions during holy week. I would suggest a third: the Triumphal Entry itself.
Congregations should offer regular instruction on each spiritual discipline (prayer, study, fasting, service, giving, worship, confession, and silence), to show possible outlets for practice and examples from life.
In addition, congregations should offer opportunities to act, such as mission work and prayer vigils. Doing and learning need to go hand in hand. Otherwise, the doing loses its foundation, or the learning becomes sterile and precious.
The point isn't to promote a single way, but several ways that work together to promote spiritual well-being.
The idea seemed logical enough: find a third way. It was proposed initially in November 2000 by a gathering of presbytery executives. Like members of Congress, the executives speak into the life of the national church. Unlike the elected representatives, the executives spend 95% of their time back home, in one of 173 congressional districts, er uh, presbyteries.
Their primary task is to care for, keep connected with, and build up the local churches, pastors, officers, and members.
LOUISVILLE -- The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) has ruled that candidates for ordination must comply with the sexual behavior standards of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), even if they disagree in conscience with them.
The GAPJC, in a landmark ruling dated Feb. 11 on a case from Pittsburgh presbytery, declared that the authoritative interpretation that the General Assembly approved in 2006 does not permit exceptions to the requirement in the PC(USA)'s ordination standards, which say that candidates must practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if they are single.
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