August 9, 2011
I arrived in Nashville, Tennessee yesterday to visit my father. He has been living in Tennessee since 1998' retiring here after being a career missionary in Tokyo, Japan. The last time I came to Tennessee was five years ago when my mother passed away. My father has come to visit me in Missoula every year since then, so I thought it was high time I came here to see him.
Today we went out for a drive in his sweet red convertible (a Pontiac Solstice) with the top down. My father lives in Crossville which is about an hour and a half drive east of Nashville. It is beautiful around here with rolling hills, winding roads and lots of lush vegetation.
As we were driving we passed a yellow road sign with these words: Slow Church Ahead.
(I took a picture of it, but I am unable to get my IPad to post it onto this page). We stopped and I took a picture of it because I thought it was an apt description of where the church is today. We have been slow. Slow in our ability to adapt to the changes in our culture, slow in our desire to risk and try new things, slow in our openness to accept the ways of worship that are appealing to the next generation.
One of the questions the leaders of the workshop I went to in Berekeley, California on renewing churches asked us these two questions:
1. What would our community look like without our church?
2. What would the world look like if our church was even more vibrant and healthy?
It is in answering these questions that the beginning or renewal happens. A church needs a clear vision of it's unique ministry and mission in the world.
I ws glad to hear this because at University Congregational, United Church of Christ in Missoula we have been working for three years to articulate a vision for the future. And that vision is cast for us under the theme of "Going Deeper....."
Going Deeper in Spiritual Formation
Going Deeper in Welcoming the Younger Generations
Going Deeper in Becoming a Greening Congregation
Going Deeper in Intentional Relatioships
Going Deeper in Transformative Mission
It is clear that in order for a church to be vibrant and healthy it must always strive to reach out beyond itself. If a church us only willing to serve its own members then it will die. So ponder this vision, give it some thought, think about what part of the vision you can connect your own sense of ministry to in the world.
Amen and Amen.
University Congregational Church, United Church of Christ
