Stillspeaking Magazine: Fall 2014

Volume 5, Issue 2

Fall/Winter 2014

速

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Volume 5, Issu e 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS 22

Geoffrey’s Welcome

welcome

features

The “Next Big Thing” for the Progressive Church: Putting the Horse Before the Cart

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Real Good Church: A Story of Church Renewal

14

Staying Uncomfortable for Ferguson

22

Is it Time to Ditch Sunday School? Thoughts on the future of faith formation in the UCC

26

Worcester Fellowship: A Church Among Men and Women Without Homes

34

Modern Day Prophets: Art and Artists in the Sanctuary

42

An Online Community of Faith: Extravagance UCC

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Could the next big thing for the church be . . . following Jesus?

What one pastor did with a crumbling urban building and 30 members – and how any leader can adapt her often unorthodox methods.

A youth minister from Colorado returns to her roots near Ferguson, Missouri, and gets uncomfortably close to ideas of white privilege, clergy inaction, and how we’ve failed our teenagers.

Is Sunday School really the best way to provide children with a religious education? Or does it minimize and contain religion to just one hour a week?

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“God Loves You. Now.” That’s the message this church brings to a public park in Worcester, Massachusetts, every Sunday, year-round, rain or shine.

“Artists and art can step in to reenergize and recreate what church can be and should become.” It’s happening in New York City. Can it happen in your town?

Giving new meaning to “a wide welcome,” this church meets everywhere; if you have an Internet connection, you’re welcome here.

Masthead & General Info Parting Glance

extras

54 56

StillSpeaking

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“... that they may all be one. As you, God, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us ...”

John 17:20-21

ALL BE ONE THAT THEY MAY

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GEOFFREY’S WELCOME

I

t sometimes seems that everyone connected with the church has an opinion on “the future of the church.” It’s certainly a topic of great concern for many. Some make dire predictions, focusing on decline and voicing despair over aging members, empty pews, and lost traditions. Others dream of a radically transformed church, one unrecognizable to us today, as the only hope for its future.

My feeling is that neither of these extremes gets it quite right. The future shape and expression of the United Church of Christ is evolving even now, and has been for some time. I believe that our United Church of Christ Statement of Faith describes just this with the words, “You bestow on us Your Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ.” God/the Holy Spirit has been at work in our midst, sparking a re-imagining of what the world needs from the church — right now and in the years ahead. In this issue of StillSpeaking magazine, we look at just a few of the changing expressions of “church” in our denomination. I believe these are some of the trajectories that will flourish and grow over the coming decades.

• We will be thinking critically about faith formation, and alternatives to Sunday school.

• We will revitalize old buildings and dwindling congregations by taking an honest look at how we really welcome newcomers, and making big changes in outreach efforts.

• We may leave the building altogether and be the church in public spaces, including places where people without homes can create a congregation just as real as any worshiping with a roof over their heads.

• We will create virtual church–online faith communities with the widest welcome imaginable.

Whatever lies ahead for the church, and for our United Church of Christ, I hope this issue of StillSpeaking will spark you to re-imagine exciting possibilities for your faith community in the decades to come.

God’s mercies are indeed new every morning, and we are privileged and blessed to sing to the Lord a new song in our time.

The Rev. Geoffrey A. Black General Minister and President, UCC

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Pastors Sound Off: Causes We Can’t Keep Quiet About Join eleven pastors and preachers on their soapboxes as they sound off on issues that get them so worked up they can’t shut up! Perhaps you feel the same about racism, homophobia, and immigration, or you might find a new cause to rally around. Whatever fires you up, go ahead— be bold and speak out.

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it's all a matter of perspective

the writing on the wall

Real Good Church A S t or y o f Chur ch Rene w al

I pastor a gorgeous, eclectic, young, hilarious, vibrant, urban, frustratingly transient progressive Christian church. Though the reality on the inside is a little more nuanced, others have held us up as a model of renewal and “how to do church” here at the end of the Christian empire, when so many churches have seen the writing on the wall.

T

en years ago, we were in the same spot as

time, we passed our first balanced budget. We did this

those churches. We had done the math, and less than a year after we raised $600,000 in a capital we knew something had to change, or we

would die. We had about 35 people in worship, on average.

Many of them were elderly, and have since passed away.

We had about $200,000 in the bank, and we owned our building, as well as a parsonage, but New England is one of the most expensive areas of the country, and what we had wouldn’t go far if we stayed in our financial and numerical nosedive.

improvement campaign to fix our crumbling building.

Even though our church is pretty different demographically from most other churches out there, much of what we did is not based on the fact that we are young, or progressive, or urban.The people in our church are human, and we function like all humans (skinny jeans and piercings notwithstanding). We are humans who believe in God, or want to believe in God more. We want to be a good

Our current worship attendance averages 130 (even in

church and a real church, a church where the truth gets

the summer!), with 350 on Easter – which for urban

told and to which we can bring our whole selves. A church

New England is practically a megachurch. Our giving

where when we worship together we leave it all on the

has more than quintupled in the last decade. When I

field. A church where we can laugh all of our laughter

arrived as pastor in 2003, we had six children in our

and cry all of our tears and ask the hardest questions

Sunday school program, and today we have close to 100.

and feel that the Holy Spirit shows up with great regularity, because the hairs on the back of our necks go up or we

We passed a lot of risky budgets – visionary budgets

start to cry. A church where when we show up we get the

– over these last 10 years, and last year, for the first

courage or wisdom we need to make changes in our lives.

the decline of the mainline church

StillSpeaking

15

WHAT WE’RE UP AGAINST You’ve read all the same articles I have about the decline of the mainline

and only the churches that had figured out relevancy and authenticity

church, the rise of the Nones (people raised without any organized

and healthy communication would be left.

religion), and the end of Christianity as we know it. Great! Churches have died, are dying, will die. But that doesn’t mean that they all will.

I liked this idea at the time: it was so clean and winnowing, an echo of Matthew 3:12: “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will

Some of our churches will make it. The reality is, we’re not losing people

clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and

to demographic changes. We’re losing them to bad messaging, and to

burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

brunch – at least in my neighborhood. Christianity has committed the sin of being hateful and violent (I won’t trot out the whole list, but it starts with Constantine and ends with Fred Phelps). Nearly as bad, it has committed the sin of being boring and fake. I’m not going to bash the Church anymore – that’s what Facebook is for. We have work to do!

I was in a supervision meeting with our student minister last year, and found myself saying for the hundredth time: “I am preparing you to lead a dying church, because the reality is, all of our churches are dying. It may be dying quickly or it may be dying slowly, but it’s sure ‘nuff dying. Even if it was growing under the previous pastor, the congregation is in a new time of uncertainty because that pastor has left, and they’re not sure they can keep up the growth. So, it’s up to you to lead them, and convince them, by casting the right vision, setting the right priorities, and inspiring them to the right changes.”

It’s an old saw that seminary doesn’t really prepare you to lead a church.

I loved my seminary experience but I still had to learn a lot of things on the job. Until the core curriculum in mainline Protestant seminaries changes significantly, you will have to have a good field placement, read lots of books, attend churches that are working, and take lots of notes.

It was also a great comfort to the part of me that loves things tidy and clean. People wouldn’t have to risk walking into a mean church, or a desperate church, because all of us left would be kind, truly welcoming and God-positive. That is, we would be hungry for people for their own sakes, and not because we wanted their money or their bottoms in the pews (which people can always sense, by the way).

About a year ago, I had an epiphany. I think it’s from God, but only time will tell, won’t it? Here it is: I’m thinking that not only, say, a tenth of our churches, but something more like 80% of our mainline Christian churches will be dead. And they don’t even know it yet.

There is something ineffably sad about this idea. It’s like staring at a sky full of stars, only some of those stars don’t know the truth: though we can still see their light, they’re already gone.

This means time is short. A parishioner at the first church I served as an ordained minister gave me a Beanie Baby snail, symbolic of how slow the church moves when it has decisions to make. We as leaders have to create a sense of urgency around renewal and change, or it will be too late for some of us. We don’t have time to make sure every single person in our congregation feels totally ok about proposed

When I was working with the church growth consultant Jim Griffiths

changes, because that’s never going to happen – some people are just

back in 2005, he said that in 20 years, all the unhealthy churches

congenitally risk-averse, and they will hold the church hostage to

would be dead. They will have run out of money and out of people,

their commitment to the status quo. Until there’s no church left.

sense of “We as leaders have to create achan ge.” urgency around renewal and 16

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WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH 30 GOOD MEMBERS AND A BAD BUILDING There have been times over the last 10 years that I really despaired of “getting there” – “there” being a place of sustainability, of having a certain amount of positive momentum so that it wouldn’t always be so much work to grow.

Our church building is 101 years old, and a liability in many ways. It has three stories, but a rabbit warren of staircases and dark tiny ill-used rooms on seven different levels, such that it’s a nightmare regarding accessibility and plain old viability for multi-purpose ministry or rental space.

It’s a tired building: something, usually something expensive, is always breaking. It’s just old enough that some things are breaking for the first time, like the horsehair plaster in the sanctuary that has been falling on our heads for a while (although it makes a nice sermon illustration about the temporality of the church).

I remember complaining one time to our church growth consultant, “Oh, what we could do if we had a few more people and didn’t have this stupid building!”

He stopped me in my tracks. “I work with new church start pastors every day.

They would kill for 30 people and a bad building.” It’s all a matter of perspective.

There is an upside to having so few people. There are fewer sacred cows to kill, fewer leaders to bring on board. It is easier to communicate the vision in depth to every individual. There is a tremendous sense of urgency. People are very motivated to pitch in, and do multiple jobs, even (fortunately or unfortunately) tasks that aren’t intuitive to them. And pastors have a lot of influence in small churches: unless there has been a breach of pastoral ethics in the recent or even distant past, there is a high degree of trust and respect for the pastor’s vision.

And as for buildings, even a bad building is a building. You don’t have to deal with the vagaries of a landlord, setting up chairs, schlepping and storing stuff each week. With a building you have free advertising, all day, every day. You have equity, that you can turn into cash if absolutely necessary: you should in any case be renting out your building to its fullest potential (while making sure you reserve adequate space for your own expanding ministries), and you can mortgage it to enact dramatic turnaround ministry ideas.

4 THINGS TO DO TOGet

Started

If you’re a grizzled veteran of parish ministry, you probably have your own list, which may look a lot like mine. But if you’ve never served a church before and are taking your first call and are wondering where to begin, here’s a short list of things I would recommend you concentrate on in your first three months.

1. Meet individually with every single person in your congregation

3. Go on neighborhood walks. Shop locally, make friends with the

who comes to worship at least once a month, and also with elderly

school crossing guards, chat up the guy hanging out on the park

shut-ins, who are an amazing source of lore, including sacred cows.

bench. Eavesdrop on conversations at coffee shops. Read demographic

Ask them about themselves – do more listening than talking. Ask

data – your denomination may have a contract with an outfit like

them what makes them tick, where they have felt loved and where

Mission Insite, but you can also get at least some basic data for free

and when they have experienced the presence of God in their church.

online. But there is no substitute for shoe leather and your own

Ask them what their hopes and dreams for the future of this

eyeballs when it comes to really learning what makes a community

community are – and listen for cues that will tell you if they are really

tick, and what needs are underserved.

open to change or are risk-averse. Learn to love each one of them for their own sake, and cultivate allies for change. Not all of them will be

4. Make your sermons good. This is your big chance, every week, to set

instant allies for radical change, and that is ok. Look for the wise,

a new course and unleash the energy of your community. Establish

cheerful and healthy leaders whom the others will get behind.

your preaching voice, the emerging shared vision, the priorities, the strengths of the congregation. Build the congregation’s self-esteem by

2. Take a serious inventory of the building, its spaces and whether or

reflecting back to them the holiness that you see among them. Spend

not they align with the best purposes and potential (e.g. is the Sunday

enough time on your sermons that they are sermons worth hearing.

school in a smelly basement room? Are the hallways cluttered? Is the

Don’t be afraid to be funny, or edgy, or vulnerable. Tell lots of stories!

signage terrible?). Be careful what you move or change. Prioritize a

Do your sermon homework – there’s no substitute for good exegesis –

couple of easy DIY projects to make the building signage more fluent,

but don’t load people down with scholarship and jargon, make it the

or to make spaces brighter and more hospitable. Pace yourself, include

stock for the sauce. And if you feel nervous putting on that

everybody in the work (especially cheerful people with lots of

microphone, remember: we preachers are not here to rival the TED

relationships in the church), and publicly celebrate every project when

talkers and get page views, but to bring the Good News to our own

you’re done.

dear people. A friend of mine once reminded me, “the sheep know the sound of the shepherd’s voice.”

Rev. Molly Baskette is pastor of First Church Somerville (Massachusetts) UCC. Excerpted from Real Good Church: How our church came back from the dead and yours can, too, published by The Pilgrim Press.

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ts to ec oj pr IY D sy ea of le up co a e tiz ri * prio uent. make the building signage more fl e th ith w ds ien fr e ak m , lly ca lo op * sh chat up the guy school crossing guardspa, rk bench. hanging out on the * do your sermon homework.

Real Good Church

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Staying Uncomfortable for Ferguson A Colorado Youth Minister Steps Out of Her Comfort Zone and into the Street

On October 13th, I sat in a packed United Methodist Church in Ferguson,

Ferguson chanting, “Black lives matter, ALL lives matter,” I noticed

Missouri for Moral Monday, receiving civil disobedience training,

my feelings of uncertainty. The people of post-modern activism didn’t

wondering how in the world I got there from Longmont, Colorado.

look like the ones of 1964. These activists were young, tattooed, unconventional and angry. I pushed past my feelings of discomfort so

I was raised in a nearby suburb of Ferguson, where my parents chose

that I could walk and talk and listen to the stories of young people

to stay in a changing neighborhood during a period of “white flight”

until midnight. One young man called our incarceration of poor

in the 1980’s. I recalled living as a minority white female at school,

black people a modern-day debtors’ prison because they couldn’t

while at the same time benefitting from white privilege in America.

afford to pay traffic violations, which resulted in warrants for their

I was called names like “Whigger” or “Inside Out Oreo,” as I sifted

arrests. One woman shared that one of the Ferguson police officers

through white guilt and, like most teenagers, tried to fit in. My

called her employer about her activism in order to get her fired.

upbringing shaped how I navigated college, as I joined the Gospel

Another young man shared that he had lost two jobs due to police

choir, had a predominantly African-American peer group and only

harassment and “getting locked up,” so activism was his full-time job

dated men of color. Fast forward to this past summer, when I had a

now. Finally, a recording artist and activist named Tef Poe shared that

conversation with a close friend about my overall malaise regarding

at a recent show, over 50 officers surrounded the venue to try to

living in my predominantly white neighborhood.

infuse fear into the audience. They even tried to convince the owner

Truth is, my life today looks very different from how I grew up. But here is my confession: I drank the Kool-Aid. I bought into the white privilege narrative of “the good life.” I drank it without even being conscious of it.

And the millennials in Ferguson showed me what was in my cup.

When I hit the streets of Ferguson on the night of October 10th, I joined a diverse group of college students whose goal is to end police brutality. As we marched five miles through the dark streets of

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of the venue to cancel the show. He said to an officer, “You can only do two things to me. You can kill me, or you can lock me up.” He added, “Once you get past being scared of either one of those options, a brand new world opens up.”

I share all of these examples because white folks need a lot of reminding and/or convincing that racial profiling and excessive force is real because it’s so outside of our experience. We scratch our heads and ask, “How can this be? People must be doing something wrong in

order to get arrested or be shot on the street. It must be more complex

When we arrived at the Ferguson police station, we drew the outline

than it seems.” This cognitive dissonance is real for white people

of a dead body with sidewalk chalk. We lit candles and prayed and

because white privilege is real for white people. It prevents us from

chanted and sang more songs. In a call and response litany, we read

seeing others and ourselves clearly. As I chanted, “Black lives matter,

the names of black and brown men and women, hundreds who have

ALL lives matter,” I had to decide whether or not I believe that it’s

died at the hands of law enforcers. We did this not just for the police

true. As I talked and walked with young people who have criminal

officers to hear, but also for all of us, that we might all repent for the

records, I had to reject the “good kid, bad kid” narrative and accept

sins against God’s children.

the “ALL lives matter” narrative. In a way, white privilege is its own bondage that white people must break free of. And the key to freedom

A front line of clergy was asked to stand face to face with officers in

is consciousness, lest we slip into the mirage of white privilege and

riot gear. Clergy were instructed to say these words: “You are part of

become part of the problem. After my trip to Ferguson, I am convinced

the system that has killed Michael Brown. I call you to repentance,

that discomfort is the white person’s best teacher. And I am willing to

and I offer to hear your confession.” Then clergy and religious leaders

feel uncomfortable for a while if it makes for my own transformation.

shared personal stories, many of them holding the hands of police officers. Lisa Sharon Harper from Sojourner’s wrote about her

There is nothing more uncomfortable than to be called out to a

experience on that front line. She held an officer’s hand while she

stunning truth that leaves you feeling utterly powerless. It was clear

shared an experience of meeting young men from Ferguson who were

that this was not my movement and showing up was not about feeling

fighting hopelessness and fear:

more progressive or interesting (and yes, both of those things crossed my mind). This movement was about coming to consciousness so that

They dared not dream, lest dreams become nightmares. I took the

I could support young people to do what I could not do for them.

officer's hand and shared how the boys wept when I prayed blessings into

What kind of youth pastor would I be if I didn’t say “yes” to their

their lives. They weren’t used to blessings, only curses. I asked the officer if

experiences and support them in their journey towards freedom? So I

he understood. He did. Then we declared to the officers that we only

hit the streets with them.

wanted to meet with the Ferguson police chief. We took one step forward, and the police in front of us pushed back with their batons. I leaned in

Moral Monday was a day of protesting the immoral acts of

and pressed against the police line. I said to the officer in front of me: “I

institutionalized racism. Clergy were called to action. Over 600 clergy

have to do this.” He answered: “You know I have to do this, too. Tell you

from the historic black church, the mainline church, the evangelical

what: When this is all over, let’s go have a cup of coffee and talk about

church, the Catholic Church, Jewish rabbis and Muslim imams came

this.” We both laughed. In that moment the officer revealed his humanity.

together to hold up a mirror to the system that terrorizes black and

He is thinking about this, but for now he chose to follow orders. I passed

brown men and women.

through the line and was arrested.

At 7:30 a.m., the civil disobedience training began at Wellspring

The moment when my colleagues were arrested went quickly. They

United Methodist Church, which is two blocks away from the

were with us one moment and then they were gone. I have to be

Ferguson Police Department. We filled out jail support forms and

honest that I didn’t think the officers would arrest clergy. Not because

wrote the phone number of the jail support hotline on our arms with

I think that we are above the law, but because I just thought that we

Sharpies. Then clergy spent time in communal confession. This was

could all do what I ask my 3- and 5-year old daughters to do: to use

what Dr. King did with his protestors, saying that we cannot ask for

our words. For whatever reason, the officers and clergy could not.

repentance without looking inside first. So clergy tearfully confessed

Clergy had to use civil disobedience to get their point across and

our acceptance of America’s low standards that helped set the

police officers had to use their power. In their absence, clergy

conditions for the deaths of our children. We sang freedom songs and

continued to protest in the pouring rain for four hours and thirty-two

took to the streets of Ferguson, linked arm in arm, as the young

minutes, the exact length of time Michael Brown’s body lay in the

people instructed us the night before.

street on August 9th.

StillSpeaking

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We must question if it is fear versus love that is driving our faith.

In the week following Moral Monday, I felt the fuel of uncomfortable anger that compelled me to do something. So I compiled a list of

Uncomfortable Faith in Action

action items that churches can take in response to what is happening

1. Pray. Send positive energy. Think healing thoughts. Include the

in Ferguson and across the country. I’m sure that churches are

institution of racism in your religious community’s public prayers.

responding to Ferguson in a variety of ways. But if white Christians remain silent and immobile, we must reflect on how

2. Give as you’re able. Sometimes what people on the ground need

feelings of discomfort affect our authentic living of the Gospel. We

most is financial support. The United Way has a great drop-in

must question if it is fear versus love that is driving our faith. Are

center set up where they are providing rental and utility assistance

we worried that we will create divisive conversations that will

and a safe space for kids (unitedway.org/helpingferguson)

disrupt our seemingly peaceful congregations? Does the white moderate pastor rely too often on quiet advocacy, leaving the congregation entwined in ignorance and apathy? Are we confused as to what steps to take to end institutionalized racism? Do we just not want to change?

Many people have congratulated me for going to Ferguson. But I don’t want congratulations. There is too much work to do. Instead, I want to extend the invitation for others to join me in following a Jesus who makes people squirm and calls us out of our comfort so that we all might be free.

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3. (Re)Commit yourself and the people in your families, peer groups and communities to sacred conversation and education on race, class and privilege. Host an event where a community organizer or a panel discusses race and privilege with your faith community. Or go to a viewing of the documentary “I’m Not A Racist, Am I?” with a group from your faith community (www.notracistmovie.com).

4. Diversify your news resources, the art in your home, the music you listen to, the literature you read, the movies you watch and the local businesses you support. Exposing ourselves to more than the status quo helps shape our brains in a new way.

5. Vote and advocate with conviction that police cannot treat people differently according to race, class, gender, mental health or any other form of personhood. Energize voter registration among minority and low-income communities.

6. Organize to act on whatever comes up for the good of the under-served population in your communities — with members of those communities in leadership of the community action.

7. Honor the Humanity of Both Sides because God does. This is a practice of non-dualistic thinking and practice, which is hard, but is how I believe God loves the Creation.

8. Stick with It. Human beings try to eliminate discomfort from our lives as soon as we can. I encourage adults to teach children and

Rev. Heather Haginduff began formal youth ministry more than 15 years ago

youth, as well as themselves, how to sit with discomfort for long

and serves First Congregational Church in Boulder, Colo., as Associate Minister

periods of time. Notice feelings of discomfort when faced with the

for Youth. She has written no books, abandoned a youth ministry blog and

inequities of our system. And if you are feeling the natural feelings

serves on no impressive boards or denominational committees. Instead, she

of anger, guilt or sadness when you discuss race, class or privilege,

wastes most of her time hanging out with teenagers over coffee and burritos,

stick with that feeling because it will be your teacher today. It will

talking about music, sex and Jesus. She has led more than 75 retreats and

probably lead to freedom.

mission trips and mentored hundreds of young people.

StillSpeaking

25

IS IT TIME TO

Ditch Sunday School?

Thoughts on the future of faith formation in the UCC

Last spring, I taught an online Children’s Ministry course for the Center for Progressive Renewal called “Let’s Ditch Sunday School.” I didn’t name it and, truthfully, I was a little worried about the bluntness of the title. But, the title was a winner as the course filled to capacity quickly. Maybe many churches are wondering how to “ditch Sunday School.” Yours may be one of them.

While I’m not always an advocate of the complete ditching of Sunday School, I do think that as we gaze into our crystal balls to look at the church of the future, many of our current faith formation practices and traditions will need to change and sacred cows will be barbecued as we search for new ways to help new and present generations love God and live in the way of Jesus.

StillSpeaking

27

So how might our faith formation practices for children and families

Look different in the future?

1

Less emphasis on Sunday mornings as the time when the church gathers.

More and more families find it harder and harder to get out of the house on Sunday mornings.

With work schedules, sports, errands, birthday parties, and other family obligations, Sunday morning is often the only time families have to decompress and spend time together. This trend is already causing churches to think about new ways to gather together for worship, fellowship and other faith formation activities. In addition, many churches are finding ways to develop on-line resources for families and others to use for faith formation when they can’t get to the church building as often as they’d like.

2

Less emphasis on formal schooling and education. For well over 200 years the western church has relied primarily on “school” or formal education processes for passing on Bible knowledge, knowledge of Christian practices, and an understanding of what it means to live as a Christian. We became dependent on Sunday School curriculum, lesson plans, and trained volunteer teachers. Perhaps this was the best method when “attending church” was an expected part of most people’s lives. But as the institutional church becomes more and more marginalized in our culture, “passing on the faith” will need to be less and less about head knowledge and more about worship, ritual, and creative engagement with the biblical story, kinesthetically, emotionally as well as cognitively. Faith formation practice will include telling our stories of faith to others, the modeling of lives of faith to our children and youth and living together in communities who truly care for each other and the world.

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3

More emphasis on the home as the center of faith formation for children and youth. Children spend more time in their families than anywhere else and we know how important good parenting is for kids to grow up healthy in every way, including with a healthy faith in God. But increasingly over the breadth of the 20th century families seemed to become more and more dependent on the church for the faith formation of their children.

The prevailing idea was that as long as we took them to Sunday School and then made sure they went to youth group and were confirmed, we would make good Christians and future church members. Sadly, this has not been the case. In the future, churches will help parents understand how the modeling of a life of faith and the living out of God’s values daily is the most important spiritual nurture they can give their children. This does not require a seminary education or knowledge of Bible trivia but a willingness to think seriously of what it means to live in the way of Jesus as a family.

4

More intentionality around the development of true intergenerational relationships in the faith community. More and more research is showing that faith sticks to children and youth when they see it modeled for them by older members of their churches. This can only happen if churches create intentional spaces where true intergenerational relationships can be formed. It is not enough to put the different generations in the same room. The church of the future will find ways to overcome generational barriers and bring the generations together in meaningful ways. This might mean that our worship paradigm will change as we invite all generations to worship together and develop practices that make it meaningful to all ages. Confirmation mentors may become the center of Confirmation practices.

As churches think about mission they will think about how different generations can serve together and learn from each other. Perhaps churches will eat together more.

As I have worked to form and resource the Faith Formation team in the national setting of the United Church of Christ over the last year, I have often said that we will be about “helping churches to imagine what could be instead of helping to perpetuate what is.” Part of our identity as United Church of Christ churches is wrapped up in the idea that we are “progressive.” One definition of progressive is the “advocating of change or reform as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are.” The church of the future will need to be as progressive in its faith formation thinking and practices as it is in its theological viewpoints and stands on social issues.

Rev. Ivy Beckwith is minister and team leader of the UCC's Faith Formation Ministry.

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On-Line Family Resources

Many churches are developing special websit es for their families that include ideas for fait h formation activities to do at home.

Check out the websites of these two United Church of Christ congregations: o Foothills Congregational Church, Los Altos, CA foothillsucckids.weebly.com

Tips for Creating Space for INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS 1. Make sure all leaders of the church model the

importance of intergenerational relationships to the congregation.

2. Inventory all the activities of your church where the

generations are already together. Intentionally use them as places where the generations can get to know each other.

3. Inventory all the activities of your church where the

generations are separated. Ask if there are ways to make these activities more intergenerational.

4. Don’t be afraid to force people from different

generations to talk to each other – but do it in a fun way, using things like games and meals together.

o First Church of Christ, Simsbury, CT firstchurchsimsbury.com

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United Church of Christ

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“After failed attempts with other lending institutions, Church Building & Loan Fund exceeded my expectations... of providing a loan for our church that not only refinanced our mortgage, but also provided additional monies for church expansion. We received an exceptional interest rate and lowered our monthly payments by $600. [They] went above and beyond normal customer service in seeing that not only did we get approved for the loan, but that we got the best possible result.

I would definitely recommend Church Building & Loan Fund for all your church needs. It was a positive experience from beginning to end.”

— Michele Battle, Esq., chair of church renovations, Thankful Baptist Church, Kennesaw, Georgia

visit us online: cblfund.org or call toll free: 866.822.8224 ext. 3834

Imagine

what life would be like without being able to read.

Literacy is a basic right.

WWW.READINGCHANGESLIVES.ORG

Rev. Elizabeth M. Magill, Minister of Worcester Fellowship

WORCESTER FELLOWSHIP: A Church Among Men and Women Without Homes

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FALL/WINTER 2014

The list on the “Donate” page of Worcester Fellowship’s website

tells a story.

In addition to needed financial support, this church – which happens outdoors year-round in New England – needs donations of socks, hot chocolate mix, fruit punch, cups, hand sanitizer, hats, gloves, scarves, and umbrellas, bus passes, and $2 Dunkin Donuts gift cards.

The list tells a story of outdoor ministry and hospitality to homeless and at-risk adults. For the past six years, Worcester Fellowship has built a ministry by going out and listening to people on the margins of society, StillSpeaking

35

allowing them to share their stories, reaching out and reassuring them

“This group of new, renewing and multiplying churches includes

that they are all loved by God. The Worcester, Massachusetts

emergent missional congregations and ministries that exist on the

ministry joined the United Church of Christ in October 2013, and

engaging edges of today’s culture and communities,” said the Rev.

with the help of a $20,000 grant from Local Church Ministries, the

Dave Schoen, the UCC’s minister for congregational assessment and

fellowship has been able to extend its outreach and comfort.

support. “They are ministries that we did not see or even imagine five

“Where a lot of people feel like, ‘God will take care of me once I’m

years ago.”

sober,’ we’re saying ‘God loves you the way you are,’” said the Rev.

Dedicated to “ending isolation through pastoral care and nurturing

Elizabeth Magill, pastor at Worcester Fellowship. “The biggest thing

community,” Worcester Fellowship’s message is simple: God loves you.

[this] grant is going to do is to expand our reach for who we can do

“We do not evaluate anyone’s theology but work to communicate that

pastoral care with.”

God Loves You. Now. The way you are,” reads their website.

Last winter, Local Church Ministries received 21 applications for

And they really mean the “Now” part: “Before you get clean, or find

grants from the New and Renewing Churches Endowment funding,

sobriety, or commit to non-violence, or accept treatment for mental

and 16 ministries were chosen to receive $20,000 each during an

health, or pull your prayer life together, or give away all you have for

18-month period, for a total of $320,000. The United Church of

the poor.”

Christ has given such grants to more than 100 churches over the past seven years.

Worcester Fellowship meets outdoors in the Worcester Common, a public park, rain or shine on Sunday afternoons. Each gathering starts with lunch, usually provided by other area churches and distributed by volunteers to feed the hungry, followed by a worship service where parishioners share stories and affirm their dignity. In the summer they meet under a tree to avoid the heat, and in the winter they meet in a plowed area to avoid the snow.

“We hear their stories and reassure them that they are loved by God, that they are not deserving of what they think is a punishment,” Magill said.

The ministry has three audiences: the deaf population, a Spanishspeaking population, and parishioners who’ve been jailed.

“All three of those are related in that our primary ministry is listening to people. In working with chronic homeless, one of the biggest challenges is people not taking advantage of services available – people don’t think they deserve a better life because they feel guilty about their addiction or situation.”

Worcester Fellowship is one of eight first-time recipients of UCC funds. New, Renewing and Multiplying church grants are a continuous commitment of the denomination to provide resources for growth to new and renewing churches.

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The core message at Worcester Fellowship is: “Before you do anything to make yourself better, God loves you.”

“I don’t know if they all believe that God loves them, but many do believe that we believe that God loves them.”

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37

Andrew Died A blog post by Rev. Elizabeth M. Magill, Minister of Worcester Fellowship

Andrew has died. I don’t know him, except to say hi, and to ask how he is. I met him most clearly after he was pushed at the shelter a few months ago. He broke his wrist, and had a broken nose, and some internal bleeding that kept him in intensive care for about a week. [Outreach Minister] Georgeanne [Bennett] pointed him out to me: “That’s Andrew,” when he arrived at church, and I went over to meet him.

He remembered me, so clearly he had been to church before. He was cheery and friendly; he easily let the fact that I didn’t remember his name slide. An altogether pleasant man; he joked about the wrist, and about the bandage, and expressed how pleased he was to be alive.

This is one of those hard things about getting to know folk at Worcester Fellowship. What we see on Sunday, in the crowd of lunch and worship, and even in Bible study; what we meet the first two or three or eight times we talk to someone, is, just like for you and me, a very superficial part of their person. It is a real part of them, for sure – this cheery, confident, hopeful self – but it is not their full story.

And indeed, I know from Georgeanne that Andrew was not fully pleased to be alive, and, while he was rather amazed by the way people had come to take care of him, to check on him, and the many more who asked about him, he didn’t really get that this was honest caring. In

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intensive care, his body was right on that line between life and death. And then he had turned the corner and was back with us, with a cast and bandages and bruises and an outwardly cheery demeanor. He expressed thanks, and did well for a few weeks, but that other part of him, that shadowed, deep, lonely, and fearful part of him quickly took over.

Anyone who met him, on the street, or at lunch, or just hanging out in the park, met the cheery, obviously well-adjusted guy. He shared that he was alcoholic, and that he was depressed, but all in a “don’t worry, I’m going to beat this” way.

One of the challenges of our ministry is that the visitors mostly meet the cheery exterior of our parishioners, mostly hear about the successful days sober, and the alleluia about a new

“There is hope. Struggling people find pleasure, and calm, and serenity in the fact that they can share their shadow side with us, and still be loved.” apartment, and the thanks for a great relationship. Or maybe that is a strength of our ministry, that visitors see that there is hope, and that they can be part of that hope.

There is hope. Struggling people find pleasure, and calm, and serenity in the fact that they can share their shadow side with us, and still be loved. I don’t know if they all believe that God loves them, but many do believe that we believe that God loves them. And they have a better hour, and sometimes a better day, or a better few days, when they have had the opportunity to be their well-adjusted, cheery selves with someone who cares about them. And they have a better hour, and sometimes a better day, or a better few days, when they have an opportunity to share their at-the-end-of-their-rope part of themselves, and have us sit with that, acknowledge it.

It helps that we believe that what they share is true, that we don’t downplay it, or ask that they return to the cheery outward part of themselves. We let the whole person exist, and suggest that the whole person, the up-one and the down-one, too, is loved by God. Andrew gave up and died about a month later. I didn’t know the depth of longing and shadow within Andrew, but Georgeanne did, and I know she sat with him in those down places. I know Worcester Fellowship made a difference in Andrew’s life. I know that Georgeanne made a difference by accepting Andrew’s down side as a real part of him. I know that I made a difference by accepting his cheery upside as a real part of him.

As is the case with every one of our parishioners that have died, I wish, more than anything, that we could have done more. But I know, too, that we did something, and that doing something, in love, matters.

StillSpeaking

39

SocialMedia Communication

Anatomy

Comprehensive Inclusive Respect Challenges

Our Whole Lives Consent Values

Sexual orientation Pleasure Sexual behavior Commitment Affirmation Pregnancy

OWL

Puberty

Gender identity

Contraception

Lifespan and Our Faith Justice Sexuality Sexually Transmitted Infections Sexuality and disability Sexual health

Body image

Internet Safety Bullying and bystander responsibilities Dating Gender expression Lovemaking Language

“People think Our Whole Lives is about sex. It is…but it’s really about respect.”

– Our Whole Lives graduate

IS YOUR CHURCH OFFERING

OUR WHOLE LIVES YET? The United Church of Christ is proud to be a leader in offering honest, life-affirming, positive, inclusive, faith-based sexuality education programming. Our Whole Lives/Sexuality and Our Faith (OWL) is blossoming in churches across the nation, with age-appropriate, interactive courses for everyone from kindergartners through adults.

For more information, contact UCC Our Whole Lives Coordinator, Amy Johnson at 216-736-3718 or owl@ucc.org.

速

Above: Micah Bucey, Community Minister of the Arts at Judson Memorial Church, New York City.

A

At New York City’s Judson Memorial Church (one of the original birthplaces of postmodern dance and Off-Off-Broadway theater), our congregation has spent decades building a spiritual home for creativity. We encapsulate the reasons for this work in a simple maxim: “Artists have the potential to serve as our modern-day prophets. They show us where we’ve been, they show us who we are, and they show us what we could become.”

The subtle power of this assertion is rooted in the fact that our congregation doesn’t simply think of artists as potential space-renters or of their art as mere entertaining supplements to our spiritual life. Rather, we believe that our interaction with artists and art actually is our spiritual life, and that our spiritual life needs uncensored art, art that is not specifically “theological,” and art that pushes our buttons and tests our boundaries in order to thrive. We welcome artists

MODERN DAY PROPHETS:

ART AND ARTISTS IN THE SANCTUARY

into our space, not because we need the money or because we think

themselves around a set of religious beliefs) is and has been

they need evangelization from us, but because we believe that we, as

floundering in an ever-evolving world where personal spirituality,

church, have much to learn about our own faith from the stories they

without the mess of religion, just seems easier.

tell and the questions they ask.

So why is it important to keep coming together? This is where I Church, at its best, creates non-judgmental space for collective

believe artists and art can step in to reenergize and recreate what

storytelling and question-asking. Telling and listening to stories and

church can be and should become. Coming together to make church

asking and listening to questions unlock creative potential in all who

or to experience art brings a communal aspect to our spirituality that

will leave behind their dogmatic assumptions of what they think they

we cannot find on our own. I say this knowing that I and Judson have

need from a communal religious life. This is not a new idea.

it pretty easy: Judson is lucky enough to sit at the center of a city

Spirituality and religion, while interconnected, have always held a

teeming with creative folk yearning for space, support, and audience.

strange tension between them, a tension that has culminated in the

We don’t have to look very far to find takers when we offer free or

ever-growing prevalence of the term “spiritual-but-not-religious.” The

discounted space and time in our building. And though this makes it

popularity of this term prompts a necessary question: If it is possible

especially easy for me to tell other churches to continually invite

to pursue personal spiritual transformation without leaving one’s

artists into their space, I truly believe that potential artists wait in

room, without coming in contact with others, and without

every nook and cranny of every gigantic city and every tiny town. In

attempting to wedge oneself into a system of faith statements and

fact, I believe that all people have the potential to be artists, if only

rules that seem to complicate matters, why bother? Church (by which

we give them space and time and ask them to co-create, rather than

I mean a coming-together of people who attempt to organize

simply sit in the audience.

StillSpeaking

43

“ART AND CHURCH, AT THEIR BEST, ARE OFTEN ATTEMPTING TO DO THE SAME THING.�

Art and church, at their best, are often attempting to do the same thing. Both are seeking meaning through creativity in order to counteract the chaos of our world. Both are attempting to enable this creativity through storytelling and question-asking in community. The impulses to make art and to make church only need safe space in order to grow. But too often, this safe space turns out to be not-so-safe. Creative offerings are judged and discarded, just as honest spiritual inquiries are deemed heretical and problematic and are pushed out. But safe space should be censorship-free. Safe space should be open to receiving the ideas of all in a covenantal agreement to steer clear of snap judgments.

Community is messy and religious community is messier, so we should delight in the mess, knowing that making mess together has the potential to make us more, together.

We humans, at our best, are always becoming ourselves, and, therefore, our organizations will always be in states of constant transformation. In times of transformation, sharing honest stories and listening to honest questions are prophetic activities that maintain the closest thing we can

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ever have to “order.” Rules and answers (and a lot of art and many churches have hidden behind these two concrete blocks for centuries) often erect unnecessary schisms that leave us in states of disconnect, when simply opening our minds and hearts to the co-creative offerings of ourselves and others might connect us in ways we hadn’t thought possible.

At Judson, we have a simple, practical model: We not only invite self-proclaimed artists into our space to tell stories and ask questions, but we also create events that ask our congregants to tell their own stories, to ask their own questions, and to respond to the mysteries of the universe with their own unique perspectives. We hold free events where we make meals together and then share art together. These events sometimes look nothing like a “worship service,” but something like “church” still happens in the interactions between the congregant volunteers, the artists, and the folks in transition who just desire a free meal, some free art, and an open space. Participants leave with new stories to tell and new questions to ask. We continually find that a dance, a play, a song, a poem, a painting, a photograph, a joke, even if it first seems far removed from our immediate comfort zone, pushes us toward a better understanding of ourselves as a church. Balancing a devotion to our serious-minded faith with a sense of humor and openness beckons us toward a deepened faith and a future church that is always edging closer to what we can become.

We continually find that a dance, a play, a song, a poem, a painting, a photograph, a joke, even if it first seems far removed from our immediate comfort zone, pushes us toward a better understanding of ourselves as a church.

StillSpeaking

45

Continuing testament.

Extravagant welcome.

Changing lives.

Our ChurCh’s Wider MissiOn

An Online Community of Faith:

Extravagance

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UCC

Giving new meaning to the words “wherever you are on life’s journey,” the United Church of Christ is boldly venturing into the new world of online communities of faith.

A

year ago, it was a germinating idea with a great gathering pastor. Today, Extravagance UCC is a growing online faith community, with three spiritual leaders, more than

1,000 likes on Facebook, a new website in the works, and a future of fascinating possibilities.

“I have to tell you, I was scared to death after I agreed to do this,” said the Rev. Jo Hudson, gathering pastor of Extravagance UCC. “But if you are not scared to death, you don’t have a full awareness of the situation.

Anytime you step out on faith and do things for God, you’ve got to be a little scared. But I love that I have this great opportunity to connect with people all over.”

Extravagance started as an initiative to offer an extravagant welcome – to open the UCC spiritual community to people in areas in the country where it is not possible to gather together a viable congregation, particularly in the south and western areas of the United States.

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49

“Social media possesses amazing power to demonstrate that ‘faith’ and ‘church’ isn’t something that just happens for an hour on Sunday morning in a traditional building.”

As in a local church congregation, Extravagance’s ministry offers followers a chance to connect and interact weekly, in worship and bible study, but with a different, albeit spiritual, twist.

This geographically dispersed, online faith community, committed to God’s vision of being a congregation that connects and welcomes people virtually anywhere, was christened in early July 2013 at General Synod 29. In the year since, Hudson has learned much about what it means to be in community online.

“Wednesday night’s Lectio Divina is a worship experience, not church, but prayerful and meditative, with music and pictures,” said Hudson.

“During Bible study Sunday nights, participants can log in and you can see them and they can see us. Each week, we have a core of people that gather, and we can actually physically see each other. Last

“There’s a whole population out in social media that watches,

week, we had three people in Connecticut, someone in Arkansas, a few

observes and listens. Many people are present, but don’t necessarily

of us in Texas and in Tennessee – that’s a powerful experience.”

participate,” Hudson said. “People can be truly anonymous. More people who follow may not like and may not share, but are aware we are present and come to us periodically. While that’s true as in physical churches, too, it’s one of the gifts and great challenges of being an online community.”

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“Though we don’t have that [physical] worshipping community, you can interact with livestreaming, message and chat, which allow the person who’s observing to be involved with the worship,” said Hudson.

“It’s a different, exciting way to be in the community of faith.”

While Extravagance UCC has been interacting with people primarily

“Social media possesses amazing power to demonstrate that ‘faith’ and

on Facebook, it often helps direct seekers to UCC congregations in

‘church’ isn’t something that just happens for an hour on Sunday

their area for face-to-face contact. Hudson is also mindful of finding

morning in a traditional building,” said Havelka. “Our faith can and

ways to make personal connections, reaching out at faith-based

should live with us 24/7. Social media lives with us all the time. The

events like last summer’s Wild Goose Festival and New Generations

prayers, articles, Bible verses and many other online postings can

Church Leadership Institute. In addition, the community will soon be

constantly remind us how God is present in our lives and calling us to

branching out into other areas of social media, thanks to the addition

deeper faithfulness, whether we are making dinner with our families,

of two new part-time ministers. The Rev. Nicole Havelka will fill the

attending a child’s band concert or sitting through a meeting at work.”

position of Minister of Digital Programs and Kimberly Knight has been hired as the Minister of Digital Communities.

Knight is a social media coach and marketing consultant, online organizer and technology specialist who professes a passion and deep

Havelka recently served as an Associate Conference Minister in the

commitment to online ministry. For the last two years, she has served

Iowa Conference and has also been a coach, consultant and trainer

as the Director of Digital Strategy at Agnes Scott College, where she

for churches seeking to renew their ministries with children, youth

developed, organized and managed the college’s main social media

and families. She says she gravitates toward innovative ways to grow

and communication across media channels.

the progressive church.

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51

“When I first learned of the denominational initiative to birth Extravagance, I was excited and proud of my denomination to be taking this huge leap of faith into the online world that I have come to know as a viable place to truly create sacred space,” said Knight. “In my years of nurturing online community, I have encountered people at wildly different places in their walk with God. I look forward to serving alongside Jo and Nicole in such a way that we not only grow our online community but, when appropriate, connect people with local congregations.”

In addition to linking seekers with local churches, Hudson has learned another great thing Extravagance can offer is after-the-fact spiritual opportunities. “You could participate in a Facebook retreat live during Lent, but if you missed it, it was still there,” she pointed out.

“Hundreds were there live, but then people could see it later, and that number would go up later. Lectio Divina stays posted, and those interested can go find it if they couldn’t participate during the hour-long, live experience.”

“One of the things we learned this year is social media a place where things happen creatively and we have to let the spirit guide,” Hudson continued. “We will have more worship experiences, but they won’t look or feel like what going to a physical church is like. It will be spiritual, prayerful and offer opportunities for community interaction. More blogging, more video devotional experiences in the future, and interactive worship.”

“The internet is a great metaphor for the Holy Spirit. It just moves so freely, and leads to a great experience,” said Hudson. “Hearts are the most important thing.”

Visit Extravagance UCC at extravaganceucc.org

“The internet is a great metaphor for the Holy Spirit. It just moves so freely, and leads to a great experience.”

– Rev. Jo Hudson, gathering pastor, Extravagance UCC

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StillSpeaking is a publication of the United Church of Christ’s Publishing, Identity and Communication Ministry.

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FALL/WINTER 2014

LIVE DEEP AND SUCK OUT ALL THE MARROW OF LIFE Few people have written about life with as much soul and eloquence as Thoreau.

Hospice chaplain Fred Grewe, however, does just that in his new book.

WHAT THE DYING HAVE TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIVING The Awful Amazing Grace of God

Journey with the author as he shares the life stories of his hospice patients and comes to terms with his own fears about death—ultimately making the decision to embrace life more fully.

Part spiritual. Part memoir.

Totally inspirational. $20.00/paper openwaterspublishing.com #AwfulAmazingGrace

StillSpeaking

55

“For God’s

compassions never fail.

They are new

every

morning; great is

your

faithfulness.”

Lamentations 3:22-23

700 PROSPECT AVE. CLEVELAND, OH 44115

Printed on FSC-certified paper.

“O sing to the Lord a new song!”

Psalm 98:1