Schedule

One of the first principles of time management is this: What gets scheduled gets done.

Most of us have a pretty good grasp on many of these rules. Even if you only read the covers on the magazines while you wait in line at the grocery store; especially if you read any of the self-help books. There aren’t that many new rules for having a good life. And you already know all the old ones:

Never skip breakfast.
Exercise for thirty minutes at least three times a week.
It’s essential to be consistent if you want to train your puppy well.
Make sure your plate holds more vegetables than meat.
Don’t leave your big assignment ‘til the day before it’s due.

You can list a million of them. Right?

But that scheduling one is worth gold. We can have good intentions from here to eternity. We can sincerely believe that we ought to invite a friend, to share about our most valued relationship with Jesus. We all have a deep desire to end the suffering in the world around us. Imagine how wonderful it would be if we really could abolish poverty. Every single one of us would dearly love to live in a country, a world that is more peaceful—where justice rules.

At least one of those things is probably something we might say “matters most” to us. If so, then here’s the best advice of all those self-help gurus. If you want something to happen, decide what steps you can take to start moving in that direction and put it in the schedule.

This is the season when most of our congregations are drafting our church calendars. We’re creating our schedules. If we’re truly honest when we look at those schedules, we should be able to see what matters most to us. If those mission initiatives truly resonate in our hearts, then we’ll be making every effort to create events, activities, space that will make something happen. Something that will make a difference in the community where our congregation is planted, where our people live and work and have their being.

How’s your calendar shaping up? Is it looking pretty much exactly as it always does? Have you considered how your fall dinner or your Christmas concert or you spring rummage sale are moving the world toward the abolition of poverty or the advancement of the cause of peace and justice? Because if we want those things to happen, we need to schedule them!

I know several of you have booked working sessions to spend some time working on What Matters Most and creating a strategy for your congregation. Good for you! Make sure your strategy includes some scheduling. Because what gets scheduled gets done.

Posted by Marion

Crazy

You all must have a story about getting the words of a song wrong: you know the kind, like "round John Virgin" or "Olive the other reindeer"?

Here's one I read about recently that has stuck in my mind and really, really feels like a "good word" about all that's going on around our Mission.

Somebody's five-year-old always sings "Allelu, allelu, allelu, alleluyah-- crazy the Lord!" So of course, it slides right into the auto record part of my brain and I've been singing "Crazy the Lord!" ever since.

So many good things happening it's hard to keep them straight and pull out one thread from here or there to report about. Many, many crazy happenings. Crazy great and new and fresh and surprising things! There are days your friendly CEM staff people feel very much like one of those guys spinning the plates in the circus. Gotta keep moving, keep spinning, making sure none of them stops or gets broken. Crazy the Lord.

Let me choose just one to tell about. Carman and I spent last Saturday in a high school cafeteria (we needed a space big enough for all who came) helping a conversation happen about how the GTA West congregation will move forward in their decision about a facility for their diverse congregation.

They want a welcoming, comfortable, happy space to do programs as well as reach out, be visible, help the needy. They want to meet many complex needs but they're also confident about the dialogue, ready to listen, to disagree and agree, all the while trusting the Holy Spirit to lead them through some tough times and hard work. And fully expecting to arrive at the best solution for this still-forming community working on mission together. Crazy the Lord!

They're building expertise as a dialoguing, discerning community. Skills we'll all need moving into the future. And they're excited about a range of opportunities in front of them. Stay tuned for more news as the process unfolds. What a journey this promises to be!

All together now, Sing: Crazy the Lord!

Posted by Marion

Blowhardery

Now of course that is not a real word, although I did hear it used on a very prestigious interview program on the CBC this weekend. That ought to give it some credence, don’t you think? It was not defined or defended as a word, and the conversation just kept going on as everyone appeared to understand precisely what it meant without further elaboration. I immediately thought “what a good word” and resolved to use it somehow in the blog. I’ve been a couple of days deciding just what to do with it.

The conversation in question was about the apparent imbalance between male and female writers in most current popular magazines. Despite the growing numbers of excellent women journalists, critics and commentators the gender imbalance is undeniable. There are the numbers right there in printed listings of authors, reviewers, etc. Thus the discussion in question. What are the reasons for this imbalance in favour of male writers? Panelists, male and female, were offering their opinions.

One of them suggested that women tend to be less given to “blowhardery” and are not so likely to produce and offer up their free-lance pieces. “They don’t necessarily believe that everyone wants to read what they think.”

I’m not going to get into the eternal battle of the sexes here. That was just some context for you. I am aware that very often decisions get made based on the loudest voices in the discussion. Some people do very well with parliamentary procedure, for example, because they enjoy the argument. It may even seem that they enjoy the sound of their own voices. Some of them need to talk out loud to figure out what they think. You can hear their opinions forming as they speak, having begun from a place of not quite knowing. Blowhardery is just part of formulating a position.

Of course there are those who just hate it all. They’d really prefer never to speak in a meeting, let alone to stand up front and be the centre of it all. Take away that microphone and just let them sit in the back and listen.

But what happens then is that all the opinions spoken out loud are those spoken by the loudest voices. If we are to hear from the others we must devise other ways. It’s why we do things like hold small group dialogue sessions, give people a chance to write down their ideas, circulate polls or surveys, hold more meetings to give greater opportunity to listen and discern—even the opportunity to hear from different loud voices.

Folks with the gift of blowhardery tend to fill the air space available. It is their gift and we appreciate their willingness to share. I’m glad for the people willing and able to speak up. But don’t let’s forget the others whose ideas may differ, who may have thoughts the rest of us haven’t yet. Be sure to give them a way into the decisions too. The best decisions tap the wisdom of the whole. It’s hard work, but worth all our efforts.

Posted by Marion

Yes

Now that you’ve had several days to get over the shock of “the answer is NO” I think it’s probably time for me to repent and offer some antidote to that somewhat harsh blog post of last week. The very fact that so much of that message was indeed true ought to give you a sense that, in fact, much of the time our beloved Mission Centre President does try to give the answer “Yes!” It’s a fact. As a former apostle of ours used to say: we’re in the permission giving business.

Much of the message all of us are trying to give is mission-focused. To be focused on ‘mission’ is to be anxious to be doing God’s work in our communities. What is God’s Spirit up to in your community and how can you get involved? How are we answering that omni-present question “what matters most?” All of those questions really, really require “Yes” answers.

So you’ll find that if it is at all possible, we’ll be figuring out how to give you a “yes” answer. Here are a few that will work:

• Is there are way to take care of some of this red tape that’s tying up our project to care for the homeless, bless the poor, serve the children, house the needy…?
• Can you offer any ideas about how we can have better worship, more interesting Christian ed programs, exciting vacation Bible schools, engaging discussion groups, useful budgeting workshops…?
• Do you know someone we might invite to help us get better at reaching out to the unchurched, improve our witnessing/inviting ministries…?
• Is there some way our congregation can tap into the potential of the Internet to keep our people connected or maybe engage our children and youth in ways that appeal to them?
• Do you think it would be OK if we disposed of some of these old books and set up a more useful library for the things our people really want to read about; maybe some more current resources like e-books and the like?
• Can we let community groups use our facilities for their cooperative cooking class for single moms, or their organic gardening project, or the family movie night, or…?
• Will you tell us how to get the permission we need for projecting music, or showing movies or offering computer classes or…?
• Is there something we need to do to ensure our kids’ programs are as safe as they can be?
• I think I have some skills or some experience and I've got a bit of time; is there something I can do to help?
  

You see, there are lots of things that will almost certainly get you a “Yes!”

See if you can find some in this list, or invent some of your own. Give us a call. We really like Yes questions best.

Posted by Marion

Dinner

A new book has just come out and the author is making the rounds of the radio interview shows called The Family Dinner: Great Ways To Connect With Your Kids, One Meal At A Time

The premise is pretty simple, maybe not easy, that families pass on their values and connect with each other around the dinner table. Not just once in awhile, but every day. I got to thinking about this notion. I remembered my childhood dinner table where I sat at the end, with my back to the north. On my left, the east side sat my two sisters and my left-handed brother (on the corner so he didn’t bump elbows with anyone) and on my right, the west side, sat my other brother and my dad. My mother faced me from the south end so she could get up and down easily and do all the things she needed to do; she was always doing something! My mother was the “doer” while my dad was the “talker.”

I include the directions because it was at that table that I learned those directions and for years I imagined myself at the table when I had to get my bearings as to north/south/east/west. I could share other things I learned at that table, picking up as I did, all kinds of information on weather lore, crop rotation, economics, local history, all from my dad. I might also have learned that dad’s word was truth and that mother’s job was to serve the family, because at that table it was so.

We often speak of our congregations’ love of potlucks. (The potluck is sometimes called the ninth sacrament.) Most of us can tell a story about how our church family does potluck. As one who has the amazing opportunity to share at many congregational family tables I have observed many things about how those “families” function. Most have a system of getting the food out and organized—hot, cold, salads, desserts. Sometimes the dessert stays hidden until the first course is cleared away. Others pile everything out and let you eat in whatever order you choose. In some places the children go first; in others it’s the guest. Some places have pretty much the same menu every time; others really mix it up or announce “theme meals” and try new or ethnic dishes.

What are the values lessons we pick up around this family table? Who sits where? Who makes the "rules" and who does the work? How are the tasks shared? Is conversation happening? Do families sit together or do you mix it up? What do our potlucks say about us as a church family? Is this a healthy congregation that gathers in the spirit of hospitality, welcoming all and sharing concern about serving others as well as ourselves?

What do you think? Have you ever thought about what your potluck practices might say about you the people and ideas you hold most dear?

Posted by Marion

Babies

I watched this film on the weekend. It is lovely. I highly recommend it if you’re feeling the least bit stressed and just want to spend an hour with gentle thoughts and no intellectual challenges at all. It’s delightful.Then, if this starts you thinking about how life might be better for all the babies of the world, you could consider some of the studies in this article. Who knew the impact would be so great?

There’s one study that says “For every one-year increase in the average education of reproductive-age women, a country experienced a 9.5 percent decrease in the child deaths.” Wow! That’s huge. And that isn’t only in the poor countries we hear or read about. It isn’t just Afghanistan or Haiti. It’s in the USA and Canada, where your actions and mine just might make some difference.

For sure we need to keep supporting World Accord’s efforts in India and Pakistan. But we could probably do something in our very own congregation or our very own family. I can think of things—maybe you can too—that could help a girl or woman get more education. It will be worth it for their future and the future well-being of their children.

Now I challenge you to give it some thought. Let’s make the world better for all the babies.

Posted by Marion

Need

I once had a boss who used to trumpet “Ask for what you need!” She was adamant about stepping up and making your needs known. She used to say that people operated on assumptions so much of the time that it was no wonder we “got it wrong” as much as we did—as we do, because we’re reluctant to “just ask” instead of hoping someone will notice, or guess, what we need. In fact, said she, it was amazing we ever got it right at all!

Now as I’m reading over last week’s Distinctive blog post, one sentence that jumps out at me is this one: “the sermon is based on the what the leadership team perceives is needed in the congregation.”

If you’re part of a leadership team, how much time to you spend trying to perceive the needs of your congregation? If you’re part of a congregation, do you have a way to let folks know your needs? And all of you, what part of your time is spent trying to figure out what your community needs from you?

From where I sit, it seems we spend a whole lot of time guessing what others need, regretting which of our own needs are not being met and forgetting entirely that we just might be the means of meeting many of those needs, both inside and outside a traditional congregation.

I do know we have some people in our lives who are very, very needy. Maybe there are some who would happily fill your ears with their many unmet needs. But as a truly perceptive leader, shouldn’t you be finding ways to deal with those persons in a pastoral way (maybe by delegating to those with a nurturing gift) while you work with your team as a whole to be about “what matters most”? It always seems to come back to this, doesn’t it?

Join our conversation friends. What bits of this whole conversation are resonating for you?

Posted by Marion

Pews

(It was this word or the other one.) I think too often we spend much too much time trying to figure out how to get bums in pews! Not that it isn't related or important or even easy. But how very easy it is for us to get distracted by the question: How can we get more bums into our pews?

It's the Field of Dreams school of Christian thought: if you build it, they will come. And then we try very hard to figure out just exactly what kind of thing to build. Should it have hymals and organs or praise bands and power point? What will bring the young folks back? Should we encourage people to bring in their coffee?

But that's not the right question. That's not what matters most! I'd be thrilled beyond belief if I could say: Those folks aren't here today because they're out blessing their community. They're serving the needy, or working on an important justice project or visiting in a hospice or cleaning out an animal shelter or...

I've even been known to come down in favour of coaching a kids' soccer game that happened to be scheduled on a Sunday morning. If that's what it takes to be part of a community, to inject values and teach fair play with my kids and their peers, I would rather be there than with my bum in the pew.

Now please give me something of value when I do show up. Help me learn those values and give me skills for teaching our children. Support my efforts to create Christian community. Don't scold me for not coming to sing hymns with you every single week. I'll vote with my feet.

Can we please pay attention to what questions we should be answering? Is it how to get more bums in our pews? Or is it something else?

Posted by Marion

Dodge

About six years ago while working at the Temple, I drove across the state of Kansas to visit a lady in Garden City, which is over by the Kansas/Colorado border. That was before GPSs, or at least before I had one, so I had to look at a map to find my way. Reading the map, I noticed I was not far from Dodge City; the legendary home of Marshall Matt Dillon of the TV program Gunsmoke. (For all of you of a certain age who grew up watching TV Westerns, this area really is in the heart of the old west!) Since there is not a lot to see in Kansas, I decided it was worth a slight detour, just so I could say that I had been there.

Dodge City looks very much like any other small mid-west town. It has a grain elevator, railroad track, probably stock yards, stores, restaurants and car dealerships. It has one distinction, however, and that is a park in the middle of town that includes a museum replica of the old Dodge City Main Street, probably copied from the Gunsmoke movie set. Here behind a wooden sidewalk stands the general store, a saloon or two, an apothecary, and a few other buildings, each showing goods that one might have expected to find in such a store in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The stores were all small, and didn’t have much in the way of good to offer. From a practical point of view, that was okay because unless you were looking for a souvenir, there was nothing from that era you would want to buy anyway. I soon went on my way.

The lady I was going to visit in Garden City was a young/middle-aged Doctor and a church member. We had no congregation in Garden City, but there was one about an hour’s drive away. During our visit, she mentioned that she had been to church there once, but the congregation was small and old, and she really had no interest in going back. From her description, it is fairly safe to say they were not following the Healthy Congregation Model. Apparently there were no Witnessing/Inviting Ministries to the Community, and no Sending/Serving Ministries either, except by the faithful pastor who diligently served the members. Gathering ministries consisted of the usual hour of adult Sunday School, and an hour of Church.

Nothing about the congregation’s programming appealed to the Doctor. A few people gathered for worship, but the style was old fashioned and there were not enough people to produce a feeling of something worthwhile really happening. It seemed like ‘going through the motions’ to the her. On the other hand, despite being small, the formality and routine of the worship meant that there was no sense of intimacy or sharing of people’s lives either.

Since she was not open to returning to church, I encouraged her to consider starting a small group such as a Bible study in her home. She seemed open to that idea, and actually had already thought of it. She also talked of finding a larger church near her home. I don't know if she ever did.

As I look back on that trip, it occurs to me that there is a lot of similarity between the stores of the museum Dodge City and the congregation the Doctor described. In both cases, the goods and service offered were few, old fashioned, and based on a nineteenth century experience. It reminds me how important it is that our congregations be healthy and in touch with our time. If the congregation had offered ministries to the community, whether of the witnessing/inviting variety or sending/serving, the Doctor would have been interested and the one hour drive would not have been an obstacle. Without those efforts, however, it wouldn’t have mattered if the church had been right next door; there was simply nothing being offered there that she wanted.

Witnessing/Inviting, Gathering, and Sending/Serving; a healthy congregation needs to offer all three. What about your congregation? What ministries and services are you offering to your community?

Posted by Carman

Gaze

I just listened again to David Schall's final challenge at World Conference.You can find it here if you'd like to listen to it. He speaks about the direction our congregation's gaze is turned. "If you love me" he quotes Jesus, your gaze needs to be turned outward and not inward.

If you've followed this blog much, you've read about the Healthy Congregation. You've had attention drawn to balancing the various kinds of ministries our congregations offer. We've talked of the three main kinds of ministries: witnessing/inviting, gathering, and sending/serving. Typical congregations focus most effort and energy on their gathering ministry.

Healthy congregations do have gathering ministry. We do need to worship together, to experience fellowship with other parts of our church family, to learn how to be more effective disciples. We do those things when we gather together, when our gaze is rightfully turned inward.

But the other two-thirds of what we do should shift to an outward gaze. This is what it means to be a missional congregation. President Schall suggests three ways to do that.
(1) In all you do, ask the question "How will this (event/activity/
purchase/decision) bless the community?" (2) Consider who you need to invite to church and (3) Pay your tithing.

This is a very brief summary of a very important message. You may expect to hear it again and again. For now, let's think about where we choose to fix our gaze.

Posted by Marion

Meeting

For many of you that’s nothing short of a “dirty word.” Oh no! You exclaim. Not another meeting.

But sometimes, done right, a meeting is just the thing and if we use them well we can accomplish great things. Sometimes also, meetings might just keep us from getting the right thing done.

Let me tell you a story about my recent visit in St. Thomas. I’d been there a few months before to help them have a meeting and figure out how to move forward in reaching out into their community. They were definitely feeling the pull to be involved but had got stuck in a round of meetings and some were getting frustrated that they weren’t really doing it.

We had a great meeting! And we decided not to meet again until we had stories to share of something that was happening.

This weekend I was back. Not for a meeting but for a class and a Sunday worship. But I heard some wonderful stories. A friend of the congregation was moving from one apartment to another--with an elevator--so her hip surgeries could heal. In the move one member realized she needed a lower bed and did what it took to provide it—before bed time! (They hope to replace a faulty toaster ASAP!)

The food pantry at the nearby housing project runs pretty low by the end of the month, so the congregation now runs a food hamper that gets filled and delivered just before the last week of the month.

Members are watching local garage or estate sales and have been picking up small appliances or bedding or toys that can be used by the not-so-well-off residents of that same project.

Police checks, youth worker registration forms, insurance coverage are all moving into place in order to be ready for whatever idea comes next. They’ve realized that some opportunity will come and they need to be ready for it!

Congratulations to pastor Stephanie Johnson and all your doers who saw what to do and did it, rather than having another meeting.

Posted by Marion

Feathers

Clearly the angels have been shedding. As I walked into the fellowship hall the white tree in the corner had been well and truly trimmed by a team whose decorating principle is "fill every single inch with something bright and shiny."

The floor around was covered with white feather fluff. It trailed through the room into the next, up the stairs, into the sanctuary. Much angel activity has been going on as the children are getting ready for their roles in programs that will be unfolding over the next few weeks of Advent.

A couple of questions about the source of the "mess" were answered with a stern look and a clear message that there will be feathers where there are angels, and there are definitely angels present here. (The feathery wings lay on the table along with tinsel halos, several shepherd and wise man robes and a baby!)

That settled it. No more questions. Where there are angels there may indeed be "mess" but that's just the way it is.

It was part of the message of the morning as well. Although we are in the business of preparing the way, we still have issues of real life to deal with. We will still need to forgive each other, make way for one another, be patient with those whose perspective does not exactly match our own. We will need to come to the table, in repentance and seeking healing and reconciliation.

But other signs are also there. Jesus is coming. There are angels here. Ignore the stray feathers. With real life some feathers will be shed. At some point the vacuum will come out. But for now, sing Hallelujah! Make ready to receive Him.

Solutions

I'm thinking of just how many people have told me about solutions they're part of. You know what they say, if you're not part of the solution you just may be part of the problem!

Some of the problems are huge ones--AIDS, war, hunger and homelessness. And you might think you can't be the solution to those ones. But look again. Today (I'm writing this on December 1) is International AIDS Day and there are the folks in Stratford organizing and attending vigils and creating awareness and support for real solutions.

We think of our good friend Rod Downing who keeps reminding us via his Peace newsletter and truly putting pressure on countries and their leaders to move on solving such huge issues as Darfur. It may be a global issue, but there are things to be done, even by one person.

Many CEM congregations have found community problems they can do something about: GTA West make sandwiches for the homeless hungry; Providence Bay ensures families without means can join in the community skating time; Hamilton provides food and fellowship for their neighbourhood seniors. Many congregations support local food banks and adopt families at Christmas time. You can add to this list I'm certain.

As Christmas approaches you, like me, may be receiving all kinds of pleas to help with this or that important cause. Let's not just reject them all. Let's give some thoughtful consideration to how we can be part of the solution.

We've been considering our various ministries to bring our healthy congregations into greater balance. As the season of giving is upon us, this is a time to answer the call to serve others. What are the calls into community that tug at your heart? Can you moblilize your family, a few friends, even your whole congregation to make a difference, to be part of the solution?

Share your story here.