congregational renewal
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First, credit where credit is due. This training was hosted by the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the ELCA, and the presenters were from Partners for Sacred Places.
I learned several good and helpful things from the awesome presenters, Gianfranco Grande and Emily Sajdak. Emily puts together a mean power point, and I was grateful for all her work. Gianfranco is a dynamic presenter, and I'm hopeful that there is much I can learn from him, and ways that I can grow in my understandings of the best ways a church can be used for the mission of God -- sharing love with the world.
The best thing I learned was this, which is a new way of thinking for many. We are stewards of our church buildings for our community [and for the Mission of God].
I was thinking so hard during the training, I live tweeted it. This training was very worth my time, and I came away with many ideas. I learned new language to communicate with others a new way of thinking about who we are and what we do as church, and how our buildings matter to the places the reside. Our buildings, and how we steward them, matter to God. If we primary encounter God through people, and if we serve Jesus by offering clothing, drinks of water, food, and visits of prisoners (Matthew 25: 31-46), how does that change the ways we use our buildings?
Comment Below.
5 Comments
Eric
4/27/2017 01:11:08 pm
So what happens when those who aren't a part of the church make a mess of things. Doesn't that disrespect God? What about the money the people in the church have spent to make our space worthy of the God who lives there? 4/27/2017 02:41:25 pm
Eric, thank you for being honest about what you're thinking. I think there are some valid things to think about here. If we open up our building, will we need to pay for cleaners? What boundaries will we need to have? How do we protect what we've worked hard to build? Which things honestly need protecting and which things can we be better at sharing? What really matters?
Linda
4/27/2017 01:32:53 pm
Opening the building for others' use cannot be viewed as just a source of added income (rent). There needs to be a shift in how the congregation sees the line between what is "mine" and what belongs to the whole community because it is God's! If everything we have is a gift from God, then how might God use our building to minister to our whole community? I was part of a church where key leaders couldn't think beyond "rental income" and as soon as renters became inconvenient, they were kicked out. This leaves more of an impression than simply not being open in the first place! 4/27/2017 02:43:49 pm
Thanks, Linda! I agree. If groups are in the church, the church should view them as friends, partners, people to learn about and have relationships with. What if we were so radical as to define anyone in our building as a member? How would that change the way we think about who uses the space?
Amands
4/28/2017 02:26:55 am
We've been working for years on just this idea. It started as utility share income and, over time, has become a growing ministry. Learning procedures, processes, and boundaries has certainly been bumpy but the relationships are so worth it! I would be happy to chat with folks about how we have been negotiating this shift! Leave a Reply. |
AuthorPastor Jess is all about sharing the life-saving love of Jesus with the world. How she does it is up to the Holy Spirit. Archives
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 This work is licensed by Rev. Jessica A. Harren under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. |
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