Identity, Purpose, Context

Each congregation has its own DNA -- its unique history, habits, hopes. But in the short time I have been Presbytery Support Minister, something I've always suspected has been confirmed -- that our churches are all pretty much alike. They are all struggling with the same challenges.

We know the United Church has been in pretty steady decline for 40 year now. But there are a couple of new realities.

One is that the anxiety level is sky high. Clergy and lay leaders are overwhelmed with the demands of ministering to aging, shrinking congregations whose future is extremely tenuous.

The other is the sense that they are running out of time to turn things around. The window of opportunity is closing. Decisive action is required at the very time when the energy required for such action is severely depleted.

There's a widespread sense that there's no time to talk. We need to do something, and do something fast or it will be too late. Extended conversation was possible in more stable times, but today it's luxury we can no longer afford. For too long, the church has been all talk and no action.

I want to suggest, though, that exactly the opposite is true. We need to talk more, not less. This seems counterintuitive, but one of the problems our churches have is that they have not developed good habits of discerning reflection and conversation. They have gone about their busy round of activity, but have not invested the time talking about the things that matter.

Gil Rendle and Alice Mann, in their book Holy Conversations: Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practice for Congregations, identify three questions that undergird any attempt to plan for the future.

Who are we?  This is the question of identity.

What is God calling us to do? This is the question of purpose.

Who is our neighbour?  This is the question of context.

Without engaging in deep reflection on these questions, congregations will not be able to effectively undertake planning -- determining how tomorrow will be different from today.

I had an experience of this meeting with a congregation recently that is eager to find some way to renew their flagging energy. I raised these questions, but they found them extraordinarily difficult not only to answer but to understand. They wondered out loud if they even have an identity. They were able to name things that are important to them like belonging, faith and tradition, but they struggled to articulate why they are important. What is it about belonging to this community or maintaining certain traditions that is worth getting out of bed for? What could the things that are important to this

collection of God's people possibly mean to a changed community?

You can't answer those questions in five minutes. It takes time -- the very thing that our churches don't think they have much of. But, I believe, there's no alternative.

This isn't to be critical. I think there has been a failure of leadership in not creating time and space for these questions to settle into our churches' souls. They can come up with a list of things they like to do -- worship services and church suppers and rummage sales -- but they have no framework for assessing why these things matter. No wonder they feel lost in a rapidly changing wilderness.

For churches that can do nothing but frantically bale a sinking ship, it might well be too late. But churches that can find enough space to think at a deep level about who they are, what God is calling them to do, and what context they find themselves in, might discover surprising new forms of vitality.