The Day After General Convention

Vital Church Ministries Newsletter
Equipping and Encouraging Episcopal Church Leaders to Fulfill the Great Commission
www.vitalchurchministries.org
Kevin.Martin@vitalchurchministries.org

What will you and your congregation be doing the day after General Convention? That question will be more important this year than in many past years. Two turbulent issues are before our leaders and deputies that threaten to embroil us in bitter controversy.

First, the issue of same sex blessing will come before our Convention for the 7th time. Since this year, the proponents are urging "only" that a rite be added to the occasional service book. Supporters of this will ask who can reasonable object to this pastoral service to those already doing this?

Second, the General Convention will also be asked to ratify the election of the Rev. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. Rev. Robinson is, as almost everyone knows by now, an openly gay man living in a same sex relationship. His supporters will ask who can deny New Hampshire the right to call whoever they want as Bishop? The answer to both these questions in light of the 1998 Lambeth Conference is "80% of the Anglican Communion."

So, it is predictable that these two issues will generate considerable reaction among the 28 provinces of the Anglican Church. For what it is worth, I believe the second issue will be considered the most serious by most of the Bishops of the Anglican Church because in most of the Provinces, Bishops really matter. Now, this letter is about leadership and congregational development, so I am not writing about whether we should or should not do these things.

What I am writing about is what your leaders will want to do in response to the very considerable reaction that doing or not doing these two things will generate in our worldwide community and the coverage they will receive in the media.

The first thing that I would say is that "Issues divide, mission unites" and that a divided community is very poor at welcoming newcomers and making disciples. It is predictable that the polarization around human sexuality will create an even more difficult context for ECUSA to turn around our 40 years of decline and reach new people. Of course, supporters of these actions will argue that doing these things will open the church to many people supportive of these actions, but this is just a rationalization. The greater truth is that few people want to join a Christian community that is at war with itself.

As one GenXer said to me, "If I wanted to fight, I would go home to my parents!"

In addition, only a very small number of un-churched people would ever choose a church because of its position on human sexuality. Those who do are not un-churched people, most are in a category I would call the "de-churched." When un-churched folks look for a church, they are choosing for very different reasons than de-churched people.

So, what do I suggest that Church leaders do to weather the storm produced by this controversy?

I would list the following:

1. Aim at communicating the central message and proclamation of Christianity that in Jesus Christ, God has reconciled the world to himself, forgiving our sins and restoring us, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to a wonderful new life.

2. Provide Alpha, The Discovery Class and other organized teaching ministries aimed at bringing in new people to the local church.

3. Create Small groups of fellowship, study and care to nurture believers, especially new ones.

4. Make the Great Commission and the Great Commandment the core values of your congregation.

5. Provide inviting, vibrant and inspirational liturgy and worship with engaging biblical preaching that applies Christianity to every day life.

6. Do not have study groups, discussion groups or the like to talk about what to do about General Convention.

7. Do not threaten to leave the Episcopal Church, join AMIA or one of the other dozen or so offshoot Anglican groups. You can't plan a hopeful future by reaching out to people on the basis of their anger with ECUSA.

8. Off set negative publicity by creating an aggressive and positive public profile for your congregation in the local media.

9. Answer the question, "what were they thinking?" with "They weren't thinking, thinking has little or nothing to do with General Convention."

10. Answer the question, "How can I remain is such a denomination?" with "Denominations aren't the future of Christianity anyway."

The Episcopal Church that evangelizes and makes new disciples of Jesus will have a bright future. Those that don't, have no future.

Come to our Vital Church For the 21st Century Conference on September 15th and learn how to create that vital future for your congregation.

Kevin Martin