“I Have a Dream of Changing the Way We Die”
by Rev. Edie Lenz
I dream of congregations empowered to face into their current reality – to multiply, divide, revitalize or die based not on their own preferences or outside pressures but based on thoughtful prayer, assessment, evaluation, and the movement of the Holy Spirit.
I dream of tools and resources available for congregations who make the decision to close, or fold into another congregation. I believe that a “Hospice” needs to be set up for churches, churches who perhaps have something to live for in the short term and will eventually die and those churches that are actively dying. I believe these resources should include:
-Evaluation tools, what steps should we be taking, what are our options? (closing, unifying, revitalizing, closing and restarting)
-Trained coaches – who will walk beside pastors or Consistories as they navigate these decisions and take action, who helps navigate all the emotion?
-Roadmaps – who has done this, what resources can we draw on, who can help to show the way (because every situation is different but sometimes someone else has walked down a similar path)
-Prayer partners – who is in prayer for churches who are making these decisions; surely the Classes could be in prayer
-Self-care tools and tools for figuring out what comes next for individuals – not just for pastors but for those who might seek to know what God is calling them to next (FW?); after the closing of a church we often end up with people who are burned out or who leave the church completely- what can we do to stem this tide? Perhaps caring more for people in the trenches, closing before they are burned out, providing opportunities and places of healing
-A theology on dying and rising, a better understanding of lifecycles and why closing is not failure
-A listening ear – a non-judging listening ear to share fears, wounds, sorrows
-A set of suggestions and means of celebrating legacy and saying good bye; a way to close a church with dignity
-Conversations about legacy – how will each church be remembered, how will they define their legacy, to whom, how, etc.
I dream of resources like this being offered to churches as well as doors being opened for conversations about what God is doing among us. As many of our churches die, there are others being born. These are often viewed as competition rather than sisters in the faith – what would it look like to stop competing and start caring for one another? What would it look like to stop seeing our resources as finite and bickering over them and starting to wonder what God might do with all of us? I dream of conversations that open doors to greater partnership and support for being on mission with God. I dream of redefining what it means to “do church” without shaming those who have done it a particular way for so many years.
I believe that God is at work among us – in us, around us, in spite of us. I believe that God is doing new things all the time, if we only had eyes to see, as well as ears and hearts to hear. I believe that we need to stop clinging to the past, our old structures have served us well but they are not serving us well any longer. Sometimes we need to be changed, sometimes we need to die in order to live again. Transformation and death are not necessarily contrary to one another but can be complementary.
I dream of openness to God’s leading and guiding. I dream of being willing to explore what God might do. I dream of community open to the leading of God’s Spirit, even if it is to a land they know not of at this moment. I dream of being a part of God’s recreation of the church and the rebirth of what it means to be the people of God. I dream of walking beside what is ending and being a part of what will be.
What I don’t know is how I dream all of this fitting with what I do now – is this a side thing? Is this the thing? Is this something that I assist in creating because I am passionate about it and then turn loose? Is this something that I simply advocate for? What is this dream in connection with my other dreams? What is God calling me to do, say, be in this and how is it related to my current call? How does it fit into what I am being called into/toward?