This is an essay on the issues that surround the concept of church mergers.

For instance, it has been suggested to me over the years whether one should consider the feasibility that the Convention churches here in Peterborough might merge into one Baptist church for the City. Let me stress that, as far as I know, no steps have ever been seriously taken to that end, nor am I necessarily advocating such a move.  My experience as a CBOQ Area Minister in dealing with a number of church mergers has taught me that such mergers or amalgamations are very difficult endeavours. They are not for the faint-hearted!

On paper it seems so rational, practical, pragmatic, logical and just plain common sense. Churches pool their resources, their volunteers, their assets, their talents and gifts and thereby strengthen their Christian work and presence. Mergers offer the hope of increased attendance for Sunday morning worship.  Instead of a few little churches limping along, struggling to pay the bills, the expectation is that one, presumably larger church, is better equipped to stave off further decline and become more effective.

But in reality, merging two or more churches is anything but rational or self-evident as it is in theory. Church mergers stir deeply entrenched emotions around many issues. If these emotions and feelings are not taken into account there is far less likelihood of success down the road.

Although it is only brick, stone and mortar, the people of a particular church have a fierce spirit of loyalty to their church building. Much of the story of their individual faith is associated with that particular church building.  Some have grown up in their church. They have married there or been baptized, dedicated their children, buried loved ones, have put up memorial windows or given other gifts, sang in the choir, painted the walls,  etc. People tells their stories about what it has meant to be a part of that community of faith.  They have a well-earned pride in who they are. They have invested themselves in the life of that church.  To tear the church away from them is very threatening to their well-being. Consequently, they are not willing to walk away from all that. Indeed, it would be a profound sense of loss, perhaps failure, and defeat to give up on this powerful icon of their unique Christian journey.

Every church also has its unique identity. It has defined its place, its theology, its ministries, and its mode of operations over several decades. Every church has its own peculiar personality. It has developed its own comfortable and familiar way of doings as a church. It has its own way of worshipping, praying, hymnology, being community, and exercising its identity and purpose.  Therefore, the  identities and personalities of two or more churches may not be automatically compatible, simply because they share a denominational label. Churches may have very different ideas about what it means to be a church or what mission is or what worship entails.

Finally, every church is rooted in its own unique context or neighbourhood, even if it has had little or no direct relationship or contact with that community. Just as churches have different and unique personalities, so do neighbourhoods. But more than likely, the church has found its niche in its own neighbourhood, developed contacts, provided aid, offered services of various kinds (e.g. Vacation Bible School), and made its presence known, mostly in positive ways and means.  The community may truly miss the church if it were to longer there. Therefore , the specific context has been integral in forming a church’s  identity, vision, purpose, and ministry and will not likely be repeated easily from another place.

With these things in mind, however, here are a few suggestions that might lead to a more successful church merger.

1.       A church merger must find its grit at the grass roots level. It has to be owned by a significant majority of the people of both (all) churches. It has to be more than the pastors’ dream. It can be initiated, at best, by denominational leadership, but it cannot be forced upon them by denominational leaders who have no stake in the consequences, no personal experience of the context, or little empathy for the feelings of the people involved.  The cold, hard facts may seem to dictate a merger would be beneficial, but my experience tells me that a shotgun merger will fail every time.

2.       Therefore, painstaking efforts must be taken to build trust, relationships, and have open, frank and transparent communication between the people of the churches involved.  The leadership from the churches that are for the merger must be patient and create many opportunities for the people from both or all churches to assimilate, digest, grieve, hope, and express their emotions as the process unfolds. At first, don’t get caught up in timetables, minutiae, agendas, etc. Some people will never get on board, and one must respect their doubts, without letting it derail the whole process.

3.       When it comes to church mergers, one plus one does not necessarily equal two. For example, if Church X has 80 people on a Sunday morning and Church Y also has 80, a merger will not necessarily equal 160 people all of a sudden. It might result in a 100 to a 120 people. But people will leave if and when the merger takes place – out of anger, grief, hurt, etc.

4.       Because there is so much emotional baggage surrounding the respective buildings, I believe that there is more opportunity for success if both/all buildings are sold and a new property is bought or rented so that a fresh, clean start is the same for all. Otherwise, the merger feels more like a takeover in the eyes of the congregation of the church which has left its building. Moreover, the incoming church may feel more like visitors than part of the new community.  The people of the other church also may act like nothing has changed and try to run the church the same way it has in the past, hoping for assimilation rather than a true marriage. This should be the rebirth of a whole, brand-new church, under a new name. Any barriers that lead to us vs. them need to be challenged. (I recognize that this may not always be practical and one building will be ultimately be used, but efforts must be made so that the incoming people from the other congregation(s).have serious input as to how they make the new church theirs, too.

5.       There will be all sorts of compromises by both (all) churches. These compromises must be perceived as equal, well-balanced, equitable and fair as possible.  

6.       It would be ideal if the churches were “between pastors” as it would give the new church an opportunity to work together to call a new pastor. Such a pastor needs to have the right skills to bring the two or three congregations together and not be daunted by the many obstacles, attitudes, feelings that he or she will encounter. He or she will need to understand and practice that he or she is the pastor of this new church as it evolves into one body, and not the pastor of two churches in one building. This pastor will need to foster community, unity, fellowship among the people, before much is done in the way of new programs or significant initiatives, unless those initiatives foster working together.

7.       Merging two or more congregations takes time and effort. But it cannot be the sole purpose or vision of the new church.   A merger is a means to an end, not the end itself. Along with building a new spirit of unity, the new, emerging church must soon begin to search for some greater purpose for its life as an active expression of Christ-like love and action. It cannot be business as usual. Together pastor and people need to seek its mission, purpose, goals and objectives in and around the new church.

Amalgamation between churches is a very viable means to re-energize, revitalize and even allow the Holy Spirit to resurrect Christian witness, fellowship, mission and outreach. It can be empowering.  It can bring about renewal. It can be invigorating. Unity among brothers and sisters in Christ has always been a hallmark of Jesus’ Church. But churches must go about the process with careful thought and consideration, with much continuous prayer, before these mergers become fruitful.

Dale R. Soble

 

My mother loves KFC - so do I.

So when we went to visit her in Kingston last Saturday,  she asked that instead of taking her out for lunch  she would like  to have KFC back at her residence at  the nursing home. No sweat, right? Easy, peasey! Sure beats struggling with her wheel chair.

Never be it said that I don't do what my mother says! (She, my mother the comedian, would probably say that there is a first time for everything.) Even Jesus couldn't ignore what his mother told him to do. (John 2)

So off I went. There was suppose to be a KFC outlet close-by. But  it turns out that it had been permanently closed. But by then, I was in downtown Kingston, and found myself dealing with closed streets and detours. It took a little time to extricate myself just to get out of the downtown area.

I stopped to consult my GPS. There were two other outlets,  but both on the opposite sides of the city, each nine minutes away, according to Google Maps. So I chose what I thought would be the more direct and convenient route, using a street that I was more or less familiar with.  Bad choice.

Between where I started and where I wanted to go, there had to be  dozen or more stoplights and I hit every red light there was. These weren't short red lights either but seemed to last forever. Apparently, also, Kingston drivers are never in  a hurry on a Saturday. Surprisingly, my yelling at them didn't seem to inspire any of them to hurry up.  (I am such a paragon of calm and patience in these types of situations.)

So, I kept on driving. I was on a mission! My mother was going to have her KFC if I had to go to the next city to get it.

I was tempted to turn back, convinced that I had somehow missed it, but finally, after about what seemed half-way back to Peterborough, I finally found the KFC and  got  our order.  But then I had to get back - more red lights, more slow drivers, more detours.

Forty minutes later, we were finally enjoying our KFC. (Jesus had it easy - just turning water into wine for his mother!)

But it had made me  think: it is one thing to know where we would like to go in life and  it is another thing to get there. Jesus said, "But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it," (Matthew 7:14).  I don't think he was referring to KFC.

The Way that Jesus offers each of us is often challenging and sometimes it is even difficult. I don't believe that he ever promised it would be easy. His road took him to the Cross and then challenged us to copy him, to pick up our own crosses and follow him in service, in deeds of love, in acts of compassion and sacrifice, in building community, in  finding his Way despite the roadblocks and detours which we encounter along the Way.

There may be some Christians who think that all that matters is that  they are feasting on their bucket of heavenly glory at the end, but  we also need the determination to keep our eyes on the road, to look for the signs that the Holy Spirit is at work among us, and not give up, or  be satisfied with anything less than the life that Jesus insists we live.  It matters that we must know the road and then walk the walk.

There is a wonderful Afro-American spiritual: "Sheep, sheep, don't you know the road?" To which the sheep respond, "Yes. my Lord, I know the road."

Dale

It is almost impossible to read the fine print on a TV ad. The car commercials are the worst. The font is so small and the words appear only for a few seconds. It may be saying something significant but unless you have super-vision and are a speed-reader it is gone before you know it.

But I did happen to catch some of the finer print on one commercial. It was for a  nicotine patch - you know, the kind that helps a person to stop smoking.  I only caught the first few words, something to the effect that the patch works best when it is combined with will power.

Well, duh!

Any time folk want to make a positive difference in their lives, it usually takes will power. Getting  regular exercise, going on a  diet, quit smoking, quit drinking, may be the most obvious. (At least, so I've heard.) 

I don't quite know why the good, healthy, beneficial  things in  life seem to take more will power than doing the wrong things. But they do.

For example, strengthening our spiritual well-being takes will power.  Will power to pray regularly, to read our Bibles, to get up and head off to church every Sunday, to contribute to our faith communities, to be involved, to give a helping hand, to  act justly, to serve, and so on.

All of us, I expect, have experienced that it doesn't take very long to get out of practice, and  before you know it, we wouldn't know the inside of a church if we were sitting on the latch.. It takes very little will power to do nothing!

Being Christ-like doesn't happen by itself - it takes some effort, some will power. It is not automatic.  It takes some self-motivation, some commitment, some resolve, some dedication, some practice.  We can't just think about it; we must engage in the process.

Perhaps, the human proclivity to take the easy road was why Paul emphasised how important doing God's will was.  "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will," (Romans 12:2). If just left to our own devices, God's work might never get done. We all need a kick in the pants, now and then.

Jesus didn't just talk a good game; he lived it out, It is obvious there were times when it tired him out, when he needed some R&R, when dealing with the people's needs seemed never-ending, but he had the will power to continue. His words  in the Garden of Gethsemane  inspired him, even to the Cross, "Not my will, but your will be done."

"For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose,"(Philippians 2:13).

Dale

I have had a few conversations, lately, with folk who are asking or, more accurately, are concerned about the future of the Church, and more specifically, their own local church. This week, I heard the rumour about a once grand,  old,  Baptist church struggling with the decision to close or not.  (And no, I am not meaning my last pastorate, Murray St. - yet!)

It got  me to thinking.

Deficits, debt, staff salaries  and the expensive upkeep of these old buildings eventually have a toll that the declining and aging participants of the church body can no longer afford. But you can only cut back so far on staff, programming, mission and ministry not to mention the heat, hydro and other expenses before one does not really have any traditional church left.

It is tempting to blame external forces for the Church's slow decline - our secular culture, worldly indifference or apathy, the growth of atheism, technology, sports, media, Sunday shopping,  declining values, emphasis on individualism, and the like. Without a doubt these have played no small part in the decline of the institutional church, as many of us once knew it and for the most part loved it.

But Church Christians, as much as I love them and have witnessed their great words and deeds of faith, also should accept a significant part of the responsibility for the growing and perhaps fatal irrelevance of the Church to most people. Our fierce reluctance to change. Our stubborn and rigid dogmatic approach to faith and spirituality. Our insistence to live by church rules, constitutions, traditions, and  procedures, often rather than exercising  our love for people. Church politics, church fights,  our hypocrisy, our Pharisaical attitudes, our self- serving ways have  been extremely detrimental to the future of the Church. Too much passivity. Playing it safe, talking no risks, no compassion for others.

Generally speaking, and thank God there are a number of exceptions, we have not been very inviting, welcoming, inclusive, open, good neighbours and we are now paying the penalty for it.

Jesus must weep!

In fact, I find myself asking more and more - why is it so hard for Church Christians to be more like Jesus? Too many Church Christians  want nothing to do with the poor, the homeless, the needy, the sick; the very people whom Jesus ministered, healed, restored, saved, each and every day of his ministry. Not all Church Christians are like that, but not enough are going against this grain. It has become so hard, it seems for so many, deeply-entrenched Church Christians to let go and really let Jesus have his church back!

In spite of this, or because of it even,  like many others, I have come to believe that there is a whole new future for Christianity, but it will be radically different. It will be community-centred rather than church-centred. It will be outward focused rather than inward focused. It will be missional - having a large, loving heart like Jesus for the people around  each Christian community. There will a fresh revival in living the Word. People will find and come to know Jesus personally because they find love, acceptance, compassion, inclusion, justice,  just as Jesus meant for the Kingdom of God to be like.

Perhaps, the best  and most honest and incredibly faithful thing that the old, historic Baptist church should do is  to indeed  close - put its past glory and worthy history behind it. Then, let's find some winsome, highly motivated, faithful people to begin again, right from scratch. Tear out all the pews, put in comfortable chairs; let  the neighbourhood have it for  multiple purposes. Find out what is making the locals tick spiritually  and nurture them in the name of Christ from there. Worship, yes! But in ways that people say, "God is really among you!" (1Cor. 14:25). Be Jesus' church to them and not expect them to be the church for you. Become the beating heart of Jesus in the midst of their community and really live the Gospel that Jesus gave us from the start.

 It's a start. It would be really hard! It still might not work. But frankly,  I'd rather go down this way with a bang than a whimper.

Dale

I received an adult colouring book for Christmas. Lest you get the wrong impression about what that really is, let me rephrase the sentence. I received a colouring book for adults. Susan did also, along with an ten-pack of coloured pencils.

Colouring books for adults are all the latest rage. (There is an app, of course, as well.) My colouring book is entitled, "Color Me Happy".  Inside are 100 templates of nature, designs,  food, animals, etc., all very intricately laid out, which you can then colour. It's a little like paint-by-numbers except here one is encouraged to  indulge in the complete freedom of unjudged expression.

According to the introduction - I don't remember my Mickey Mouse colouring books ever having or needing  an introduction - colouring is supposed to release my inner child, allowing me  time to relax, enjoy myself, meditate, express myself through colour and focus my spirit of creativity. I am told that colouring "is intended to bring about a happier emotional state as a way to help you combat feelings of negativity, sadness, fatigue or anxiety..."

Wow, and to think of all that money I spent on therapy! Crayons are much cheaper!

So I have started my first picture. I have not yet experienced  any bliss. Maybe I chose the wrong colours.

As a child I was envious of those other kids who coloured like they were renaissance painters. Every colour was smack dab between the lines.  The colours were all evenly blended, line to line; blues going where blues should go, greens where greens ought to be; nary a scribble, or a colour out of place.

No matter how painstakingly intentional  I tried to be, I could not replicate their masterpieces. I could never keep between the lines.   A block of a colour would be dark and light and show gaps where I had missed filling in. I rarely ever finished a picture, wanting to move on to the next one ASAP.

I was also jealous of anyone who had one of those Crayola, sixty-four piece  crayon sets, instead of the measly eight piece set I was using. Man, if I only had that set I would have been a Rembrandt prodigy!

I have discovered that I haven't improved much with age in my colouring style and technique. Color Me Blue!

Mind you, it is somewhat reflective of who I am as a person and how I did ministry. I have never been satisfied just colouring between the lines, accepting the designated boundaries, or using the same "colours" for everything. I like to be creative and imaginative.  I want to see what's next and improve on it. I may not be using a sixty-four pack of gifts and talents but it is amazing what colours one gets by mixing what one does have.

Colour doesn't get a whole lot of emphasis in scripture. But consider this:                                   

With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God--gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble--all of these in large quantities. (1 Chronicles 2:29)

 

It makes me think of Paul and his remarks that each of us is God's sacred temple and that God's spirit lives in you (1 Corinthians 3:16). God has provided a wonderful palette of colours for each of us to become masterpieces, something that God would be proud to put up on his celestial fridge.

 

The world and our lives need not be a dull, black and white, nor shades of gray. God did not make us to be bland and life to be colorless. Yes, every now and then, we get outside the lines, we choose the clashing colours, envy others for their brush strokes and style, or give up too soon.  Yet you and I are intended to be God's masterpieces.

 

Colour us blessed!

 

Dale

 

At first, as I watched from the upstairs window I thought they were fat, gray mice dancing a mousey jig across the snow. There had to be nearly a dozen of them - scurrying and leaping and skittering across the white lawn. Then, upon closer observation, I realized that they weren't mice, but birds - juncos in fact. These winter birds have a gray back, with an off-white underbelly. They are typically ground feeders.

Even though  there was  a full bird-feeder only a few meters away, my frolicking juncos were feasting off the vegetation, i.e. weeds, that surround parts of the back yard, which I had not got around to pulling last autumn. These were fairly tall weeds, so a junco would leap straight up in the air to knock out the seeds from the top of the plant. Then it would settle and eat up its fallen bounty.  As I said, it made for this fascinating, comical dance of the juncos.

Jesus said, "Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them," (Matthew26).

Now a discerning and perhaps, argumentative junco might tell Jesus that it takes more work than he thinks for a little bird  to get breakfast on a cold winter's day, and sometimes, it takes a little reaping to make ends meet. It's not all millet and sunflower seeds, handed out on a platter. And if you let them, the crazy squirrels would rob you blind before you get a taste, not to mention the aggressive blue jays  who try to bully a hard-working junco out of its lunch.  Sure, those cardinals are pretty, but they think they have a divine right to the best seeds.

There is the challenge of this whole text at the end of Matthew's rendition of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount to "not worry" but put our total trust in God for the provisions in life which we need to sustain us. I am a natural worrier. I struggle to grasp and own this whole text for myself. And I am more blessed than many, so what am I complaining about? I find it hard to imagine what the truly poor, hungry, homeless hear in this text.   

But the juncos remind me that even in the weeds around us there is nourishment and sustenance. When I truly look around me there are signs of God's  grace and providence. We may have to work a little to reap the benefits. It may take courage to be grateful for whatever we get. It  may take creative imagination to turn it into a feast. It may take sacred boldness to turn it into a dance.

Dale

Being the first blog of the New Year, I was thinking about going with what my favourite 6 year old, comic strip philosopher, Calvin, had to say about the New Year, after ranting that everything was the same as the old year. "There's still pollution and war and stupidity and greed!... I thought the future was supposed to be better!" he cries out. To which Hobbes, the boy's wise tiger companion, replies, "The problem with the future is that it keeps turning into the present."

But I am equally tempted by the words of a new (to me) philosopher on the comic strip beat, 10 or 11 year old Agnes, who has very low expectations, herself, about the New Year. "Very few of my New Years make it to last year without incident."

It is very hard to get though a whole year, all 365 days of it, "without incident." Stuff just happens!  Life gets out of whack or takes an unexpected turn or throws you a knuckleball. Our best resolutions hit  a brick wall. Before you know it, the future looks a lot like the present or maybe, even the past.

The secular belief in good and infinite human progress leaves a lot to be desired. I certainly enjoy and benefit from the  achievements of medicine, technology, knowledge, etc. The world is a much better place than we sometimes give it credit. But it is far from perfect, too.

Biblically, the future is God's fresh canvas upon which God is re-creating and  re-designing his vision for "new heavens and a new earth." It is really hard to imagine such a future - no more death, no more tears, no more crying and pain. Sounds good to me!

But first, we have a lot of "present" to get through. This means we need to toughen our resolve of faithfulness, love, righteousness, hope and confidence in God.  In the New Year and then all Year we need to practice out faith in good works, good words, and season the times with a little salt of prayer and worship.

The year ahead will not likely be "without incident" but I hope and pray that God will gift you with stamina, the strength, the resolve, the courage, the confidence, the patience to endure, "so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand," (Ephesians 6;13).

Dale