The Institute for Clergy Excellence

Most churches are finding it difficult to reach 20-somethings and as church leaders it’s important to spend time thinking about who young adults are and what is important to them. A recent article by Deborah Morrison for Ad Week spoke of the 20-something generation:

How they live has everything to do with how they work. They time shift. Favorite shows happen online on-demand. News is 24/7. There’s not much use for e-mail. Instead, they’re YouTubing, Stumbling, Digging, Twittering, blogging, updating. They’re Loopted and LinkedIn. Caffeine drives the day and night. In this world, wristwatches and alarm clocks are as necessary as rabbit ears. They grew up IMing, and the cell phone rules. Area-code identity is mobile but long lasting - a virtual network.

It’s the shortcut generation. That toolbar up top is for old-timers; these guys learned to Cmd-Option-Shift-A in middle school because it was cool, not necessary. Desktops are institutional holdovers. Everyone has a set of on-the-go tools: camera, laptop, videocam, hard drive, cool bag to tote it all. They’re experts early on, manhandling Final Cut or Flash with intuitive authority. They’re Idea 2.0, the mashup generation and one with confluence,  place beyond convergence where the old sloughs off and the new quickly gets morphed into the cultural DNA.

All this makes them, at their best, unbelievably creative and productive. On the other hand, they also think they have all the answers. Morley Safer wrote recently of this generation’s entitlement issues: They’ve grown up with everyone as winners, with inspired birthday parties and planned events, with middle- class privilege and opportunities at every camp, academy and take-your-kid-to-work experience. They expect careers, not jobs … most simply they want to be inspired.*

The Hoi Polloi group spent study time in New York where the culture threw the opportunities and the challenges facing the church into sharp relief.

Dr. Robert Wuthnow of Princeton University helped the Hoi Polloi gain insight into what attracts 20-somethings: “20-somethings are looking for commitment. Emphasize the meaning of membership. Raise the expectations of ‘the faithful.’ Look at the understanding of grace as a process. Renew deep and meaningful discipleship. Tell the story of God’s grace again and again while inviting all into the divine story.”

David Barnhart, Jr. reflects “One of Dr. Wuthnow’s ideas for the work of the church was for the church to become a ‘resource center’ for young adults. Since young adults are spiritual “tinkerers,” meaning that they craft and hack their own religious life out of the available practices and worldviews of our pluralistic society, the church should try to offer options and assistance for their age and stage of life. At first I did not find this very inspirational, but as we reflected later I realized that the church has a 2000-year history of practices and spiritual options to offer the world: everything from St. Francis to Jonathan Edwards, from Mother Theresa to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from Thomas Merton to Rick Warren, from John Wesley to John Calvin. Rather than offering young adults a narrow option of religious ideas, the church can offer them a range of legitimate ways of being Christian in the world.

The other resource is pastoral/vocational. We can offer a way to discern their calling, find their passion, and pursue the changes they want to see in the world as well as their personal goals. Again, this didn’t seem very inspirational to me until I thought about how much the church does not do this for young adults. We offer all kinds of classes on marriage and raising kids, but not a single one on picking your career or finding a mate.”

Deborah Morrison concludes in her article about 20-somethings: Buckle up. This group does not look or work the same as generations past. It is not to say they are the saving grace, smarter than any before them. But the truth is that this is a nimble, adaptive and perceptive bunch, and they’re not good at playing by the old rules. They’ll change the way this industry behaves. And they’ll do it on a 24/7 clock, no problem.*

So, get ready; God is up to something and 20-somethings, with God’s help will impact the future of the Kingdom in unexpected ways.

*Used by Permission: “Generation Watch Out - Why grads will change the industry as we know it” by Deborah Morrison, Adweek Web Research Sept 29, 2008; She can be reached at debmor@uoregon.edu.

Life has assumed a frenetic pace since fall - being injured in a car accident, working with an attorney to persuade the automobile insurance company to cover my medical costs, handling church crises, caring for ailing in-laws, meeting basic ministerial obligations. Although I knew I was stressed, I did not realize how badly I needed down time and time with my peers. When I began to sing Sunday night as I packed and continued to sing as I drove to our meeting, I realized that I was singing in anticipation, that the heaviness that was weighing down my spirit was being lifted before I even arrived at my destination because I knew that I would soon be surrounded by peers who genuinely cared about me and who could relate to all of struggles. I was not disappointed.

Reviewing our role as facilitators, learning more about how we relate via the DISC personality assessment, and discussing case studies all left me feeling better prepared to serve as a facilitator. In addition, making new contacts and gathering ideas for ministry falls beyond the stated purpose of our gathering but is also quite beneficial. Thanks to another facilitator, for example, I am now familiar with a number of new media clips and music videos that I may incorporate into my church’s blended worship service. In addition, I’m expanding my plan to focus on relationships on Sunday, February 14, by holding a marriage reaffirmation service for anyone interested following worship.

Studies show that a high proportion of pastors leave the ministry during the first ten years. Since I’m in my fifteenth year of ministry, I naively thought I had bypassed that season of ministry. However, the resistance I have met recently has led me seriously to consider leaving. For the last year and a half, ICE has kept me in the ministry. On my worst days I have reminded myself that God has put ICE in my path for a reason - to encourage me and teach me how to make my ministry rich in spite of the challenges of being a pastor. I thank God for the opportunity to work with pastors both in my Facilitator Peer Group and my future group.  — ICE Facilitator, Winter, 2010

The Birmingham Faith and Money Group spent time with Boarderlinks discovering what motivates the immigrant worker. Please read a sermon written by Drew Henry:

My God, my God - Psalm 22

I just learned this week that her full title is Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World. Some of you may remember that at her base stand the words of the famous sonnet The New Colossus penned by Emma Lazarus in the late 1800’s.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

A few weeks ago, one of the members of our clergy group reminded us of these words of this poem as we sat surrounded by the thorns of the Sonoran desert. We had traveled together, ordained ministers - two Methodist, two Episcopal and two Presbyterians, to the US-Mexico border that divides Sonora to the south and Arizona to the north. We were there as preachers and pastors, as followers of Jesus Christ, to examine the Borderlands and the complex phenomena of migration through the lens of faith and money. Our delegation leaders were Tony, a Young Adult Volunteer in Mission for the Presbyterian Church (USA), and Polita, one of the Mexican staff of Borderlinks, who has her own difficult story of migration.

Over a period of days as we listened to real people’s stories, this often-politicized issue of immigration took on human face and form, outstretched hand and warm embrace. As we sat in Mexico looking north, we couldn’t help but ask ourselves about the incarnation of our own families’ stories, and how our people came to call this land home. Then I heard this week these two sides of one common story in the contrasting voices of the 22nd Psalm. On the one hand, “You are holy (O God)… In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.” (Psalm 22:3-5) And on the other hand, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest… I am a worm, and not human; scorned by others and despised by the people.” (Psalm 22:1-2, 6)

Polita was eight months pregnant the first time they tried to climb the wall. Her husband, their eldest daughter, and mother with child began the difficult journey, both physically and emotionall y, of seeking a better future on this side of the border. With all the work they could find at home and stretching their pesos as far as they would go, the food only lasted from payday on Friday through Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday their table was bare, and their young daughter’s stomach pains only got worse.

With a belly of 36 weeks, Polita was not swift at climbing the wall. The immigration service caught and detained them before returning them to Nogales. They tried again to make ends meet back home, but with failed attempts at survival, crossing again seemed to be the only viable option. This time they would make it, at least for a while, but hunger would find them again after the family’s father was found and newly deported.

A young mother of three daughters told her stories to a father of two sons - stories of watching her children fall in bed limp at night because they hadn’t had enough to eat; stories of waking on the dirt floor of a U.S. church’s tool shed, the only room in the inn a congregation of believers could find for this young family, only to wake and discover her young child covered in ants and the swollen bites they left all over her body; stories of how they returned home to Mexico determined to never have to leave again.

Is what they tried to do illegal? Yes. If I each week had to watch my children fall faintly into the night, would I risk my life, break the law, and climb the wall? You better believe it. “It was you who took me from the womb; you kept me safe on my mother’s breast. On you I was cast from my birth, and since my mother bore me you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.” (Psalm 22:9-11)

I walked around the central plaza in the town of Altar with Polita. Altar, the Spanish word for altar, has become the staging ground for much of the migration through the perils of the Arizona desert. The church sits at the center of the plaza, surrounded by coyotes, “guides” dedicated to the business of human trafficking, lingering and waiting for their next prey. The perimeter of the square is filled with vendors offering in differing shades of black backpacks, shoes, pants and jackets to the migrants who hope they might slip silently through the night.

Polita told me amidst the variety of things that are stuffed in those backpacks as they prepare for the journey, every migrant carries desires, hopes, and dreams that are all too often left scattered on the desert floor. As we walked around the church, Polita told me stories that should never have to be told - the Day of the Dead come alive on our border each and every day at the hand of bandits, hot days, cold nights, wild animals, countless rapes, ruthless murders, dehydration, disorientation — death.

“Herds of bulls come at me, the raging bulls stampede…I’m a bucket kicked over and spilled, every joint in my body has been pulled apart. My heart is a blob of melted wax in my gut. I’m dry as a bone, my tongue black and swollen. They have laid me out for burial in the dirt. Now packs of wild dogs come at me; thugs gang up on me. They pin me down hand and foot…They take my wallet and the shirt off my back, and then throw dice for my clothes.” (from Psalm 22:12-18 - The Message) Literally!

Literally amidst the thorns of our desert, and literally for the One who wore the crown of thorns. Spoken from the cross, the words “My God, my god, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1) hold the many voices of the 22nd Psalm - the voices of lament and the cries for help, and the voices of remembrance and the cries of joy. Zana read to us earlier, “…praise him! …glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For (the Lord) did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted (he did not turn aside from the affliction of the afflicted); he did not hide his face…but heard when I cried…” (from Psalm 22:23-24)

That night in Altar we slept on the floors of CCAMYN, a shelter run by the Catholic Church for migrants. They give these travelers a safe place to stay the night, orientation about the dangers they might face in the desert, and a meal prepared by volunteers from the church. We along with another 30 or 40 migrants were welcomed to the table that night. We broke our daily bread of tortillas and were encouraged to see the face of Christ in these our neighbors, our brothers and sisters to the south.

As we all were leaving early the next morning, I was asked to lead a prayer following our breakfast. We joined hands, and I prayed for their safety, for their families and friends they had left behind. I asked God to shine light - to lift a lamp, to hold high a torch - in any darkness they were about to face. It was a hard prayer to pray. We parted ways. We, the few, began to pack our van as they, the many, journeyed off on foot carrying their backpacks into the dangers of the desert.

I stood outside the gate of CCAMYN that day in the morning sun facing a massive sheet of iron into which a litany of words were cut, words that were scored by Orthón Perez in the winter of 2004. The sculptor had laid a permanent arrangement of iron calla lilies, nine in all, at the base of this poem titled “For the Right to Live in Peace”

To Those Who Have Fallen in the Desert to Death
In memory of those who in search of a better life, only found death.
In memory of those who risked and lost everything.
They went with hope in their eyes and defiance in their souls.
The sun scorched them, the desert devoured them,
And the dust erased their names and their faces.
In memory of those who never returned,
We offer these flowers and say with deepest respect:
Your thirst is our thirst,
Your hunger is our hunger,
Your pain is our pain,
Your anguish, bitterness, and agony
Are also ours.
We are a cry for justice
That no one would ever have to leave their land
Their beliefs, their dead, their children, their parents, their family,
Their roots, their culture, their identity…
We are silence that speaks…
So that no one will have to go in search of a destiny in other lands,
So that no one would ever have to go to the desert
And be consumed by loneliness.
We are a voice in the desert that cries out:
Education for all!
Opportunity for all!
Work for all!
Bread for all!
Liberty for all!
Justice for all!
(…with liberty and justice for all!)
We are a voice that the desert can’t drown…
That insists that the nation give equally to all of its children
The opportunity to a dignified and fruitful life.

Without exception, given a real choice, the people I met wanted to stay home. If they could afford to, they would. This is a complex issue, and the political lenses through which we view migration are many. Yet however you see it, there’s clearly a human tragedy in the making each and every day on our border. I hear the stories of the people I met in the words of the 22nd Psalm. I also hear there a voice saying, “Do not hide your face, do not turn aside from the affliction of the afflicted.”

My God, my God…
…since my mother bore me you have been my God.
…help, come quickly…deliver…save!
(And) I will tell of your name…
For (you) did not despise…the affliction of the afflicted;
(you) did not hide your face from me, but heard when I cried…
The poor shall eat and be satisfied…
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn…
Posterity will serve him;
Future generations will be told… (from Psalm 22 - NRSV)
Babies not yet conceived
will hear the good news -
that God does what he says. (from Psalm 22 - The Message)
Amen!

The Decatur Bait and Tackle group studied in South Africa to discover how the church can be an agent for positive social change. Read Carol Cavin Dillon’s report of seeing the world in a new way:

Honestly, I cannot begin to delineate all of the insights and epiphanies I had in South Africa. Our time there was so full and rich and there is a lot to sort through, spiritually and emotionally, but here are a few random thoughts: Many of the people who were so courageous did not set out to do great things or to be heroic. They simply responded in some small way to God’s calling in one particular situation. It was God, then, who took them places they never thought they’d go. For example, Carol Djonji was working in a village with adults who were sick. She helped one woman who was dying of AIDS. After the woman’s death, the woman’s children called Carol and asked for help with the funeral and other things. She hesitated but then said “yes.” That led to helping other kids in broader ways until she found she was “Mother” to nearly 1,000 kids.

Peter Storey volunteered to serve as chaplain on Robben Island because he would get to ride a ferry and he had once been in the navy. Once there, though, God had greater work for him to do. That lesson is very comforting to me, because I don’t think I have what it takes to be a hero. I’m not sure I could do what Peter, Carol, and others did. But maybe God doesn’t call us to great things all at once. Maybe we just need to be ready to respond faithfully to whatever is before us and leave the rest up to God.

What is the connection between the community and preaching/worship leadership? The Asbury group visited Willow Creek Community Church to study with LaVerne Weber regarding their new effort in community connection. “Neighborhood Life” is a response to busy lives that revolve around demanding work hours, long commutes and jam-packed schedules. The goal is to develop neighborhood communities where people will:

1. Belong: Start by connecting with church members — developing a contagious community where even spiritually unconvinced neighbors want to belong.

2. Stretch spiritually by launching small group Bible studies and personal growth plans.

3. Serve: Join hands with neighbors to share the love of Christ and serve local, national and global causes, as well as church-wide needs.

Neighborhood Life is a place for life change similar to the experiences of the early church where spiritual development and outreach happened right where each person lives. Recognizing that building community is a full time job, Willow Creek appointed Randy Frazee as Neighborhood Pastor to provide study materials, interact with each group, and encourage spiritual development and outreach. Each small group is organized around their local high/middle/elementary school, so people who already know each other are drawing others into their groups for a meal, study and relationships.

As the Asbury group left Willow Creek, with Community Groups on their minds, they traveled to Hawaii for the New Hope Christian Church Leadership conference. New Hope began to connect with Willow Creek as the group heard Wayne Cordeiro speak on the importance of knowing your community; how important it is to connect with the lives, hopes, dreams and challenges of the community before they will be able to hear what a pastor has to say. As he prepares his sermons, he always begins with a question or connection from his community of faith. One of the ways Cordeiro connects with his congregation is through the Life Journal. Every person at New Hope is given a Life Journal designed to be used with a year-long Biblical reading program. Journaling is an excellent way to both record and process what God has spoken. LIFE =

• LISTEN: “I will teach you and instruct you in the way that you should go …”
• INQUIRE: “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”
• FAITH: “Discipline yourself for the purpose of Godliness.”

Acting upon knowledge builds faith! Applying the lesson God is teaching brings a blessing. The journal connects each reading with everyday life and encourages members to write about their responses to what they have read. Members share their entries in small groups and mid-week services.

Under the outstanding leadership of ICE Board members, Maria Campbell and Warren Nash, the Birmingham Faith and Money (F&$) peer group spent a week in New York hosted by Trinity Episcopal Church. The group explored how money works in the world and in the church by visiting three centers of power— NY Stock Exchange, NY Federal Reserve Bank, and Ground Zero. They experienced:

• how the government deals with money,
• how money operates in the free     enterprise system,
• the tragic conflict of faith and money represented at Ground Zero.

The group met with leading economists and financial experts such as Dr. Douglas M. Johnston, President, International Center for Religion and Diplomacy; Alan Blanchard, President Emeritus of the Episcopal Church Pension Group (CPG); Dr. Gary Shilling, Economist and Investment Banker; and authors Freda and Chester Johnson. As a result of the powerful impact of this week in the financial district, The Birmingham Faith and Money Group is now planning a three-year travel/study program designed to dissect the mystery between Faith and Money. The group processed their experience:

“I learned that money is inherently neutral and that the New York Stock Exchange is a very addictive game.”

“… there is a correlation between (1) the ways in which we clergy deal with our own personal financial planning and (2) our overall sense of vocational fulfillment. For some time now I’ve felt the need to better understand and manage our own family’s financial situation, and this experience has encouraged me to move that up on my list of priorities. I look forward to this being an early component of our learning together.”

“… people who deal in big numbers day-in and day-out would not necessarily be shocked or put-off by a big number request for the capital campaign or some new, cutting-edge ministry. They would just need to see the number justified and have the question answered, “Why me?” Answer, “Because God may well have put you in position to do so.”

“This question of faith and money we are exploring is an important one. I was struck by how difficult it was for the people with whom we met to articulate the connection between faith and money in their own lives and in their work. Upon further reflection, I believe it is also difficult for us and for many of the members of our respective churches to formulate answers to the very same questions we were asking. For me this confirms the importance of the work of our group over the next three years.”