Presbytery met this past Tuesday at The Sanctuary Church in Ft Lauderdale. One of the highlights of the day was the guest preacher The Rev. Kathryn Threadgill who is the Associate for PCUSA Vital Congregations. Her job is about church health and change. Her work is to help churches realize that their futures will need to be different and that vital churches will be the ones that can adapt to the change that is constantly taking place in our society and world. We can’t fight against the change as it has already and is happening. We can’t return to 1950’s or 60’s which were a Camelot to many mainline churches. The world is changing…. we have a worldwide view, we have a communication system that brings us facts instantaneously, we have a population which is increasingly not Anglo or Christian…..Survival and being a vital church in our new world means that we must adapt and embrace to these changes.
Threadgill talked about the marks of congregational vitality in our age. She pointed to seven traits we must strive for to be healthy in our day.
First is that we the church must have life-long discipleship formation. She said that we have to go back to teaching that discipleship is a 365 days of the year lifestyle. She said that we need to avoid the water-downed theology but need to teach a compelling one. Our faith is the core of who we are and it requires much of us. Instead of minimizing the importance of our faith and discipleship, we should live it out. If we don’t, we will continue to teach our members that attendance at church once a month or a few times a year is acceptable. A water-downed theology creates a water-downed follower of God.
Second, we need to have intentional and authentic evangelism. The ‘E’ word is painful to progressive Christians but it is indeed a part of our work. Threadgill said that evangelism is NOT putting a mailer on the door of the neighbors…. that is marketing. Evangelism is having genuine relationships with others where they say you are a loving or a special person and then you tell them why you are. You follow a life and ethic of the Gospel. You are who you are because of your church. Then you invite the person to attend church with you. Research shows the vast majority of people join a church because someone invited them to come in the first place.
The third mark of congregational vitality is to have an outward focus instead of an inward one. We have to remember that Christ came to the marginalized. It is the job of the person of faith to touch those who no one else will touch, to do the work that no one else is doing, and to be a voice for the powerless.
The fourth mark Treadgill mentioned was to empower servant leadership. Ministry is not just the pastor’s job but is every member’s.
The next mark was to have Spirit inspired worship instead of self-gratifying worship. Worship is not to be entertainment…. ritual should not be devoid of meaning.
The sixth mark is to be a church that has caring relationships where God’s love is experienced instead of a social club which excludes some. And the last mark is to be a church with ecclesiastical health instead of one which is in turmoil and disagreement.
After listening to the marks of a vital congregation according to Rev Treadgill, I felt we were doing alright in many but could probably do better in others. We are, and always should be a work in progress. And what is amazing is that throughout history, the church always has changing and adapting to answer the needs of the world…. The church is always a work in progress.
And this morning’s scripture passage is a story of the early church in just such progress… A story of the church evolving and changing to be who God called it to be. Change is crucial to church health! Listen now for God’s message in Acts 10: 44-48.
While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, 46 for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, 47 “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.
(The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.)
There is a movie on Netflix which I recommend all of you watch. It is called ‘Come Sunday’ and it is about a minister named Bishop Carlton Pearson who at one time was the minister of Tulsa’s largest Pentecostal church. The Higher Dimensions Family Church had about 5,000 members. Bishop Pearson was also an advisor to two presidents and was on the board of Oral Roberts University. As a Pentecostal leader, Pearson believed all must be born anew, be baptized and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior if you were going to heaven. All others were not saved. He believed that all gays were going to hell and supported programs to change people’s sexual orientation because he hoped, in his heart, that all would be saved…You just had to live by certain rules to get there.
He traveled giving lectures, he wrote books, and he had a worldwide following. As a Pentecostal preacher, he was successful.
Then he had an epiphany. He saw a news story about children dying of starvation in Africa. These children did nothing wrong. They did not have an opportunity to learn about Jesus and were not baptized. Certainly our God who Jesus said was all love, would not keep them from heaven. His faith was shattered. He went back to scripture and read it again for the first time. What he heard was a message of love and acceptance. What he heard was a message of caring for the marginalized in our society.
He came to believe that all will go to heaven. This labeled him a heretic by his denomination.
He lost his church, he lost his followers, but he felt he was speaking the truth of the Gospel. At the end of a meeting you see him enter a congregation of people who had been abandoned by his old church. He spoke at a church filled with members of the GLBTQ community. He spoke about acceptance and love. He preached a message not of condemnation and judgement but one of love. He says he now preaches a Gospel of Radical Inclusion!
And this morning’s scripture lesson was like Bishop Carlton Pearson’s faith journey. In the early church, it was felt that Jesus had brought good news of God’s love to the Jewish people. It was a message for those who were circumcised. After all, they were the people whose ancestors had made a covenant with God who called them God’s chosen people. And as Peter was preaching Christ’s message to the assembled crowds, he saw that the Holy Spirit had fallen upon ALL who heard the word. This was not at all what he was expecting. It says that they were astounded! This passage, which is sometimes called the Gentile Pentecost, is the story of the realization, that God and the Holy Spirit are not just for one race, one religion, one group of people, but equally available to all.
Jesus chose his friends, not the other way around. The ethic that Jesus taught, is lived out in this story found in Acts of the Holy Spirit falling on everyone, not just the chosen few. The lesson is that God chose us…. but God chose others who are not like us as well. The scripture passage says that the Jews were astounded at this revelation that God might gift the Gentiles with the Holy Spirit. It was not just the Jews speaking in tongues and extolling God, but all the people who heard God’s message. The group of believers just got bigger.
I was at a meeting this week discussing farmworkers conditions in South Florida. I was there to see if there was something we here at Riviera could be doing to support them. Our worlds seem so far apart and we are so removed from the food production we consume, I wondered if there was anything we could do that would make a difference. And there is. They have asked us to join with Presbyterians across our country in boycotting Wendy’s restaurants. The reason I brought up this meeting was that at the meeting I was the only person who did not speak Spanish. If I had not been there, the whole meeting would have been in one language, but since I was there, everything had to be translated into two. It took more time and effort because of my presence. It took effort to let the outsider (me) into the meeting. But everyone was generous and very patient and made the extra effort to include me. With me present, their group got bigger. And that is part of the lesson in today’s scripture passage. With God present, our group will continue to get bigger until all are present at the table.
God calls all to be together. God does not want to separate people but calls for us all to realize that we are one family and all beloved children. Today we share a meal. We share something that has been handed down to us for centuries. It is a meal Jesus shared with his disciples and as we partake in it, we do so remembering all the people who came before us and shared this same meal. And as Bishop Carlton Pearson came to realize, it is not for us to decide who joins us at the table. God has extended that invitation to all God’s children. Our job is to make sure that everyone knows of that invitation and once they come to the table, they feel incredibly welcomed.
