Bias

I'm reading a fascinating book titled: Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by  Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald.  These are some wicked smart Harvard University researchers in the field of psychology and social relations.  My wife, Lisa, suggested the book while we were in the midst of dinner time conversations about race relations in America following the recent massacre in Charleston, SC.  She had heard this NPR report.  I was intrigued, and the book arrived last week.

It's a different approach to the work of racial reconciliation, but an important one in my view.  Here is a paragraph from the opening chapter.

"Evidence from the second half of the twentieth century has made it increasingly plausible that human irrationality is severly limited.  Our task, in this book, is to follow this idea of the bounds on rationality into a particular place - where the questions concern how we judge ourselves, other individuals and the social collectives to which they and we belong."

While the first sentence shouldn't surprise anyone who has followed public discourse in recent years, it's the second sentence that tells you where the book is going.  

I'm in the middle of the book, so I can't give a full review.  So far, it's a bit heavy on vignettes of various psychological studies showing how human beings have blindspots or biases.  The evidence is pretty strong.  The frustrating piece is that we don't know we have some of these blindspots - we can't see them.  The connection to race relations is toward the end of the book, accoridng to the table of contents, so you have to be patient before the connection is made in that area.

It's a useful resource for me, as I try to figure out ways of engaging a broader audience around the subject of racial reconciliation. Most people who read this blog, think of themselves as good people.  But, the truth of the matter is that we all bring assumptions and bias to our decisions.  In my view, the more we can learn about how our self deception contributes to racial misunderstanding, the better off our nation will be.

 

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence arbitrariness, and pride of power, and with its plea for the weak.  Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much.  Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power.  Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now."

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

ELCJHL Bishop Younan coming to Connecticut

ELCJHL Bishop Younan coming to Connecticut

July 24, 7 p.m.

St. John's Lutheran Church

844 Newfield Ave.

Stamford, Conn.


Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land is coming to speak in New England, and you are invited!
At 7 p.m. on Friday, July 24, Bishop Younan will speak at a public forum to be held at St. John's Lutheran Church (844 Newfield Ave., Stamford, Conn.). To attend, please call the church at (203) 322-0066 to RSVP.  
 

Earlier that day, Bishop Younan will gather with clergy from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Emanuel Lutheran Church (60 Church Street, Manchester, Conn.). Clergy who would like to attend should contact Rev. Duane Peterson.

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Munib A. Younan was consecrated as bishop - the third Palestinian to hold the office - on January 5, 1998, at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem in the presence of religious and political leaders from many nations. He was educated in Palestine and Finland and has been active in numerous faith organizations since his ordination in 1976, such as the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Fellowship of the Middle East Evangelical Churches (FMEEC). The bishop was the first to translate the Augsburg Confession into Arabic. He is an active member of various ecumenical and interfaith dialogue initiatives in Jerusalem that he helped found. 

In July 2010, he was elected president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), a global communion of Christian churches with 145 member churches in 79 countries representing more than 70 million Christians. He is a recent past president of FMEEC and provides leadership for the ecumenical Patriarchs and Heads of Local Christian Churches in Jerusalem group as well as for the Council of Religious Institutions in the Holy Land (CRIHL), comprised of leaders of Jerusalem's Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities.

Seven Key Reasons Your Church Attendance May Be Declining

Seven Key Reasons Your Church Attendance May Be Declining

My five-year old grandson asked me how old I was. When I told him I would turn 60 in a few weeks, he responded: “I didn’t realize people got that old.”

Indeed, in 60 years, like any of us who have lived a few years, I have seen change, lots of change. And I am seeing change in local congregations faster than any time in my lifetime. One of the most disheartening changes I am seeing is the declining attendance in a majority of churches. I am asked repeatedly to diagnose and help with these challenges.

Though addressing the issue of declining attendance cannot be covered in a brief blog post, I hope it will be helpful to share some high-level perspectives. See if any of these seven reasons apply to your church.

  1. “Cultural Christians” no longer see the need to attend church. “Cultural Christian” is really an oxymoron. I refer here to those men and women who once attended church for social, political, or business reasons. Most of them no longer feel it is necessary to be in church to be a regarded citizen in the community.
  2. Church members are attending less frequently. I have noted in other articles how I see this development as potentially the greatest contributor to attendance decline. Three decades ago, a very active church member attended three times a week. Today we call those who attend three times a month an active church member.
  3. Expectations are lower for church members. One of the reasons church members attend less frequently is that very little is expected of them in many churches. If we expect little of our members, that is exactly what we will get.
  4. Insufficient emphasis on groups. This reality may be one of the most neglected areas of church life. Groups of all kinds – home groups, small groups, Sunday school classes, life groups, and others – are key to assimilation and greater commitment. The importance of groups must begin with the pastor and all other key leaders in the church.
  5. Inward focus. In too many churches, the emphasis is on “me, myself, and I.” Some members are more concerned about the temperature in the worship center than the eternal destinations of their neighbors. The “me-focused” church is on its way to decline.
  6. No clearly defined process of discipleship. Eric Geiger and I reported on this issue in our book, Simple Church. Growing churches are much more likely to have a clearly grasped and implemented process of discipleship than declining churches.
  7. No strategic plans for multi-venues or multi-campuses. As I noted in my article Monday, the trend of multi-venue and multi-campus churches may be the most significant in church practices in the past three decades. Even smaller churches are now planning for more than one site or venue. Those churches not making such plans are more likely to be declining.

Decline in church attendance cannot be defined in seven simple statements. But these reasons are at least broad explanations of what is taking place in many of our congregations. I would love to get feedback from you on these issues.

The post Seven Key Reasons Your Church Attendance May Be Declining appeared first on ThomRainer.com.

The Long Hard Work of Racial Reconciliation

The long hard work of racial reconciliation is exactly that, long, and hard and work.  But, it is work that we must do. 

What is it about America that our long national nightmare, the legacy of slavery, the civil war and Jim Crow continues to haunt our national soul?  Yes, other nations have their legacies, but our calling is to look at our own.  I believe this work to be both an inward journey, as well as an outward one.  We are called, each of us, whether we call ourselves Christian or not, to explore the internal workings of bias, hatred, racism, dislike for the ‘other’, suspicion for those who are different.  We all have them.  That soul work is deep work that we are each called to explore, understand and heal.  We are equally called to exercise the external work of ending racism and challenging the systems and causes that perpetuate racism.

In the video above, I am speaking without a script.  It is my admittedly raw attempt to help begin not only a conversation, but a time of learning.  A time to begin to understand what it must be like to live in this country as a person of color.  I begin with the parable of the Good Samaritan because it is so widely known, and yet, not everyone knows how radical the message.  Jesus tells a story in which the hero is the ‘other’.   I have re-told this parable in other settings, and gotten in trouble. In the 1980’s I retold this parable in a worship setting and made the heroic character, the Good Soviet Communist.  In the early 2000’s, I retold this parable as the Parable of the Good Islamist.  Clarence Jordan practiced this form of re-telling the gospels better than any.  “By rewriting the gospel in a southern idiom, Jordan placed the ordinary reader in the midst of the action and flow of the narrative, thereby making the reader a “participant” rather than an observer. In this way, Jordan sought to recreate the Jesus event and help southerners experience the God Movement as news rather than history. A good example of this practice is Jordan’s translation of the parable of the Good Samaritan. By replacing Samaritan with black man, Jordan recaptures the original setting of the good “outcast,” which potentially becomes world reversing. In so doing, Jordan challenges cultural images and mythic models of the good person. Through the work of Jesus the rebel, myths are redescribed and thus rewritten. Now the good person is the person who lives with unlimited love and can stand against cultural stereotypes that demean and denigrate.” (Frederick Downing SBL) 

My attempt to begin this conversation with a biblical passage is intentional, however clumsy I have described it in the video.  It is my intention that we call on the vast resources of God’s Word to help and guide us forward.  There are many resources, and we should make use of those that will be helpful, but I believe we must define this conversation with biblical language and imagery. 

I have no doubt that the conversation will be challenging, and we will say clumsy, awkward and stupid things.  I know I will, I know I have.  We are all fallen and broken people, and we do not have the resources on our own to do this work.  But, by God’s grace, we have the capacity to live differently, to affect change, and to help heal the church. 

May God grant us the courage and wisdom to do what will make a real difference.  It will be long-term, and it is also urgent work—the most difficult and necessary combination.   But with Christ patient and persistent voice, we will be lead forward.

 

Tragedy in South Carolina

Our hearts are breaking today as we take in the news of another mass shooting. Today’s crime, apparently motivated by racial hatred, has taken the lives of nine innocent victims while they were gathered in prayer and Bible study. Among those Rev. Clementa Pinckney, a state senator, pastor of the church and close friend of several ELCA bishops as well as our Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in South Carolina. Pastor Pinckney was a graduate of that seminary.   
 
I have joined with other religious leaders in the state of Rhode Island in issuing the following statement:
 
We reach out in loving concern to the people of Charleston, South Carolina, and especially the members and friends of the individuals who were slain while attending a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church last night.  We not only honor the life of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney who lost his life shepherding his flock, but we also honor those who were gathered in prayer and reflection.  Houses of worship must be safe havens for all who are in distress and seeking God.  When any sacred space is violated, all faith communities are diminished.  
Churches and synagogues and temples across this country are responding with various forms of worship, prayer, church bells or moments of silence.  I ask that all of our congregations, consider setting aside a moment of silence this weekend in worship in order to honor and remember those who have died in this tragedy as well as those grieving the loss of loved ones.  In this long year of racially related tragedies, I am mindful that the work of racial reconciliation, the prophetic call of justice and the task of being the people of God is before us, perhaps, in  ways we have not seen in years.  As I reflect on my years in the ministry, I realize that I never feared for my safety while conducting a bible study or leading worship.  I suspect for many of you reading this email, that is true as well.  We do live in two societies, and among our many challenges is the task to be faithful people of deep reflection, honest assessment and seekers of reconciliation that is possible in Christ.

Best summary of the Pope's Statement on the Environment

“The basic idea is, in order to love God, you have to love your fellow human beings, and you have to love and care for the rest of creation,” said Vincent Miller, who holds a chair in Catholic theology and culture at the University of Dayton, a Catholic college in Ohio. “It gives Francis a very traditional basis to argue for the inclusion of environmental concern at the center of Christian faith.”

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He added: “Critics will say the church can’t teach policy, the church can’t teach politics. And Francis is saying, ‘No, these things are at the core of the church’s teaching.’”

Six Simple Things a First-time Church Guest Likes

Six Simple Things a First-time Church Guest Likes

Thanks to Thom Rainer for this guest blog post.

I have written rather extensively on first-time church guests at this blog. Even more importantly, I have received hundreds of responses from church leaders, church members, and church guests about this issue. I took the opportunity to look specifically at the comments from first-time guests. After completing this exercise, I was surprised to find that the preferences of these guests can be categorized into six simple groups.

Keep in mind, you are hearing only from the self-identified first-time guests. Each category has one or more direct comments I received. Here are their six simple requests.

  1. Be genuinely friendly. “I can tell when someone has a genuine smile and a genuine concern for me.” “I don’t like the stand-and-greet time because it seems like many of the members are forced to be friendly.” “I love churches where people are smiling.”
  2. Don’t put me on the spot. “Don’t ask me to raise my hand.” “Don’t stand up and greet each other while I’m asked to sit down.” “Please don’t ask me to introduce myself before the entire church.”
  3. Provide clear directions. “Make certain your websites have the church address and the times of worship services on the home page.” “Have clear signage in the parking lot when I enter.” “Please have clear signage once I enter the building.”
  4. Please be empathetic. “I am a single mom with four young children. Please understand it’s a struggle to get to church.” “I am an introvert who is scared to death when I visit a church. Please don’t invade my personal space too much.” “I can’t afford the clothes many people can. Please don’t look down on me.”
  5. Show joy in your lives. “I came to church expecting people to have obvious joy in their lives.” “Your ushers look like grumpy old men and women.” “There was something intangible about the third church I visited. I never went to another church after that.”
  6. “Don’t be rude.” “Don’t tell me I’m in your seat. If you do, I will be happy to get up and never return.” “Don’t make me walk over you to get to a seat.” “Why did they tell me I didn’t look like I belonged here?”

I wonder what it would be like if all of our first-time guests found our churches joyous, courteous, informative, and friendly. Think about how God might bless them and us. It’s really not that difficult. These first-time guests are only asking for basic courtesies and considerations.

A Brief Review of our Synod Assembly

The New England Synod Assembly concluded on Saturday evening with a worship service in which we welcomed two new congregations.  Sanctuary of Marshfield, MA, the first ever joint Lutheran and United Methodist congregation in the country.  Grace Lutheran in Naugatuk, CT, a consolidation of two Lutheran congregations in the Naugatuk Valley.

The assembly highlight for me, was listening to our keynote presenter Molly Phinney Baskette, pastor of the First Congregational Church of Somerville, MA and author of the book, Real Good Church. She brought forward the ancient/fuutre practice of conferssion as a tool for both theological reflection as well as a public reminder that we are all broken people.  The freedom people find in that acknowledgement is transformative, as well illustrated in two testimonials by Katy Roets and Pr. Ross Goodman.

We also celebrated the graduation of our School of Lay Ministry students, including graduates from our first ever Latino School of Lay Ministry.

Our theme of Holy Experimentation was lifted up in a series of You Tube videos.

 

You can watch the others on my You Tube Channel here 

 

A Holy Experiment

Sasha Dichter has a practice in which he will make a commitment for a period of say four weeks to respond positively to everyone who asks him for money. Whether it's someone on the street or a charity, doesn't matter he gives them something. It may not be a lot, but he says yes. Over time the effect on his psyche and soul is that he begins to see himself as a generous person, a philanthropist.

How would this experiment impact you? What would you discover about yourself? How would it change your views of generosity and self?

You'll never know unless you try it.

A New Day

Guest Blogger today is Jeffrey Jones. 

It’s time to start asking new questions. Better answers to the same old questions about the church will not get us through the tumultuous times in which we live. This is a time for out-of-the box thinking. Old questions keep is in the box. New questions invite us to move outside.

Phyllis Tickle, in The Great Emergence, talks about the need for today’s church to have a rummage sale so we can rid ourselves of all those practices, beliefs and ways of being that are no longer effective and get in the way of being the church we are called to be.  

Many of the questions we have asked for centuries in the church need to be put in that rummage sale. They need to be replaced with new questions that lead us into new ways of being and doing – ways that are attuned to the time in which we live.  

It’s not that the old questions weren’t valid at one time or even that they have no place in the church today. Rather, the new questions, if they are the questions that form our approach to ministry,will lead us to new insights and new learning.

One question that has been asked consistently through the years, and even more so in these days of declining church membership is, “How do we bring them in?” It would be better for us to ask, “How do we send them out?”

In these days of changing roles and responsibilities many wonder, “What should the pastor do?” But a more important question for congregations today is “What is our shared ministry?”

When congregations focus on strategic planning they ask, “What’s our vision and how do we implement it?” What would happen if they instead asked, “What’s God up to and how do we get on board?”

When congregations have financial struggles, they ask, “How do we survive?” Instead they might ask, “How do we serve?”

When congregations think about their mission, they often ask, “How do we save people?” or perhaps, “How do we help people?” A better question might be “How do we make the reign of God more present in this time and place?”

There are no “right” answers to these new questions that can be applied to all congregations. Every congregation needs to live with the questions, because it is only in living with them that new ways being and doing church emerge. The familiar line from Rainer Maria Rilke in Letters to a Young Poet can guide us: “Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, one distant day live right into the answer.”

If you ask these questions there is no assurance that you’ll find the way to renew, revitalize or redevelop your church. It may happen. But you may just as likely discover that asking these questions takes you down a road to some other alternative that you hadn’t even thought of before. What I feel pretty confident about, however, is that asking these new questions will bring us closer to discovering what God is seeking from us in this time. I also believe asking these new questions will help ensure that whatever the future holds for us and our congregations we will be more faithful in the work we are about right now.And that is a pretty wondrous thing!

Jeffrey D. Jones is a pastor in the American Baptist Church and the author of several books, including Heart, Mind, and Strength: Theory and Practice for Congregational Leadership. His latest book, Facing Decline, Finding Hope: New Possibilities for Faithful Churches, will be published by Alban Books in February 2015.

Better or Safer?

If you could only choose between those two, which would it be?

Seth Godin introduced this question to me in his recent audiobook, Leap First.

If you choose safer, the odds are, you'll choose comfort, security, repetition, boredom.  But, you'll be safer. If you select better, the odds are, you'll experience adventure, threat, challenge, experimentation, risk.  But, things might be better.

Most of people, most organizations including churches, most groups will choose safer. Why?  Because the risk of standing out, the vulnerability of exposing yourself is too great, if we choose better.  Better means, "holy cow, I'm out there and someone might criticize me or judge me."  Yup.

Irony is that in the church today, where most people are choosing safer, it's having the opposite effect.  The choice for safer is yielding smaller churches, with more fragile structures, and diminished mission capacity. In the NeXt Church, the church that is being born, we need better.  Which means risking, experimenting and exposing.  As we risk and try new things, something happens, people are attracted to this new bold adventure.

Other bishops ask me if I'm concerned that our emphasis in New England on experimentation is leading to problems.  I say, "No.  If anything I'm dissapointed we haven't had bolder experiments with more failures. Cause the only way forward into the church God is birthing is through the new adventure of discipleship."

What new BOLD thing will you do this year?

 

New Issue of ekklesia - our Synod News Magazine

The Spring 2015 edition of Ekklesia is now available! A copy is being sent to each of our congregations, as well as our mission support donors, but you can also read it right here as a free, downloadable PDF. 

 

In this edition:

  • Our Saviour's in East Boston has become a hub of activity for its neighborhood, but newly ordained pastor developer Britta Meiers Carlson is hoping to make it a hub of spirituality, too, through a focus on the many cultures that surround it.
  • The Synod offers several grants for ministries that need a little help achieving their goals. We take a look at a few ministries that have benefited from grant money, and how they've put it to good use.
  • When the Episcopal congregation nearby was forced move its worship out of its old, drafty sanctuary, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Augusta, Maine, offered itself as a new home, and now the Lutherans and Episcopalians are learning and worshipping together, with a blend of both traditions.
  • Give Bishop Hazelwood 103 minutes, and he'll give you a plan to make your congregation's stewardship better, faster and stronger. That's the pitch for the bishop's "Crazy Stewardship Consult," which has been a big hit throughout the region. 

How your congregation can save $ on health insurance

Are you a lay leader of a New England Synod congregation?  Would you like to have your congregation save 2% on it's health insurance costs?  If your pastor or other staff who receive their coverage through Portico Benefit Services, take a short survey by April 30, you'll save money.  Plus the pastor or rostered leader will get $150 to spend on medically related expenses.

Ask your pastor and his/her spouse today

 

April 30 is our deadline to save! 

We need 65 percent of our eligible ELCA-Primary health plan members and spouses in to complete the confidential Mayo Clinic health assessment by April 30. Taking the assessment will help all of our synod's congregations and organizations save a collective $35,000 on ELCA health contributions this year.

And remember, by taking the assessment, you'll be taking stock of your health and earning $150 wellness dollars. Healthy leaders do enhance lives and ultimately create a healthier ELCA community. If your spouse has ELCA-Primary health benefits and completes the Mayo Clinic health assessment, too, you'll receive another $150 wellness dollars and will help us earn our synod-wide 2% discount on health contributions.

 

"But," you say, "I'm not on an ELCA-sponsored health plan!" That's OK, your pastor probably is, and you can help us out, too! Ask him or her if he/she has taken the assessment. If the answer is "no," remind him/her that there's real savings at stake for each of our congregations. For the cost of a small amount of time and effort, you and your pastor will help us all save big!


New this year: To take the Mayo Clinic health assessment, access Mayo Clinic Healthy Living online directly through myPortico - no separate Mayo Clinic ID and password necessary. Go to PorticoBenefits.org/HealthyLiving for details.