Planning

If you know me very well you know that I am a planner. I have a system for nearly everything I do. Some of those systems are pretty important. I have a pretty thorough Sermon planning checklist. I go through it every week as I prepare and dutifully check off each item when it is completed. I also have a system for putting on my pajamas at night. It is not quite as detailed, and I certainly don’t intend to elaborate here but…I do have a pajama system.

I mention this because like many other people you may know I am getting ready to do something I’ve never done before. Open back up. Business owners and operators of every kind from small franchisees to multi-site conglomerates, to mom/pop shops are all getting ready to open the doors and invite in the public.

And so are we. Work has never really stopped for the Church. Telephone, streaming, Email, texts, social-media. We have been able to leverage these technologies to continue doing ministry-to continue pursuing the mission. And I don't know of any preacher who does not relish extra time to spend on reading, study, and prep time. It has been different. It has been challenging. It does not feel the same. I am sure that despite our best efforts there are some who just don’t feel  “ministered to.” Sheep complain, wolves circle, and shepherds continue with the mission.

And now comes the time to think about the end of the closing-and the re-opening of society; including Grayville First Christian Church and churches throughout our community, state, nation and world.

And I don’t have a checklist. I am just beginning the process of putting together a system. I will work out a full process-driven system from determining the policy, defining the process, describing the procedure, detailing best practices. I do this stuff without thinking-almost reflexively. It is different because the safety, security, and sanity of our worshipping community is in play. If I mess up my Pajama procedure Miss Georgia may snicker at me-but no one’s gonna get pneumonia. There is a bit more at stake.

There are a some things to keep in mind:

• Remember our Biblical Mandate to Worship.
• Review the Theological underpinnings of the Church
• Reconsider what you’ve done in the past. 
• Remind People why.
• Respond kindly to questions and criticism.
• Restore the vision for the future. 

Hey…If I’m not mistaken that kind of looks like the beginning of a checklist, if not a full-blown plan.

Keep your head bowed, your mind engaged, your eyes open, and continue the Mission.

Models

We think through building models. Think of them as lenses, blueprints, and maps. They tell us where we are going, what outcomes we are seeking, and  determine how we see the world.

When Europeans “discovered” America and began the great Columbian exchange-they filtered their experience through the models they already had. The island chain they discovered they called the “West Indies” because they were operating within a model that told them they were close to India. They later found out they were incorrect but the name stuck.

A part of new discovery, innovation, and change is revising models to reflect the new reality. And here the church is…smack dab in the middle of a new world. Social Distancing. Virtual Worship. No-touch Pastoral care. It’s not what we expected as February turned to March, and now it’s April and we are like Columbus and his peers looking for the dragons we assume are just beyond the horizon.

We need to be revising our models. Now. While we cannot gather. Before the new normal begins. This is the time to exercise  the muscles of creativity and to be intentional about the lenses, blueprints, and maps we use to understand ministry.

Jesus addressed this sort of issue the way He addressed lots of things-through story.

“Luke 5:36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. Luke 5:37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. Luke 5:38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.” (Luke 5:36–38 ESV)

Unfortunately, we like our wineskins-we fall in love with our models-and they become less and less effective when the world changes. What wineskin issues are you addressing? How are you thinking through and adjusting your mental models? How are you preparing for a new world of ministry?

Don’t assume that “there be dragons!” Maybe the Lamb was leading us here all along.
That’s just my personal Bobservation.

Until We Get this Exile Right

 It has been 4 weeks since our congregation has assembled. We are not alone. There are some who quote “Don’t forsake the assembling…” and who complain about government overreach; but for the most part people who don’t like funerals are OK with how things are going. Everyone looks forward to heaven. No one is volunteering to go right now and we certainly don’t want to send people by ill-advised, perhaps toxic assembly.

So, how do we balance the value and purpose for assembly with the need to be prudent? Wouldn’t it be great if there was Biblical guidance?

Today as we swim in the exegetical ocean I think linking together the following four scriptures…two from the Acts of the Apostles and one each from the catholic epistles of James and Peter helps clarify what we can accomplish during an involuntary time of separation.  I have quoted them in canonical order which also roughly corresponds to chronological/historical order.

 “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” (Acts 8:4 ESV)

“Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.” (Acts 11:19 ESV)

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings.” (James 1:1 ESV)

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,” (1 Peter 1:1 ESV)

These four texts demonstrate that during times of forced alienation that the Church can and did continue to be the Church. From these texts we can conclude that whilst dispersed the early Church:

1. Evangelized. 
2. Taught. 
3. Encouraged one another. 
4. Exercised Pastoral oversight. 

Conclusions:
I think that it is easy to become overly fixated on the why of our time apart (COVID-19) the nature of the separation (governmentally “mandated” social-distancing (Mandated is in quotes because I think that most churches, led by teams who actually don’t want people to get sick and die, made the decision to meet virtually before it became “mandated” it which case the mandate served to legitimize a decision already made in good faith.)) Sorry about that last, convoluted, multi-parenthetical sentence--rather than what we can accomplish during this time.

Church! What are you doing with this exile? What are you making of this alienation? Is there evangelizing? Is the Word being taught? Do you encourage one another with the technological means now at our disposal? Preachers, Elders, Deacons-are you providing pastoral care?
Maybe we are looking at this the wrong way. Perhaps we should not be allowed to assemble again until we get this exile right.
That’s just my Bobservation.

Learning Curves...

Almost everyone I know in ministry is doing something new. We have become broadcasters. We are worried about "production values." Some are more worried than others. We are trying to figure out how to do pastoral care, evangelism, teaching, and leadership while not physically present with those we are trying to pastor, evangelize, teach, and lead.

Don't flinch. At least two times (probably more, but let's keep it simple) in the vast history of the Christian enterprise the Church has been at the cutting edge of technological innovation. First there was the codex. At a very early date the church deliberately chose to preserve the New Testament in the Codex (folded book) form. This reflected a desire to leverage an emerging technology to gain some kind of an advantage. We are not even sure what advantage was being sought; cost, transportability, size have all been posited-we don't really know. Whatever the reasoning the New Testament, for all intents and purposes, broke away from the tradition of recording and preserving religious literature on scrolls.

Second the Church was at the very heart of the printing revolution which began with the emergence of Gutenberg's printing press. Some would even think that the Protestant Reformation was more a matter of printing than preaching. Again a new technology was adapted and whatever went before exists only in memory.

I don't think that things will be quite that drastic this time around. We will return to gathering in our church-houses. We will visit the sick in hospital and the lonely in their homes. We will preach and teach God's Word. We will make an appeal to the lost, and shepherds will meet and consider how to lead the flock. But make no mistake-we have new tools and we need not fear using them. When the leaning curve is so steep and the stakes are so great why abandon newly learned skills when they can extend the reach of ministry. That is today's Bobservation.