BISHOP OLSON'S WEEKLY WORD (from the June 17 MNYS E-Letter):
MNYS in the Future—Bishop Olson's Weekly Word
What will the MNYS look like in the future?
If the present trend continues, in 10 years we may have as few as 175 congregations and a membership below 70,000 baptized. We will be sustained by closings and investments but not by stewardship if the next generation is not taught as we were.
We will have reinvested to renew many transition congregations and thus look more like the New York population, but older. The future of suburban congregations started in the 50's and 60's is uncertain: will they be the transition congregations of the 2020's or welcome the next generation to their pews and councils?
The economic trends seem likely to make suburban MNYS more distant from the boroughs and the steady flow of immigrants. The synod is 2/3 dependent on grants and endowments now. How long can we depend on the sales of our grandparents' houses of worship to sustain synod ministry?
These assessments are rather grim. Is this what God has in store for us? How can we envision or begin to predict our future apart from our past and present? Here are some clues that give me hope.
After years of focus on public issues (read 9-11, urban transitions, same-sex acceptance, etc.), the synod could re-focus on the ministry and mission of our congregations. Target the next generation and families wherever they live. Create a synod youth ministry with staff. Recapture the interest of early retirees for mission. Innovate in welcoming post-modern, post-Christian "seekers." Revitalize worship, preaching and education—especially Bible study. Make a difference in enough New York neighborhoods to attract attention.
We have come through a long period of turning outward from our Lutheran quietism to be a more public church. Now it is time to re-focus on our constituents and the 200+ "local Lutheran mission centers," our congregations.
We can't do everything. We had better do what we have done well. Will the church arise in this age as the old social Gospel hymn predicts so confidently? I believe we will. J
"The church of Christ, in every age beset by change, but Spirit led,
Must claim and test its heritage and keep on rising from the dead."
My Response on the MNYS.org Forum
As you know, I have spent a great deal of time thinking and working on the future of the MNYS. What you say is probably the likely scenario, but I have a different view about what we could do, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
I would love to see the Commission for Evangelical Outreach and the new Bishop and staff take very seriously the future of the congregations of our synod and use the next year or so to start a thorough assessment of and conversation with the leaders of our local congregations in groups based on local realities (proximity, size, historical relationships, pastoral ability and insightfulness, etc.) to see how the churches could be intentionally and missionally linked with each other.
In such conversations there would have to be a hopeful attitude rather than the "grim reaper" approach that was articulated at the Synod Assembly last month.
In other words, rather than saying "When the music stops, one of you will be eliminated," why couldn't we begin instead with the attitude: "God has given us a tremendous host of resources for God's mission, and we are all in this together, so let's prayerfully work together to find a way to use these resources in new ways to expand rather than contract the work of God in this local area"?
Specifically this might mean that the bishop might ask five congregations located in adjacent conferences but very near one another to work with him to form a serious coalition for mission that would bring together the ordained and other rostered leaders as well as gifted key lay leaders to create a single ministry leadership team that would work with the existing churches to creatively collaborate to develop new outposts for mission-- something they could not and would not even have even thought of doing without the bishop's strong insistent leadership. Now they would do many more things because they would now have a "critical mass" of leaders, people, and money that would free them up to work together.
After working, praying, and worshiping together, they might decide to adjust the worship times in the participating churches so staff members could be available in different locations on the same day (perhaps even more than one per location), and they might offer educational offerings in selected locations so people could come together in large enough numbers to make a positive environment for spiritual growth possible.
Activities that they do separately now could be combined or worked out together (a common newsletter, a common bulletin or bulletins, shared secretarial staff, and eventually even a common Council).
The key would be to have shared ministry rather than perpetuating isolated survivalist ministries.
We would have to retrain our clergy and our key leaders and make a commitment to plan mission and ministry together. We might even decide that our corporate efforts could be more effective if one or more facilities were converted to other uses or even sold with the income being designated for local mission.
I realize that as Lutherans we probably don't have the faith and the courage we would need to make this sort of realignment a reality, but in other countries and other faith traditions this is what has been going on for a decade or more. As Lutherans we think we know better than others, and we want to keep clergy employed and laity from getting too powerful, but if we could humble ourselves and listen to the Spirit, we could get back to doing God's mission work and stop retreating from the tremendous mission opportunity God is handing us.
Indeed, as Jesus said in last Sunday's Gospel, "the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few . . ." Some Christians hear those words as a challenge from our Lord, but sadly, many of us Lutherans hear those words and respond "You're right, Jesus, that's a real shame, isn't it?"
We can do better than that. God certainly wants us to.
