Questions and radical changes

Editor’s Note: David Crittenden, transitional synod executive, presented a sermon June 21 at a meeting of the Presbytery of South Dakota. An edited version of that sermon is the column published below.
 

by Dave Crittenden

Transitional Synod Executive

As text:

Joel 2:28 – After that I will pour out my spirit upon everyone; your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.

Acts 11:9 – The voice from heaven spoke a second time, ‘Never consider unclean what God has made pure.’

What is the Spirit Saying to Us? What is in store for the Presbytery of South Dakota and the Synod of Lakes and Prairies? Have we seen any visions lately?

I am a born and raised Presbyterian. I have been an ordained teaching elder since 1974. God has called me to serve at every level of the Presbyterian Church. In my almost 40 years of service our church has not changed much but I believe there is no doubt the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is changing and needs to change – at every level.

What we have always done has not worked for so long that we are all looking for a different or better way to answer God’s call or just simply survive. I have never believed God calls us to be a part of congregations, presbyteries, synods or a national church that only seeks to survive. God calls us as individuals to be a part of congregations and presbyteries that witness to God’s amazing grace and Christ’s saving love that transforms people and communities into places filled with vibrant life.

Yes, God calls each of us and us together to do more than survive. God calls us to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our communities and around the world. We, you and I, indeed the whole Presbyterian Church, are looking for a vision for the future that allows us to be the witness that we are called to be.

As many of you know the PC(USA) has announced another year where our gains have been exceeded by our losses. We know, as we look at the larger picture in our country, that the influence of Christianity is waning to the point of being a counter culture. Is the Presbyterian Church dying? Is Christianity on its way out? I believe, with every fiber of my being, God will not let that happen. At the same time, we must acknowledge that any vision for our future involves doing things differently. We cannot do what we have always done and expect different results.

First, while we know our younger generations may be as committed to following Christ as our older generation, that younger generation is and will be following in different ways than we did.

Second, we know we have become a multicultural nation. You may have heard Frank Yamada, president of McCormick Seminary, remind us there will not be a majority race in the United States by the year 2040. As a denomination we have a priority to become a multi-culture, multi-racial denomination. Yet it is obvious we are not clear on how that might happen.

What will our congregations need to do? As we look at who is sitting in the pews we realize the changes in our society will be quite a challenge for us. Those changes require us modify how we think about doing church. It may be so different – or different enough – that we won’t recognize our church.

And we ask what we need to do to fix this. We all would like a program or best practice to follow that would make our church and the larger church grow and flourish. We want to know the steps we need to take even if they are not easy.

One thing most people who have been studying our situation agree on is the answer or answers are adaptive and not technical. This means there are no steps we can each take that will fix our problems.

The answer may be different for each church. It means we will find the answers together and we will find them by listening to each other and looking for adaptive change together.

Most also agree that all this starts by asking the right questions. We need questions that get our creative juices flowing and encourage us to think outside our comfort zone. We need new thoughts.

Gil Rendle, a contemporary author who writes about the church and these challenging times suggests two questions: (1) How will we be with God? and (2) How will we be with each other? The synod is looking at two similar questions: (1) What is God doing in our midst and how are we responding to God’s invitation to be a part of it? and (2) How might this council – presbytery or synod – help those within its region be more faithful participants in the mission of Christ?

A part of answering our questions is to learn from our past. A large part of our past is recorded in scripture. The prophet Joel and the early church’s experience do have something to tell us. Joel was a prophet who pronounced God’s judgments on the southern kingdom of Judah. Joel’s vision for the future included a judgment of God’s people and foreign nations. He also spoke of restoration of God’s people through intense suffering.  Joel says “ … your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.” Joel speaks of radical change, but points out that God provides the answers for the radical change. Sound familiar?

The Acts passage reminds us of Peter’s game changing vision. It is possible that without this one vision we would not be sitting here today. Peter provided a radical vision. Just how radical? Peter originally refused to follow God’s command. Then, his fellow Christians chastise him for going to the home of the unclean and eating with them. Peter asked the followers in Jerusalem to change the very foundation of their Christian belief.

Peter’s vision and Christ’s commands have taught us to include everyone. We may not be able to imagine excluding specific persons from our congregation as they come to visit as an individual or a family, but can we imagine what it will be like to find ourselves accepting large numbers of people into our congregations who are not only unlike us, but whose practices are very different than ours. The gentiles of Peter’s time who were uncircumcised and ate unclean food far outnumbered the circumcised Christians. They radically changed the church. Is your church – your congregation – able to withstand that kind of change?

Peter and the church at Jerusalem faced our first question: What is God doing in your midst and how are you responding to it? Joel tells the people of his day what God is doing and what they should do. Take a moment and try to imagine what it would be like for your congregation or this presbytery if someone shared a vision that involved such a radical change. What would your honest reaction be? Would you believe them? Would you be willing to risk change on the strength of a vision? What does it take to make such radical change?

With the prophet Joel and Acts 11 as background, how do you answer the first question: What is God doing in our midst and how are we responding to God’s invitation to be a part of it? And how might this council help those within its region be more faithful participants in the mission of Christ?

It is important that the presbytery be diligently looking for the answer to the second question: How might this presbytery help its congregations be more faithful participants in the mission of Christ? What do you or will you need from the larger church – the synod and General Assembly – to help your congregations?

I believe that when we search for the answers to these questions and when we become open and responsive to God’s response, that is when the vision is most likely to come to us.