Doing better than "seeing the kids"

Most of the congregations I encounter in ministry have high average ages, and that average won't go down in the near future. This demographic reality produces an emotional response in congregations.

In conversation gatherings of these older church-attending adults, I hear about a longing to see children in church. These longing congregations vary in their degree of connection with children, with a conglomeration of activities. Some congregations host a preschool or childcare facility. Some congregations provide an after-school program, or give meeting space to Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. Some congregations host a vacation Bible school, or support a teenage youth group. For all of the hospitality and community connection a congregation makes, these programmatic connections don't mean as much to congregations as youth attending worship. Problematically, this is where the exploration of the dearth of young people ends, and a section of the body of Christ in North America continues to drain its vitality. Nancy Ammerman took a poignant look at practices of passing on faith in Mainline Protestant congregations. She found that most congregations at best put in less than an hour per week and details congregational behavior and practice in passing on the faith.

Let me state for the record that I am in favor of children participating in worship. However, "seeing" children/youth in worship is a short-sighted longing at best. Children and youth don't need to be seen in church as if their presence is an ego boost to the adults of the congregation. Children and youth are not to be paraded in front of a congregation because they are cute. Any interaction with children and youth in the life of the congregation involves an opportunity to teach them about faith in Christ and provide them an understanding of what it means to be part of a Christian community. It is not merely the task of the pastor, children's minister, or youth director to share faith with children and youth. Every group in the life of the church has something to pass on about what it means to be part of a Christian community. An altar guild, men's ministry, women's circle, Bible study group, food ministry, property committee, etc.--each have opportunities to pass on what it means to be part of a Christian community. On occasion I find a congregation that has no link to children and youth whatsoever. Even then, it is time for a congregation to look at the assets in a congregation for connecting with children and youth in some way without a preconceived expectation of how children will be "seen." Children and youth do not exist for our own glorification, but God's. A congregation in renewal will see in its community what can be given to children and youth rather than what they can get for having children and youth in the congregation.

A renewed look at frequently viewed blog posts

One of my greatest hopes in writing is that I connect with readers, causing them to think, pray, give thanks and learn. I also hope that comments will help me do the same. I continue to marvel at what some people seek when they peruse their favorite search engine. This post is devoted to what curious people find topically interesting about my thoughts and writing.

Currently I am collecting my thoughts for another season of writing. My time at First Lutheran Community Church in Port Orchard is probably in its last months. I am hopefully moving away from interim ministry and finding a calling that will allow me some creative space while remaining close to congregational life.

Here are a few posts that continue to receive looks:

Does God Change? I think many people wonder about the nature of the God of the Hebrew and Christian Bible. I have found over the years that the way people answer this question says more about their attitude toward change than their attitude toward God. According to the biblical witness, the answer can be both yes and no, which maddens some and delights others. The emotional response doesn't matter, the complexity of the nature of God is a given. Human understandings of change are insufficient to be projected on God, but God's passion and love for people and pursuit of keeping promises should not be lost on frustration of God not performing to human expectation.

Ten Commandments Mnemonic Sometimes I have something to share with the world that is actually practical for ministry use. I can't take credit for it. Nate Hanson, a pastoral colleague in South Dakota, shared this memory application with me about 10 years ago. In my discussions about the 10 Commandments, I learned that most people in the congregations I serve don't elevate them to the 4th person in the Trinity, yet they treat them like wisdom literature; they want to learn more about their nuance and life application, yet they don't want to resort to fear-based memory work that dulls the wisdom.

"We are a warm and friendly church."  After serving 10 congregations and consulting with many others, I've only encountered one congregation who would not agree with this statement. I think congregations are finally starting to experience some dissonance of the false nature of the positive friendly statement. In most congregational cultures, people are friendly with each other, and therefore often project that personal feeling of friendliness and mistake it for hospitality. Congregations struggle with hospitality, and the dissonance has not peaked. Maybe a mass closing of congregations will make congregations take notice in Oldline Protestantism, because hospitality practices are slow to change if there is change at all. But the hits on this blog post at least have me curious about the perception of hospitality. I've been wondering if the time is right for a deeper discussion of whether it's appropriate to call a congregation a family. I tend to believe no in the view of my teacher Pat Keifert. I don't think the family image for congregation has done well for the church, and I'm not sure if it's faithful, either.