starving ecclesial artists unite!

A fascinating conversation has been brewing since yesterday via the blogosphere. The questions being raised are muy importante. I want to add my voice to the conversation, but first it is important for you to get up to speed with what has already been said.

Ok. It all started with Chris Marshall. He said, basically that in the midst of an increasingly crappy enconomy, we have a lot of people in debt and an emerging non-committal, debt-ridden, consumer generation that isn’t going to be interested in sustaining the church-as-is.

Jason Evans responded with: “The trends do not seem to say that we can fend this off by building bigger, regional churches. Though there is limited success there, I don’t see it being a long term fix to a growing problem. I’ve said this before, but I really don’t think the experts have many answers for us. They have too much invested in the Christendom machine. So, it’s going to be up to the rank and file folks to come up with the solutions.” He suggest that although the talking missional heads are exploring paradigm shifts, hardly anyone is looking at the church sustainability issue.

Mike Bishop joins in: “One of the questions that I think needs to be raised in our church culture is not “Are we being successful?” but rather, “Is what we are doing sustainable?” What I mean by sustainable is not if we can advance our ideas about church so that we are influential to the next generation. Sustainable means that we can continue on the path God has for us without having to rely on big organization, huge amounts of funding, or keeping up with the latest church trends. It means that we work without a lot of visibility, but will be able to minister right where people are hurting and in need of the good news of God’s kingdom. This is a Jesus-led underground movement.” He suggests that this presents an opportunity for us to learn from one another, listen with one another, and walk with one another.

Marshall jumps back into the fray: “What is the future? I have no idea. I encourage students (high school or college) to get degrees in fields that can support them regardless of their ministry aspirations. Get your theological training from the church community and not to see ministry as a professional, but as a missional servant…I would suspect that within 10 years due to these emerging church trends and economic realities in America that the number of vocational pastors may decrease by as much as 50%. Endowed churches and denominations will be able to hang in there longer and I suspect there will be a movement of consolidating local churches to regional churches to deal with the dwindling cash flow and top heavy debts.”

Steve Lewis adds a sinister note: “…while many of us have woken up to the nightmare aftermath of Christendom, far fewer of us have woken up to the nightmare present of the empire we live under. I’m not talking about the good ‘ol USA, either. I’m talking about the global capitalistic machine - the one that transcends borders and languages, and law in a lot of cases. The one that demands development, the creation of wealth, consumerism, and ultimately our souls. The tricky part is that unless we just pick up and move outta Dodge to some farm in Nebraska where we can be completely “off the grid” (which, by the way, isn’t exactly missional), we are forced into participating in the machine…While we do struggle in the here and now, though, let’s remember that this represents a unique opportunity to live out a counter-cultural Kingdom reality. Right now, when our wallets (and gas tanks) are empty, we have much less convincing to do when we talk about the lack of real hope that money and power provide. We have the opportunity to live a joyful, free lifestyle, which shows where our dependence lies, where our true Hope lies. And that’s where we live out our faith…”

Aaron Klinefelter chimes in with three points:

1. the present way in which we “do ministry” is less and less effective and not sustainable given the increasingly complex, pluralistic, and shifting society in which we live.
2. the current funding approach for ministry and ministers is beholden to a system that is built on a modernism (industrial, mechanistic, “cog in the wheel”) that is increasingly non-functional or a postmodernism that is highly consumerist (”what have you done for me lately”, “have it your way”).
3. the expectations placed (internally or externally) on leaders is often unhealthy in the current system (whether that system is accommodated primarily to modern or postmodern sensibilities).

He believes that God is leading some into a “new mode of ministry.” Read the rest of his excellent post here (seriously…go read the rest and then come back).

Now its my turn…

I hate to say this, but I think my generation of ministry practitioners is likely to struggle and suffer. We are coming off of a bad Christendom trip and have inherited Christendom tools for doing a post-Christendom job.

I know lots and lots of ministers. Because I am one. So many of the brightest, most gifted, most visionary practitioners I know are struggling. Let me reiterate: the most gifted ministers I know aren’t leading the most “successful” churches I know. Instead, they are pioneering into post-Christendom. These pioneers are ecclesial starving artists…they struggle for their vision, and they are sometimes brilliant, but generally off the grid.

The down side to this is that the mainstream church has all of its vast resources tied up in maintaining the status quo (even if they are innovating their practices, they are largely doing so in a way that reinforces the dominant Christendom paradigm). As a result, these subversive pioneers are doing a LOT with very little. And they are doing it in a way that escapes the notice of the mainstream. Why? Because the mainstream lacks the lens to notice what is happening and why these pioneers are doing a vital job.

I know this sounds dramatic. Because it is. I’d like to think I am one of these pioneers. I have, in the same week, been told by one mainstream Christian that “I have little to show for myself” and been told by one supportive friend in Philadelphia that “it is amazing I am able to accomplish so much.” I share this to highlight that people see what they are looking for. The mainstream church is looking for practitioners who can maintain the status quo. These starving ecclesial artists are looking for ways of being faithful in the future.

Our task isn’t to keep Christianity going as usual. Instead, we need to find ways of equipping and enpowering the next generation to do ministry in a way that is sustainable, even if we are currently struggling with doing sustainable ministry.

What does this mean?

• It means that we have to resist the temptation to “compromise” or “sell out” by doing ministry in a way that might work for the mainstream now, but will just pass things on to the next generation. In other words, we can’t secure our own sustainability at the expense of the sustainability of the next generation.

• It also means that we need to be faithful to equip young leaders for the emerging reality…not for success within Christendom. For example…is it really all that helpful, generally speaking to have future church leaders go through college and then seminary, securing lots of debt so that they can lead the church into a future that the seminaries aren’t seeing? Going to seminary is helpful if you want a career within a denomination…but not that important in a post-Christian context.

  Many agree with me on that last paragraph, yet few viable approaches exist for in depth, powerful training. There are a few “underground” seminaries but their capacity and depth are limited. Internships are ok…but in under-resourced churches how do we meaningfully train leaders?
  If equipped the right way, the next generation can get “real” jobs without being burdened with debt, yet still highly trained by alternative methods to lead a marginal church.

• In the meantime, we need to survive…and without giving into the consumer system that seduces starving ecclesial artists into mass producing Thomas-Kincade-esque prints. I’ve noticed something with some of my friendship. Some of my friends are so interested in succeeding that they basically spend a lot of their time building a platform and trying to connect with important, well-resourced, people. Other friends are interested in spreading their good fortune…sharing contacts, networking, helping their peers succeed. I feel like I’m a mix of both…but trying to be the latter. We will feel a lot better and actually achieve more sustainability, I think, if the starving ecclesial artists would encourage one another and help each other out…as many of them already do…rather than trying to break into church celebrity status.