Notes from Synod Assembly

We just got back from Synod Assembly, the yearly gathering of lay representatives and rostered church leaders of all the congregations in our synod – something like 166 or so.   All 500+ gathered at the convention center in Ocean City to hear about what’s going on in the synod, to do the business of the church, and to pray for each other and all our various ministries.

In his address, Bishop Wolfgang hertz-Lane shared with us his concern for our synod… but more importantly his vision for us.  He started by saying our synod is in crisis; there’s the financial issues – the synod has had to work through a pretty big budgetary crunch.  Then the issue of declining membership – this has been happening for many years now.  For years we’ve heard the mainline churches in decline, but now so are the evangelical churches.   More and more people are choosing “none” on the survey questions regarding church or religious affiliation.  

But this didn’t used to be the case!    Used to be in the 40’s and 50’s people were more likely to join churches – and went regularly – and gave consistently.   It seemed religious participation was part and parcel of civic responsibility.  

But we don’t live in the 50’s anymore!    We know the demographic culture has certainly changed, the civic culture has changed, the financial culture has changed.  Things are very different now than they used to be.   This is not news! 

What IS news is that ministry must also adapt to this new environment.   But, many church leaders don’t know what to do.  And not only do they not know what to do… they’re scared.   Many leaders do indeed recognize there’s a problem, but many have no idea how to even begin tackling these changing issues.     So they do what they KNOW... the same model that worked for so many decades!   Many of us default to what we know.   Problem is, “if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.”      

This is mostly new territory.   There ISN’T a “one-size-fits-all” ministry for every situation anymore.   We look for the “three simple steps to success”, “just-add-water” sort of plan for navigating these unfamiliar waters.    Many still look to what used to work; it’s the “one parish, one pastor (where the pastor did almost all the education and  “ministry”), one council, one confirmation and youth program, one worship style, one evangelism style (namely, “they know where we are... we’ll welcome them when they come”), and one  fill-in-the-blank ”, method.   

The Bishop reassured us “ALL IS NOT LOST!”   All is not lost!   Not by any stretch!   I believe this.    No matter what happens to the “institution” of church as we know it… the Spirit of God will continue to gather people; to worship, to pray, to sing, to praise God, to make a difference in the world!    But the institution – the ELCA… and all the other established church organizations, have to adapt if they want to still be relevant in such a changing environment.   If we as a church (ELCA) want to keep the Gospel message alive to the succeeding generations of people in our communities… as an organization… then we have to adapt.  

Bishop Wolfgang presented Vision 2018: Discerning God’s Plan as a means to help us all discern God’s message to us in these changing times, to help us navigate these uncertain waters.   The Synod spent about a year or so going around, visiting with lay people as well as rostered leaders and listening to what they had to say about ministry, about the contexts the church communities find themselves in, about their hopes and dreams for the future, about their challenges and anxieties.   And they put all this work into the Visions 2018 document.   

The team that put this together wanted to reflect our faith in as something active and dynamic.   They focused on four areas, and described each as “the Way”… descriptive of how the early Christian community identified itself so many centuries ago – The People of “The Way”. 

The four areas are;

“The WAY of Discipleship – Our People will be empowered to share the Good news of Jesus Christ in their communities” 

“The WAY of Communication – Our communication will be effective and a defining characteristic 

of our synod.”

“The WAY of Connectedness – Our congregations and related ministries will thrive through deeper connectedness with other congregations and communities through mutual support and sharing of resources.”

“The WAY of Leadership – Our leaders, both lay and rostered, will be energized to serve with passion, health, and effectiveness in ministry.”

This has more to it; ways to measure how things are going, ways to help congregations and leaders discern as they practice the Way…

But “document” doesn’t do this justice.   This is really designed to help the leaders and communities of the Delaware/Maryland Synod recognize the freedom to be creative and dynamic in their own contexts of ministry.   Again, one size doesn’t fit all!   What works in one place might not work in another.   And with the environment changing as it is, leaders and congregations need to be flexible enough to adapt to this.      

Some people questioned all this, asking what the Synod, and the bishop, expected them to do, what the bishop expected from them in the midst of all this.   “What do you want us to do?”    And that’s the point… no one from on high will TELL you what to do!   And there’s another point – There’s no manual to go to – “Having trouble getting people to come to worship?   See chapter 3.   Looking to start a Stewardship Program?   Chapter 4 has the answer!”      There are fewer and fewer “book” answers.  There are fewer and fewer “pull-this-off-the-shelf-and-use-it-as-is” resources.  

This promises to be a dynamic thing… meaning its changing as we speak.   Scary times!   But may these scary times drive us to God!   May they drive us to REALLY trust that God will be there!   May they remind us that ALL this stuff – all this church and faith stuff – is God’s!    It’s not ours.   We’re not called to “preserve” it, to return it to God in as pristine a shape as we got it in.   We’re just called to tend to it, to take care of it, to do our best with it.   We’re called to USE it, to get it dirty with LIFE!   We’re called to engage our faith with our lives.  And we’re called to engage our lives with life “out there”!

Wow – some exciting stuff!   Hold your breath and just jump in!  

We’ll have to continue looking at our own environments, our own contexts, and pray…  discern…  use the resources available to us – including whatever the bishop’s office has to help congregations, and step out in faith.   We’ll be working with the Council, the Stewardship Team, Education, and all the other groups and teams to see what God’s plan is for us in the midst of all this; where we are, where we’re going, and how we might be able to get there.   And God will be right there, leading us as God led the Israelites in their own scary times, as they travelled in an unknown land!

With God, all things are possible to those who believe!