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than 148,000 meals for food shelves. As members of St. Christopher’s Community Church, Olympia, Wash., pondered new ways to reach out to their community, members of the small Episcopal mission found themselves in conversation with the Southwestern Washington Synod. The Episcopal Diocese and synod
concluded that they could do more together than either could do alone. So the Episcopal mission would provide the building and existing ministry, and the ELCA would supply mission support for the church’s first full-time leader. Today the reshaped St. Chris- topher’s Community Church—a
federated worshiping community of the Episcopal Church and the ELCA—has increased membership, revitalized children’s and youth min- istry, and renewed outreach, includ- ing a community garden opening this spring.
Cindy Novak
Transformation for all congregations T
he whole church has to be about transformational ministry so strong congregations can get stronger, said Stephen Bouman, executive direc- tor of ELCA Congregational and Synodical Mission. “It’s not just about pathology. It’s about growth and renewal.” The 2011 Churchwide Assem- bly took action to make support for the work of congregations one of the ELCA’s highest priorities. The assembly requested congregations, in collaboration with synods, to begin, develop, review or redefine their unique mission plans.
But congregations can struggle as they work toward transformation, Bouman said. Some obstacles include “acting as if Christ has not risen,” he said. “If Christ has risen, what do we need to be afraid of? What is there that God cannot give us? We there- fore think too small. We need to take our own faith seriously and act as if it were true.”
Other times parishioners may oppose change. “In the Lutheran tra- dition, we are always reforming—we are always being made new,” said Neil Harrison, ELCA program direc- tor for congregational renewal. “We know that not only in the church, but
in life in general, whenever there is something different, there is going to be resistance and a whole range of emotions.”
Those emotions can include grief and anger, Harrison said, adding, “We train leaders to be grounded in change theory and grief processes to help them engage congregations effectively for those realities.” Another obstacle to transforma- tion: Congregations not creating space for their neighbors of different contexts and backgrounds, Bouman said. “They miss out on the joy of get- ting to know others and the gifts they bring,” he added. Congregations can begin the transformation journey in a vari- ety of ways. But Bouman said one guiding principle remains the same: listening. “Transformational ministry comes
LISA HELFERT
out of listening to God through Scrip- ture and prayer; listening to each other within the church and with our allies (such as social service ministry organizations); and listening to our neighbors to what God is already doing in the community and how we can encounter our neighbors in new ways,” he said.
Throughout the process, con- gregations should remain open to God’s calling, said Evelyn Soto, ELCA director for Congregational and Synodical Mission operations and programs. And that might mean stepping outside of a comfort zone, she added. “That’s where transformation happens,” Soto said. “It’s moving beyond yourself to ‘the other’ and proclaiming and sharing Jesus with a person you may not know. It is the act of being more missional, more hospitable and more welcoming. It is being open to sharing God’s grace with someone who needs to hear it. “It becomes a way of life. It’s not something you can put on and take off. It’s not something you can even wash off. If you are mission minded, it takes hold of your heart.”
Cindy Novak
For more information about transformational ministry, contact your local synod or visit
www.elca.org/missionplanning for guiding principles and links to synodical mission planning partners, Scripture materials and other resources.
26 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
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