because ‘my grandfather made the baptismal font, because my mother was involved in the altar guild and that’s what we do in our family,’ ” Daubert said. “T eir involvement in church was based on life stories and tra- ditions. T ey weren’t engaged on a faith level or based on faith at all, but rather they were grounded in apathy and agnosticism.”
A call for renovation So what’s a church to do? Is it possible to honor beloved, age-old traditions while infusing life and vitality back into the lives of members and the community? Daubert thinks now is the perfect time for renovation. “T e work of the church is renewing its people,” he
said. “We were trying to renew congregations and you can’t do that. You can only renew its people and let them renew the congregation. God isn’t interested in a bigger church as much as God is interested in a transformed world. And that means reconnecting the church with what God is up to in the world.” For Daubert, that means teaching church members
Blind to see
This picture represents both in a literal and fi gurative manner the bibli- cal command to help the blind see. Barb Ollila, retired United Church of Christ pastor in Princeton, Ill., is reading from a braille Bible, but this image also represents the church’s call to help a “blind” world to “see” the in-breaking of God’s kingdom. Jeff Schlesinger, Freedom Lutheran Church, Oregon, Ill., photographer
are more comfortable to continue ministries “the way we’ve always done it.” But here’s the problem: adhering to that tradition and duty formula is a sure-fi re way to fi zzle faith and fervor. A study conducted by Dave Daubert, pastor of
Zion Lutheran Church, Elgin, Ill., and author of Living Lutheran: Renewing Your Congregation (Augsburg For- tress, 2007), found that among the 1,000 he surveyed 23 percent of those who had attended church regularly for 30 years were functionally agnostic (someone who nei- ther believes nor disbelieves in the existence of a deity). Many said they didn’t believe their church had helped them grow spiritually—and they seemed satisfi ed with that spiritual stagnation. “Many respondents said they attended a church
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how to recognize God as a living, breathing, dynamic part of their lives, helping them recover a sense of the vibrancy and activity of a God who can’t stay away. Too oſt en we’ve gotten involved in ministries without prepar- ing God’s disciples, he said. “T e central part of a renewing church is renewing
our spiritual life fi rst, then mission work second, vibrancy third, and maybe then growth,” Daubert added. “It’s not a numbers game, it’s spiritual belief and passion.”
Dare we say the word ‘conversion’? “While conversion is a tough word for Lutherans to say, it is important for us to focus on more than just serving others and also devote energy to the spiritual growth and needs of the people who participate in our congrega- tions,” Daubert continued. “Perhaps transforming and renewing our own spiritual lives should be front and center as a focus of the church’s work.” Retired ELCA pastor Roy M. Oswald noted, “We
constantly have to get back to the basic purpose of the transformation of human life.” Oswald, an author of congregational leadership and
church growth books—many of them written while he worked as a senior consultant for the Alban Institute, a not-for-profi t organization that helps congregations and leaders, added, “We speak of conversions and that’s not something that is readily talked about in Lutheran circles. But a conversion isn’t something that happens all of a sudden.”
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