I've noticed an interesting dynamic at work at my home church, Lakeview. I suspect it plays out in most other churches as well. As I’ve outlined before, I had a mixed experience with our previous pastor. Although he was more autocratic than I am comfortable with, he was benevolent in how he exercised his authority.
Over the thirteen years he was pastor, the church took on his image. One example is how he emphasized the importance of love and reaching out to all people regardless of race or socio-economic status. The church has embraced that mind set, a mind set that it definitely didn’t have before his arriva l. But it is fascinating to see how the church has continued on in his absence.
After six months in which one staff member and two members of the congregation shared the pulpit (not at the same time), we called an interim pastor to the church. He is in his seventies, but full of energy and with decades of pastoral experience. But most of all, he meets the most important rule for the interim pastor: Primum non Nocere.
After he arrived, he noticed something unusual. Our previous pastor didn’t like to pass offering plates. We’ve had offering boxes at each exit for as long as I’ve been a member. When the topic would come up, our pastor would quickly say “We thought about it carefully and made that decision so that we don’t interrupt the flow of the service.” Although there were some who disagreed with the practice, it was never a big enough issue to become divisive. Our new interim simply asked the deacons, the staff, and some of the church leaders is they wouldn’t mind passing the plates again (leaving the boxes at the entrances for those who preferred that method). He found that no one opposed the i dea of the offering plate.
So last Sunday, with little fanfare, he preached a sermon on tithing and we passed the plates. I heard no opposition or grumbling about the plates after the service and our tithe was over twice our normal average.
No real major point to this I suppose, except that as a church member, it would probably be a good iddea to revisit the "whys" of our church traditions. If we do something merely because we've always done it that way before, it should be revisited. I’m also intrigued by how willing a church is to follow their pastor, even when, at the end of the day, they aren’t particularly in agreement with him on an issue.
After six months in which one staff member and two members of the congregation shared the pulpit (not at the same time), we called an interim pastor to the church. He is in his seventies, but full of energy and with decades of pastoral experience. But most of all, he meets the most important rule for the interim pastor: Primum non Nocere.
After he arrived, he noticed something unusual. Our previous pastor didn’t like to pass offering plates. We’ve had offering boxes at each exit for as long as I’ve been a member. When the topic would come up, our pastor would quickly say “We thought about it carefully and made that decision so that we don’t interrupt the flow of the service.” Although there were some who disagreed with the practice, it was never a big enough issue to become divisive. Our new interim simply asked the deacons, the staff, and some of the church leaders is they wouldn’t mind passing the plates again (leaving the boxes at the entrances for those who preferred that method). He found that no one opposed the i dea of the offering plate.
So last Sunday, with little fanfare, he preached a sermon on tithing and we passed the plates. I heard no opposition or grumbling about the plates after the service and our tithe was over twice our normal average.
No real major point to this I suppose, except that as a church member, it would probably be a good iddea to revisit the "whys" of our church traditions. If we do something merely because we've always done it that way before, it should be revisited. I’m also intrigued by how willing a church is to follow their pastor, even when, at the end of the day, they aren’t particularly in agreement with him on an issue.
1 comment:
I think it was Alfalfa who first learned the merits of the "pay as you exit" strategem:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5113210438632655126&q=pay+as+you+exit&total=85&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2
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