Greenhouses of Hope -- Review

GREENHOUSES OF HOPE: Congregations Growing Young Leaders Who Will Change the World. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2010. xvi + 231 pages.

From where will the leaders of the church tomorrow emerge? More specifically, in what context will the gifts and callings to ministry of the church’s future leaders be nurtured? The answers will be found in local congregations, both large and small, where seeds of faith are planted and visions of service are nurtured. Although there are many cases of this happening without intentionality – with young people catch a vision and pursue a calling, even if the local congregation and its clergy are uninvolved and unaware of their callings – there will be greater benefits to the church and to the world at large if congregations intentionally commit themselves to discerning and supporting calls to ministry. These kinds of communities are, as the title of this book suggests, “greenhouses of hope.” These are places where young leaders emerge, desiring to join with God in changing the world.

Dori Baker, the editor of this collection of essays, defines a “greenhouse of hope” as a “Christian congregation freeing itself to experiment with both newly imagined and time-honored ways of following the path of Jesus.” These congregations seek to “embrace the gifts of youth and young adults,” with the view toward young leaders emerging from their midst (p. 2). The book – Greenhouses of Hope – is the culmination of Baker’s quest to discover vital congregations committed to this cause of raising up the next generation of leaders. In the course of her studies of congregations she was looking for the diverse ways in which congregations take up this calling of nurturing a vision of ministry. What results from this work is a series of ethnographic studies, some of which Baker wrote, and some that other scholar/practitioners offered. What we see are “detailed observations of the ways of life of a particular people in order to learn about them, from them, and with them” (p. 3).

Baker is a United Methodist who serves as scholar-in-residence to the Calling Congregations initiative of the Fund for Theological Education. The other contributors to the book are primarily United Methodist, but there are also Presbyterian and AME Zion representatives as well. These other contributors help provide a broader ethnographic picture of congregational practices that nurture faith and visions of service. What we see in these studies is the way in which mission trips, youth mentoring younger children, interfaith engagement, close community that provides a safe place for youth to ask questions and explore vocations, providing a strong sense of empowerment with accompanying opportunities to share in leadership in a particular cultural context (African American), and interestingly enough, even in the midst of conflict. What one finds in common to all of these communities is that they are with some degree of intentionality giving young people opportunities to take leadership, explore their gifts and callings, and affirming them in the process – even if the congregation itself is struggling with conflict.

In laying out this study, according to Dori Baker, the authors sought to keep in balance two seemingly paradoxical perspectives. First, they were interested in young people who were inclined to answer a call to professional ministry, believing that the church has something to offer to the world. She writes:

We want to see bright, creative, innovative young people answering a call to be pastors and preachers who will, in turn, help shape the imaginations and vocations of others. (p. 6).

At the same time the authors of these studies were convinced that “Greenhouses of Hope” could and should nurture callings to purposeful lives among all the young people. That is, through their baptism, all Christians are called to lives of ministry. Therefore, the expectation is that the imaginations and callings of all the people would be stirred and nurtured, even if only some of this number answered the call to professional ministry. The belief is that “People formed by congregations that care about vocation learn to find ways that all of their work in the world can be connected to their call as Christians” (p. 7).

In the opening chapter of the book, Baker explores the image of the greenhouse. The image emerged from a set of abandoned greenhouses that a neighborhood group purchased and renovated. These greenhouses had been built to house roses, but now the new owners pulled out the debris, put in new soil, and planted new flowers, fruits, and vegetables. One of the greenhouses was even renovated to raise a special rose that was found still living within the old greenhouse. What an image that is – something old and now wild was nurtured to health and productivity. There was, however, one greenhouse that didn’t get renovated. Roses still grew there, without fertilizer or care, its only nourishment being water seeping through cracks. These roses continued to grow, bursting through the ceiling of the old greenhouse. But, this happens in spite of many obstacles. And here is the metaphor, the image that drives the conversation. Baker writes that “God will call young lives, with or without the help of congregations.” God will not be left without a witness, but how much better it is when congregations cease being obstacles, and instead commit themselves to being places of nurture and hope, so that young people needn’t be “left to eke out their calling solo, but rather were given the best of their community’s resources of attention, love and nourishment toward their vocational flourishing?” (P. 11). And yes, even “old growth” churches, churches that have been around for generations can and should be places where this nurturing process takes place.

Throughout the book, the authors align their observations around four practices, which carry the acronym CARE. Greenhouses of Hope “Create hospitable space to explore Christian Vocation; Ask self-awakening questions; Reflect theologically on self and community; and Explore, enact, and establish ministry opportunities (p. 30). Each of these practices is important and even essential to the effective nurturing of calls to service.

Each of the chapters offers a look at a specific form of space or action, but one that I found especially intriguing, in large part because it’s culturally different, but maybe very culturally relevant for many of our smaller churches. Sinai Chung writes of a Korean Presbyterian Church that engages in what the author calls mozying. This practice is named after the Korean word for older siblings. The concept that has taken root in this particular congregation is that the older children/youth/young people help care for the younger ones. That is, the older ones mentor the younger ones. The need emerged from the transition from first to second generation Koreans, and the need to help second generation Koreans engage in congregational life. This practice is characterized by a belief in “intensive and genuine sibling love.” It is rooted in an intimacy between the younger and the older. Second, unlike most other mentoring relationships, both benefit. Finally, the practice is “highly contagious.” That is, it leads to chain reactions among all age groups. Although this particular practice has its own cultural roots, it has great potential as a model of making a space for ministry practice and spiritual growth.

In her concluding essay, Melissa Wigington summarizes the various models that had been explored earlier, and offers important reflections. She warns, rightly against the tendency to tokenism – something that occurs in every church. We try to get young people on boards and committees, just to say we’ve done it, without any real thought about the spiritual welfare and development of these young people. She notes as well three common themes that emerge from these ethnographic studies – in each context intergenerational relationships are valued and nurtured, young adults and youth are given authentic roles in the life of the church, and present in each are “embodied spiritual practices that connect lived experience with the holy” (p. 195).

The greenhouse is a safe place to grow and experience life in ministry, but as Wigington points out, eventually these plants have to take root outside the safety of the greenhouse. Issues such as delayed adulthood and the economic realities of the day affect the way in which young adults are able to navigate their world. They face the prospects of burnout, not being able to find themselves, and sometimes having too narrow a vision of the world, and thus feeling trapped by these commitments. What these greenhouses must do is help prepare young adults to be resourceful and open to new opportunities so that they can navigate the world that they inhabit. And their ability to do so will be rooted in those four practices that carry the acronym – CARE.

This is a most helpful and encouraging book, especially for churches that are willing to embrace a call to nurture the ministry gifts of their children and young people. It is a good reminder that congregations can either be obstacles or encouragers. Each of the studies opens vistas that might prove helpful in a particular context. The chapter on churches in conflict allows us to see that even when churches are not healthy, they can still be places where callings are intentionally nurtured, even if difficult to maintain. Dori Baker is to be commended for drawing together a team that can provide Mainline churches seeds of hope for the future.

America's Religious Identity -- Boom, Shocks, and After-shocks (Part 1)

The 1950s saw one of the largest booms in religiosity that Americans have ever witnessed.  All you had to do was open the doors and the churches were full.  Liberal and conservative, Mainline, Catholic, Evangelical -- everyone was doing well.  And the key to success, interestingly enough, were the men returning home from the War.  Yes, it was the returning GI's and their wives, the so-called "Greatest Generation" that fueled this incredible spike in religious (and civic) involvement.   Robert Putnam and Dennis Campbell lay out this scenario in American Grace.

[T]he distinguishing features of the men now accompanying their wives to church were that they were mostly young fathers, mostly veterans, and mostly college-educated.  The postwar boom in church going was fueled above all by men who had survived the Great Depression as teenagers and World War II as grunts, and were now ready at last to settle into a normal life, with a steady job, a growing family, a new house, and a car, and respectable middle-class status.  Church going was an important emblem of that respectability. (American Grace, pp. 85-86).

Thus, between 1940 and 1960 church membership climbed from about 49% of the population to 69%.  My parents were part of this generation -- well, my father was in the war, my mother was still in her mid-teens when the war ended and the Baby Boom began.   During this period Mainline churches were out front, the bastions of religious respectability.  I remember growing up in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and our Episcopal Church was full of families.  The Disciples of Christ, like many denominations, purchased land in new subdivisions and planted churches there, expecting them to boom.  Consider that, according to the authors, between 1945 and 1960, in inflation-adjusted dollars, church construction went up from about $26 million to $615 million dollars.  As the construction of churches expanded, people did come, at least for a time, but then as the 1960s set in things began to change.  A new generation came of age and they were looking for something else besides religious respectability.  But more about this "shock" generation in Part 2. 

What needs to be noted here is that this generation of joiners and builders, the men and women who provided the backbone for our religious institutions and "peopled" our churches with children, are passing from the scene, and they are being replaced by generations much less interested in sustaining religious institutions.  [To be continued]

Reframing Hope -- Review

REFRAMING HOPE: Vital Ministry in a New Generation.  By Carol Howard Merritt.  Foreword by Diana Butler Bass.  Herndon, VA: Alban, 2010.  x + 147 pp.

    It’s probably unnecessary for me to repeat the canard that Mainline Protestantism is an aging religious tradition.  It’s true, the Mainline has been aging, and in many of our churches the elderly far outnumber the younger ones, but the Mainline isn’t simply a spiritual retirement home for hidebound traditionalists.  There are many signs of renewed life, which give hope for the future.  This is especially true if we pay attention to the younger adults who have either chosen to stay home in the Mainline, or found in the Mainline the spiritual home they had been seeking.  The reasons for staying or joining vary.  They range from the greater openness to the leadership of women to the presence of gays.   It could also be the intellectual openness that is found in these traditions.   And while it’s true that the preponderance of clergy is graying, there are a growing number of eloquent younger leaders whose voices have begun to ring out in the church.  Among this group is  the Rev. Carol Howard Merritt, a Presbyterian pastor, author, and broadcaster, who by her own self-description is a “loyal radical.”   That self-description is an important note, because it signals a desire to be part of a tradition, but willing to challenge it when it becomes sedentary and moribund.  There is a recognition that the church needs more than simply chaplains, but prophetic and visionary voices that point us into the future. 

    In this, her second book (the first being Tribal Church), Carol Howard Merritt offers us a portal through which we can look at the church as it stands today and then begin to see a trajectory upon which a renewed and revisioned church can begin taking its journey into the future.  In days of yore, we looked to the elders of the community for sage advice, but now is a time to hear valuable words of wisdom from those who are agile and adept in their participation in the turbulence that marks the present era.  Leaders, like Merritt, have their finger on the pulse on the current situation and have an understanding of the way in which these changes are affecting the church as it maneuvers in the early decades of the  21st century.  If we’re willing to listen, we’ll discover that these changes make for a ministry that is both more difficult and more exciting. 

    The world we inhabit is marked by technological, generational, environmental, and political changes and challenges, changes that affect not only the old Mainline Churches like Carol’s (PCUSA) or mine (Disciples of Christ), but also the evangelical megachurches that seemed so adept at adapting to the cultural changes just a few years ago.  Alas, the tide may have turned once again, and it’s possible, though by no means assured, that the Mainline churches, many of which inhabit the old urban centers, may have a new opportunity, especially since as Merritt suggests: “worship as entertainment seems to be losing its luster” (p. 1).   So perhaps it’s time to do a bit of “reframing,” so that vital ministry might take place in a new generation.   

    A frame allows us to focus and describe something, and as Merritt writes, “the way we frame our situation has an impact on our current attitudes, our cognitive abilities, and our future behavior” (p. 3).  So, how do we go about this “reframing” project so that we might experience hope and vitality (not just among the younger set, but among all who inhabit our churches)?  Merritt offers several items to consider.  The first warms my heart, because I am by training a historian, and that it is impossible to ignore history.  Whatever its nature, the church has a history and that history can’t be ignored, because we can’t understand the context without understanding where the church has come from.  Second, as we consider our histories, we must acknowledge the dark sides of our past.  Third, we must seek to understand why mistrust exists in our congregations.  Fourth, if we don’t understand the past, we can’t understand the present.  She writes: “we can begin to imagine vital church ministry in a new generation only by remembering that we have emerged from somewhere specific” (p. 6).   Finally, it is important to recognize the strengths of our traditions.  God maybe doing something new, but God hasn’t thrown out everything old (despite what we preachers quoting Paul might suggest). 

    By engaging in the act of reframing our world and its history we have a better opportunity to discern the meaning of the present, and Merritt notes that due to the date of her birth she has never lived in a church-centered world.  She doesn’t remember when Mainline Protestantism dominated the national conversation, and change has always been part of her vocabulary, but at a time when the religious institutions continue to lose market share, an opportunity is presenting itself where hope can once again be rekindled and a new vitality can emerge within the church.  This is occurring in a context where young adults are returning to the city, demonstrating concern fro social-justice issues, and looking for more meaningful and participatory forms of worship, where lay people are empowered to engage in leadership and ministry.  That is, people are looking for things that may lie buried in our denominational churches. 

    In the course of seven chapters Merritt explores such concepts as the redistribution of authority, the re-formation of community, the reexamination of our mediums of communication (read internet, blogs, social networking sites), the retelling of  the message (a new day for evangelism), the reinvention of activism (more than simply marches), engaging in the renewal of creation (a commitment to environmentalism), and a retraditioning of spirituality (rediscovering old practices and resources from the history of the church).  There is a strong sense of reengaging tradition, but there is also in this discussion a strong reminder that the church today and tomorrow will be linked closely to the web, especially social networking sites, which are evolving quickly.  This offers new opportunities for collaboration and accessing resources for knowledge.  At the same time, there is a caution, for the virtual world is not a replacement for the flesh and blood engagement. 

    One of the words that sticks out in this reframing of hope for the church is that of centralization.  Because of the technology that is present, we’re not nearly as dependent on centralized institutions.  Indeed, many have become skeptical and distrustful of these institutions, seeing them as moribund.  While there is a resistance to centralization, there remains a powerful movement toward consolidation.  Thus, it seems as if there are two competing visions – one that suggests bigger is better and the other that small is good.  But, while the bigger is better continues to have its say, the alternative is gaining ground.  Ultimately, we must recognize that in the church vitality is not defined by brand but by what’s happening in the local community of faith.

    We’ve heard it before.  You need to revision for tomorrow.  And that is true, but simply changing the words and the nomenclature won’t move us forward.  Times have changed and a new way living together as people of faith is required.  Our context is no longer culturally or ethnically homogeneous.  Younger people don’t necessarily know the stories or the language of faith.  Merritt writes:
   

    Today, our neighborhoods are filled with people from a wide array of religious backgrounds and expressions. We struggle to communicate our faith in the midst of such pluralism and, in our worst expressions, we avoid or discriminate against those who are not Christians (p. 131).

She goes on to note that in our old frameworks we could depend on social conditioning and denominational loyalty to “drive people to church.”  That’s no longer true.  We have to be intentional, and our reach must be compassionate.  The way we communicate must adapt as well. Consider Merritt reminds us that even as the younger members of our communities are fluent in social media, many of our churches struggle to put together a basic website.  There is hope, nonetheless, for the Mainline church, even as it struggles to stay afloat amidst this sea of change, to be a transformative presence.  If we’re to respond to the context, we need to understand that even in the midst of rampant individualism there is a crying need for community.  There is a desire among the younger members of our society to communicate prayerfully, and there is a desire for social justice.   Social justice has been at the core of Mainline Protestant life, and there is in this a point of connection. 

    Writers such as Diana Butler Bass, the author of the foreword to this book, and Eric Elnes (a UCC pastor in Arizona), have been reminding us that there is life in the Mainline churches.  Carol Howard Merritt adds her voice to this series of testimonials, offering to us a word of hope from the younger side of our community of faith, a reminder that God is still present and at work in our midst.  For this reason alone, this book is a worthy read.  It is, also well written and insightful, making this another must read for the year 2010 and beyond.

America’s Decline in Church Attendance -- Sightings

Perhaps it's fitting that the Monday after I returned from a brief but immensely helpful Pastor's Conference, where Diana Butler Bass helped us wrestle with the complexities of life in America and the implications of that complexity for the churches, that Martin Marty would proffer a column on the decline of church attendance.  Things aren't as bad in the US as in Europe, but there are plenty of red flags on the field, warning us that things aren't getting better.  My congregation is making some strides, but not quickly.  So, what are the implications?  I think one of the important points made here is that congregations and denominations have an important role in carrying into the future the beliefs, the  practices, the values, the ethics of faith -- and that being "spiritual" can't do that job.  There is a value in institutions, for they alone have the strength to continue bearing the load.  I invite you to read Marty's Sightings column and offer your thoughts. 

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Sightings 9/26/2010

America’s Decline in Church Attendance

-- Martin E. Marty

Pope Benedict XVI has expressed grave concern over the decline of church participation in Western Europe. His trip to the UK last week provided opportunities for him to address it. Most commentators in religious and secular communications found almost nothing that he said or did which might help reverse the downward trends. The fact that large crowds appeared at several of his appearances did not impress them; throngs line up for popes as celebrities. I’ve asked after each of Pope John Paul’s travels, which often drew masses of young people: did his Pope-mobiled words and gestures, eloquent though they be, lead any young man to enter the seminary ranks with intention to become ordained? Did mass attendance swell a month or a year later? Maybe the answer is yes, but it’s hard to find evidence.

Observation of the North American scene and data gathered by many polling agencies provide a cause for separating this continent’s milder declines from the plot which defines Europe today. So sudden have been the marked trends showing disaffection that leaders have not internalized the evidence. Exceptions? Yes, for now, Latino/a Roman Catholics sign up enough to keep the Catholic rolls deceptively high, if only relatively. For now, some astute, market-oriented mega-churches keep prospering, though even among them opinion-pollers and people-counters see signs which prompt concern.

Those who do care and who set out to address the issue of decline begin in a state of alarm. I was recently on a panel with an official who knew all about weapons of mass destruction, from nukes to germ-warfare capsules. Someone asked, “Knowing all that, how do you sleep?” He answered, “I sleep like a baby—for fifteen minutes, and then I wake up crying.” But sleeping or crying does not help and will not help people who seek to address the issues signified in the trends.

Some graphs and paragraphs in Lovett H. Weems, Jr.’s Christian Century show that from 1994 to 2000, two of four studied mainline Protestant church bodies showed modest gains and two others saw only modest losses. But from 2001 to 2008 the “growing” United Methodist Church saw the greatest plunge (-17.86%), and its losses were almost matched in the other three. Disconcerting to church-growth experts was Weems’s note that in the earlier decade, greatest growth was among the largest local churches—but that in the more recent decade, the largest among them suffered most decline.

Some readers may wonder why in columns like this, which are to be about “public religion,” we talk about church and synagogue (etc.) attendance and participation--aren’t their institutions part of “private religion?” Emphatically no. They are the bearers of traditions, the living expositors of sacred texts, the tellers of stories, the troop-suppliers for voluntary activities, the shapers of values fought over in the political realms.

Why are they declining? Certainly not because a few atheists write best-sellers. I always look for the simplest causes, such as rejection of drab and conflicted congregations and denominations. Or changes in habits. I watch the ten thousands running past in Sunday marathons or heading to the kids’ soccer games and recall that their grandparents and parents kept the key weekend times and places open for sacred encounters. Oh, and “being spiritual” is not going to help keep the stories, the language of ethics, and the pool of volunteers thriving. Their disappearance has consequences.

References

Lovett H. Weems, Jr. “No Shows: The Decline in Worship Attendance.” The Christian Century, September 22, 2010.

Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, publications, and contact information can be found at http://www.illuminos.com/.

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Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.



Reporting on the God Gap -- Sightings

Whatever you may think of the relationship between religion and politics, there has always been a conversation between the two sectors of society.  Politicians and people concerned about public policy are always looking for allies in the religious community, and religious folk have often sought to influence public policy.   Martin Marty, who has devoted a lifetime to exploring this relationship, comments on a new study of this relationship, one that focuses on Catholic and Protestant faith traditions, a study that notes the complexity of these two faith traditions.  I think you'll find this interesting, as the public square isn't nearly as naked as some would think, and the Christian vote isn't as monolithic as some would want us to think!  

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Sightings 7/12/10

Reporting on the God Gap

-- Martin E. Marty

“A New Roadmap for Reaching Religious Americans on Public Policy Issues” is the subtitle for Beyond the God Gap, a 49-page report and chart for those who are trying to find their way among religious groups as they show up in politics and culture. The co-agents are think tank Third Way and the Public Religion Research Institute, whose regular issuances are useful for those who would “reach” and also those who “observe” religious Americans. The authors of Beyond the God Gap do know that there are non-religious folk and forces out there, but in their minds they cannot be “reached” efficiently on public issues. Forget the “new atheists” then, for a moment, as the authors of this report do.

What is more, while both of the sponsors of this project have interests in all religions, Beyond the God Gap deals only with Christians. The surveyors know that the varieties of Jews and Muslims are also reaching and being reached on public policy issues, but the topic for the Third Way and PRRI is “Catholics” and “Protestants.” What is clear from this and countless other opinion surveys is that the old standard typified by Will Herberg’s 1955 classic, Protestant, Catholic, and Jew, would be almost useless in changed America. What Herberg called “Protestant” stood for “White Mainline Protestants” (WMPs). He hardly noticed what today are termed “White Evangelical Protestants” (WEPs) or “African American Protestants” (AAPs). These are the two groups where the “reaching from and to” is most strenuous, effective, and controversial today.

Quick, now: Think of the few times when cable news dealt with “White Mainline Protestants” on public issues. We can foresee one, as the Presbyterian General Assembly soon will debate topics relating to Palestinians and Israelis. Another has to do with conflict over gay marriage and ordaining homosexuals. For the rest, dealings with WMPs are mainly diversions as politicians and public figures court or avoid WEPs and AAPs, who encamp in sufficiently definable identity sectors to warrant attention. Even here, Beyond the God Gap has to parse things somewhat more finely – for example, where they find substantial differences between young versus middle-aged WEPs on homosexuality and other such fronts of controversy. It is also clear that there is no simple “Roman Catholics” group, since left and right factions there differ so much from each other that politicians using this road map might well drive into the ditch, and certainly will hit potholes. AAPs are somewhat more predictable when it comes to addressing public issues, or being reached. Most still vote Democratic and get cast as “liberal,” but their part of the map is also increasingly diverse.

The authors of this report say they set out to shatter stereotypes simply by interviewing citizens and finding where their loyalties and goals may be. Add up these diverse groups, and it is easy to see why three-fourths of the road-mapped groups resent it when some WEPs claim that theirs is “The Christian vote,” and when mass communicators sleepily suggest that when polled majorities among white evangelicals are interviewed as they exit voting booths, they should have a monopoly on the term “Christian,” as in “the Christian vote.” They are claiming too much, and the members of the media who grant them a monopoly do the surveys, the faiths, and social scientists a disservice. Beyond the God Gap will help with more accurate reporting, and give the public a better picture of how the religious groups line up at the polling places. The old model won’t work. A significant power shift has already occurred.

Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, publications, and contact information can be found at http://www.illuminos.com/.

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In this month's Religion and Culture Web Forum ("The Primacy of Rhetoric"), Marty Center Senior Fellow (2009-10) W. David Hall addresses the centrality of rhetoric in the Western humanist tradition by engaging the work of Ernesto Grassi, whose commentary on the Renaissance, especially, diverged from standard Platonic models of interpretation to include arts such as rhetoric, literature, and poetry. Of especial interest for Hall is Grassi's "retrieval of the humanist tradition" during this era and the possibilities that thorough understanding of such a retrieval opens more broadly in the fields of philosophy and religious studies. With invited responses from Andrew Hass (University of Stirling), Jeff Jay (University of Chicago), Santiago Pinon (University of Chicago), Donald Phillip Verene (Emory University), and Glenn Whitehouse (Florida Gulf Coast University).

 http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/webforum/index.shtml

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Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.