Considering Online Giving?
Online giving is a small but growing portion of the overall plate offerings for the church. Many churches stress online giving during the summer when people tend to travel and be away from their faith community. After the jump, check out a link to the ELCA’s guide to online giving, and see a fun video one congregation used to inspire people to give while away. Read more 
Listening to The “Nones”
New England Synod Bishop Jim Hazelwood has spent time listening to the “spiritual but not religious” people who profess no religious affiliation. Otherwise known as the “nones,” these people are often outside the circles of many church leaders. So Hazelwood brought a panel of “nones” to the Synod Assembly this year. From his listening, Hazelwood says these (often) younger people are asking different questions than Lutheran theology usually tries to answer. He writes:
I’m hearing a desire for:
1) Safe, non-judgemental places for people to explore the deeper questions of life, faith, God.
2) The great suspicion of rules, yet the hunger for relationships raises the possibility that people are seeking an authentic community.
3) I also sense a desire for people to clarify their purpose in life. What gives life meaning? How is God connected to that question?
How does your church address these questions? What might you do to engage people of no religious affiliation more deeply?
Watch some of the bishop’s “interview” with the “nones.”
Image Matt Stiles/NPR. Source: Gallup
Being Church in Emerging Culture
The postmodern time is one in which people are skeptical of authority and see themselves as having a global identity, Pastor Jay Gamelin told the 2013 Synod Assembly. We now also live in ambiguous times where there is a tension between reason and mystery, he said.
“Some of the most faithful people I know are physicists, said Gamelin, “because they get what it means to live in theory rather than truth.”
He said what begins to show up and come together in postmodernism is the character of Christ. We don’t just talk about the words Jesus said, book look at how he lived his life. We are actually watching Jesus. Read more
“What Needs To Die In Your Church?”
In his second Assembly presentation, Jay Gamelin talked about his time in campus ministry at Ohio State University. When he arrived he could tell the Lutheran Campus Center had an identity crisis just by its many names on the sign. He decided to create a “gray space” in which he and the students could explore their struggles. The first year they studied the story of Jacob and for eight weeks put themselves into the story and wrestled with God. They explored what it would mean to not only wrestle with God, but leave limping like Jacob.
“The community eventually changed its name to Jacob’s Porch — because we wrestle with God and… because it’s a liminal space that faces outward,” said Gamelin. Read more
Blessed by lay preaching
Pastor Matt Staniz from St. Luke, Devon, shared an idea in the ELCA Clergy Facebook group: St. Luke’s features lay preachers at midweek worship during Lent and in the summer. Preachers are given a theme and select a text to preach on, and the pastors offer support and encouragement. “It’s been remarkable listening to people preach and witnessing how it equips them to proclaim, lead and discern how they are called to be the church,” he says.
Navigating cultural change
Feeling disoriented by changes in church and culture? You’re not alone, as Bishop Burkat told a recent gathering of congregation council leaders. A “Great Emergence” is both opening new opportunities for Christianity and challenging the institutions formed in the last 500 years, she said. It’s part of a pattern of moving from orientation through disorientation to reorientation that the church has experienced every half-millennium. The shifts are real, and present opportunities for congregations and not reason to panic, said Bob Fisher, assistant to the bishop. Read more
State of the Plate: Rise in e-Giving
A recent report by American Public Media’s “Marketplace Money” explored the growth of electronic giving options for churches as more and more people “go cashless” — especially younger adults. One expert who studies church giving trends reports that about 40% of congregations now use some kind of electronic giving. Has your church tried any kind of online or electronic giving? How’s it working? Please let us know your experience leaving a comment below or contacting us by email.
Youth passionate for justice
What is the “new thing” that you have perceived God doing?
My youth are ending hunger in our community. Period.
How are you cooperating with God in this activity? How can other Christians and congregations help?
They are leading us in learning and serving. Read more
Empowering laity
What is the “new thing” that you have perceived God doing?
Opening doors of opportunity to meet with Pastors to talk about how to empower laity to do God’s work by giving them the tools they need.
How are you cooperating with God in this activity? How can other Christians and congregations help?
By telling people that God will use them just as they are with the gifts He’s given each one – even the most unlikely
characters. Read more
Facilitating new vision of our congregation
What is the “new thing” that you have perceived God doing?
Moving a congregation through contrast, context, perception on its vision and expansive vision of what it means to be a member of the St. John’s congregation.
How are you cooperating with God in this activity? How can other Christians and congregations help?
Taking a facilitator and leadership role in the process; listening as much as talking; helping create a passion for the preferred/desired future; commit to become an integral part of the process/product Read more
Bible Study Explores God’s New Thing
Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? — Isaiah 43:18-19
Explore God’s promise of hope and renewal expressed by the Prophet Isaiah in a bible study based on Bishop Burkat’s presentation at last fall’s “God Is Doing Something New” conference events. This bible study, suitable for council retreats, small groups or ongoing bible study groups, will help you look at what central traditions need to be honored in your congregation as well as what “former things” might be clouding the view of what God is doing right now. Read more
Deconstructing Teams
What is the “new thing” that you have perceived God doing?
We are reorganizing our “teams” from formal groups, meeting at a set time. Now the work will be open to volunteers without the requirement to spend time at a meeting.
How are you cooperating with God in this activity? How can other Christians and congregations help?
People can step up and get involved in the work of the church on a more informal basis. Read more
Encouraging Education
What is the “new thing” that you have perceived God doing?
Going back to college and furthering my education.
How are you cooperating with God in this activity? How can other Christians and
congregations help?
My congregation supports me going back to college. Read more
Encouraging A Young Leader
What is the “new thing” that you have perceived God doing?
Raising up a 2011 high school graduate, who is going to a local college, to teach Senior
High Sunday School, take over as Youth Group Leader.
How are you cooperating with God in this activity? How can other Christians and
congregations help?
Praying for him and supporting this ministry with advice, guidance, connecting him with supportive
lay leaders. Read more
Sharing Ministry with Other Churches
What is the “new thing” that you have perceived God doing?
God has been spreading my ministry to more than our church.
How are you cooperating with God in this activity? How can other Christians and
congregations help?
As I work with other churches other than my own, other churches can pass it on and work with other churches as well. Read more