Being Church

Amy Hanson, Denver, CO 2012

For my Holy Spirit, Church, and the Triune God class we read a book entitled, Liquid Church by Pete Ward.  This text affirmed some of my convictions about my sense of call, but more than any other text for the class so far, made me vehemently angry.  The idea of "liquid church"comes from the idea that the church needs to respond to the demands of post-modernity in a way that differs from its previously "solid" state.  The solid church operates out of the convictions that church is a destination (a building) and success is measured by budget and congregation size, and faithfulness is equated with attendance.  Ward argues that this "solid church" is no longer relevant and has mutated into new forms that are not helpful.  He states that the church must embrace consumer culture in order to attract people to it.  It is important to note that this text was published in 2001, at a time in which prosperity was relatively intact, the tech bubble existed and the war on terror had not yet started.  I would argue that in the twelve years since its publication, much has changed.  Below are some of my reflections on this text:

Where his argument breaks down for me is where he attempts to put all of his theoretical knowledge into a practical model for what it means to be church in the world.  Ward writes, “Liquid church involves a radical change in attitude for the church.  Church leaders will need a fundamental change of heart if they are to start to take consumer culture seriously.  Instead of opposing materialism and treating consumer culture as evil, we need to embrace the sensibilities of consumption” (Ward 72).  Ward seems to take for granted that consumer culture is something that should be embraced by the church without critically examining these base assumptions.  He plays right into the mindset of so many Americans, that church exists to meet their very specific needs.  It is from this paradigm that we get such ideas as “church shopping,” “seeker-sensitive churches,” and an epidemic of blasé emergent congregations with pseudo-hipster pastors wearing flannel shirts and scruffy facial hair, spouting bad theology, and waving a latte they bought from the coffee cart in the church narthex.  What if the church exists not to meet MY needs, but OUR needs?  What if the church exists as a way for us to be in communion with one another?  What would it mean for the church to be in the world, a part of the world, but also an alternative to the world?  

My own sense of call is deeply rooted in the theology of the cross. I believe that there is a deep and painful yearning “to call a thing what it is” and a deep need among all people to be in real community with one another, to be broken, but also to be swallowed up by grace and to be born again and again each day.   The church is a broken institution composed of broken people and I think my issues with Ward’s perspective are that this can somehow be overcome with enough awareness and enough planning.  It does not matter how aware you might be of post-modernity or social trends, when people get together in community, the best and worst of humanity will emerge.  

My convictions regarding what it means to be church are forever evolving.  I do not think that Ward is doing anything revolutionary, and in fact, I think that he is still operating out of the same assumptions that have shaped the church in modernity.  Along with my congregation here in MSP, I spoke to a group of Lutherans gathered at a St Paul area Synod conference back in February about what it means to do church differently.  The comment that I made was, "Having a coffee bar in your church is not going to bring people to you, but actually going out into a coffee shop just might."  And I stand by that conviction.  People do not need church to be the same as everywhere else in the world, they need it to be a place that is real.  

Good Friday

Credit Amy Clifford 

Good Friday is one of the most devastating liturgies of the liturgical year. We do not have communion because it is the liturgy in which Christ is not present.  Christ was crucified and descended to the dead.  We sang Psalm 22.  The Passion according to John (John 18:1-19:42) was chanted.  The Bidding Prayers (seven petitions) we said.  There was a procession and adoration of the cross in which we laid purple tulips upon the corpus.  The solemn reproaches were sung and the assembly professed through the stations of the cross which were created by members of the congregation.  We departed in silence.

At the end of the liturgy we drove together to a site where there had been a shooting (this year it was where a mother had killed herself and two of her children) and laid the tulips and said a prayer.  The picture below is me laying my tulip.

Credi Amy Clifford

Changing Ecologies in communities of faith

A few years ago a church was expected to have a website in order to be seen as credible.  It could be relatively simple, just a place to post service times, a mission statement, contact information for the staff, etc.  I still believe that a website is absolutely necessary, but I would also boldly suggest that a social media presence is fast becoming a necessity, if it is not already.  The entire world of communication has shifted from a one-sided broadcast model (such as a church sending out a newsletter to the congregation) to a transactional model (congregation members can interact online to share prayer concerns, dialogue about a sermon, etc).  Many congregations are not here yet, but the rest of the world is in this place.  This is just another way of illuminating that our model of church is no longer working.  The Social Media Revolution video dictates that it is no longer a matter of deciding whether or not you are going to participate in social media, but how you will participate.

And this is terrifying to people, primarily those who are not digital natives or naturalized citizens, which unfortunately, comprises a large number of pastors and church attendees.  There are certainly concerns about privacy, which should not be dismissed (well maybe those conspiracy theory-type fears should be thrown out), but most concerns center around the issues of Promise, Tools, and Bargain (what am I going to get out of this, how will it happen, and what is it going to cost me) as discussed by Clay Shirky in Here Comes Everybody.  Misunderstandings arise when expectations of use are not clear, and I think this is tremendously important for navigating the changing ecologies of faith communities.

The answer is not to completely prohibit social media usage, but rather to explore the reasons why you are using it and to be open to evolving needs, rules, etc.  The tide has changed, and here are some things that I have figured out about social media (some from my own mistakes, some from the mistakes of others!).

Amy's Suggestions for Social Media Use in Faith Communities:
1. If you wouldn't want your parishioner, pastor, candidacy committee, professor, congregation, etc to see it, don't post it.  It has been argued that there are specific privacy settings that allow you to post certain things for certain people.  Yes, that is true.  But it is also a ton of work and inevitably you are going to miss something.  It is easiest to control what you post before you post it.

2. Don't post pictures of other people or their children unless you have asked them first.  And even then, reconsider whether or not you should be posting it. This also applies to "checking in" functions on facebook and twitter and other social locating apps as well.  Never assume anything.

3. Make it clear that you speak only for yourself on your personal profiles.  If you also represent an organization on a social media platform, conduct yourself accordingly.

4. Social media allows life and ministry to happen in real time.  Which is great.  But it also has the potential to completely encroach on your non-virtual life.  Think about how you will respond to pastoral care crises that happen in this forum.  A long way of saying, think about your boundaries for self care and sabbath in advance of when an issue arises.

5. Have multiple layers of involvement in social media spaces.  Congregations should have a public page that provides information for visitors about service times, mission, etc, but also a backstage space to foster online community.  Think of it as a coffee hour that occurs 24 hours a day.

6. As Shirky notes, "everyone is a media outlet."  Our actions online as church leaders can have ripple effects that we are unaware of.  You never know who is reading, watching, listening, etc.   This post, by way of example, had a much greater impact than I was aware of until it blew up.  Someone who follows this blog on a RSS feed saw a new post.  This person told a person who attends this church.  Who told a few others.  Who told the pastor.  Who I was interviewing for a research project, and who called me in to her office, and very nearly refused to participate after reading this blog post.  Nothing was untruthful, but it has a different impact as a result of online permanence.  If it was mentioned in passing, it would have been quickly forgotten.  Instead, it was up on the interwebs for further review.

7. Be willing to reevaluate why and how you are doing something, and do not be afraid to change the "terms of use."

8. What happens on social media has a real world impact, particularly on interpersonal relationships.  This is a part of pastoral care and preaching.

9. Crowd-sourcing is both a blessing and a curse.  If you are posting something in social media, you are going to get people's opinions whether you want them or not.  And disabling comments is a cowardly way out.  If you don't want others to share their opinions with you, don't post it in the first place.

10.  Social media should never be a way of "getting in the young people," "growing membership," "reaching our target audience,"etc.  If you are thinking this way, you have missed the point already.  Never, EVER, use social media as a bait and switch for evangelism or a membership drive.  Social media is not a means to an end.  It is an end in and of itself.

11. Never make assumptions about a person based on their online presence.  Assume that each person has a much bigger story and then seek it out.

12. Know that the Holy Spirit works in social media too.  I have a TON of stories about this.  I think I will file that away as a future post.