This is an article that I wrote about the congregation that I serve as pastor of and their story and courage of faith; it was in the Spring '05 Church of the Brethren Young Adult Newsletter "Bridge".
“You’re wasting your time and your breath!” was one response. “There is no way we can afford to do something like this,” replied another. There are a great number of items, ideas and agendas that could surely provoke such responses in our churches today. It isn’t too far fetched to think that most individuals, congregations, districts and the denomination haven’t done something in the past five years that has led people to think they’re crazy, depending on which side of the aisle you’re on.
At the South/Central Indiana District Conference last fall, the West Manchester Church of the Brethren and its average 35 weekly worshipers made a challenge to individuals, congregations, the district and the denomination that to date has not been matched by any other congregation. What did they propose? At the church’s fall council meeting, one brave soul dared to challenge the congregation’s members in such a time of financial woes to double their annual giving to the Church of the Brethren General Board… double! Crazy? Maybe. Waste of resources? Possibly. Act of faith? Certainly (see Hebrews 11).
At a time when the denomination has experienced a downward trend in budget, cutbacks to staff, not to mention a gradual decline in membership, such a decision to do something about it seems… well... crazy. This church chose to lift up and place their faith in the denomination in their struggle to bring forth the Kingdom of God on earth. It seemed that the response of “Are they crazy?” was one that the congregation didn’t seek but can rightly reply “No, not
crazy… just faithful.”
It seems that we can no longer take the unpaved road unless we choose to miss life’s central and transformative pattern. It would have been all too easy to do nothing about this “crisis,” to put it simply. Our denomination at best can level off right now with little hope of real growth (I am speaking of a numbers game here not necessarily spiritual growth, though it is not limited what growth can be). West Manchester is awaiting a response from another congregation to their challenge so that they may partner together for the benefit of the denomination and the glory of God. The congregation acted on the statement that was made by one Annual Conference Steering Committee member that said, “We do not have a money problem we have a tithing problem.” This comment motivated the church to do something about it as best as they could. Most every individual or congregation has a story of how “in faith” they set out to do something and then acted on it, and God responded to their faith with faithfulness. What’s your story? “This is hopefully the start of many good things to come,” said one member after the decision was made to double their giving. It is not a boastful statement that was made, rather a faithful one; it’s the ability to trust in something or some One greater than yourself. That is precisely what the call to faith is.
If conventional Twelve-Step wisdom has taught us anything, we have to be sick and tired of being sick and tired before recovery can begin. Simply put, the Church of the Brethren is sick and tired. And the question remains, like a mirror on our wall that won’t let go of our “image,” what are we going to do about it? Only when this question is asked will recovery, or maybe better said, transformation (which is what the Gospel is all about) begin to take place in us, our congregations and our denomination.
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