A HOME FOR THE HOMELESS

James P. Stobaugh

Fourth Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh began ministering to street people several years ago, and now the homeless make up 8 percent of its congregation. Pastor James Stobaugh describes the lives of these street people and how the congregation has reached out to them.

Between the blue, acrid haze of Pall Malls and the shiny, stainless-steel coffee pots sit the fallen angels of East Pittsburgh. Street people languish in the dawn of an inner-city diner, mercifully permitted by the management to stay.

A country breakfast or the deluxe waffle belongs to the clean-shaven postman, but not to the street person. He waits for his 10 A.M. mushroom soup at the soup kitchen. It is 5 A.M., so street people wait.

Waiting is a way of life for a street person. If he is fortunate enough to have an address, he waits for a welfare check. At busy emergency rooms he waits for medical care. He waits for the dawn.

At dawn it is time to leave, time to wander. The night is dangerous for a street person. Always weak, undernourished, and expendable, he fears shadows that maim and destroy. Daylight brings safe sleep. Messy things can happen to street people at night, but daytime people won’t allow messiness.

At dawn, all over Pittsburgh, street people begin to wander. By 9 A.M. they are asleep on a bench, under a bridge, or in front of the soup kitchen. Normal people rarely see them. Street people do not want to upset normal people; they are the providers, and street people need provision.

“Jesus loves his little Jessie,” a bag lady sings as she limps out of Eat N’ Park. “When she’s good, and when she’s bad, when she’s happy, and when she’s sad.” With this simple childhood affirmation of faith, Jessie greets each new day. She has leaned heavily on her God since her husband abandoned her fifteen years ago. Jessie unceremoniously places some essential clothing, a picture of her unfaithful husband, a jar of Oil of Olay, and sixty dollars into a J. C. Penney shopping bag reinforced by a Giant Eagle grocery bag. Then she disappears at Penn and Negley.

Street people are created slowly. A repossessed car. An unpaid mortgage. A lost job. Eventually the street person is born, and all that remains are wistful intrusions into the real world, long gazes at the televisions in Sears.

Jessie is dying, and she knows it. Two months ago her left foot was severely cut by a piece of a PepsiCola bottle thoughtlessly thrown against the library wall by youths. It still bothers Jessie that kids would waste a nickel. “Kids,” she growls. “Everything is given to them!”

St. Francis Hospital emergency-room physicians sutured her wound, but walking the root-cracked sidewalks, her oversized shoes, and too many days without a shower have doomed her. Her friend Sally had the same problem last year, and her foot was amputated. Jessie would rather die, and the awful smell coming from her foot reminds her that she soon will. “Jesus loves his little Jessie . . .” she continues to sing.

Dawn is past, noon is over, and the food closet just closed. Night is returning. Commuters rush by.

Street people are moving, too. Jessie is stepping onto a 71C bus. She will sleep in a downtown women’s shelter tonight. A child on the bus is screaming. Jessie gives her a chocolate-chip cookie carefully saved in a napkin.

Night is here. Tomorrow, if they’re alive, they will again stagger into downtown.

More than we bargained for

Our brownstone church is a dark, foreboding shadow in the early dawn, but each day our metal-reinforced doors gather almost thirty homeless persons into our radiator-hissing basement. Last year we joined with another group of churches and opened this drop-in center, a “rest station” for the homeless. From 10 A.M. to 9 P.M. the homeless of East Pittsburgh rest, receive a snack, get health care and a chance to talk.

Recently the homeless began to attend morning worship. We pride ourselves on being an open-minded congregation, but frankly, we never expected street people to attend our worship services. Our drop-in center, sure, our evening meeting, perhaps, but not morning worship! Morning worship was sacrosanct, clean, Presbyterian.

We secretly wondered if they were victims or just unproductive. Based on Matthew 25, we felt we had to feed and shelter them. But worship with them? That was another matter.

They originally came, I heard later, because we offered free doughnuts on the second and last Sundays of each month. Attendance is still higher on these Sundays, but now, some come all the time. Five are regular participants, and one is a Sunday school teacher!

In spite of our naivet and prejudice, we have been fairly successful in assimilating them. Most of us have never been unemployed, and we still think newspapers are for reading, but we know how to love. We carefully opened our homes and hearts to these new congregants. But we took no chances! We never allowed any homeless people to be unsupervised, especially men with children or ladies. If they were on medication, and many were, we made sure they took it daily.

Slowly, they became part of us. They were befriended by our children. They dressed more neatly, smiled more. Two obtained jobs. We are work-ethic Presbyterians, so we avoided handouts. But many of our new friends cleaned our church, mowed our lawn, and offered a security service (for a modest fee!). We require all participants in our fellowship luncheon to share something. One homeless person brought a pot of soup; another came with a loaf of bread; one offered to wash the dishes. They’re part of our family, so we treat them like everyone else.

Our beginnings are modest. But we’re growing more bold. We aren’t frightened by the homeless. We have learned that a church-no matter how small and unsophisticated-is an effective rehabilitation agent. Government agencies, church cooperatives, and local businesses can provide jobs for these people. But in our pews, in our Christian community, the homeless find something that cannot be duplicated: unconditional love. Receiving that is the first step to a productive life.

This unconditional love has cost us. Some families have stopped coming. “What if I catch AIDS?” one congregant complained. Homeless people smell bad; they’re “losers.” To some degree, every homeless person I know has suffered childhood trauma, neglect, severe rejection, chemical addiction, mental illness, lack of positive role models, or no support system.

Yet even if members leave our church, even if we fail, we cannot ignore Matthew 25. The fact is, though, we aren’t failing. No one is more surprised than I! Slowly, Robert, Jimmy, and others are finding their way again. It isn’t easy for any of us. But it is truly a witness to the Incarnation to see a stodgy, upper-middle-class Presbyterian hugging an unshaven street person.

-James P. Stobaugh

- More from James P. Stobaugh

Pastors

Growing a Rural Church

Stephen McMullin

Who says you can’t raise strong congregations in country fields?

If you’re a rural pastor, as I am, you have probably read books that claim to address the needs of the small, rural congregation, only to discover that to many authors, “small” means a church of less than two hundred and “rural” means a town of less than ten thousand. You’ve probably heard exciting news about churches adding thousands of members every year, too.

Where does this leave the pastor of a church of forty in a community of five hundred? What does church growth mean in such a congregation?

More than eight years ago, I was called to a two-church pastorate; the smaller church had a membership of twenty-one, the larger a membership of sixty. On my first Sunday in the smaller church, I preached to seventeen people: two men, twelve women, and three children. About sixty attended regularly in the larger church during my first year, but sixteen months after my arrival, more than twenty of them left after a lengthy dispute. A lot of people in both churches seemed discouraged.

I cannot tell you that in eight years the churches have been transformed into thousand-member congregations; we are still small, rural churches. The smaller church has twenty-four members now; the larger church has grown to ninety-nine members. But my experience has convinced me that there are principles that will help the small, rural church grow and have a vital ministry.

Understanding Hindrances to Growth

I’ve learned the hard way that I have to understand what’s important to the rural congregation, because it’s not uncommon to leave such churches with the bitter taste of frustration and seeming fruitlessness. I would have felt that way had I left this pastorate after two or three years of ministry.

I’m thankful I stayed here considerably longer, because only in the past few years have I begun to understand some of the dynamics of the rural church, and I’ve made some positive discoveries in the process. Let’s consider some of the things most important in these churches.

Traditions. Some traditions are beneficial, and others severely hinder the church’s ministry, but in a rural church almost all are considered sacred.

A pastor recently told me that in his first church only the women and girls entered the sanctuary before the service. The men and boys talked outside until the organist began playing “Holy, Holy, Holy,” their signal to be seated. Traditions in a rural church will dictate everything from where a family sits to who rings the church bell to where people park their cars.

I’ve come to realize these traditions aren’t frivolous; they’re important to the church. I may have the difficult task of helping end some traditions, but it’s good to understand that for some in the congregation it will be like burying a close relative. Wise pastors care for such members with the sensitivity typical of comforting a bereaved family.

History. Many of these rural churches are afraid to look to the future, but they recall a glorious past. “My great-grandfather made the pulpit” or “Our family members have been deacons here for four generations” are comments that tell us the past is important to the church.

Many of these churches really do have quite a history. In my smaller church, a meeting was held in 1832 that resulted in a decision for a group of churches to band together into what later became our present denomination. In the nineteenth century, the church had more than a hundred members, and denominational meetings and Sunday school conventions regularly were held in the church.

The history of your church is no less important to your people. I’ve found it wise to take time to find out about my churches’ past in order to better understand how they became what they are today.

Church officers. Holding an office in many rural churches has little to do with function. Often there is no nominating committee; many officers simply serve perpetual terms.

As a student, I assisted a rural church pastor who was frustrated with the volunteer organist. After he talked with her about how the church music might be improved, she responded by resigning publicly the following Sunday because her position as organist had been “called into question.” She had been church organist for sixty-two years, having begun at age 14.

Some pastors have talked to me about their frustration with life-long officers in rural churches who no longer carry out the duties of their office. In most cases, other faithful people, with or without official positions, see that the work is done. But that’s not the way I understand things are supposed to operate, so it tends to make me uncomfortable.

The Sunday school. The pastor accustomed to Christian education activities during the Sunday school hour will receive a rude awakening in many rural churches. In a very small church, the Sunday school often boasts a larger attendance than the worship service. In fact, the Sunday school opening may well serve as a sort of pastorless worship service and can last as long as a half hour. Then the church business has to be dealt with. I had to get used to the fact that decisions already made by the trustees or deacons had to be discussed again in Sunday school for final approval.

Actually, this no longer happens in my churches. Perhaps such discussions are only a long-term reaction to strained communication, so the business gets discussed in Sunday school since the pastor is often absent. The importance of Sunday school for transacting church business diminishes when we conscientiously involve the congregation in decisions they fully understand.

Six Growth Principles

Answers to the needs of the small, struggling congregation are not simple. Not all churches share similar circumstances. Not all react the same way. But I’ve found the following principles effective in enabling my churches to grow and in offering hope for continuing growth.

Â Forget the short term. In a congregation of forty, four deaths in one year constitutes a 10 percent decline. Such statistics can be discouraging. I recommend keeping such statistics but comparing them after five years, not after five months. Only after being in my churches six years could I see actual numerical growth in both of them.

Â Set reasonable goals. It’s easy to arrive at a church of thirty members and say, “I want the church to double in size in five years.” We think, That’s only six people a year. Why, I can reach that many myself! The problem is it’s usually not the only problem.

It means changing some of the traditions of the church. We must initiate building improvements. We work at making the offices of the church more functional. And on and on. All this takes time, and meanwhile there are funerals and sermons.

The upshot: the evangelistic calling doesn’t get done. So we get discouraged after two years with no results and move on-just before ministry could have had a lasting impact. A better scenario is to set reasonable goals that take into account the unaccountable.

Â Target areas of outreach. Small churches don’t have the resources to cover all the bases for ministry, so I’ve learned to concentrate on the areas of greatest need. If men aren’t attending church, we can make them the subjects of outreach ministry. If young families aren’t being reached, we can lean toward beginning ministries aimed at this group.

The alternative to focusing ministry is to spatter a little ministry everywhere. Then we reach no one and exhaust everyone in the process.

In my smaller church, we decided to try a men’s breakfast. Considering that only two men regularly attended the church, it was an uphill battle. But it was the area of greatest need, and it has been successful over the years in bringing men to the church for fellowship, a devotional time, and prayer-men who still feel uneasy about the Sunday services.

Â Help members think like visitors. This strategy is crucial to turning a dying church around. Walk into the church on Sunday morning and ask yourself, If I were attending for the first time, what would make me want to come back? Or not want to come back? What catches your eye? What attitudes do you notice? Is the church clean? Do people stare at you as you enter? Is the piano in tune? These and like questions helped me notice things hindering the effectiveness of my church.

During my first year, we did a survey in the smaller church. The members all said the church was well-kept; the nonmembers said the church was dirty. The nonmembers were right; the members had simply stopped noticing.

Our biggest problem was the church building itself, and I suspect that’s true in many other churches. Who wants to begin attending a church where the very physical condition of the building tells you the church members don’t expect the church to continue for long?

The community learns much about a church from its building. The members may say that ministry to children is important, but if there are poor nursery facilities and no rest rooms, the community knows that children aren’t really a priority. A building that’s attractive in appearance and that meets the needs of community and congregation will encourage visitors to come and remain.

Â Develop a positive ministry. I recently read the minutes of a business meeting in a small church. The pastor told the people that they were uncommitted, that he was the only one serving the Lord in the church, and that because of their lack of dedication, the church wasn’t growing.

My heart went out to the pastor and the congregation, because I know the frustration that can so easily engulf a rural pastor. This pastor was stymied by the church’s traditions, and the congregation was discouraged because they couldn’t meet the pastor’s expectations. Needless to say, there was little growth in that congregation.

I’ve learned there is nothing to gain by criticizing the status quo in the church. Instead, I try to get people to focus on how much better things will be once certain changes are made.

For instance, we have accomplished some expensive building improvements in both churches, yet I’ve been careful not to find fault with the building in its prerenovated condition. I can achieve a much more positive atmosphere by seeking to establish a vision for what we might do, not by criticizing what we haven’t yet done.

I won’t teach the church to be thankful for one another unless I am genuinely thankful for them. The problem is that sometimes I get frustrated, and I want to push people toward ministry and outreach. At those times, I try to remember that instead I need to lead people to ministry and outreach. And I’ve learned that I can’t lead anyone when I harbor a negative attitude toward the church. Once I’m excited about the challenges God has laid before the church, however, I can share that excitement with others.

Â Increase the church’s profile. A growing church has somehow announced to the community that the church is there and people are welcome. Rural churches, I have found, enjoy three areas of special opportunity to attract outsiders.

First, the rural church is potentially the focal point of a small community. The other rural institution-the one-room schoolhouse-is long gone. Today, students from my pastorate attend one of three regional high schools; the school districts were set up with little regard for the boundaries of rural communities.

My rural churches can capitalize on this factor by hosting special events that will attract the attention of the whole community. The community can be included in church anniversary services, building dedications, or Sunday school events. The facilities can be used for other community events such as picnics or musical programs. These events tell our community that we’re alive and active.

Second, special days can be used to great advantage. On the Saturday before Mother’s Day last year, our deacons went to every home in the communities served by our churches and presented the mothers with a rose and an invitation to the church services.

That’s impossible in a community of several thousand, but in a rural community it’s not only feasible, but it also fosters a warm attitude toward the church, which can directly increase church attendance.

Events such as graduation or Christmas offer excellent opportunities as well. Not many people are invited to graduation at the regional high schools, so we have a community graduates’ reception after an evening service in June. All the graduates in the area are honored, and the whole community is invited. It’s always one of the best-attended services of the year, and the occasion lends itself beautifully to a service that emphasizes the need to trust in God for the future.

Third, our newsletter works to make the community aware of the churches’ activities. We send a quarterly newsletter to homes in our communities, and it’s amazing to discover how many people who don’t attend our churches are quite knowledgeable about our churches’ activities because of the newsletter. I also consider the newsletter a great springboard for conversation during pastoral visitation in nonchurch homes.

One often-overlooked factor is the church sign-or the lack of one. Rural church members may think everyone knows about the church, but that’s an illusion. Since I can’t imagine going to a store that bears no indication of its nature, I’m constantly amazed at the number of churches that don’t have even a sign telling the name and denomination of the church, let alone the times of services or the pastor’s name. I doubt if newcomers attend a nameless church. A simple sign in front of the church can make people feel expected-and wanted and welcome.

It Works

I’ve dealt with my share of frustrations as a rural church pastor. When I first arrived, I wanted to see great things happen overnight. What I saw instead was a decline in the smaller church due to the failing health of the elderly members, and a decline in the other church because a key family left after a simmering dispute boiled over. People in the smaller church were talking about closing the doors in five years; in the larger church, people were emotionally drained by the exodus. So was I.

I’m glad I didn’t resign at that point. Both churches have survived. The smaller church has not only maintained its membership and improved its ministries, but it also has begun to reach younger families and new people in the community. And the larger church has grown remarkably, especially in the last three years.

Perhaps in a growing urban setting a net increase of three members in one church and thirty-seven in the other doesn’t seem like much, but when I see the people in these communities who have come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, I realize the frustrations and effort are all worth it. New life in any amount beats decline and death hands down.

- More from Stephen McMullin

Pastors

THE NEVER-FINISHED NATURE OF MINISTRY

Kevin A. Miller

The nature of ministry itself can be a frustration: Even if there were no interruptions, you would never be done at the end of a day. When you work with people, when can you say, “Well, that person’s mature in Christ, so now I can move on to something else”?

As Presbyterian pastor Ben Haden has said, “If you’re conscientious in ministry, you never get a day’s work done. You always see more needs at the end of a day than you recognized at the beginning.”

Knowing this, many pastors have learned to compensate with the completable. Rick McKinniss, pastor of Kensington (Connecticut) Baptist Church, for instance, says, “I get great satisfaction out of mowing the lawn now. And I’m a lot more interested in gardening than I ever thought I would be. I love doing these things because I can see something finished, finally accomplished-done!-and I can go on to something else.

“At my previous church, we converted a storage room into a Sunday school classroom. I’d go three times a week just to watch it going up. Sure, it was important for me as pastor to check it once in a while. But I liked seeing something definitely happening, walls going up that were going to stay up, a project moving steadily toward completion.”

Says another pastor: “I’ve learned that if, in a given day, I can accomplish one or two things-they don’t even need to be big-I go home feeling a lot better.”

Still, even completing a few things each day, you ultimately have to accept God’s grace for the ever-incomplete. Says Phil Sackett, pastor of Excelsior (Minnesota) Bible Church, “The pastor has got to know how to go to bed at the end of the day with a clear conscience. If he had a thousand things to do in the morning and he’s done five, there are still 995 left. He’s got to be able to fall asleep peacefully, rebuking the Devil and refusing to accept false guilt over the 995 things that didn’t get done. I have to understand that all God really wants of me in a given day is my best effort. I’ll tackle the rest tomorrow.”

The never-done dimension of ministry holds the potential for discouragement, but seen another way it provides a rewarding challenge. Writes Deane Kemper, “The most satisfying activities in life are those we can never completely master.” The fact ministry is never completed says something about its greatness.

-Kevin A. Miller

- More from Kevin A. Miller

Pastors

Where to Find Tools for Evaluation

Larry W. Osborne

Here is a brief list of places where I have found evaluation tools. Many tools I've used, however, were developed from seed thoughts from seminars, class notes, books (such as Gene Getz's The Measure of a Man), or professional magazines. Still others have come via fellow pastors. One interesting source is the "Tests and Measurements" section of a local library, a gold mine of testing instruments that have been designed and used in psychological and management research.

Journals

Church Administration (a Southern Baptist publication; 615/251-2228) and LEADERSHIP (particularly spring 1983, summer 1983, and summer 1985).

Specific Instruments, Communicating Styles Inventory, Training Associates Press, 1177 Rockingham, Richardson, TX 75080, 214/437-3535. $3.50 per test

Your Style of Influence, Center for Church Renewal, P. O. Box 863173, Plano, TX 75086, 214/423-4262. $7.95 per test

Books

The Experience of Work: A Compendium and Review of 249 Measures and Their Use. John D. Cook, ed. Academic Press, 1981.

Handbook of Research Design and Social Measurement. Delbert C. Miller. David McKay, 1970.

Scales for the Measurement of Attitudes. Marvin E. Shaw and Jack M. Wright. McGraw-Hill, 1967.

-Larry W. Osborne

Leadership Summer 1988 p. 65

- More from Larry W. Osborne

Pastors

WHEN YOU CAN’T SEE ANY PROGRESS

Kevin A. Miller

Three obstacles to a ministry’s ascent–and how to scale them.

A pastor wrote recently, “How do you deal with yourself when you suddenly say within, I quit, and yet must keep going as a public leader? The inner resources of enthusiasm, interest, and caring are just not there sometimes.”

Every minister faces moments when the pressures of the pastorate seem overwhelming. Discouragement sets in. Is it time to leave this church? Or ministry altogether? How do I keep going? Can a vigorous ministry be restored?

LEADERSHIP set out to discover what things most discourage ministers, and how those can be overcome. The resulting book by Kevin Miller-Secrets of Staying Power (LEADERSHIP/Word, 1988)-combines the hard-won insights of pastors who have been through the “slough of despond” and found productive ministry on the other side. The following excerpt focuses on how to weather one of the five leading pastoral discouragers: no visible progress.

Imagine the elation of architect Robert Mills. On that day in 1836, the fledgling Washington National Monument Society announced they had chosen his plans for the soon-to-be-constructed monument for the nation’s first president. Mills had slaved for months over the elaborate drawings, and he had dared to dream big-a marble obelisk soaring over 555 feet high. It would be no less than the tallest structure in the world. Mills had designed many other buildings in his career, but this monument was different. And now his dreams were becoming reality.

But the funds didn’t come in as fast as the society had hoped. Construction wasn’t able to begin for five years, ten years-a full twelve years later. Then the engineers discovered the ground at the site was too soft to support the weight of the huge monument, so they had to start over farther north.

Work proceeded fairly smoothly for six years, and major figures began donating marble to the project. But in 1854, when Pope Pius IX donated a marble block from the Temple of Concord, a group of saboteurs stole the block and destroyed it. The incident shocked the public, and donations nearly stopped. Then members of the Know-Nothing political party broke into the society’s offices and actually seized possession of the monument. Vandals continued to deface the monument, and construction finally stopped dead in 1855.

What remained of Mills’s soaring dream was a squat, ugly 150-foot stump. When Robert Mills died that year, he must have died with a broken heart.

When I read about Mills’s profound disappointment-the slow, fitful progress; the interruptions; the harassing circumstances; the glorious dream begging for fulfillment-I was struck by how similar his feelings were to those of some pastors.

One Presbyterian minister recalls his days in a congregation in New Jersey. “I loved that church, and I poured myself into it. The church really needed to turn around, and I began to see signs of that: In about five years, 40 percent of the church was new people.

“But trying to get anything done was next to impossible. Convincing the Session to try something new was hard enough, but then the trustees would have to allocate the funds for it. And the trustees and the Session could never seem to agree.

“I had a couple who were marvelous youth group leaders-young, great hearts, really doing something with the kids. But everything they tried to do was blocked. The church owned a house that the couple wanted to use for the kids. It would have been great, and I pushed for it, but the trustees kept dragging their feet. It finally came down to a fire extinguisher-the trustees wouldn’t finance one they needed to meet the code. The couple gave up and quit leading the youth group.

“After a few battles like that, I realized I wasn’t going to change things any time soon. It was going to take at least ten years, and by that time I would have died. So I left.”

No change. No growth. No progress. Nothing moving ahead that says, “You’re doing a good job.” Situations like this dog some pastors. They can’t shake the feeling that all their work and dreams will never move beyond the awkward, 150-foot stump of their present situation.

A recent LEADERSHIP survey revealed three major factors that lead pastors to cry, “I’m not getting anywhere!” They vary in intensity and difficulty, but each in its own way hinders the mission that ministers long to complete.

Progress Buster #1: Interruptions

Interruptions, ranked as a major source of frustration on the survey, arise because pastors are on emergency call twenty-four hours a day. Those calls, coming unexpectedly as they do, quickly add stress. Ministers who had hoped to limit their week to a manageable number of hours suddenly find themselves adding on the draining work of comforting a grieving widow or sitting with a family in a hospital waiting for test results. Meanwhile, essential work such as writing Sunday’s sermon must be dropped, perhaps not to be picked up again until late Saturday night.

The calls of urgent need, though, are readily accepted, even gloried in, by most pastors. Explains Ed Bratcher, minister of Manassas (Virginia) Baptist Church: “I have never felt comfortable with not being able to be reached. My secretaries do try to guard my study time, but to me there is something in the role that says the pastor should be available. When you think about it, the pastor is the one person in our society who is still readily available to people. If hurting people call up their counselor or psychiatrist, they get an appointment a week or three weeks later. If they call their physician, they may not be able to get in for several days. So when they need me as their pastor, I want to be there.”

When genuinely hurting people call, pastors know they were ordained “for such a time as this” and move with compassion.

“A man in our congregation, a sweet Southern-gentleman type about 70 years old, came down with a brain tumor about two weeks ago and died within a week,” says Steve Harris, pastor of Maple Lake (Minnesota) Baptist Church. “To be in that little room with his wife and their kids when they found out, and to have them later say ‘Thank you for being there’-that’s when I sense I’m doing what God put me here for.”

The more frustrating interruptions are of another class. The florist calls to find out how early the church will open Saturday so she can set up for the wedding. The volunteer in the food pantry wants to know what happened to the food request forms they’ve been using. And there’s a constant flow of people who stop by “just to talk.”

Interruptions like these led time-management expert Ed Dayton to conclude, “If you’re a pastor, never plan on doing an hour’s work in an hour.”

Interrupting the Interruptions

How have church leaders come to grips with the unexpected ring of the phone and the unplanned-for knock on the door? Here are the adjustments, both internal and external, ministers have made to stop-or at least interrupt-their interruptions.

Plan for emergencies. That sounds like double-talk, but it reflects an idea clergy have found helpful: accept that emergency situations are a part of pastoral life, and build flex time into the schedule accordingly. An East Coast pastor tries “to have some built-in time for emergencies. If I feel I need eight more hours of study in a particular week, I try to bracket ten to twelve hours for it. It helps me deal with the unexpected.”

Bunch related tasks. This doesn’t lower the number of interruptions, but it does make the uninterrupted hours far more productive. Don Gerig, a pastor for many years and now president of Fort Wayne (Indiana) Bible College, wrote: “A friend involved in research told me his day is a success if he can spend two or three hours of solid, concentrated time on research. He knew there would be plenty of odds and ends to fill up the rest of the day.

“At first I thought he sounded lazy. The more I thought about it, looking at my own schedule, the more I understood. I had to ask myself, How many times do I seriously devote even two uninterrupted hours a day to my important projects?”

The “bunching” varies by preference, but many pastors have found it effective. One pastor does nothing but return and take calls during several two-hour blocks during his week. Another even skips meals so he does nothing on Tuesday and Wednesday but study, and then he’s finished for the week. A third reserves all his mornings for prayer and study.

When interruptions do come, sort the major from the minor. At the instant of the call, though, when a person is distraught, that isn’t easy. A Midwest pastor remembers: “One lady came to the door and wanted to pray about this friend who was seriously ill. I invited her in, and she told me how the friend had been hit by a car or something and was in the hospital. So we bowed our heads, and I prayed for her friend. The lady left much relieved. I found out later she was talking about her pet rabbit.”

As his story reminds us, not every situation demands a five-alarm response. Many could wait until later in the day or later in the week. As one pastor says, “Anything that absolutely must be handled now-you’re not capable of handling anyway.” Adds a Maryland pastor who is now on the mission field, “I found that when I started asking people who ‘had to see me right now’ if they could wait a week, very often an interesting thing would happen. They would come into my office and say, ‘Pastor, you know when I couldn’t see you last week, I was really upset. But since I couldn’t, I just kept crying out to the Lord about my problem, and he has given me a new peace about it. In fact, I feel like I’ve been able to forgive this person about the thing.’ In many cases, because the people had to wait, they began to work out some of the problem themselves.”

Progress Buster #2: Lethargic Boards

The second factor that blocks pastors from seeing progress is more intense and more difficult to handle, as a Southern pastor we’ll call Keith found out.

“When I first came to the church,” Keith recalls, “it was in a state of gridlock. As close as I could determine, no decision had been made in the church for several years. I quickly found out why.

“The committee on committees appointed the nominating committee. But the nominating committee selected the committee on committees. Some five people rotated back and forth every year between the two and thus were able to control everything that happened in the church. Plus, they had set it up so their friends who were officers in the church, like the Sunday school superintendent, were full-fledged voting members of every single committee. So five or ten people were stopping three hundred from doing anything.

“For the first six months I was here, there were only three items on the agenda of a committee, no matter which committee it was: who was going to paint the church sign in front, how we were going to get rid of the pigeons on the front porch, and when we were going to start using purchase orders. But they didn’t want to decide anything about these issues; they just liked to get the discussion started and sit back and listen.”

Though this may be an extreme case, you don’t need to have a convoluted board structure to see progress blocked. It just depends on the people on the board. “The greatest time of discouragement in my ministry came at a finance committee meeting,” wrote one pastor on the LEADERSHIP survey. “The men there objected to our giving scholarships of $20 per child for church camp that summer. Their rationale was ‘No one ever gave us anything’ and ‘People don’t need the money but will take it if it’s given.’ In contrast, this group of men would have spared no expense on the maintenance of the building they had built. As a result of that decision, the CE director, who was the best we’d ever had, decided to resign. And we had no kids at camp that year.

“I am in the process of leaving,” he continued. “I have led them as far as I can.”

Quiet Consolation

You can expect pain-intense-in such a situation. Robert Boyd Munger, author of My Heart-Christ’s Home, knew the difficulty as a young Presbyterian pastor. “When you try to change people who have never really known wholehearted commitment to Christ, and the old leadership is threatened by the younger eager beavers, you have tensions. I didn’t know how to handle them then, and I was too proud to let anybody know what I was going through. I just redoubled my efforts to pray and work. But the pain was acute and it lasted a year and a half. There were times when I would have welcomed anything to get me out of that situation-even death. It was intolerable. How can you stand, still believing the gospel, still convinced that Christ is Lord, when you do not experience the reality of his warm, living presence? When there’s nothing around that gives evidence of new life, when you see things falling apart-trouble with the choir, trouble with the youth?”

I asked Munger’s questions of pastors. They offered no quick technique but the quiet consolation that comes from being there. Here are some of their reflections.

Try to give things time was a lesson many had learned. One couple found this, on a smaller scale, after working with an unresponsive youth group. Almost nothing positive happened for two years. But then in a few months they had more good conversations with kids than they’d had in the first twenty-two.

“When I’m tempted to get discouraged about progress with the board,” says one pastor, “I like to think about Jesus’ parable of the growing seed in Mark 4:26-29. First you have the seed, then it sprouts, then the stalk comes up, then the kernel sets on, and finally it becomes ripe. That has helped me realize that progress comes slowly, and even if all I’ve got right now is a little seed, it will keep growing.”

Keith, the pastor who encountered a board logjam, found help in trying to remove the key logs. He worked for more than a year to shift the board and committee structure to make it more difficult for people to hold voting positions indefinitely. That minimized the influence of the ruling few, and today, he says, things are going fairly well.

Talking to someone outside the situation to keep perspective also helped Keith. A sluggish group of people makes you feel like Butch Cassidy when he said to the Sundance Kid, “I have vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals.” Someone from outside can keep that vision clear. When you’re tempted to put on bifocals just to survive, when you begin to doubt your capability as a minister, it’s time to talk with a friend. “I have a rather large long-distance phone bill,” Keith admits.

Their final words of counsel can be summed up by the words of Corrie ten Boom: “No matter how deep our darkness, He is deeper still.”

Progress Buster #3: Slow Church Growth

I love the early chapters of Acts, partly because there’s so much going on. Evangelism, conversions, healing-it’s exciting to see the fledgling church growing. You can feel the strong pulse in verses like Acts 6:7: “So the Word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly.” Or Acts 9:31: “Then the church . . . enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.” Who wouldn’t want to experience that kind of energy and growth in a church?

Thankfully, many pastors do. Others, however, don’t. Nearly half of the pastors responding to the LEADERSHIP survey said “the rate of our church’s growth” discourages them.

Few visitors, no conversions, a trickle of new members if any-it doesn’t take much of that before you question what you’re doing. Confesses a Christian Church minister who has seen little growth in his congregation: “I’m discouraged. I ask myself, If we’re doing things right, why aren’t we growing?”

What makes the weekly attendance such a powerful influence on pastoral self-esteem? What gives the numbers their sting? For one thing, “As pastors, we count the sheep,” says a Lutheran minister. “That’s a good and natural tendency. I think Jesus did that, and if we are to be shepherds, we need to be aware of individuals as well.”

The second factor is that pastoral work is of a spiritual nature, so it’s not easy to measure progress. As a result, the few physical factors-what one pastor calls “bodies, bucks, and bricks”-receive extra, often undue, attention.

“Look at the speakers and leaders for any ministerial gathering or church conference,” says a pastor frustrated over his church’s lack of growth. “The speaker is always someone who is ‘minister of the 4,000-member First Church, which six months ago had twenty members.’ You begin to wonder what’s wrong with you, even if nothing is said outright.”

Too, there’s a self-defeating rule of thumb at work, a Methodist minister points out: Decline is more discouraging, proportionately, than growth is encouraging. “When there’s growth, I say, ‘The Lord added this.’ But when there’s decline, I say, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ I blame myself.” As a result, as one pastor said, “I don’t know about other people, but for me it’s always a struggle between a sense of failure and success.”

Neutralizing the Numbers

Most of the adjustments pastors have made to lessen the discouraging effect of sluggish attendance figures are internal. Truly changing our approach toward something so closely tied to self-esteem takes time.

“I’ve finally come to the place,” one pastor told me, “where I realize that if I am a faithful preacher of the gospel, that’s enough. Faithful is the only thing God ever asked us to be.”

“How long did it take you to get to that point?” I asked him.

“As long as I’ve been preaching-about forty years.”

There are, of course, external measures that can boost attendance, but increased size does not guarantee a freedom from the ongoing comparisons. One pastor I know leads a vital, multi-staff church of three hundred. He would be the envy of many smaller-church pastors, but he doesn’t feel that. Instead he looks at the churches of five hundred and one thousand that are nearby and questions what he’s doing wrong. Freedom comes not from size, which is a relative and shifting measure, but from an internal sense of worth based on entirely different criteria.

Here are some of the ways pastors have fine-tuned their thinking about growth over the years to lessen their discouragement.

The first several focus on the word acceptance. A Baptist pastor found freedom when he came to accept his church at the size it was. “I used to be bothered a lot when attendance was down. I remember one Sunday night coming into a sanctuary that holds two hundred and seeing three people. That’s a real downer, especially if you think the others are staving away from you.

“But one thing that helped me,” he continues, “was hearing Garrison Keillor on ‘Prairie Home Companion.’ He was talking about a small town, and he said its motto was ‘We are what we are.’ That phrase stuck with me as I came to this church. I decided I was going to love what we were. Not that we don’t want to grow, but on a Sunday morning when the people gather, we are what we are. And I can accept that.

“I’m not saying I’ve fully conquered my feelings about. But early in my ministry I’d look out and see the empty pews. Now I’m looking at the people who are there and trying to say something for them.”

Accepting your current situation, no matter how limiting, as a call from God, is another lift. But oh, how difficult that is! Martin Luther, that giant of the Reformation, once confessed, “Next to faith this is the highest art-to be content with the calling in which God has placed you. I have not learned it yet.” Maybe one reason it’s so hard is that we consider how much more useful we could be in a larger setting. But that line of reasoning leads to despair. Then it’s time to remember the stinging yet ultimately helpful words of Oswald Chambers: “Notice God’s unutterable waste of saints, according to the judgment of the world. God plants His saints in the most useless places. We say, ‘God intends me to be here because I am so useful.’ Jesus never estimated His life along the line of the greatest use. God puts His saints where they will glorify Him, and we are no judges at all of where that is.”

A realization that has strengthened Steve Harris is that the life issues people face in a small church are just as difficult and significant as the issues in a larger church. The importance of the struggles and need for pastoral ministry are no less great. “Some people in Maple Lake Baptist Church, just a teeny country church on the side of Highway 55, are struggling right now with their marriages,” he says. “One woman’s husband is dying of cancer. A young guy is struggling with whether to go to seminary. A girl who just graduated from high school has been wondering, What am I going to do with my life? Those are significant issues; they can’t get any bigger. And what God says through me to these people is a gift.”

In addition, some clergy have embraced the benefits of their smaller size. “I’m not sure I would be able to be a pastor of a ‘superchurch,’ ” one says. “I gain encouragement from dealing with people on a one-to-one basis, where you can really have a spiritual conversation and deal with people’s needs. And I probably wouldn’t be able to do as much of that.”

Others have tried to find different yardsticks for their ministry, ones that are more in keeping with the pastorate’s fundamental nature. Since a pastor is called to “equip the saints,” some look not to the number of saints but to the number equipped. “I was a fair-haired youth worker who had hundreds of kids coming to meetings,” remembers one pastor. “But looking back, if I had to gauge my success, it wouldn’t be by the number who came, but the number whom I nurtured to become Christian leaders. I can think of six people who are still ministering today, helping what’s now a third and fourth generation of kids. That’s what makes me feel good.”

Ultimately, though, pastors in smaller situations find encouragement because they see God at work, even in barely discernible ways. It’s that vision, the ability to see the Spirit of God brooding over a church, that brings staying power. Oswald Chambers knew that when he wrote: “The test of a man’s religious life and character is not what he does in the exceptional moments of life, but what he does in the ordinary times, when nothing tremendous or exciting is going on. … Don’t give in because the pain is bad just now; get on with it, and before long you will find you have a new vision and a new purpose.”

Visions may sound flimsy, but when they’re “engendered by the Scriptures and supported by the Spirit” as one pastor put it, they sustain, they push through obstacles, they overcome.

There’s a picture of that in the rest of the story of Robert Mills’s vision, the Washington Monument. From the year Mills died, no work was done on the Washington Monument for twenty-five years. But somehow the dream Mills had had almost fifty years earlier wouldn’t die. In 1880, with funds appropriated by Congress, work resumed, and four years later a cast-aluminum cap was placed over the marble tip. Today Mills’s monument stands as the tallest masonry structure in the world.

Last year, over a million people went to see the realization of his dream.

- More from Kevin A. Miller

Pastors

TIPTOEING INTO POLITICS: How one church tired to walk calmly into the treacherous world of political involvement.

Joel C. Hunter

How one church tried to walk calmly into the treacherous world of political involvement.

During my college days I went hiking in a wilderness area. I was the only rookie in this group of experienced hikers, but the adventure of following a primitive trail drew us together. Then we came to a bridge-a swinging bridge over a rushing river. The rest of the group laughed and swayed their way across. Was I the only one afraid of heights? I had a choice: I could swallow my fear and cross, or return to the car to wait.

As a pastor I face another rickety bridge-the one between church matters and outside political issues. There are plenty of reasons not to cross over-to stay inside the church. There are also good reasons to face the danger and go ahead. I’ve done some swaying and trembling in recent years in the ministry, and I’d like to pass on some of what I’ve learned about crossing into political territory.

The caution

When I entered the pastorate, a crusty veteran of the cloth gave me this unsolicited counsel: “Hunter, I’ll give you two pieces of advice that will keep you out of lots of trouble. First, don’t cross the women’s organization in the church. They are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves and you. Second, don’t let your church get into politics.” A slap on the back signaled that he had given me all I needed for success.

I have seldom questioned the first piece of advice, but I am wrestling with the second.

Not that I haven’t seen the dangers. One pastor I know was so intent on political victory on a certain issue that every Scripture was interpreted in light of “the issue.” He began to value his congregation as a bloc of voters. He castigated churches not active on the issue. He wanted to raise an army for God, but his church became a battleground, and both he and the gospel became casualties.

Given the advice and certain examples, it seemed safer to stay on this side of politics.

The call

Yet I kept hearing questions that suggested my lay friends had crossed the bridge and were wondering if the church would stay with them. These people would ask me, as pastor, about matters not on our church’s usual agenda:

“Joel, the schools are forming a committee for a new sex-education curriculum. Will we try to have any input about values?”

“Pastor, what does our church have to say about the abortion issue?”

“Joel, these are key elections coming up. Are we going to encourage people to see them as an extension of their Christian convictions? Or should we really care who wins?”

The people I pastored were definitely not sticking to usual church fare. They were wondering how far the gospel stretches. One person summarized the feelings, “Does it seem to you, as it does to me, that the world is having more of an impact on the church than the church is having on the world?”

I began to wonder how “safe” the position of safety really was.

My study in Scripture didn’t build a case for remaining uninvolved, either. While I found no single verse commanding or forbidding political action, I found example after example of people who got involved: Abraham, Joseph, Esther, David, John the Baptist, and others.

All of this made me decide to risk getting more involved.

The crossing, attempt #1

After teaching a Sunday evening series, “God and Government,” I asked for volunteers for a political-concerns caucus. Six people met with me the next week. I feared creating or empowering fanatics (“A fanatic,” Churchill said, “is someone who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”). As a result, I made several mistakes.

I purposely went slowly, and I focused on the people of the group instead of issues relevant to the faith. We talked about “Why I am interested in politics.” Of course, the people most interested in politics are usually those most interested in action. But they stuck with the group, though progress was minimal.

I asked the people to find Scriptures related to involvement in politics and to report the principles they found. Never mind that I had just taught a course for six weeks. They gained good insights, but no sense of progress.

Then I suggested each person read a book related to the “God and Government” theme and give a brief report so we could know what the experts say. That was every bit as fun and interesting as it was in fourth grade. Little progress.

Finally, since we eventually would be informing the congregation about the issues, I led a conversation on what typology our congregation fit. Using a book by Robert Webber (The Church in the World), I asked, “Are we a congregation that separates from the world and believes it could be stained by its ways? Or are we a congregation that can identify with the world, that is comfortable that our faith can be lived out in it? Or are we a congregation that wants to be in leadership in the world to transform its structures into instruments of God’s sovereignty?” The group answered yes. No progress.

By this time, the attendance pattern was curiously interrupted by “other commitments.” One man said, “I’m just not interested in that much research.” We had spent too much time studying the bridge we never crossed.

The crossing, attempt #2

Later I decided to get into the new territory. I issued a general invitation for others to join the group, and after the Spirit prompted some, we talked about political issues in earnest.

We listed political issues that held direct implications for Christians. We determined to publish a news bulletin each month describing current issues and the responsible agency or person that members could contact. The stated purpose of our Political Concerns Caucus was “to inform the congregation of political developments so that individuals will pray about them. After prayer, individuals are encouraged to respond to God’s leading in keeping with his character of love.”

Like most pastors, I wanted to be sure the church’s involvement in political questions would not polarize the congregation. So I proposed some principles to the church leaders, which they endorsed.

Emphasis on individual, not group, mobilization. We would not give in to the temptation to take “church stands” on issues to increase our political clout. Instead, we would nurture individual maturity.

Reliance on prayer, not human argument or proof texting, for guidance. The temptation to manipulate people into a decision is always present. One person on the committee said, “We need to provide the church with the right Scriptures and evidence on this issue. People will be looking to us for instruction.”

Another committee person aptly responded, “No, they’re looking to us for information. I hope they’re looking to God for instruction.”

Obedience, not political success, as the goal. In a world that counts success in votes mustered, we could easily switch values. “Why,” asked a wise Christian, “do I have confidence in God against the odds in every area of ministry-except politics? Then I think he has to have a majority to win!” No, the winning is in the witness.

Being a balm, not a bomb, in the political world. The church has been given a ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18), yet in college I had seen in myself the typical desire to trade that ministry for one of political victory (Matt. 26:51-53). I had wanted to use Scripture as ammunition. The result had been a “philia-buster.” We hope the world will see in us a difference from other political factions in the way we tolerate and love and learn from those who are not of our own persuasion.

The consequences

In short, we have chosen not the “army of God” approach but the “salt and light” one. As a result, the people interested in only one issue dropped out, as did those with a great fear about “where this country is going.” Our commitment to tolerate divergent opinions, and to avoid action along a single political ideology, proved too frustrating for them. One man of a particularly narrow political stance abandoned not only the group but our church. My role, I’ve learned, is to model openness and a willingness to learn. As I’ve done that, the group, though still populated with people of strong opinions, has begun to grow.

Admittedly, it’s difficult to measure how much this salt-and-light approach is impacting the community. Sometimes I wish we had startling testimonies about how our church single-handedly turned our community around, or closed a porno shop, or beat a piece of anti-Christian legislation.

But while the salt-and-light approach is less spectacular, it is still visible. Many of our members stop to look at a display board showing their precinct and listing the names and addresses of their local, state, and federal representatives. Several have indicated this is the first time they have had that information or encouragement to impact the government. Recently, in response to the Grove City bill, many in our congregation called to express their concerns. There was a feeling of participation and ministry, despite the outcome of the vote, that would not have arisen a year ago.

We have not sponsored a picketing event, but we are sponsoring a voter-registration drive. We seldom organize groups to go to political events, but we do see each other at important county commissioners’ meetings, school board meetings, and other public assemblies.

At church, conversations more often turn to political issues. As people read the newspapers now, they pray and get information for involvement rather than despair over events beyond their sphere of influence. Conversations also reveal a kinship being built with other area churches addressing civil issues. A sense is growing among many of our people that we are taking practical steps toward Christ-centered political competence.

Of course, church life would be much simpler if we ignored the complexities of politics. I could relax. But at that rickety bridge in my college days, and at the rickety bridge into political action, I finally decided the same thing: Adventure and companionship beat safety. I’m going across.

-Joel C. Hunter

Northland Community Church

Longwood, Florida

- More from Joel C. Hunter

The Problem of Pleasure

Why is sex fun? Some animals simply split in two when they want to reproduce, and even human beings use methods of artificial insemination that don’t involve pleasure. Why, then, is sex fun?

Why is eating fun? Plants and the lower animals manage to obtain their quota of nutrients without the luxury of taste buds. Why can’t we?

Why are there colors in the world? Some people get along fine without the ability to detect color. Why complicate vision for all the rest of us?

Another question: What hubris drove our Founding Fathers to include the pursuit of happiness in a list of three unalienable rights? “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” they said by way of explanation. Self-evident? Considering the evidence of history, how could anyone conceive of the pursuit of happiness as a self-evident, unalienable right? Death, maybe—no one can steal that from us—but the pursuit of happiness? On what basis do we take it for granted?

It struck me the other day, after I had read my umpteenth book on the problem of pain (the theological obsession of this century, it seems), that I have never even seen a book on “the problem of pleasure.” I have never met a philosopher who goes around shaking his head in perplexity over the basic question of why we experience pleasure.

Where did pleasure come from? The more I think about it, the more I see it as a huge problem: the philosophical equivalent, for atheists, to the problem of pain for Christians. On the issue of pleasure, Christians can breathe a little easier. A good and loving God would naturally want his creatures to experience delight, joy, and fulfillment. We Christians start from that given and then look for ways to explain the origin of suffering. But don’t atheists and secular humanists have an equal obligation to explain the origin of pleasure in a world of randomness and meaninglessness?

One person, at least, faced the issue squarely. In his indispensable book Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton traced his own Christian conversion to the problem of pleasure. He found materialism too thin to account for the sense of wonder and delight that sometimes marks the world. Here is how he tells it:

I felt in my bones, first that this world does not explain itself.… Second, I came to feel as if magic must have a meaning, and meaning must have some one to mean it. There was something personal in the world, as in a work of art.… Third, I thought this purpose beautiful in its old design, in spite of its defects, such as dragons. Fourth, that the proper form of thanks to it is some form of humility and restraint: we should thank God for beer and Burgundy by not drinking too much of them.… And last, and strangest, there had come into my mind a vague and vast impression that in some way all good was a remnant to be stored and held sacred out of some primordial ruin. Man had saved his good as [Robinson] Crusoe saved his goods: he had saved them from a wreck. All this I felt and the age gave me no encouragement to feel it. And all this time I had not even thought of Christian theology.

In a single sweep, Chesterton has clarified the problem of pleasure. For the unbeliever, the problem centers in the question of origin: Where did pleasure come from? Chesterton searched all alternatives, and settled on Christianity as the only reasonable explanation for the existence of pleasure in the world. Moments of pleasure are remnants, like goods washed ashore from a shipwreck, like bits of paradise extended through time. But once a person has accepted that, and accepted God as the source of all good gifts, new problems stir up.

Teetotalers may not appreciate Chesterton’s choice of beer and Burgundy as illustrations, but the notion of thanking God for his good gifts by using humility and restraint expresses well the Bible’s own approach to pleasure. Actually, it occurs to me that I have read a book on the problem of pleasure: the Book of Ecclesiastes. That story of decadence by the richest, wisest, and most talented person in the world serves as a perfect allegory for what can happen when we lose sight of the Giver who gave us good gifts to enjoy. The Bible presents pleasure as a good, certainly, but also as a grave danger. We may start chasing pleasure as an end in itself and, along the way, lose sight of who gave us the good gifts of sexual excitement, taste, and beauty. As Ecclesiastes poignantly records, such wholesale devotion to pleasure paradoxically leads to a state of utter despair.

In the same context, Chesterton said that sexual promiscuity was not so much an overvaluing of sex as a devaluing:

“To complain that I could only be married once was like complaining that I had only been born once. It was incommensurate with the terrible excitement of which one was talking. It showed, not an exaggerated sensibility to sex, but a curious insensibility to it.… Polygamy is a lack of the realization of sex; it is like a man plucking five pears in a mere absence of mind.”

All of which leads me to consider a whole new approach to our society’s decadence. Every Sunday I hear media preachers decry the drugs, sexual looseness, greed, and crime that are “running rampant” in the streets of America. But rather than merely wag our fingers at such obvious abuses of God’s good gifts, perhaps we would do better to work at demonstrating to the world where good gifts actually come from and why they are good. I think of the old adage “Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue”: drugs as homage to true beauty, promiscuity as homage to sexual fulfillment, greed as homage to stewardship, and crime a shortcut way to seize all the rest.

Try out this approach on a skeptic. Are Christians uptight bores who forfeit half the fun of life by limiting their sex to one marriage partner, and eating in moderation, and living lives of simplicity, not excess? If you find a skeptic who thinks so, try turning his or her attention to the inherent goodness of one ripe, juicy pear, a goodness that would be somehow devalued if a person ate five pears in a mere absence of mind. If you get a glazed, condescending, “Pity you poor ignoramuses” look in return, try out a few questions on that skeptic: Why is sex fun? Why is eating fun? Why are there colors? And if you hear a good explanation that does not include the word God, please let me know.

Karma for Cash: A “New Age” for Workers?

TRENDS

When Christian auto dealer Steve Hiatt selected a training course for employees at the firm where he worked, he did not realize he would be getting anti-Christian philosophies. Nor would he have predicted his later opposition to the training would get him fired from his job of nearly ten years.

It all began in late 1983 when Hiatt, a senior manager for Tacoma-based Walker Chevrolet, introduced the firm to training offered by Seattle’s Pacific Institute. Hiatt’s superiors bought the program, which its promoters said would help the dealership “capture $226,000 of additional profitability.”

In February 1984, Hiatt and his wife, Carol, attended a facilitators training workshop designed to help him guide the firm’s 60 workers through the program. All went well until the third evening of training when, as Hiatt says, the meetings took on a decidedly religious tone.

“The leader set a very spiritual mood and began talking about life after death and religion,” says Hiatt. “He urged us to question our concepts of truth, and to set spiritual goals using the program’s techniques and goals. He said the real reason for the training was to save the world.”

The Hiatts walked out. A day later, Hiatt sent the training materials back to the Pacific Institute, which led to his firing.

“I felt deceived and tricked,” says Hiatt. “And I definitely felt like a Lone Ranger.”

Not Alone

Hiatt took his problems to the Tacoma Human Rights Commission, which ruled he had no reasonable cause for a complaint against his former employer. Neither did the Seattle office of the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission offer any help. Finally, last February, Hiatt filed a civil suit against his former employer.

He is not angry—his suit seeks no damages beyond attorney’s fees and court costs. “I just want to set a legal precedent and help stop government funding of these programs.”

And he is not alone. Other Christians are taking a stand against career training built around New Age concepts.

• William Gleaton of Albany, Georgia, was discharged as manager of human resources at a Firestone Tire and Rubber Company plant after objecting to a Pacific Institute training program. Firestone reached an out-of-court settlement with Gleaton.

• James L. Baumgaertel, an inspector at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, is pursuing a First Ammendment complaint he filed after being told to attend training using New Age techniques.

• Five employees of the DeKalb Farmers Market in Atlanta, Georgia, have filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint after being dismissed for refusing to participate in training based on est.

Richard Watring, director of personnel for Budget Rent-a-Car in Chicago, thinks the growing controversy over New Age training may be the beginning of the end for many programs.

“I think the business world is sufficiently pragmatic that it’s going to drop this stuff like a hot potato if there’s a big damage suit or a major public relations faux pas,” says Watring, who has criticized New Age training in the New York Times and on ABC’S “20/20.”

“And besides,” he says, “these programs are bogus; they don’t work, they don’t do what they purport to do, and they do more harm than good.”

But meanwhile, New Age training continues to grab a bigger share of the lucrative corporate training market.

Tarot Cards And Chanting

American business spends $30 billion a year training employees. In the past five years a growing number of New Age-related firms have been staking their claim to an increasing share of the market:

• Werner Erhard, founder of Erhard Seminars Training, founded Transformational Technologies, Inc., in 1984. Last year the firm’s more than 50 franchises generated $15 million in revenues with such clients as RCA, Procter & Gamble, Boeing, and Lockheed. Other est-related firms include Lifespring and Actualizations.

• The Church of Scientology has spun off two New Age training firms, WISE and Sterling Management.

• Krone Training, or Kroning, was developed by Charles Krone and is said to be based on the teachings of Russian mystic Georges Gurdjieff. Pacific Bell spent more than $40 million on Kroning its 67,000 employees. After employees complained about the bizarre training, the California Public Utilities Commission conducted an investigation and recommended that stockholders—not rate payers—pay $25 million of the bill.

New Age training techniques, which are based on a mixture of Eastern, cultic, pantheistic, and human-potential philosophies, include meditation, hypnosis, encounter groups, chanting, biofeedback, and isolation, as well as tarot cards, psychic healing, channeling, fire walking, flotation tubs, and the intervention of spirit guides.

Yet the Pacific Institute claims it has not intentionally promoted New Age thinking. “Our program does not have any religious content,” says Jack Fitterer, president of the Pacific Institute, which had revenues of $20 million in 1987. Their “New Age Thinking” seminars have been replaced by “Investment in Excellence” programs, although the new programs still contain sections on “self-image and belief” and “visualization.”

“ ‘New Age’ was a name our marketers picked back in 1979,” says Fitterer. “We never heard of ‘new age’ until 1981. Now excellence is the term the marketers use. We don’t teach any theology. Our program is simply a cognitive psychology curriculum, similar to the curriculum that can be found on any university campus.”

But such denials fail to convince many critics, including Ron Zemke, senior editor of Training magazine. Zemke focused on two major problems of the new training in a cover story for his magazine entitled: “What’s New in the New Age?”

“I have a right to talk to employees about their job-related behavior,” wrote Zemke, “but what goes on inside their heads is none of my business. I see the issues of intrusion and informed consent as troubling, both morally and legally.

“My second reservation is [about deception], I interviewed a graduate student [and] was appalled at her zealous excitement as she described a workshop she had attended in which she had been told how to ‘sell a New Age agenda to management without them realizing what they were signing on for.’ ”

Fleecing The Flock

Budget Rent-a-Car’s Richard Watring worries that fellow Christian workers who are asked to attend such seminars may be seduced into New Age thinking. “I’m concerned that even strong Christians will look at this training and see nothing wrong with it,” says Watring. “They may become conditioned to accept incorrect views of the nature of man and how people are to develop.

“I think it’s the church’s responsibility to assist the flock in the formation of a Christian world view so that they will be able to recognize a counterfeit belief system for what it is when it’s looking them in the face.”

By Steve Rabey.

World Scene

ECUADOR

Indians Hold Historic Crusade

Thousands of Quechua Indians from across Ecuador gathered in the Andean village of Colta recently for an unprecedented evangelism congress. During the six-day campaign, more than 1,000 persons made salvation decisions or rededicated their lives to Christ.

The congress, designed to follow up the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Amsterdam ‘86 campaign, was organized almost entirely by members of the Evangelical Indian Association of Chimborazo. And while outside groups provided some of the funds for the event, it was financed primarily by Quechua believers.

Gospel Missionary Union (GMU) started the work in 1902 in Ecuador’s Chimborazo province. The Quechua church has grown from a handful of believers to 50,000 church members nationwide in 33 years. Yet with Ecuador’s population of 2 million Quechuas, the church is still a minority. Missionaries report growing pressure from leftist political groups, cults, materialism, and division among church leaders. They believe the recent congress is a landmark event. “It produced good fruit, and showed that the Quechuas can organize a major evangelistic event,” said Tom Fulghum of Christian radio station HCJB.

NORTH KOREA

Vatican Visit A First

Six North Koreans traveled to the Vatican and participated in Holy Week liturgies, a first for North Koreans since the present Communist regime took power in 1948.

According to a report in News Network International (formerly Open Doors News Service), two members of the group were Roman Catholics and “had the chance to go to confession and communion for the first time in 38 years.” Other group members included officials from the Korean Christian Federation as well as representatives from the ministry of culture.

Churches were closed in 1948, and today, little is known about Christianity in North Korea. The Korean Christian Federation, modeled after China’s Three Self Patriotic Movement, is the only religious body in North Korea. It is alleged that the federation consists of 5,000 worshipers, meeting in 500 homes, and served by 200 deacons or pastors. Representatives of the federation have been invited to observe proceedings of the Lausanne Committee’s world congress in Singapore next year.

PHILIPPINES

Soldiers Receive Scriptures

Philippine military leaders have issued a new weapon in their fight against poor morale in the armed forces: New Testaments. In response to a request from Fidel Ramos, Philippine secretary for national defense, the International Bible Society is sending 300,000 New Testaments to soldiers.

The Philippine government under President Corazon Aquino faces continuing problems of stability, many of which come from the military. Army General Honesto Isleta told Christian leaders in the Philippines that “there are too many factions within the military. But before we can reconcile with each other, we must be reconciled with ourselves. Only God can change us.”

The New Testaments will be supplied in six languages to accommodate the areas where different dialects are spoken. They are accompanied by a special page explaining the gospel and how to receive Christ. Top military leaders have urged their soldiers to carry and read the New Testaments.

ZIMBABWE

Churches Under Pressure

A recent publication issued by Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU party has asked churches to be more supportive of Marxism. The document, “Society and the Church,” declared that “those sections of the church that are fearful of Marxism are fearful of the people.”

The publication divided the church into two camps: those that supported the new order that came with the revolution, and those that opposed it. It also indicated the party’s desire to recruit the church as a partner in implementing revolutionary goals. “The churches are well placed to perform this revolutionary task because they deal with the people at the grassroot levels,” the document stated.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS

Briefly Noted

Died: South African novelist and Anglican layman Alan Paton, 85, whose writings have brought his country’s racial agony to the world’s attention for the past four decades. He urged the church to fight apartheid, yet he opposed the use of economic sanctions by other nations. In an interview shortly before his death, he told a reporter, “I still believe there is hope.”

Arthur Michael Ramsey, 83, former archbishop of Canterbury of the Anglican church. Ramsey was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral in 1961 as the one-hundredth archbishop of Canterbury.

Festo Kivengere, bishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda and one of Africa’s most prominent evangelists; of leukemia in Nairobi Hospital. Kivengere fled his homeland in 1977 after registering a protest with President Idi Amin. He returned in 1979 and implemented an immunization program for children. Since 1971 he has been a leader in Africa Enterprise, a multi-racial evangelistic organization.

Detained: Mubarak Awad, Palestinian Christian activist and proponent of nonviolent civil disobedience. The Jerusalem-born Awad, who is an American citizen, has been in solitary confinement since May 6 when jailed for possessing an expired visa.

Another Meese Casualty

INTERVIEW

Attorney General Edwin Meese made waves in Washington last month when he unexpectedly dismissed Terry Eastland, who for three years was the Justice Department’s Director of the Office on Public Affairs. The Justice Department called the action a “straightforward managerial decision to make a personnel change,” but many political observers criticized the move because Eastland is highly regarded in government and media circles. In an interview, Eastland, a member of Fourth Presbyterian Church in suburban Maryland, spoke to CHRISTIANITY TODAY about the recent events.

What specifically do you think Attorney General Meese wanted you to do that you weren’t able to?

The attorney general expressed his desire to have someone in the position who would aggressively defend him at any and all times. He apparently concluded that my efforts would not suffice in that regard, even though I have certainly defended him to the best of my abilities, trying to exercise good judgment, and Eastland do so in a manner consistent with the obligations of my office. But I will let others judge the adequacy or inadequacy of my efforts. I believe the attorney general has every right to have whomever he wants in that position. That’s a very important point in politics. We all serve at someone’s prerogative, and I served at his.

Did it come to the point where your position as a government spokesman conflicted with your Christian principles?

No, because—to quote Abraham Lincoln—Ed Meese and I pray to the same God. He is regarded as a Christian, and I am a Christian. I feel a great sadness that this had to come about, but I think that a Christian can certainly work in the position without being compromised.

Is it difficult for people with Christian principles to work in those kinds of positions?

I think any person anywhere with principles faces tests of integrity—wherever those principles may come from. My own principles are determined from my belief in Christ. We all have tests. But I do not wish to suggest something ill about Ed Meese, because I don’t think it’s there.

God sustains you through difficult times and gives you the courage to do what is right.

There has been much made in the media about a “sleaze factor”—advisers of questionable integrity—surrounding the Reagan administration. Do you think that’s a fair assessment of the people the President has chosen to represent him?

No, it’s not fair at all. I guess one of the things I am most upset about in this case is the way the independent counsel is used as a political tool against honest people. I think it enables the perception to spread that there is a sleaze factor, what with the allegations around people under investigation. It is an unequal attack against the administration. Behavior that is regarded as unethical because it is conducted by executive branch people is not regarded as such for Congress and the judiciary. It’s an inequity of the law, and I’m greatly bothered by it.

North American Scene

PORNOGRAPHY

Sleaze Merchants?

U.S. Senator William Armstrong (R-Colo.) has asked Christian leaders to help him in his personal battle against the federal government’s role in selling soft-core pornography.

Since many convenience stores have stopped selling magazines like Playboy and Penthouse, Armstrong says the U.S. government “may be the biggest distributor of soft-core porn magazines today” by selling them on military bases and in federal offices and embassies.

Last fall, after intense lobbying by the senator, President Reagan asked the Justice Department to issue a legal opinion on whether the order would be constitutional. To date, no action has been taken on the opinion.

Armstrong is now accusing the Justice Department of delaying the opinion so the order cannot be issued.

UPDATE

Return To A Troubled Empire

His self-imposed 90-day exile over, Jimmy Swaggart returned to his pulpit last month saying he was back because “Jesus paid the price” for his and all sins.

At one point during the two-hour service, Swaggart invited individuals to come forward for healing of pain or guilt. One of those who responded was an investigator who handed Swaggart and his associate, Jim Rentz, subpoenas on behalf of New Orleans pastor Marvin Gorman. Gorman, who helped publicize Swaggart’s incident with a prostitute, has filed a defamation of character lawsuit against the evangelist.

Swaggart returned to a less-than-full 7,500-capacity Family Worship Center, a further indication of the loss of support caused by his moral failure. In addition to reduced donations, staff layoffs, and cancellations of his television programs by independent and cable stations, his ministry has reduced its overseas operations. The Oklahoma-based Feed the Children ministry says it will incorporate an additional 26,000 children into its existing relief programs in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Haiti in an effort to fill the gap created by cutbacks in Swaggart’s programs. “Feed the Children will not allow the fallout from Jimmy Swaggart’s personal tragedy to result in the physical devastation of thousands of innocent, hungry children,” said Feed the Children’s president, Larry Jones.

URBAN MINISTRY

Stories For The City

Not everyone has money. Not everyone has a formal education. But everyone has a story. Given this, the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE) sponsored the 1988 Congress on Urban Ministry. Its purpose was to explore the role of story in the ministries of urban churches.

Congress chairperson Philip Amerson, of the Broadway United Methodist Church in Indianapolis, played a key role in developing the theme for the congress, held in Chicago biennially since 1978. “Story is the currency of the people,” he said. “Jesus himself was a master storyteller.”

Noting trends in the church toward census taking and church-growth statistics, Amerson said, “We’ve left behind the testimony meetings when people just stood up to tell stories that gave witness.” He said one of the goals of the conference was to help make the propositions of the Christian faith relevant and accessible to the people the church is trying to reach.

Some 890 people from 35 states and six countries attended the four-day event.

CHRISTIAN BROADCASTING

Once A Televangelist …

After his unsuccessful run for the White House, M. G. “Pat” Robertson has returned to the place that was his springboard into the public eye: the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). Robertson went back to CBN as chief executive officer last month, at the request of the CBN board. According to a spokeswoman, Robertson will be “primarily giving overall guidance and leadership in the planning of the 700 Club [television program] and be involved with development and fund raising.” She said the board decision to invite

Robertson back was prompted by recent declines in audience and contributions.

Last year, CBN President Tim Robertson told Christianity Today, “Regardless of what Dad does with his political campaign … he’s never, ever, ever going to go back to u being Pat Robertson, host of a | 5-day-a-week Christian television program.” However, 5 the CBN spokeswoman said now “it remains to be seen” whether Robertson will again become a regular “700 Club” host. “Things change,” she said.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS

Briefly Noted

Sold: Eternity magazine, to the Foundation for Christian Living (FCL), founded in 1940 by Norman Vincent Peale. FCL will assume publishing and marketing responsibilities for the financially strapped magazine, with editorial functions retained by the current staff and parent organization, Evangelical Ministries, Inc., of Philadelphia.

Failed: Petition drive by Americans Against Human Suffering that would have let California voters decide if physician-supplied lethal injections should be legal. A spokesman for the group said efforts will continue in other states.

Revoked: Christian television network PTL’s exemption from federal taxes, by the Internal Revenue Service, which claimed PTL used tax-exempt donations to finance its commercial enterprises, PTL’s chairman, David Clark, called the action “capricious and arbitrary.”

Died: Dennis J. Horan, 56, dean of prolife lawyers and chairman of Americans United for Life Legal Defense Fund. Horan argued more than 62 jury and 20 nonjury abortion-related cases, including one before the Supreme Court.

Good News for a Fallen Leader

UPDATE

After kneeling before 1,200 of his former parishioners, Gordon MacDonald, former president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF), was recommissioned to public ministry during a service of restoration on May 1.

Held at Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts, where MacDonald pastored for 12 years until 1984, the service came 11 months after his admission of adultery and resignation from IVCF.

“The very first thing I’d like to say to you is that I’m very sorry I let you down,” MacDonald told the congregation during a 30-minute address. “Perhaps the worst kind of brokenness is the brokenness of being an utter failure because of some bad choices you have made in your life.”

The Sunday evening service represented the culmination of months of church discipline and counseling. Several months before his resignation from IVCF, MacDonald began receiving counseling from a group of church leaders. Last summer, he and his wife, Gail, renewed their membership at Grace Chapel in order to submit to discipline that included further counsel with three elders from the church. During the past year, MacDonald was permitted only limited speaking engagements to small groups, mostly pastors, said Judson Carlberg, chairman of the church subcommittee formed specifically to work for MacDonald’s restoration.

Carlberg said the recommissioning service was conceived after all those involved in counseling MacDonald reported he had grown from an overwhelming sense of guilt to a true sense of forgiveness. Vernon Grounds administered to MacDonald the vows of consecration at the service and urged him to “preach the gospel of a second chance.”

By Pam Hoffman, in Lexington, Mass.

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Understanding Hindrances to Growth

Six Growth Principles

It Works

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Progress Buster #1: Interruptions

Interrupting the Interruptions

Progress Buster #2: Lethargic Boards

Quiet Consolation

Progress Buster #3: Slow Church Growth

Neutralizing the Numbers

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The caution

The call

The crossing, attempt #1

The crossing, attempt #2

The consequences

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Not Alone

Tarot Cards And Chanting

Fleecing The Flock

World Scene

Indians Hold Historic Crusade

Vatican Visit A First

Soldiers Receive Scriptures

Churches Under Pressure

Briefly Noted

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North American Scene

Sleaze Merchants?

Return To A Troubled Empire

Stories For The City

Once A Televangelist …

Briefly Noted

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