August 19, 2012

What's in a Name?

The names we call each other sometimes hurt!

“Nonvital” Episcopalians are not members of nonvital and nonviable congregations.

The members of an Episcopal church about to close need to urgently know that they are not to blame for their congregation's close.

Of course you say!

Nonetheless, I sense that too many members of closed churches carry a false but real sense of blame and shame. It is very unlikely that the rector, vestry, or even bishop has blamed the members for the church's close. At the same time the language that Episcopalians commonly use to describe "at risk" congregations might be easily heard as words to describe the members of the church about to close.

Does a nonvital congregation mean its congregation's members are no longer vital too?

Absolutely not!

I know of many at risk congregations throughout The Episcopal Church where the members give proportionately more time, talent, and treasure than in many, if not most flourishing churches.

In one church about to close 90% of the members had made a pledge. In the same church all the members were active in congregational life and shared leadership activities.

In another at risk congregation I know of there are fifty remaining members of a congregation with a church building capacity of eight hundred.

Historically it has been common knowledge that 15-20% of the members of an Episcopal congregation do all the work. The norms of most Episcopal congregations are not the norms for at risk Episcopal congregations. Some of the most generous and most committed people I have known have been associated with at risk congregations. It is easy for these members to overly associate with the descriptions of their congregation as nonvital and nonviable. It is too easy for members to take on the lack of vitality and feel failure and experience shame.

The simple truth is that nonviable congregations are typically filled with vital members.

Vitality and viability are different.

Episcopalians of all generations are vital in the ways that they live out their baptismal promises as college students, parents, spouses, grandparents, and all others through their paid and unpaid work.

There are many reasons why an increasing number of Episcopal and other mainline congregations now encounter challenges of vitality and viability. Most often the size of the buildings is out of synch with the needs of its current members. Generous Episcopalians are giving but their contributions cannot match the enormous costs to maintain a building that once held hundreds more people.

Let’s all be careful about the way we talk about at risk congregations.

Let’s all celebrate the multi-generational legacy of churches that need to close.

Let’s all celebrate the generous stewardship of Episcopalians even until the last day of their beloved church being open.

This post is part 5 of Joe's 5 part series on "Spiritual Health of Congregations: Anxious Decisions or Passionate Urgency."