Wrestling with dramatic changes in how Americans practice their faith, many clergy members are willing to wait months to get guidance from Gallagher or someone like him. These consultants have become a small industry, roaming the country to challenge the definition of “church.”
When they work with congregations, they put everything on the table ¿ including whether the pastor and the church building are even necessary. Perhaps worshippers could meet in a movie theater instead. Or consider sharing a pastor with some other church. Or ditch their Sunday morning services for a time more people would find convenient.
Consultants routinely press their clients to stop being so fixated on their real estate, routines and rules. They argue that there are plenty of people who don’t have any interest in sitting in pews and listening to sermons. The challenge is to come up with a way to engage them.
“The role of the church and the clergy is dying, but I think it needs to,” says Tom Brackett, another minister-consultant who works on church development for the Episcopal Church. “The church doesn’t have a mission. We are part of God’s mission.”
Huh?
If people are not on their knees engaging in real sacramental worship (which requires the priesthood) then there is something very, very wrong.
Well, my initial reaction to this parish (I won’t discuss the wonk who is the consultant) would be to suggest real Evangelism. One question I always ask parishes is, “When was the last time you invited someone to church?” There is usually a deafening silence, followed by some lame comment like “Well, we have an ad in the Yellow Pages.”
If you don’t have a message to share, there is nothing you can do to attract people because you are competing with other areas far more entertaining. You can see the whole consultant thing is working really well for TEC….NOT.
#3 I decided to leave TEC when someone asked me about the parish I formerly attended, “Could you recommend it?”, they asked. I said I could not. They responded, “Well then, why do you go there?”
The Eoiscopal Chruch needs to be saved from its own House of Bishops and from its General Convention.
What is a consultant if not someone who is looking for a way to make money without working. Larry
The church doesn’t have a mission. Why that explains the past thirty years in TEC.
[blockquote] “Are you willing to unscrew the pews?” she says to crowds like one earlier this month at a Virginia Theological Seminary convocation in Alexandria. “How much riffraff are you willing to allow in here? [b]How much liturgical dancing? [/b]How many easels?” [/blockquote]
Thank heavens the TEC is finally going to address the liturgical dance deficit in the church.
[blockquote] Long works with churches that are growing primarily through home church groups and online worshippers who never set foot in a church building. His Alpha USA curriculum is meant to attract people who want to debate questions such as whether the mere notion of God is delusional.
“When the church is inward-looking, it’s dying,” Long said. “In the developing world, where it’s outward-looking, it’s exploding.” [/blockquote]
Yup, they pack ’em in in Africa by encouraging people to doubt their message, and by insinuating mental illness in their most devoted followers.