DE Thoughts by Kevin Kessler

The 4th of the 5 questions asked at district conference last fall and the responses follow:

What would you like to share with the District Leaders?

1. We need to do more to attract youth and younger people to our churches. Make some changes and modernize to attract this group. Help!
   
2. Help our churches to grow/strengthen programs.
   
3. My encouragement to be bold and make the tough decisions to bring about the changes needed to move forward in mission.
   
4. Hold on to Jesus and press on.

I’ve read a couple books over the past few months that provide some insight to these responses, one which I just recently finished entitled Born of Water, Born of Spirit: Supporting the Ministry of the Baptized in Small Congregations by Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook and Fredrica Harris Thompsett, published in 2010 by Alban Institute. The focus of Born of Water... is that all the baptized are ministers. Familiar in Church of the Brethren circles is that we are all part of the priesthood of believers. However, I like the language of “ministry of the baptized” used in the subtitle of the book.

Baptism is a sign of an inner experience. It is also an ordination into ministry, not to the set-apart ministry, but to ministry in general. We become part of a mission, more familiarly called the church, where we enter into continuing the work of Jesus—together.

Remember the baptismal vows? We are asked to receive and trust Jesus as Lord and Savior, to turn away from sin and live according to the example and teachings of Jesus, and to be loyal to the church (the mission) by upholding it with our prayers, presence, substance, and service.

Baptism means we are engaged in ministry—all of us. Ministry is not a function of only those licensed and ordained, but ministry is a calling and activity of all.

Instead of thinking in terms of how to grow/strengthen programs in the church, I think the better question is how do we grow/strengthen discipleship among the baptized? What might the church look like, or how might the church be different today if we shift our focus away from trying the next best available program as the means to help us reach potential and instead begin concentrating on how each of us can become engaged in deeper discipleship efforts?

What do I mean? Well, take for instance response #1 above. The emphasis in the statement leans toward programming. What will attract youth to church? I think that is the wrong question, if I may be so blunt. I think the better question is, How can we be involved in the lives of youth to help provide a better life for them? Discipleship, in my humble opinion, is the way in which we become involved in the lives of others in order to bring about transformation, for them and for the world. It is about building relationships. Being involved in a genuine caring way is what will attract young, and old, to the church. Simply attracting youth or any age group with programs doesn’t say much about how we care for them. It may say something completely different.

It will take some bold moves, I think, to change the way we think and act. And it will take time. Kujawa-Holbrook and Thompsett state in their book that “it takes a congregation or judicatory at least seven years to make the paradigm shift” from one way of being to another. They also piggyback on Robert Quinn’s work about deep change which says that for paradigm shifts to happen, efforts to implement the change have to be given immediate and significant attention. Expecting incremental shifts is not enough. Claiming the need for change and getting busy is what it will take.

It will also take holding on to Jesus—for support, for wisdom, for strength, and for guidance. Holding on to Jesus will help us to press on. I also think that holding on to Jesus, if we “really” hold on, will require us to hang on for the ride which we’ll be on. Commitment to and following the example of Jesus, genuine discipleship, will have the air whistling through our hair. Imagine where this ride could take us?