DE Ponderings by Kevin Kessler, District Executive

Brad and Amy Herzog traveled the United States stopping in obscure, small communities named Triumph (LA), Love (VA), Inspiration (AZ), Justice (WV), and Glory (GA), to name a few. Brad wrote a book, States of Mind, about each of these small towns, offering up a bit of their history, filling us in on their present day status, and rendering insightful comments around the meaning of the town’s name.

In writing about Bliss, NY, Herzog opens with a quote from Thomas Wolfe’s novel, Look Homeward, Angel, which reads: “Each of us is all the sums he has not counted: subtract us into nakedness and night again, and you shall see begin in Crete four thousand years ago the love that ended yesterday in Texas.” Herzog used Bliss as an example for many of the towns he wrote about, that they began from years of thought and action on the part of many people, resulting in the formation, existence, and continuation of a bustling, growing community.

Later on in the chapter on Bliss, Herzog writes this:

“It’s remarkable how the forces of nature can conspire against a small town’s survival. Hundreds of years of concentric circles lead to the formation of a community. A pebble here, a pebble there. And then it can be gone in a heartbeat, a quantifiable day of reckoning. A fire in Bliss, August 10, 1919. A hurricane in Triumph, August 17, 1969. A flood in Love the next day. Sometimes, too, the end is gradual, through perhaps more permanent. Corporate encroachment put an end to Inspiration. Economic stagnation was killing Justice. Old age apparently took old Glory.

“‘Each moment is the fruit of forty thousand years.’ [Wolfe] Small towns…take years to ripen but just days to rot.”

What Herzog writes about small towns seemingly holds true for congregations. The thoughts and actions of many people from a variety of places— geographically, psychologically, socially—connect on various levels over a number of years to form and continue the existence of a body of believers, a congregation. This body joins together to follow a collective call to be in mission where they are planted and beyond. All appears well as the congregation perpetuates its mission. The ripening fruit metaphor Herzog employs for small towns applies to congregations, that what has taken years to ripen can rot in a matter of days, or at least a relatively short time. A number of factors can cause rot, such as negative economic conditions, rapidly changing demographics, deep-seated conflict, unfocused leadership, to name a few.

Although congregations formed over long periods of time can, like small towns, experience demise quickly, I believe the imminent end can be avoided. Foremost in avoiding ruin is early recognition of negative factors. Being vigilantly aware of what is happening in the surrounding environment is important. Everyone can be engaged in this process but especially key leaders within the congregation. Then, as pertinent information about environmental changes becomes known, efforts can be initiated to live into healthy transformation, continuing the vision of yesteryears’ pioneers.

Yes, difficulties emerge, but with vigilant attention, vibrant life can continue.