Song: The Age of Indifference | Book: Micro Practices for Justice Ministry |
Friends,
My last few days before many travels for work and for fun. A consulting gig, a staff retreat, my dad's birthday, and then another business trip. I'm tried just thinking about it. But I spent the weekend taking it easy. I guess the trick is to enjoy the fun parts!
Liz
Do Not be Conformed.
I do a lot of my work with small churches. Sometimes leaders start talking about small as congregations less than 75, or congregations worshiping 50. Because of this I use the word micro-congregations. Churches of eight. Twelve, Twenty. Maybe twenty-five. I believe in these churches and their importance to their community.
But one thing that happens as churches get smaller is that we become afraid that any change, any action, any creativity, will make one family or person upset, and they will leave. We start to let fear guide our actions. There is a temptation to conform to the values of our small community. We want to be accepted, to be comfortable, to be loved. These are reasonable wants, but that is not the work of faith.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God's mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2.
Offering our bodies as a sacrifice is not only martyrdom, it is also standing strong in opposition to unkind and hateful norms of our community. In a conservative town it might be daring to live out the biblical call to care for the stranger among us. In a liberal town it might be insisting that conservatives are beloved by God, and creating spaces for dialogue for all voices. Transformation always starts with a proclamation that is different from the status quo.
Bryan Stone, in his book Evangelism, after Christendom: The Theology and Practice of Public Witness (Brazos Press, 2007), argues that the ultimate evangelism is simply to stand out as different. That Christian witness, and the proclamation of good news, requires mostly distinctiveness.
And to be distinctive in one town is completely different than being distinctive in another. The first church I served was very proud of its open and affirming status. It had been among the earliest churches to make that decision and had every right to be proud of that work. But by the time I was there we were a welcoming church in a welcoming city, less than a mile from another welcoming church, and one of eleven in the city. It is right to be welcoming, but that was not their distinctive trait in that town. (They had no distinctive trait. Now they are closed.)
We cannot stand out in the distinctiveness of the gospel if we prioritize keeping everyone happy. The reality is that it is by taking a stand on important issues we become distinctive, we give meaning to our work, we live out the difficult practice of being church.
To do this each person, and each congregation, must identify their gifts, their passions, and their calling that is appropriate to their specific context.
There is so much to be done, and there is now way to do it all. You cannot do it all, nor can your congregation, your judicatory, or your denomination.
But each of us, and each congregation can, and should, do the small that matches your skills, passions, and energy. This might be a piece of a larger project, or it might be a huge project specific to your church. Your church might take a small part of a larger denominational project. Or you might find something that is specific to your neighborhood or town.
Maybe your piece of the resistance is to feed people who are hungry. Maybe you have a few letter writers, or people who make phone calls. Perhaps you have a sign in your yard standing up for immigrants and or for people who are trans. Yours might be the congregation that creates education programs, or dialogues, or community discussions for your town.
Resistance work for each congregation (and each individual) is specific to your context, to your skills, to your expertise. Do not expect to be good at everything, and focus on the things you that are already what you do well.
For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the encourager, in encouragement; the giver, in sincerity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. Romans 12:4-8.
In addition to trusting that you cannot do it all, it is important to recognize that you can do something. Every person, and every congregation, has gifts. We cannot make the argument that we are too small, too tired, or that our resources are too limited. Every church has what it needs to stand up for the least that are living among us.
We aren't called to do it all, but we aren't called to blend in either. Find your distinctive action and act.
What is your church's primary gift for ministry? Reply to this email to let me know what's happening.
The Age of Indifference by the band HuDost (5:33)
Tex Sample has ideas of small acts of Resistance for churches in his book Micro Practices for Justice Ministry (Upper Room 2025).
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