by monty keeling
CStation Stationmaster
6/23/2002

Next weekend representatives from the Church of the Brethren will gather in Louisville, Kentucky, for the denomination's Annual Conference. The yearly conference is the highest authority in the Church of the Brethren. For the denomination Conference's democratic process is the court of final appeal. This year business matters include the ordination of homosexuals and even changing the name of the denomination to something more representable for a new century. Once again, however, the one concern most vexing to the church will not be on Conference business agenda, that is the continuing effectual decline of the denomination as a whole.

By any measurable standard the Church of the Brethren in America has been in decline over the last couple of decades. From 1993 to 2000 the denomination decreased from 146,713 to 135,879 members as reported by the Church of the Brethren's annual statistics. West of Illinois the denomination is on life support as every year churches close there doors. Once Colorado had over 30 congregations now it has less than a half dozen and two of those are cooperative efforts with other denominations. The Pacific Southwest District has been closing and losing congregations at an alarming rate for over a decade. And many of those that remain are in real decline.

Another perhaps even more troublesome concern for the Church of the Brethren is that a good number of folks who are still in the church really place little value on traditional church beliefs like peace, the simple life, radical discipleship, and patterning members' lives around New Testament examples.

I felt called to became a pastor about 17 years ago because I felt compelled by the hope that this situation could be reversed. During that time I have graduated from seminary, been a student pastor at three congregations. the pastor of two other congregations, and served as an unofficial assistant pastor at another congregation at a time of growth and then great conflict within the church.

The first congregation I pastored, Rocky Ford on the eastern plains of Colorado, closed several years ago. I've been blessed to be with most of the other churches at times when they grew both in terms of worship attendance and overall significance in ministry. And, I'm sorry to say, been painfully aware of the decline of some of those churches after I left.

Now I've come to believe that the best response the Church of the Brethren can make for renewed ministry is concentrating on planting new churches.

Three reasons why I believe this is true.

First, new churches strongly advocating Brethren beliefs are going to attract folks who want to be part of our community because of our vision for representing the Kingdom of God on earth, not because they are related to, or are friends of other people in the congregation. Not that this is bad in itself, but existing congregations tend to favor relationships with their family and friends over taking chances for Jesus. I have often observed that the real reason the Church of the Brethren went to the paid ministry was so that congregations could fire their pastors and keep members of the church family from breaking up.

I announced my forced resignation from my first church to my family by saying I'd always wanted to be a manager of a major league baseball team. And now I was being treated like one. Three years without a winning season and I was gone.

In his book Church Planting, published by the Mennonite Herald Press, Stuart Murray, writes of a kind of congregation called the "center set" church. A congregation where strongly advocated beliefs are set forth by the leadership, but those attending the church can grow in faith, and even question these beliefs and how they are practiced, with the support of the church family. A combination of this kind of church and the tested value of most of our Brethren faith, would be very attractive to folks no matter what name we called our denomination by. Just as long as our traditional radical determination to love and follow Jesus was the center of the church's structure.

Second, when attempted with the proper spirit, the Holy Spirit that is, new churches breath life into existing congregations.

Church planting is beneficial for existing congregations. This has been proven more than once and, in fact, a good number of America's most successful ministering congregations are, guess what, church planting congregations. Sure church planting may cause a congregation to lose some active leadership, but other leaders will follow. Leadership is the key to any successful organization, and developing new leaders is the only way to keep leadership in organizations vital - this includes churches. The only way to develop new leadership is for experienced leaders to move on.

About seven years ago another pastor friend and I approached our district with plans for starting a cell church. We even progressed to meeting with the witness commission at the time. And what was the response of the group in charge of evangelism and church group? They wanted us to get more training and background before such an undertaking and also not to use any existing members of churches already in the district. Guess why the Church of the Brethren is in decline?

New churches not only lead to the development of new leadership, but also breath excitement and new life into existing congregations and leaders.

And, third, new churches are best equipped for adding the variety and changes needed to bring the Gospel to diversified and rapidly changing culture.

Stuart Murray writes in his book that a major mistake denominations make is planting congregations just like they already have. He believes that if people wanted to go to those churches they are already in existence.

I disagree a bit with him. First there are a lot of places where no Anabaptist congregations exist - and some of the Church of the Brethren congregations we have now are that really in name only - and second there are churches who aren't doing a very good job of serving God. (I like what Carl F. George says about churches that aren't growing being God's gift to the unchurched.)

But I strongly agree that the Church of the Brethren needs to be trying to invent different kinds of congregations. The cabinet factory where I've worked for the last eight years has enjoyed great success over that time because they have increased their line of cabinets from about 50 to over 400 different styles. I work nights at the cabinet factory and for the last five years have been trying to develop a new kind of local web information service during the day. You'd be surprised how many of those night folks also have day jobs. How many of them do you think are going to want to drag their exhausted bodies out of bed to be at church at 9 A.M. (or any A.M. for that matter) on a Sunday morning. Probably their one day off during the week? How many of them do you think are going to be attracted to low key worship services, signing just German hymns from the 1800s, and listening to preachers with about as much enthusiasm for the day's message as they have for going back to work on a Monday morning?

The Gospel doesn't have to be gathered from sitting in a pew and listening to a preacher behind the pulpit. Jesus told the woman at the wheel in John that whoever worships God in spirit and in truth is doing it right. Established Brethren congregations aren't often willing to risk the struggle of adding a second worship service, let along venturing forth and experimenting with new forms and styles that might reach people who would be attracted to a different approach. New churches do that kind of thing best.

But new church planting doesn't just happen. It requires a massive effort on the denominational, district, and local congregational level. It requires the willingness to venture out, fail, and try and try again. Learning and improving as we go along. It will require the same zeal by we Brethren of today, as our elders once offered and gave to the American frontier, and later the overseas mission field.

We must be motivated not really by breathing life back into our denomination, but by of love and fire to serve Jesus Christ. For that is what being Brethren has always been about.

As a Sean Connery fan, one of my favorite movie scenes comes from The Untouchables were Connery, playing a grizzled old Irish-Chicago cop, leans over to Elliott Ness, played by Kevin Costner, and demands in earnest: “What are you prepared to do?”

 What Connery’s character is asking is how far is Ness willing to go to topple fabled mobster Al Capone from power? If Ness wants to succeed, Connery suggests, he is going to have out do whatever Capone does to stop him.

When it comes to our biblically based faith in Jesus Christ.

What are we prepared to do?