Ministry is always changing because the world in which we are called to witness is always changing. Jesus calls us to be in the world but not of the world, "in, not of." That is a challenge that the people of God have struggled with from the very beginning of the church.
This understanding of being in, not of the world penetrates every aspect of our understanding of who it is to be the church, the Body of Christ. Many congregations today are struggling with what it means to be the church today as membership rolls dwindle and the numbers of the active worshipping community decrease.
The culture today has changed drastically from that of the last two generations. Two to three generations ago in the 1930s life in Juniata County centered around the home, the farm and the church. The Depression had taken away many resources for households and multiple generations often lived on the same property and sometimes in the same home.
Following WW2 a golden age of employment in both manufacturing and small businesses arose. Many families of four to six lived in their own prefab homes often from 900- 1100 square feet. Many of those homes were delivered as kits but the dream of home ownership expanded across a whole generation. In this time schools and school activities like sports replaced the church as the center of community social life.
Today the average family has two to four members, parents and kids combined, many are single income households and yet now the average home that is built is well over 2400 square feet. For many, the church and the religious training of the family has become a secondary concern. Sports programs of midget football, soccer, AAU sports and more encroach upon Sunday mornings if not for the games themselves at least for the travel time as the local community is not even the center of life but rather the scope and breadth of leagues sometimes with traveling times as long as an hour and more. At the same time the digital pace of life pressures us demanding instant response times and work schedules that never end even when at home or with the family.
All of this challenges what our assumptions have been for congregational life. Is worship a singular Sunday event or are additional opportunities needed throughout the week? Is worship only valid led by an organ with two hundred year old hymns or can a Praise Band and the latest Christian pop song feed us spiritually, as well? Does Bible study require sitting together or can it be conducted on line with groups on Facebook or Google? How do churches with large and inefficient edifices with $15,000 heating costs and magnificent worship spaces filled with beautiful liturgical art survive when the average congregation in America today averages about 50 at Sunday worship? These questions and a couple dozen more mean the churches of today are under great social pressures and a race to keep up with a changing world.
The truth is that Messiah and thousands of congregations across the U.S. need to stop and think about how we shape and structure our ministry in the congregation and the community for the future. I may well be the last pastor to serve Messiah as a single congregation. Conversations are regularly being held on the ELCA clergy board seeing tremendous transformations in both seminary education and the structures of pastoral and congregational ministries. We may need to consider forming a parish as we once were with St. Stephen’s. St. John’s, Belleville is just one possibility among others in our area for such an arrangement. Such a decision would be back to the future. Yes, Messiah is not the only congregation experiencing these pressures. In fact, those congregations not feeling the pressures of the changing culture are far more unusual.
Whatever the future holds our central belief and confession is that God is faithful and the power of the Holy Spirit blows constantly across the Body of Christ making all things new. This is central to who we are. As people of the Reformation who are anchored in the living Word of God this is not the first generation to face bold changes in the life of the church. Within this country’s history we have been through the birth of a nation, a war dividing that nation, the collapse of the economy not once but several times. We have seen changes in the structure of home and family and God has been faithful through all of those and God abides with us still.
Jesus loves us this I know for the Bible tells me so. God’s love endures all things.