MIM Ezine, November 03, 2009

-- Book Review, "Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World", by Henri J.M. Nouwen, reviewed by Tom Hanover.

Congratulations to award-winning author, journalist and MIM ezine editor Karen Patterson on the publication of her new book, Allies Forever. The book is based on a true story of her family whose lives were altered by Hitler's war. You can read more about it on Karen's new web site www.karenapatterson.com.

I had never heard of the movement and not having the spiritual gift of intercessory prayer, I was only mildly interested in learning about it. My husband, Jeff, and I took turns reading a chapter at night aloud to each other and we began to gain an understanding that it wasn’t just about a bunch of people gathering together to pray, that God was moving in amazing ways through this movement and touching young people in particular.

You see, no one set out to create any kind of template or prayer franchise, and yet God used the diverseness of the body to spin off multiple prayer rooms open 24 four hours a day, 7 days a week where people could get in touch with God, intercede for people and their needs in numerous communities, as well as connect on a level few are able to do. Not long after starting the book we were invited by the same person who presented us with it to go with a group to visit an operating prayer room in Charlotte. By this time we had already read the description of what the average prayer room looked like and I was curious to see one in operation.

John, one of the leaders of this group, later shared his thoughts after he had visited the prayer room. “It’s like returning from a retreat and trying to share the amazing way God has touched your heart.”

Nothing I can say can give you the real picture or feel for the experience, but I’m going to try to describe it for you.

The warehouse was in a rough side of town. As we pulled up outside we saw rusty cog-like artwork attached to a chain link fence that harbors an empty lot next to the building housing the prayer room. We entered the warehouse and an African American woman welcomed us. Our leader had reserved a time for our group to come so we had an hour and a half to explore the prayer room before recovery groups arrived. These groups usually ran from 9:00-11:00 pm on Monday nights.

The warehouse was dimly but comfortably lit with candles giving an eclectic, artsy, coffee shop feel to the place. Randomly placed tree branches were artistically arranged with small white lights. On the floor was a large painted circle and some inspirational words written inside it in such as way that we had to walk around the circumference of the circle in order to read them. Our hostess explained how the prayer room operated and that we were welcome to explore and interact in whatever way we saw fit.

Relaxing, contemporary spiritual music played in the background. Along the front wall were prayer booths, each separated by a curtain where individuals could enter in private. When I stepped inside one of these I found notes pasted to the wall where people had poured out their struggles to God. In the main open area there was an art station with art paper, oil crayons, markers, and pastels where participants could put on paper their thoughts and expressions. In some places there were couches with inspirational reading materials including books and magazines; some were geared to seekers and were meant to make them consider where they stood with God. In small nooks around the room were Ipods or portable CD players with Christian music or sermon options. In one area there was a large cross with small tea candles at its foot and notes people had left there. In several spots were private tables with journals one could write in. You were also free to read what others had written.

One wall held mostly blank sticky notes that invited us to write down the names of friends or loved ones we wished people to pray over who did not yet have a relationship with Christ. In the back section the focus was on mission and outreach. One area invited us to write down injustices and needs in our region that were not being met. In another area there was a map of the world where we could pray for different countries. One room invited guests to enter and make their confession. We were also welcome to write on the floor in chalk.

During my stay, I used several methods to pour out my thoughts and feelings to God and in the process I felt a rare feeling of tranquility and closeness to him. How often are we able to truly free ourselves from all distractions and focus entirely on talking with God? When I arrived I did not understand how anyone could come to Christ in such a prayer room, but having been there, I now see how it is possible. Visitors have an opportunity to seek him on their own terms, and be completely honest without fear of judgment. One of the teens who accompanied a friend in our group later told her that she felt very close to God during her stay there. And she is, or was, not a believer.

24-7 prayer rooms are seeing incredible answers to prayer. Many of the visitors are coming to Christ. Others are able to hear God’s call on their lives, while others are finding spiritual reprieve from life’s hectic pace. Communities and churches are being drawn together for him.

Teena Stewart is married to an ordained minister and is a published author, ministry consultant and coach. Her most recent book is Successful Small Groups from Concept to Practice. For more info see http://www.serendipitini.com or http://www.ministryinmotion.net/teena_stewart.html. You can learn more about her coffee shop ministry at http://www.javajourney.org. You are welcome to email her with questions or comments at smartwords@embarqmail.

Martin Saarinen first published his work on The Life Cycle of a Congregation in 1986 with the Alban Institute. He based his research on the work of Ichak Adizes, “Organizational Passages – Diagnosing and Treating Life Cycle Problems of Organizations.” Adizes used the analogy of stages in human development to explain the rise and fall of organizations. There are several websites and leadership resources that still bear his name.

Saarinen focused Adizes insights on the health and life of a congregation. Since Saarinen’s work, many others have substantiated and reconfigured his work in its application to the life of congregations. Some of the more notable are George Bullard, John Sweetman, and Paul Borden. If you would like to read further on the concept of life cycles in ministry leadership, check out the Ministry in Motion Ezine Archives for May 15 and June 15, 2005.

Dennis Mohler, one of our favorite personalities here at DreamBuilders Ministry in Motion, has applied the theory of life cycles to another insight. Mohler is the first to apply the concepts to finances. His theory is that if we “follow the money,” we can actually see how an individual church positions itself in this life cycle theory.

Every writer using the life cycle concepts has tweaked the definitions. However, most have been consistent in using a capital letter to indicate this dimension is strong and healthy, while using a lower case letter to indicate this dimension is weaker and not influential. Here are the Mohler definitions.

 Passion—Is there a strong active passion for the mission and call of God in the church [P] - or has the passion died to a low flame or ember [p]? New church starts or new ministry starts usually excel in passion. There is ample energy, enthusiasm, and excitement. The energy is contagiously shared by those who are captured by the vision they claim for their own.

 Administration—This is the internal work in keeping the church building and operation going. This certainly includes financial management, but also property and staff management. How well defined and rigid is the structure of decision making? How are leaders and officers recruited and elected?

 Internal/External Focus—Is your church focus in balance with its interest in taking care of internal church discipleship, Bible studies, programs, and needs versus reaching outside the building to meet the needs of the community or world? An Internally-focused church would be represented with an [I/e]; an externally-focused church with an [i/E]; and a truly balanced church with an [I/E]. Saarinen first saw this played out in the clarity of boundaries among defining who is in the group and who is not. Many churches play this out in defining membership and the requirements for membership. Another criteria is the measure of effort – financial, staffing, volunteer leadership, and other resources for internal functions and programs versus programs and ministries that primarily benefit the external community.

 Staffing—Generally, the largest expense of most churches is the employed staff. Staff initiates and manages ministries as well as oversees the administration of the organization.

As churches grow, they tend to add more specialized staffing to meet the ever-growing needs of the people. The benefit is that new ministries and programs emerge that further expand the influence and reach of the congregation.

In the typical progression of the life cycle, churches will pass through a peak period and begin to decline. Often, churches do not recognize their peak until later. During these transitions the ministry leaders may not be aware of the subtle changes taking place. If anything, the “feel” of the organization may become more comfortable. Instead of staff stretched thin with new and emerging responsibilities, they now are managing responsibilities that are regular and routine. Time demands may lessen, and the reliability of experienced staff leads more easily with experienced volunteer leaders.

As a church continues its decline, the church gets too comfortable with its former staffing levels and often fails to note the signals that a downsizing is in order. There is nothing harder for a personnel committee than to let go of a valued and appreciated staff person. Often it is put off until budget constraints demand it.

Studies show that typically no total staffing expenses (lay and clergy, salaries and benefits) should exceed 51% of the budget. This percentage will be higher in new churches, smaller churches, and dying churches, and smaller in large, strategic churches. When staff positions are protected-even as program and mission is being cut the leader has to ask the question: “Is the staff supporting the church, or is the church, if fact supporting the staff?” If your church has a strong staff presence, you would represent that with a capital letter [S]. Or if your staff consists of a pastor and possibly a secretary, you would use a lower case [s].

Growing churches have often tapped the service and leadership of volunteers more effectively than declining churches. It makes sense. Churches on the upside of the life cycle have significantly more energy and enthusiasm. People are eager to share their gifts and graces in life-changing ministries. Consequently, the need for employed staff and the justification for the expenditures lags behind the growth.

 $/Attendee— People give to the church at varying levels of commitment. Typically, the average giving per worship attendee of the total budget would be roughly $1000/attendee. This would vary greatly based on commitment, age of attendees, and longevity of the church’s ministry. Church endowments and large contributors would also tend to change the averages. This is not a hard and fast figure, but a rule of thumb to gauge your church.

Other factors to be considered are denominational affiliation, geographic location, and leadership’s attitude towards stewardship. Some denominations historically have higher rates of giving per attendee. Some regions of the country (we are thinking primarily of the U.S. here) support the church more generously. Some churches have momentum of excellent stewardship training, while others overlook this need.

While previous writers have identified a church’s place on the life cycle through diagnosing criteria such as programs, outreach, energy, etc. Dr. Mohler suggests that money may be a key indicator of a church’s health and future. As a District Superintendent in Ohio (United Methodist District Superintendents supervise regions of pastors and churches on behalf of the Bishop), he has observed that money and budget issues can be a fairly accurate predictor of future challenges.

Of course, students of life cycle concepts will recognize that the purpose of Adizes and Saarinen was to help leaders recognize the opportunities to relaunch a new life cycle in an organization. Death is only inevitable for the inattentive and unaware. Ministry leaders work with a God who specializes in new starts.

Ministry leaders who do a little homework with the finances of their church may be able to diagnose more clearly where there church is positioned on the life cycle. This is especially helpful when dealing with a spirit of denial typical of many long-time, deeply committed church leaders.

Next month we will publish the formulas Dr. Mohler uses to calculate a church’s place on the life cycle.

Tom Hanover is Advertising and Promo Director of MIM ezine. He has served in a variety of pastoral leadership roles for more than 30 years, including seven years as a District Superintendent supervising the ministries of more than 100 pastors and churches in southern Ohio. He is currently Senior Pastor of Sulphur Grove UMC, a multisite ministry in Dayton. He has a BA (cum laude) from Taylor University, and the MDIV and DMIN degrees from United Theological Seminary in Dayton. You can contact Tom at hanover@dbmim.net.

As I float through life I hear things that get on my nerves. I periodically exercise these minor annoyances by writing little columns about them and thereby retain my sanity for another day. Here are a few phrases that I hear people using that repeatedly get on my nerves.

We have a very full flight today— Oftentimes when passengers are boarding a plane, flight attendants will announce that the flight is “very full today.” Now, I’ve always understood the word “full” to mean “filled to capacity,” or in other words, full.

So it works like this. A plane can be almost full. The plane can be just about full. But it is technically impossible to have anything that is very full. Nor can anything be quite full, extremely full, awfully full, incredibly full, exceedingly full or exceptionally full.

Full is a finite word just like the word “dead.” You can’t have someone who is very dead. News reports just don’t read that way.

”Today local resident Alvin Jones fell off his roof while attempting to rescue his cat. Authorities at the scene pronounced Mr. Jones to be very dead. Police investigators have also concluded that Mr. Jones is indeed extraordinarily dead. Officer Steve Smith was quoted saying, ‘Of all the dead people I’ve seen in my career, this guy is the most dead.’ Mr. Jones’ funeral services are expected to be very, very full.”

See? It just doesn’t work. Again, the rule is something can be almost full or not quite full, or even dang-near full. It just can’t be very full.

That door swings both ways —This is a common retort people use when they are trying to convey the concept of reciprocity — what is good for the goose is also good for the gander or what goes around comes around. The problem with saying “that door swings both ways” is that every door swing both ways.

Think about it. If a door swings one way, eventually it has to swing back, right? The door that doesn’t swing at all isn’t a door. It’s a wall. And if you had a door that really only swings one way, that would be a one-time-use door—a disposable door.

The one exception is a revolving door, which truly does only swing one way, except for the revolving doors that swing both ways. See? It’s maddening, isn’t it?

So I guess the saying should be amended to “that revolving door, which normally only swings one way, swings both ways.” Yes, that’s much better.

Pretty upset — The other day a friend of mine told me his wife was pretty upset, and I thought that was a bit odd because I’ve never seen anyone who was pretty when they were upset. The face usually gets red, eyes bulge out and veins start sticking out on the forehead. No, it definitely isn’t pretty.

If you really want to communicate the depth of one’s upset-ness, then you should say “Man, she was ugly upset. I’ve never seen her so ugly upset.”

It’s amazing the things people let themselves get worked up about, isn’t it? All of us do it. Yes, we let ourselves get distracted by the little things, but we also have the big things worrying us too. We worry about our jobs, the bills, our families.

But Jesus said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34 NIV)

That’s a tough concept to get your head around, but I wonder how many days we could add to the end of our lives if we chose to take Jesus at his word and “let tomorrow worry about itself”?

Anyway, it’s time for me to wrap this up. I have a very full schedule today and if I don’t get everything done, my wife is going to get pretty upset. But remember, that door swings both ways.

by Henri J.M. Nouwen, (Crossroad Publishing Co, New York: 1992) 156 pages, ISBN 0-8245-1986-8

This book has become a classic in Christian spirituality. Nouwen has written a number of books that have nurtured the internal devotional life of the ministry leader. Ministry leadership is more than simply managing budgets, buildings, and people. At its best, ministry leadership is a reflection of God’s Spirit moving through the gifts and graces of the servant to create opportunity for God to heal our broken and weary world.

Henri Nouwen is considered one of the great spiritual writers of our day, authoring over 40 books before his death in 1996. He taught at Harvard, Yale, and Notre Dame; and devoted the last years of his life to the L’Arche Daybreak community in Toronto, a ministry with people who are mentally handicapped.

What makes “Life of the Beloved” unique is that Nouwen is writing to a friend from a secular Jewish background. During years of friendship, Fred asks Nouwen to write something that would speak to the nonreligious framework of the real world. So the book connects to Fred’s life in several places as Nouwen points out the signs of God’s involvement in the world.

Nouwen begins with the picture of Jesus’ baptism. The Gospel writers report God’s affirmation of Jesus as he emerges from the water; “You are my son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11 NRSV). From this image Nouwen expands the image of the beloved to each person, including Fred and his secular friends.

Nouwen expands his perspectives of the Christian faith on the framework of the four verbs of the sacramental bread of the Eucharist: taken, blessed, broken, and given. Unpacking these four verbs in light of God’s blessing of being beloved nurtures the ministry leader into a deeper understanding of who we are as disciples, apart from any office or position. Hence, the book has become a classic read for ministry leaders seeking to deepen their own personal journey with God.

Ironically, Nouwen in true humility confesses that Fred is unimpressed with Nouwen’s work. Fred was looking for apologetic proofs and arguments for the existence of God instead of an invitation to a personal relationship with God.

At the same time, the ministry leader who has moved beyond apologetics and is searching for the enrichment of renewed devotion to the Holy One who calls people to ministry will find this read encouraging and hopeful.

This is not a difficult read. Nouwen writes in simplified language with lots of personal experiences to illustrate his points. The book also includes a Guide for Reflections that are useful for the individual student or the small group discussion leader.

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DBMIM November 03, 2009