Dear Church:

How do we keep “Transformation” from becoming another church buzzword? As the CLB and the elders embrace the recommendation of the pastoral search committee to adopt a stance of transformation, it might be tempting to make “transformation” a word we use to describe everything.

I had a mission professor in seminary who was fond of declaring, “if everything is mission, then nothing is missional.” If everything we do at Blooming Glen is transformation…then it is unlikely we will experience much transformation.

In the post-Christendom, pandemic polarized, and digitally divided world we are inhabiting, transformation takes on at least three characteristics:

First, we are a transforming church when we decide to love one another. Loving one another isn’t just avoiding conflict or relationship. Loving one another is about caring deeply for, about, and with one another. Loving one another is curious about one another. Loving one another dialogues with one another. Loving one another is empathic – seeking to understand first and foremost, before needing to be understood. Loving one another welcomes one another’s creativity and recognizes my way may not be the best way. Loving one another also cares enough to challenge one another. Loving one another focuses on keeping the main thing the main thing in relationships. Loving one another engages one another – we challenge each other and respect each other without compromising the calling we have. Loving one another is authentic – it resonates from not just the head (our intellect), but also the heart (our feelings), and our guts (our intuitions). Loving one another also is dignified. It pays attention to the relational power we all hold in the church, and treats one another well, especially when we disagree.

Second, we are a transforming church when we decide to make God the center of our worship. When we gather for worship, it is not to be spectators in a religious pageant. We gather to worship, individually, and corporately, to honor God, and to seek God’s will for our individual and corporate life together. Evaluating worship based on whether we liked it or not is a great adventure in missing the point. The point of worship is finding an answer to the question, “…did we open our intellect, emotions, and intuition to God’s reign, and in hearing his voice, are we ready to say yes to him?” All the elements of worship – our singing, our praying, our giving, the preaching, are all to be designed not to entertain or even inspire, but to enable us to follow Jesus more completely every day.

Third, we are a transforming church when we decide to serve our neighbors near and far. Service is great. We love service at Blooming Glen. We flirt with peacemaking, and many of us are uncertain about evangelism, but we love service. However, service is usually on our terms. That’s not an entirely bad thing, we offer what we have. The gospels tell the story of the young boy who offered Jesus five loves of bread and two fishes, and Jesus multiplied that gift into a great feast. But in our age, can we begin to serve also by hearing the deep needs in our community, and in our world? I think we want to do so, but sometimes find ourselves on compassion overload.

My prayer, as the congregation discerns the transformation proposal of the CLB and elders, is that we will put loving one another, worshipping God alone in spirit and truth, and serving neighbors near and far as the centerpiece of our continuing spiritual and institutional transformation at Blooming Glen Mennonite Church. May “transformation” not become a buzzword, like “missional” has seemingly become in recent years. Rather, may transformation become the whole point being and doing church together.

Finally, friends, I want to thank you for the turnout and the questions at the three meetings held last weekend to review the transformation proposal. I’m sure there were more questions than were asked. Please feel free to contact me if you want to further discuss anything related to the transformation plan. I may not have the answer you are looking for, but I would appreciate getting as many issues as possible out on the table.

Praying that I will be continually transformed through God’s grace,

Pastor Jeff

jeff@bgmc.net

P.S. | Memorial Day is this Monday, May 27. I think the A&N Diner will be open, so I’ll be there at 7:30am to listen to whatever is on the minds of whoever shows up. I’ll also be at the Broad Street Grind this Friday, May 24, and next Friday, May 31, at 3:30pm, for an afternoon Caffe Cortado, and more opportunities to listen to whatever is on your mind…

Dear Church:

When it’s all said and done, there may be only three kinds of churches. Congregations, regardless of denominational affiliation will self-select into one of three categories. First, there are “memorial churches.” Memorial churches generally believe that their best days as a church were in the past. Memorial churches likely used to be bigger, multi-generational, and today see to it that they maintain the finances and facilities of previous generations of generosity with care and with an eye toward conservation.

A second form of church could be labeled as, “maintenance churches.” These churches believe that things right now are as good as it gets, and so preserving what is becomes the mission-critical nature of being the church. Maintenance churches strive to keep members happy. Programs involve rehearsing Christian values. Worship is a production. Service in the neighborhood is a means to feel good about the congregation.

Memorial and maintenance churches are transactional churches. If you will but pray (and pay), then the church staff will provide you with a positive experience.

There are likely times and seasons for each congregation to refocus on memorializing what has been, or maintaining what is.

For Blooming Glen, on this Pentecost weekend, now is not that time.

Our pastoral search committee, congregational leadership board, and elders have reached a new consensus. Maybe without recognizing fully what they signed on for, our church leadership: search committee, CLB, and elders, have cast our collective lot with reanimating Blooming Glen as a “movement church.” The leadership believes the best days are yet to come. The leadership invites us toward a new passion for the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Our leadership has staked a claim in being on the lookout for new and creative ways to live out the mission of God, across the street and around the world. Our leadership is banking on new footholds for ministry within the culture to sharpen our focus on Jesus, depolarize our partisan politics, and find new wisdom in this strange new world. Our leadership has declared that church is likely going to become uncomfortable, and not very safe or simple for the foreseeable future. Blooming Glen is seeking to turn the clock back 270 years, and once again live as pioneers in new place.

In short, leadership at Blooming Glen has chosen to double down on the transformational character of Pentecost, and that the Holy Spirit will move in our midst over the next number of years in at least three ways:

To draw us into an embrace of spiritual habits and practices that fuel new core ministries that curate deep worship, that call us to thriving community care, and that guide us into truly missional service.
To expect our ministry staff to reimagine their work from program managers who facilitate religious transactions to a vital team of Jesus-led, Spirit-filled coaches who are led to build trust, character, and capacity so that the church at Blooming Glen is constantly reforming itself into an intergenerational and intercultural missionary community.
To become permanently vigilant, on the lookout for new leadership (mostly home-grown) to capably guide the church into what’s next.

This is not a two-year process. It may not even be a ten- or twenty-year process. But, seriously, isn’t the quest for transformation more appealing than the transactional ways of being church?

Our core ministries, our leadership systems, our elders, and our staff are all in agreement that, 1) we don’t know for sure where a transformational emphasis on being a movement church will ultimately take us; and 2) we sure do want to find out.

Welcome to Pentecost 2024,

Pastor Jeff

jeff@bgmc.net

P.S. I’m back from outer space (aka, England, and California). Coffee and Conversations resume at the Broad Street Grind on Friday, May 17 at 3:30pm-4:45pm. Oatmeal, Omelettes, and Observations resume at the A&N Diner on Monday, May 20, at 7:30am-8:45am. These are your times to ask questions, challenge assumptions, and make your voice heard in the dialogue. If you can’t make those times, come see me about other times that might work for you to be heard. Thanks!