Sermon 10-04-09
Psalm 26: 1-3 Romans 12: 1-18
“Towards a Healthy Congregation”
PRAYER
Romans is a challenging text, take a look at the expectations of Paul for the church in
Do you know that our bodies go through constant changes for the first 14 to 18 years after birth? Even though growth stops, the maintenance process continues. Exercising, proper sleep, taking vitamins and minerals and a good diet helps the body stay healthy.
What does it mean to be healthy?
How can we tell whether a congregation is moving in a healthy direction?
How can we identity a healthy congregation?
“Healthy Congregations are purposeful organizations. They have a clear sense of direction. They keep asking, what is God calling us to be? What is the meaning of what we do? They have a working vision that conveys the message that together the y can influence their future.
Healthy Congregations respond to Anxiety. In stressful situations, people in lieu of blaming others, focus on the responsibility to address the issues that brought the anxiety in the first place.
Healthy Congregations accept Differences. People need to confront and face their differences. Jesus’ prayer for unity is a prayer for unity in the faith, not for complete agreement. We can agree to disagree!
Healthy Congregations focus on their Strengths, not their Weaknesses. Hurtful problems tend to control us and overwhelm us. How do we turn them to be sources of strength even in difficult times? God is an ever-present source of strength upon which we are to focus.
Healthy Congregations Manage Conflict. God wants us to look at the bigger picture and focus on the more important inner issues, rather than react to the external particulars. As we focus more on the process of solving the conflicts instead of the content, we gain awareness of self and others. (Peter Steinke, Healthy Congregations, workshop #3)
Let me share a fable with you:
“Six wise men who are blind come across an elephant. Each sage deciphers
the animal’s shape from a singular vantage point:
Six wise men of
And carefully they felt its shape (for all of them where blind).
The first he felt towards the tusk, “It does to me appear.
This marvel of an elephant is very like a spear.”
The second sensed the creature’s side. Extended flat and tall,
“Ahah!” he cried and did conclude, “This animal is a wall.”
The third had reached towards a leg and said, “It’s clear to me
The fourth had come upon the trunk which he did seized, and shake,
Quoth he, “this so-called elephant is really just a snake.”
The fifth had felt the creature’s ear and fingers o’er it ran,
“I have the answer, never fear, the creature’s like a fan!”
The sixth had come upon the tail, as blind he did grope,
“let my conviction now prevail This creature’s like a rope.”
And so the men of missing sight each argued loud and long
though each was partly in the right. They all were in the wrong.”
Each focus on one part of the elephant, the wise men cannot encompass the whole. The fable reminds me of what happens when congregations
over focus on the particulars, people find it immensely difficult to see the
rest of the system, they are blind to how other forces and people contribute to what is happening. Over focusing on the clergy, (for example), keeps the focus off the church’s mission. Instead of focusing on who they are and what they are about as a community, they peer intently at who the pastor is and what the pastor does… putting the focus only on one part of the whole. (Peter Steinke, “Healthy Congregations,” (A Systems approach),pg. 44-46)
“Healthy Congregations focus on
Healthy Congregations have Challenging Leaders, not Comforters.
Jesus challenged the disciples more than he comforted them. It is when open ourselves to God’s challenges, instead of running from them, that we become truly safe in his goodness and mercy.
Healthy Congregations focus on the System not the Symptoms. When we can get below the presentation of the issues and deal with the truth that drives us, we are able to name the situation as a church. Only then can we address the symptoms, (deal with them), and begin to heal.
“Healthy Congregations learn to deal with change and accept change as part of the process. Change is inevitable; change is going to happen! It’s how we respond to the change that is most important. We don’t like change because it moves us from our comfort zone. We like things the way they are, and the way we always have done it, even when we know it may not be healthy. In order to maintain stability we need to respond to the changes in our personal lives and in the church. Only a congregation that adjusts and shifts when circumstances change will be stable,” (and healthy). (Peter Steinke, Healthy Congregations, workshop #3)
Let me end with this “autobiography in five short chapters from an unknown author, it will help us understand better how we commonly function:
Chapter One:
I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost and hopeless. It is not my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter Two:
I walk down the same street. There is a hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I do not see it. I fall in again. I cannot believe I am in the same place. It is not my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter Three:
I walk down the same street. There is a hole in the sidewalk. I see there.
I still fall in - it is a habit. My eyes are open I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out quickly.
Chapter Four:
I walk down the same street. There is a hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
Chapter Five:
I walk down a different street! (idem)
BENEDICTION
Saint Francis of
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.
Courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.” Amen!
