What’s next for NEXT church? (version 2012)
By Carmen Fowler LaBerge, The Layman, February 29, 2012
(Corrections made 3/6/12)
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DALLAS, Texas – Casting a vision for “ministry as a cultural poetic,” William Stacy Johnson, NEXT church advisory team member and Princeton seminary professor, received thunderous applause after calling for NEXT church conference attendees to “re-envision the gospel.”
In his address on February 27, “Weathering the cultural tsunami: Toward a ministry of poetry, prayer and prophetic witness,” Johnson offered four points:
- “There are two ways of living: we can live as those who are perishing or as those who are being saved
- “Mainline religion faces a tsunami of change: an adaptive challenge
- “The real adaptive challenge is not confronting the tsunami, but the gospel itself, and
- “An invitation to do that through a ministry of poetry, prayer and prophetic witness.”
Using H. Richard Niebuhr’s “logic of survival versus the logic of the cross” as a metaphor, Johnson juxtaposed the witness of Jewish military commander turned Roman historian Josephus with Jesus, who Johnson said “embodied a different logic.” According to Johnson, the logic of Josephus is the logic of survival, acknowledging that “most of us are a lot like Josephus – we’ll say or do almost anything to ensure our survival.” Then he said, “Jesus of Nazareth embodied a different logic: The logic of the cross. He did not fight the reign of the Romans but trusted in the reign of God.”
Delivering a litany of statistics that, taken together, spell doom for denominational survival, Johnson then said, “But if you are a conservative, the news is even worse.” He noted the “dramatic decrease in the percentage of Americans who believe the Bible is inerrant, and the dramatic increase in the acceptance of religious pluralism and inter-religious marriage.” Johnson said that “three quarters of Americans respond ‘yes’ that there are religions other than their own that can offer a true path to God” and that “the number of people who adhere to no religion at all – the ‘nones’ – increased from 2 or 3 percent in 1990 to close to 17 percent in 2010.” He added with emphasis that “the number of ‘nones’ in their 20s now stands at 25 percent.”
Johnson declared that “young people don’t care about the squabbles in the Presbyterian church,” a line which received generous applause from the NEXT church attendees.
In a line that was offered almost verbatim by Rev. Dr. Jim Singleton at the Fellowship of Presbyterians event held in Jan. 2012, Johnson referred to Ronald Heifetz’ distinction between technical and adaptive challenges. Johnson acknowledged that “many in the church are rightly calling for adaptive or transformational leadership” and that “Christianity as usual is not working.”
Johnson said that where some are satisfied to tinker with organizational alignment, structures and rules, “the real adaptive challenge comes from the gospel itself.” He said that “the adaptive challenge in the church goes all the way down. It includes the need to envision and re-envision the gospel itself” in addition to how that gospel is embodied. Johnson punctuated his point against the efforts of others in the denomination that what is needed is “not just a better delivery system for the message” but that the “message itself needs to be re-envisioned.”
Gaining momentum, Johnson said, “We have hardly begun … We think of ourselves as a church reformed … but how far down are we willing to let reform go?”
Making reference to the bureaucracy of the PCUSA in general, Johnson said, “Our ‘everything decently and in order side’ is choking off our ‘reformed and always being reformed side,'” another line which received affirmation.
Johnson continued, “We should not be simply about paying homage to the devotions of previous generations. Interpretation and reinterpretation has always been the hallmark of the gospel.”
He argued that there would be “no theological basis for arguing against slavery, the ordination of women, or torture – which was practiced by Christendom” if the church through the ages had not, in the words of Johnson, “re-envisioned the gospel” by thoroughly reinterpreted the texts.
He said that “the gospel is more than a fixed set of beliefs. It is the unfolding drama of God for us, with us and among us.” And Johnson declared “this drama is not yet finished.”
“So,” he asked rhetorically, “where do we go from here?” Johnson answered the question by outlining “ministry as a cultural poetic.” Poetry, prayer and prophetic witness are the three legs of the ministry construct Johnson proposes for the NEXT church.
The poetry is the pastor, Johnson contends. Referring his students to the writings of Craig Barnes and Walter Brueggeman on the poetics of ministry, to George Steiner on the poetics of thought and to Paul Ricoeur on intellectual poetics, Johnson invited pastors to “inspire people with a flesh and blood Jesus in you.” He noted that “Jesus was a great poet.” Contending that Jesus’ “parables are not meant to be explained, they are to be lived. Let’s let the parables be our way back into the gospel – not the theological or exegetical polemic.”
The prayer that Johnson advocates is “more an attentiveness to God than an effort to be sure that God attends to us.” He offered the Lord’s Prayer as a model.
Johnson then called the NEXT church to a “prophetic witness” that points to the resurrection of Jesus. Johnson said that “Justice and righteousness is the heart of the Jewish prophets and Jesus stands squarely in that tradition.” He shared that “I meet young people every day who share God’s deep concern for the poor, the ailing, the sojourner, the widow, the orphan … they are captivated by prophetic religion. They care about the world, this world, lived differently.” He then went on to describe Jesus as a person “immersed in the world” saying that “He was in solidarity with the people” and “that’s what ministry is really all about – being in solidarity with people.”
“This redemptive activity has a future focus,” Johnson said. Continuing, he said, “That’s what resurrection is about; it’s about the future. We are not yet what we shall be. Resurrection means that there is an unfinished narrative.” Johnson excoriated those who would seek to summarize the gospel into a list of essential tenets saying, “You cannot summarize the gospel, it’s not over yet! There’s more to come. Christianity is not yet what it shall be.” Johnson’s message received a standing ovation and thunderous applause from the 600 attendees at the NEXT church event.
What’s next for NEXT organizationally
What’s next?
Theologically: Re-envisioning the message of the gospel;
Organizationally: Strategy and advisory teams, hiring a director and organizing regional events
Seeking to speak the truth of an emerging reality, Tom Are, pastor at Village Presbyte
rian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas, admitted during a plenary session that “I don’t look anything like the NEXT church. I sound like the old church, not the next church.” He invited those present to learn from this time of transition in the church with openness to what’s next. He did suggest some continuity between the present and the future, saying that “the next church will not be inventing the church but will be the church in a new day.” That new thing is to be anticipated with hope and without anxiety, Are said.
According to Shannon Johnson Kershner, pastor of Black Mountain PC in Black Mountain, N.C., one hallmark of what’s next is a renewed commitment to friendship among colleagues in ministry. Are said that part of the vision of the NEXT church is to host regional gatherings of friends “where we can have conversations about birthing collaborative ministry.”
The second hallmark was described as a renewed commitment to Presbyterian connectionalism that Are noted “is in our DNA but not in that of the culture.” Part of the new connectionalism will be facilitated by a “first class website for sharing resources,” that will include open source “platform for sharing” resources related to “officer training, small group Bible studies” and other materials to equip the “whole church for witness.”
“God has not left us,” Kershner offered as the third conviction. “We do not believe that if the PCUSA died it would not matter to God” and, “we believe that the PCUSA has a viable and important witness in the world.” She acknowledged that “we have some broken places” but then invited the Next church to see “displacement from power” as a “gift” enabling the church to genuinely identify with the marginalized.
Hope is the fourth hallmark of the NEXT church. Are reflected, “I think you’re here because you hope.” He likened the experience of Presbyterians today to that of Jesus who after being baptized and Spirit empowered — claimed by God as His chosen and beloved child — the Spirit then cast Him out. Are observed that Jesus “was not singing, ‘There’s a sweet, sweet spirit in this place.'” He said, “This is a metaphor for where we are. Just yesterday we thought we were the beloved children – now we’re in the wilderness. How did that happen?” Then he noted that the wilderness “was exactly where Jesus was supposed to be. The Spirit led Him there.” Are went on to observe that the church is always “desperately trying to keep up with the Spirit of God. We’re always a little lost, a little behind – because God always has dreams for the world that we have yet to realize.”
In order to do that, Are suggested that the NEXT church “needs to pay attention, listen to one another, trust one another, be patient, and be not afraid.”
Nuts and bolts of what’s next for NEXT church
In Tuesday morning’s invitation for participation in what’s next for NEXT church, Are said “this is not something that some of us are providing for the church but it is a way that we are trying to be the church together.” He then invited those present to partner with the strategy and advisory teams in five ways:
- NEXT gathering in Charlotte, March 4-5, 2013
- regional gatherings – join, help facilitate
- ask congregations for financial gifts (the NEXT church budget is $150,000 and according to Are, 40 percent of that has been committed by participating churches)
- be a friend among colleagues, and
- pray for the church.
In conclusion, Are acknowledged that there is some need for organizational structure but noted that it would be minimal. NEXT church plans to hire a director, launch an open source resourcing website and continue hosting conversations where the ” NEXT church is invited into being.”
In addition to Kershner and Are, other members of the NEXT church strategy team are Andrew Foster Connors, Mary Ann McKibben Dana, Charlene Han Powell, Pen Peery, Frank Spencer, Jessica Tate and Reggie Weaver. The NEXT church advisory team includes Christine Chakoian, Joe Clifford, Fairfax Fair, Lewis Galloway, Tim Hart-Anderson, Leah Hrachovec, Stacy Johnson, Scott Black Johnston, Carla Pratt Keyes, Agnes Norfleet, Karen Sapio and John Wilkinson.