Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

C. K. Robertson, PhD, DD, is Canon to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the General Theological Seminary. His books include Transforming Stewardship, Conversations with Scripture: Acts of the Apostles, and the DVD series, Hazardous Saints, all via Church Publishing. He earned the PhD from the University of Durham, Durham, England. He lives in Oviedo, Florida

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Transforming Stewardship

Church Publishing

Contents

Series Preface...............................viiAcknowledgments..............................ix1. The Current Landscape.....................12. Tour Guides...............................233. Suggested Route...........................494. Tools for the Journey.....................1105. The Destination...........................147A Guide for Discussion.......................155Resources....................................161Notes........................................165

Chapter One

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall! (Matthew 7:24–27)

At first glance, the Church of the Foolish and the Church of the Wise appear very similar. Both are proud of their rich heritage and nervous about their uncertain future. A visitor might equally exclaim of either, "What a magnificent sanctuary!" while also adding, "Where are all the people?" It is clear, too, that each of these churches boasts a faithful core of members committed to the care of their spiritual home, their treasure. Yet, in both cases the treasure is costly. As New York Review of Books contributor Bill McKibbon notes, "As GM and Ford bear the weight of old union contracts, the mainline churches bow under the weight of big brick edifices built in an earlier day" (January 17, 2008).

Indeed, the expense of maintaining magnificent old buildings has increased considerably through the years even as membership—and the income associated with membership—has declined considerably. In the early 1990s, researcher George Barna noted in The Frog in the Kettle, "As the elderly pass away, they are being replaced in the church by generations who have less loyalty to religion, to denominations, to the local churches with which they affiliate and to the very notion of being a formal member of a church." This trend has only increased in the early years of the twenty-first century, as Barna notes in his more recent Revolution. Yes, the Church of the Foolish and the Church of the Wise indeed face many similar challenges. Both begin at the same point of origin. It is what they choose to do from there that sets them apart!

The Church of the Foolish does what it has always done: it begs for more money from people who perhaps never truly understood why they gave to begin with, other than for the sake of loyalty. After all, if you belong to a club, you pay the dues. The Church of the Foolish hosts its annual stewardship dinner, because that is what it has always done. In recent years, the church leaders have begun to use prepackaged programs like "The Dogsled Direct." Making the parish hall look and feel like the Arctic (which is not difficult, given the higher heating bills!), a good meal is served, tales are recounted, and a couple of vestry members tell how much this church means to them. And, of course, the treasurer stands up and shows a chart that illustrates how expenses have risen 20 percent, and both salary and insurance rates for a fulltime clergyperson have skyrocketed, and things look as dire as they could ever imagine. And then the stewardship chair passes the Dogsled bags out to the people. All this to make the request for money a bit more palatable.

The Church of the Wise faces similar difficulties, but its leaders realize that a new program is not the answer to the larger, long-term problems they face. They refuse to settle for "coyote thinking." I am referring here to the familiar cartoon, in which the wily coyote is always thinking of new ways to snare the seemingly naïve, but ultimately triumphant roadrunner. Hardly unintelligent, the coyote is, in fact, quite innovative and resourceful. He continually comes up with creative stratagems and always utilizes the latest gadgetry (thanks to the endless supplies and instant shipping provided by the Acme Warehouse). The problem with "coyote thinking" is not a lack of ideas, but the inability to review and change one's foundational principles. What amazing things might happen if the coyote decided to become a vegetarian, or even place a take-out order with the local café! All the energy that the coyote expends in his single-minded goal of catching the roadrunner could then be directed toward more creative pursuits, accomplishing great things that remain unimaginable—and thus unattainable—as long as he remains stuck in his familiar paradigm of "catch the roadrunner."

Unlike their Foolish Church neighbors down the street, the leaders of the Church of the Wise have made a conscious decision not to be coyotes in their thinking. Instead, in the language of futurist Joel Barker, they act as paradigm pioneers, visionaries who are unafraid to change direction, chart a new course, and ask hard questions. Instead of simply repeating the old refrain, "We wish our church would grow," these wise pioneers go further and ask: "We say we want to grow, but what do we mean by growth? If we are talking about adding new members, who is it that we want to attract? We say we want families with young children, but do we know what kind of changes that might mean for us? And why do we want to grow? Do we simply want to increase our financial giving base? Are we trying to recapture a past from our nostalgic remembrances? Do we see our congregation as an aging group whose membership needs to be replenished? Or do we find ourselves driven by a gospel imperative to reach out to the unbelieving and the unchurched?" And then there is the issue of how: "What will it really take to grow? What changes will we need to implement right now, and what changes will occur as a result of subsequent growth?" The leaders of the Church of the Wise are willing to ask these tough questions.

More than this, they are willing to take a good long look both in the mirror and also outside their walls. In his book Transforming Congregations for the Future, Loren Mead of the Alban Institute asserts that we make "idols out of our structures" while failing to ask why the church has "slipped off the radar screens" of so many people in our society. His strong challenge is to acknowledge that we cannot respond to the issues we face as God's ambassadors by doing what we have always done. It is interesting that business leaders have long understood that to which we in the church seem to be oblivious, that past success is the greatest obstacle to future success. This is the exact opposite of what we usually believe: if it worked then, it will work now. But this is simply another form of coyote thinking. Why should we expect past ways and means to work today when we ourselves have changed, individually and corporately? As long as we are focused solely on the protection of what we have or the return to the successes of whatever golden age we recall, we will miss the opportunities of mission and ministry before us. As a wise senior warden once told me, "If there was a...