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Why Covenants in Congregations?
The churches in North America are coming to realize that as the
tides of radical individualism rise, along with a culture where
human beings are seen more and more as consumers, churches need
to approach being communities in a new way.
Leadership, both clergy and elders, are key in establishing the
norms of behaiour through which we express the truths of our faith.
As Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all will
know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John 13:34-35. While Jesus meant this for all disciples, the leaders
of a congregation are key in establishing the expectations for loving
each other.
It is widely noted that persons in North American culture are tending
to treat others with an increasing level of contempt and disrespect.
The church is not immune from what our cultures now consider "normal"
behaviour between adults, therefore communities are seeing a rise
in destructive and divisive behaviours. Just a look at church leadership
book lists will show a growing number of books dealing with this
issue. The most most useful books I have read on the current context
of ministry are as follows:
From the Back Cover: "Gordon Scoville's
thesis is that we have entered an age of barbarism, stepping into
a process that involves disintegrating into a moral vacuum from
which the only exit is to become the church of committed disciples.
He attempts to ground his argument in a variety of experiential,
historical, and theological materials. First, he offers personal
glimpses of pastoral ministry in the vacuum. Then follow examples
from nineteenth- and twentieth-century American history that demonstrate
a comprehensive process in which bureaucracy feeds on cultural disintegration
while advancing into barbarism. Next, he attempts to exemplify the
vacuum in the ongoing development of mainline Protestant decline
and in his own pastoral experience amid this deterioration. He points
to seeds of comparable disintegration also among evangelical churches,
though numerical prosperity tends to mask a serious condition of
decadence. Finally, he sets forth prescriptions regarding what the
post-Enlightenment church must do to get itself right."
From the publisher's description: "This down-to-earth
workbook gets to the heart of modern congregational life: how to
live creatively together despite differences of age, race, culture,
opinion, gender, theological or political position. Alban Senior
Consultant Gil Rendle explains how to grow by valuing our differences
rather than trying to ignore or blend them. He describes a method
of establishing behavioral covenants that includes leadership instruction,
training tools, resources (visual models, examples of specific covenants),
small-group exercises, plans for meetings and retreats."
Both of these books are thin paperbacks. Scoville
gives a veteran clergy's insights into the state of the church
and the challenges that we face given the direction of our culture,
while Rendle gives a very concise, easy to introduce method of
growing loving and competent leadership in a congregation. Rendle's
method of developing covenants is an ongoing approach which is
open to changes. Rather than offering a one time learning event,
he introduces a simple and faithful method of groups naming and
reassessing their areas for growth. Having used this book with
a congregaitonal leadership that was blocked due to fears of naming
aloud some of the troubling interpersonal "issues" that
were blocking them, I found that it created an opportunity for
leaders to begin to name the issues. This was the first step in
beginning the hard work of addressing them.
While I believe the current step, is to establish
leadership covenants, ultimately the direction of mainline congregations
will be towards Discipleship Covenants. While many mainline churches
enjoyed substantial growth after the second world wars, for the
most part growth occurred due to recruitment rather than discipleship.
With the rise in individualism and consumerism, many members (if
people even bothered to make a commitment) saw church as a spiritual
service provider. "Church is where I get my battery recharged."
was a common view of these consumer Christians. While it was understandable
that new converts would still hold the values of the dominant
culture, many long standing members and leaders of congregation
came (and still do) hold these values. On the other hand, many
leaders seeing the Christian faith as mutual service became and
have become disturbed at the level of apathy and financial giving.
The solution for many congregations is to bring
the expectations of discipleship "into the light" and
to allow for a mature and collective discussion on how the community
will seek to be a mission in the world. While this, of course,
does not preclude disciples in the congregation from making a
covenant they never intend to try to fulfill, it does allow those
folks with no intention of being Christian disciples to opt out.
And since the covenants are repeated regularly, this gives opportunities
for people to reassess and reaffirm their commitment. The covenanting
church will likely be smaller, however by focusing on a more committed
community of disciple, more faithful mission will occur.
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