"Missional" is our future!

“Missional” is a new word that First Baptist is just starting to learn about. (Don’t worry! “Missional” is a new enough word that the word is still catching on in seminaries and denominational offices, so just think, you’re ahead of the curve!) Thanks to a weekend in early February with Dr. Ron Carlson of ABC National Ministries, we began a conversation that I hope will continue onwards as the transitional time unfolds. Indeed, if we live out the definition of “missional” as a congregation, and even as individual disciples of Christ, we will experience great things. A church that is “missional” is defined by Dr. Carlson in this way:

“A community of faith which directs

its ministry focus primarily outward

toward the context in which it is located

and to the broader world beyond.”

To help us understand this definition, think about being “a missional church” in this way: For years, the emphasis of many churches has been to worry about declining numbers rather than figuring out how to utilize the creativity, gifts, and talents of those who are already faithful members of the congregation. Worrying about the pew that is empty has not allowed us to look at those already in the pews.

Becoming a missional church also asks the church to understand its identity anew. When you think of the church and its ministry, is it a fairly static understanding that has not changed for as long as you can remember? Does the phrase “mission field” sound like somewhere far, far away, and in turn, no place that we would expect to find ourselves?

Missional churches look at their community intentionally as a mission field and their ministries as more the result of creative thinking and praying about “how can we reach people and meet their needs?” Being this sort of church is to be less about worrying about “keeping the doors open” in the sense of maintaining an aging institution and more about keeping the church current by addressing the changing needs of the community.

Think of this sort of church as leaven in a loaf of bread. Jesus called the “reign of God” as such. A missional church finds little ways to effect the bigger picture, perhaps in small, sometimes imperceptible ways. Rather than being on edge about if there’s a tomorrow, a “missional” minded church is able to live “on the edge” of where the gospel is needed most.

Some of these initiatives can be the work of our existing boards and committees, however, a missional type church gives permission for “the whole people of God” to get involved. We will be offering another weekend with Dr. Carlson in the early part of summer to learn about how to organize “mission teams”, a group of people interested in tackling a particular issue or need—perhaps a team comprised of members of First Baptist as well as others in the community who would help resource the need being addressed, and in turn, learn that faith can indeed connect with these critical issues.

One way that First Baptist can become involved in missional ways is by tackling the issue of poverty in our community. Later this summer (June 27-28), American Baptists will gather in Washington, DC, for a conference called “Seeing the Children—Transforming the Church”, a national two-day event helping congregations engage their communities around the issue of children in poverty. We are hoping to send several congregants to this event, and in return, help those congregants put into action some of the ideas that they learn. If you would like to help underwrite the expenses of these folks, please send your donation marked “Poverty Conference” to the church, and we will help provide some assistance to our folks going to DC this summer.

NCD

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Retreat Weekend coming up!

When I worked for the seminary bookstore, local church pastors and lay leaders would often stand in front of the “Church Leadership” section pondering which books to buy for long stretches of time. “What are you looking for today?” I asked one person. “The answers,” was the reply.

Congregations struggle. First Baptist is like most American Baptists, and indeed most mainline Protestant churches, with a very familiar story: figuring out how to address our changing context for ministry. Many churches join us in the experience of declining attendance numbers since the late 1960s, or wondering where all the “young people” went, or becoming anxious about the rising costs of maintaining buildings, salaries, and programming with ever-shrinking dollars. The region office calls this effect being “stale, stagnant, or stuck.” And about 2/3 of the ABC V/NH congregations are there right now!

How we choose to live in this day as a congregation will help First Baptist see today as a new day for ministry or as a waning memory of past success and minimal hope for the present. The good news is: we are choosing to be in transition and transformation, and we celebrate success in 2006. Now it’s time to wrestle with the more significant long-term issues of being a congregation ready for “what’s now?” and “what’s next?”

At month’s end, there will be a significant opportunity to learn together as a congregation. Dr. Ron Carlson from ABC National Ministries will offer a weekend event for the church to learn about the present day for ministry and mission work. This is an “all church” retreat for adult members of the congregation. It is my hope and prayer that you will be able to work around work, family, and other obligations to attend this event.

We will begin on Friday evening, February 23, at 6 PM for a potluck meal and a time to reflect (up to about 8 PM or so) about our understandings of where we are and how we can “beat the odds” that congregations like First Baptist are past their prime. We continue on Saturday, February 24, from 9 AM to 3 PM, trying to connect Dr. Carlson’s thoughts on church transformation to our own ministry field: the Bennington area. On Sunday morning, February 25, at 9:30 AM, Ron will share in worship about churches that he has worked with across the denomination, and afterwards as part of a special coffee hour time, we will reflect together as a congregation about “okay….what do we do now?”

To give you a little bit of background about Ron Carlson, let me share some observations: I met Ron when he came to Central Seminary as a professor of evangelism and church growth. What impressed me about Ron’s thinking on the matter was that he was not the type who believed in “one size fits all” evangelism programs. He is particularly interested in helping congregations learn how to become more open to growth in ways that suit where they are. If you are in an urban area, your ministry opportunities will differ from churches in a small town. For a church rooted in the Bennington, Vermont, area, what will help us play our strengths as a congregation and be proactive in addressing challenging needs within the community?

Ron will share part of what is a growing vision among various churches. This movement of churches refer to themselves as “missional” churches. Indeed, “missional” is becoming a new vocabulary word for seminary students readying to go out into ministry, and it is a word that many churches are finding varying and diverse definitions to what this word means for them.

Learning the art of transformation

Dear visitor:

In the Fall of 2005, the people of the First Baptist Church of Bennington, VT, voted to enter into a three-year period of transition.  While calling an intentional interim minister for three years, the congregation covenanted with God to be in a time of intentional transition. We dedicate this time to learn how to become a healthier congregation and connecting creatively with the Bennington area as a witness to the Gospel.

Our interim (The Rev. Jerrod Hugenot) arrived on March 1, 2006, and he received training from the Interim Ministry Network through funds provided by the ABC V/NH Region office.  A transition team of key lay leaders began meeting with the intentional interim in the Summer of 2006.  Then, the congregation experienced three key events:

**A Congregational Timeline, which helped identify the history as well as the habits (good and bad) of the congregation's modern history (1940s to present).

**An exercise in "asset mapping" drawn from the work of the Alban Institute, which helped us identify our gifts and strengths as a particular gathering of people

**An experiment in congregational self-identity, which helped the congregation figure out our identity in a creative way.

You can read the ongoing journal entries beginning after this note. Due to the nature of this website, the documents are in reverse chronological order.  (The most recent entry is first; the oldest entry is last.)  However you choose to read our journal entries, we hope that you can see our growth as a process that has been intentional, methodical, and also open to the Spirit.  For a bibliography or if you have questions, please contact our interim with your questions. 

Grace & Peace,

The congregants of the First Baptist Church of Bennington, VT

PS:  The Rev. Hugenot can be contacted via: 802/442-2105 (office) or email:  fbpastor@sover.net

Grace: The result of the "Who is our church?" workshop

On November 12, 2006, we held our third fall worship and workshop event to help with congregational transformation. The minister presented an exercise called “Who is Our Church?”, drawn from the work of Canadian interim minister Dr. Janet Cawley. Dr. Cawley has learned that congregations can benefit from discussing our identity through likening the qualities, characteristics, and quirks of the congregation to a person.

Dr. Cawley worked with one congregation who experienced a great deal of growth as a newly founded church in a suburban area, yet it felt a little unsure of its path ahead. The church members likened their church to being like a thirteen year old boy named Eddy: lots of energy, less focus; ready to get into things, but needing a little help; voice is wobbling up and down. The church members discovered that they might have a few things to talk about, but they could at least now name their identity and took great pride in talking about seeing “Eddy” (aka their congregation) grow.

The workshop participants worked together in table groups and presented four different persons: each “person” was a woman, over the age of 50 (from 50 to 80), feeling a little less active but not so tired to give up, dealing with life issues, but wanting to be active and involved. Perhaps a little more retiring due to aging, but certainly ready for something.The workshop then started sorting out which qualities were most likely normative for the entire congregation.

We arrived at the idea that First Baptist is like a woman named “Grace.” The church is like a woman, about 50-60 years old. She is a professional who is thinking about retirement and just became a grandmother. She enjoys going out, but she also knows that she doesn’t have as much energy as she used to have. She is active, but she takes things at a good pace. She enjoys listening to country music and watching old episodes of The Lawrence Welk Show. She is a person who likes to give to others, through her church as well as through charity.

This brief workshop helped us see a glimpse of First Baptist as it looks ahead at its next chapter in life. We don’t want to say that the church is approaching its final years. We are willing to be active, though perhaps we need to take it easier. Perhaps we need to learn a little bit about the younger generation. A person who is fifty to sixty used to listen to the Beatles on an LP. How do we deal with a generation who has the Beatles maybe tucked away on an I-Pod? When we want somebody younger to come to church, will a press release in the Bennington Banner work or do we need to have it posted on the webpage? (Indeed, how often does “Grace” read the webpage?)

During the workshop, one comment was made about the family feel that “Grace” seems to have. How do we welcome those for whom “family” in a traditional sense holds less meaning? Young adults in Bennington might not have the deep generational ties due to the reality of families moving and uprooting more commonly. How could “Grace” become a surrogate “parent” to the younger generation? “Grace” has life experience to offer. How do we help play our strengths as a loving community to reach out to those who need our “Grace”?

In 2007, we will continue the transformational journey, looking for additional ways to building up the congregation. We have some exciting things planned, and we invite the congregation to be in prayer for the health and vitality of the church.

Indeed, may you learn how to pray for “Grace.”