An unauthorized and personal reflection
In my first blog of this series, I wrote about the crisis of preparing ordained leaders for the present and future Church. In my second blog I wrote about our failure in evangelism. In this blog, I look at the issue of formation.
I have seen several examples of clergy and congregations that do an outstanding work in the deepening formation of their members. This issue is dear to my heart because I believe that it is the continual work of the church to grow our members into closer disciples of our Lord. For example, when I have taught on preaching, I share that our time in the pulpit is an opportunity for spiritual direction for our members. Remember C.S. Lewis’ refrain in heaven, “higher up and deeper in.” Part of my work as a priest is to motivate people to have longing for and seek this spiritual progression.
The congregations that do this well have given thought and planning on how to do formation. Once having done this, they think through the steps. Those who benefit from spiritual direction know that this is precisely what the director does for individuals. Congregations that do formation well are following the same model.
I have written other blogs about the research on congregations that point out that the spiritual growth of members has almost no correlation to the planned activities of a church. According to this research, members mostly grow because they just happen to be at the right place at the right time. Our parishioners might joke that they were in the wrong place at the right time, but whether by chance or intention, the consequence is that they were challenged to take a step further in to the Christian life. The classical image is pilgrimage.
I learned a great lesson from church planting about all this. Church planters find when they launch the new congregation, they face a dilemma in our core value of using the lectionary. Given the large percentage of a new church who are not only non-Episcopalians but also non-Christian, the lectionary provides little continuity in the early formation of Christians. Church planters taught me that they often had to plan the first months of services in a way for them to present the basics of the Christian faith via the lessons, gospels, and sermons.
I would acknowledge that a long tenured Episcopalian should not need this, and the seasons and lectionary are generally an enriching experience, but I would also mention that I have met life-long Episcopalians with large gaps in their formation, in understanding Christ and their call to believe and follow him. My point is that assuming that folks can sit in our pews for years and “get it” is quite an assumption. As a teacher of mine once said, “it’s like putting people in a chicken coop and expecting them to eventually lay eggs.”
In my consultation work with churches and in teaching congregational development to leaders, I often speak to the need for formation. I point out that this needs to be intentional and aimed at spiritual growth. Further, I point out the two paths that I think are necessary to a healthy congregation. The first is a clear tract to membership which means active participation in the congregation’s worship, ministries, and stewardship.
The second path is that of discipleship. I ask leadership to image a person or family that comes to their church as spiritual seekers, not already formed Christians. Then I ask them to map out events, education, and experiences that would lead them in becoming intentional followers of Jesus Christ. Amazingly, once given the task, many of our leaders are up for the work. But how many congregations in TEC do this? How many of our clergy and lay leaders assume that attending Church 1, 2, 3, or 4 Sundays a month will make that happen? My answer is TOO MANY.
This is not to negate the value of baptismal or confirmation instruction. Many of our churches put good effort into this. Unfortunately, many times these are aimed at becoming an Episcopalian. Once having completed this instruction followed by baptism or conformation, new people are treated as if they have arrived at the destination.
Thus, when I look at the State of the Church, I see a major issue. Too few congregations have thought through a path of membership and many fewer have thought through a path of discipleship.
Because I am rooted in the catholic (small c) tradition of TEC, I have a strong desire to make formation and spiritual direction part of the congregations I have served. At the Cathedral in Dallas, we created a core curriculum and a Cathedral Way of Life and constantly invited both new members and long-time members to take these on. Were we perfect at this? Of course not, but we were intentional about it. When I retired from the Cathedral over half our members had signed on to following the Cathedral Way, a traditional Christian path for deepening the spiritual life of our people. It was the singularly most significant congregational dynamic that I had ever been a part of in years of ministry.
When it comes to formation, the State of our Church is that despite some wonderful examples, most of our congregations are not doing this work.
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