Derek Penwell: Post-Denominational: Making the Time to Be Scared of More Interesting Things
In a post-denominational world, the take away isn't the post-denominational part. As soon as you say "post-denominational," people start getting their knickers in a twist.
• "Denominations are important!"
• "Denominations provide us with a historic identity."
• "Denominations give us great ways to organize ourselves for ministry."
• "Denominations allow us, by pooling our resources, to do mission on a global scale."
• "Denominations help us find and hire ministers."
• "Denominations hold our pensions." [Ministers, of which I am one, are particularly sensitive to this one.]
True. All true. But so what?
"Well, you're talking about giving up on denominations-like you want denominations to die."
Please don't misunderstand me. By speaking of a post-denominational world, I'm describing what I think lies over the horizon; I'm not advocating for or against it. I'm just telling you what I think is happening.
The question to ask: If denominational structures as we know them are heading for difficult waters, how are we going to respond?
"We need to try to stop it!"
Fine. How do you propose to do that?
"We don't know. You're the smarty-pants writing books. You're supposed to tell us."
But even if I could, even if I had the magic pill that would stop the bleeding and turn everything back to the way it was in middle America in 1955, why should I want to?
"For all the reasons I just gave you-combined ministry, global mission, ministerial credentialing, and support. Pensions, for crying out loud!"
Let me get at this another way. Mainline denominations are afraid. Declining congregations are afraid. People live in fear that one day they may wake up and something they love will no longer be there. Fear. Panic. Do something!
But the thing is, fear is a part of everyone's life. Given the way our brains have evolved, we carry around with us extremely sensitive threat detection systems. When being eaten by a hungry tiger was a daily concern-and not an opportunity for fame on YouTube-being highly tuned to threats was an enormous advantage. Unfortunately, that level of threat detection sensitivity not only isn't necessary for most people in our world, it can become a crippling hindrance. But until such time as the human brain evolves enough to catch up with our changed circumstances, nonspecific and often paralyzing fear is going to be an inevitable part of the human experience.
Part of the point of this book about how to survive in a post-denominational world is to learn to live with the fear. Therefore, I want to suggest, following Merlin Mann, that if fear is an inevitable part of our lives, we would do well to find more interesting things to be scared of ... in particular, in the church. Like what, for instance?
You've spent time looking at the historical trends. You know about year after year losses-money, members, prestige. You're afraid. It's understandable. Here's the question, though: Why not try being afraid of something other than going out of existence?
• Why not be scared of the fact that there are innumerable kinds of great, creative, meaningful, reign-of-God sorts of work out there needing to be done, rather than expending inordinate amounts of energy worrying about whether your denomination or your congregation will once again muster up the funds to support its bureaucratic infrastructure, or whether the church organizational model has a good enough flow chart, or about whether to "jazz up" the worship service? (Hint: Using phrases like "jazz up" may be part of the problem.)
• Why not be afraid of the fact that there are people outside your walls, outside your normal sphere of thinking, who need what you have to share, and that in concentrating on your own survival you ignore them?
• Why not be more anxious about the relationships you are failing to cultivate and nurture than in not getting all the organizational and programmatic pieces just so?
Make a Decision and Do Something
You have to face the fact that if you're a carpenter, your job is pounding nails. If you spend more time planning to pound nails than you do with a hammer in your hand, you're not doing your job. If you spend more time doing the meta-ministry-that is, the work that supports ministry (meeting, planning, budgeting, setting up meetings, apologizing for meetings, trying to think up new names so you don't have to call them "meetings" anymore)-than in ministry (holding hands in hospital rooms, praying, writing, reading, preaching, teaching, playing basketball with kids, etc.), you're not doing your job.
Easy now. I realize planning and meeting and all those things are important, nay critical-as much for carpenters as for church leaders. There's a place for it in the tool kit. Unfortunately, however, denominations and congregations in decline tend to spend more time focusing on the tools than on using them, more time shopping for hammers than pounding nails. Organizational flow charts, and operational strategies are tools. They don't do any work by themselves.
If you spend all your time handwringing about the tools, you're not doing ministry. A cheap lousy hammer will pound more nails than an expensive slick hammer that only gets discussed in meetings.
The point?
Talking about hammering isn _'__ t hammering unless it results in actual nails being pounded._