by vernsanders on January 27, 2012
Many years ago my thinking was significantly impacted by a book entitled THE NINE NATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA
. The (still valid, in my opinion) premise of this book was that the “United” 50 (well, really 48, as Alaska and Hawaii are anomalies) States were more logically grouped into 9 cultural and economic “nations.” Reading the book at that point has helped me to understand a lot of the “divisiveness” we find in the US right now, including in the church. I highly recommend it, because it is not really dated.
Why do I bring this up now? Because I just read an article (which you can find here) that identifies a new cultural and economic grouping pattern: megapolitan clusters. I’m not going to go into details here (read the article…please), but for my purposes, it is important to understand that the information in that article can inform a church’s outlook on a number of issues, primarily those concerning who they serve.
Let me put this into regular language. Many neighborhood churches live in fear of mega churches in close proximity to their campus. Their fear is that they will get marginalized by the large-scale program alternatives at the bigger church. Some of the fear is base basic: why is our church not “big” and “important” like that? Some of the fear is economic: will we have to close the church, and, for the staff, will I lose my job?
The article (in my context of the 9 nations perspective) implies two real, simple (well… obvious, anyway) solutions:
- Serve Your Neighborhood Well
By concentrating on the people in closest geographic proximity to your campus, you provide a valuable “social network” alternative to the big church. Believe it or not, not everyone wants to attend a church where they are one in 10,000. To employ this strategy, you need to understand who you are as a church, what the gifts and talents of your staff and congregants are, and be yourself…only more intentionally. Let your neighborhood know who and what you are, and there will be people who resonate with that. If you are open, as a community, to new people being a part of your community (and, for some churches, that’s a BIG if…), then be more intentional about letting people know about your church.
- Cooperate With Other Churches
This is another big IF, but take a step back and look at the hottest phenomenon in the megachurch business movement: multisite. Why are multisites so important? Because at a certain point, bigger isn’t better. Yes people drive 100 miles to attend Saddleback, but if you could give them Saddleback only 10 miles from their home, wouldn’t that allow them to participate in more depth? You don’t need to be a satellite campus of your local megachurch, but perhaps you could combine with 2 or more other churches to do a food donation ministry, a parenting class, or a combined music ministries concert. Cooperation means that any single church doesn’t have to be all things to all people. Remember Creator‘s mantra: we have more in common with each other than that which divides us. Concentrate on the “in common” things and look for ways to serve your community better.
It’s a thought…and I don’t consider myself to have all the answers. Please leave a comment and let me know if you’ve done cooperative programs, or whether this is just completely unacceptable to you and/or your church. I’d like to learn from you.
Ipod shuffle status: 3570 (So What – Miles Davis) of 7875
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by vernsanders on January 24, 2012
I’m tempted to finish that sentence by saying, “but who knows what will happen next?”
People don’t understand artists (if you don’t believe me, stand next to a musician or painter at a party and watch people’s body language when that person starts to answer the question “what do you do?”). They don’t know what they do…and they don’t understand how they do it.
Which brings me to a great blog post I recently read. In it, Sam Rainer provides a wonderful analogy to explain what artists do. It doesn’t fit a church musician/worship leader’s modus operandi exactly, but it comes close. I can’t quote the whole post here, but I’d like to. Let’s just keep it to this:
Leading a group of artists is like having everyone paint the same work on one canvas, all together and at the same time. Each artist has a unique perspective, style, tone, and pace (and inevitably, they will all want their own type of brush). The one leading the artists, however, is responsible for making sure everyone is painting the same work on one canvas, rather than a bunch of individual works on that canvas.
When the work is finished (is art ever finished?), it’s never what the leader would have done as a lone artist. It always looks different, but the leader’s responsibility is to make sure what was painted is cohesive.
The leader of the artists does not mesh all the individual works into one bland blob. The leader of the artist ensures that each artist’s unique contribution is seen within the whole. The leader of the artists figures out ways to manage those who paint a lot with big, bold brushes with those who paint small with tiny brushes. The leader of the artists knows how to gently massage the person painting out of color scheme back into the group. The leader of the artists knows how to incorporate new artists with those who have been painting a long time. The leader of the artists knows how to calm tempers when one artist paints over another artist’s work.
Here’s the catch: the leader of the artist has to be willing to set aside and sacrifice his or her own work to lead the work of others. It’s how an artist becomes a servant-leader.
These are just great words. And they speak specifically to me today because as I write this, I have a “mass choir” rehearsal and service tonight. The rehearsal is the “run through” after three rehearsals that people have been invited to attend. No one from the community came to the first two, so my choir got the two fairly difficult a cappella pieces learned and the rest was going to be just polish. But two extra people showed up at the third one, and the whole actually took a step back because we had to teach the newcomers about vowel placement, blend and balance (plus the notes). I could just feel the tension, and the “art” slip sliding away.
Then I heard yesterday through the grapevine that some people are expecting to attend the run through and sing the pieces. Relationally it will be a bad thing to tell them they can’t. Musically it will be a bad thing to tell them they can. I don’t want the final effort to be “a blob.” So tonight, I’m going to have to ride herd on the conglomeration and make art…and worship…out of a group of artists that will never again be in the same place at the same time.
Ain’t ministry grand?
What would you do? Please leave a comment and let me know.
Ipod shuffle status: 3571 (Dum complerenter dies Pentacostes – Jacob Clemens non Papa) of 7875
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Get my EBook The Choir in Modern Worship
