Centerview

• Buildings and Congregations

   

  Buildings and congregations – the reality can be a holy blessing or a worldly irritation.

   

  Think of the new congregation making decisions about when to build, where to build, what to build.  They are an excited bunch with lots of possibilities. Do they begin to look for property?  Do they brainstorm the design of a sanctuary? Or maybe they should dream about what kind of building will support the services they will offer the larger community. So many possibilities.

   

  Now, think of a long established congregation. This group has worshiped in the same place for 100 years. The sanctuary, indeed, the whole building, is unique.  Yet, it is expensive to keep. The roof leaks. The heating and cooling system is inefficient. The stained glass windows are fragile. What do they attend to first?

   

  At first glance, these two congregations have very different tasks ahead.  However, the Center for Congregations is learning that no matter what the specific building issue, most congregations benefit when members address these issues through a specific process. What is the process? At the Center, we call it the 3-D process. The steps include discern, decide, and do. 

   

  This specific process supports a powerful assumption. The assumption is that each congregation views its facility as a holy blessing when the buildings match and support the congregation’s mission. In other words, congregational buildings should serve the mission of the congregation, not the other way around – which would be congregations serving the needs of the buildings.

   

  The discern step involves exploration of the congregation’s identity and mission.

   

  The decide step concentrates on aesthetics, project delivery, and finances.

   

  The do phase involves the implementation of building plans.

   

  All parts of the process work best when a dedicated team from the congregation works closely with clergy and the governing board. 

   

  A new book on this process has been written by the Center and published by the Alban Institute – Holy Places: Matching Sacred Space with Mission and Ministry by Nancy DeMott, Tim Shapiro, and Brent Bill.  Click here to learn more about the book.

   

  In addition, the Center has produced a DVD titled Sacred Spaces that many congregational leaders have found helpful. If you are interested in learning more about the DVD you can email me at tshapiro@centerforcongregations.org

  
  Here are links to some other resources you might find helpful: Sacred Space Resource Guides, Relating to Contractors, Using Facilities Assessments, and Working with Architects.
  
  Tim Shapiro
  Center President
  Posted Jan 29 2008, 11:33 AM

• Finding What Best Fits Congregations

  
  Centerview is a column written by Center for Congregations President Tim Shapiro on activities, issues, and ideas that are of interest to congregations.
  
  I’ve been wondering about what kind of assistance helps congregations. Congregations truly matter.  People find their homes with God through congregations. This alone testifies to the goodness of congregations. They also contribute expansively to the common good. We at the Center believe in congregations.  And we want to offer effective help. 

   

  So, I’ve been thinking, what kind of help is most useful to congregations?  Much of what I write below is influenced by Robert Kegan and the developmental theory he describes in The Evolving Self and revisits in In Over our Heads. Kegan does not write for a congregational audience, but his ideas are applicable to the important work of congregations. 

   

  Congregations constantly confront a mystifying array of expectations, claims, and demands, as well as an equally confusing assortment of expert opinions that tell them what they should do.

   

  With so many efforts to change congregations, there is a disparity between the ways leaders know their congregations and the ways they are unwittingly expected to transform them. Using a curriculum analogy, one does not design a ninth grade curriculum for either a fifth grader or a twelfth grader. As a result of listening to congregational leaders describe their experiences, we believe many resources offered to congregations are mismatches. 

   

  Think of congregational life itself as a course of study. With all the challenges congregations face, would anyone ever graduate?

   

  At the Center for Congregations, we have found that in order to address their challenges, congregations don’t so much need transformation or change. Those words don’t capture what is required. And besides, who embraces change suggested by others! 

   

  The kind of adaptation most helpful for congregations is better captured by the word development.  

   

  Developmental growth in congregations makes it more likely that redemptive change or transformation will take place. The purpose of effective learning for congregational leaders is to help them make meaning with greater depth and breadth. A leader is then better equipped to address more complex challenges in a way analogous to the way a more experienced athlete often makes better decisions than a rookie.  

   

  Developmental growth is like change or transformation but it is not exactly the same. For example, a congregation could make a change but that change may not represent a developmental shift, that is, a different way of seeing the world.  Such developmental shifts, we believe, require a team of lay people and clergy learning together.  Additionally, such developmental growth requires the learner making time and taking initiative. 

  
  The most effective resources help leaders hold (conceive, understand, see, relate to) their challenges in ways congruent with the capacity they bring to the challenges.  If this is accomplished, the challenges are less likely to have a hold over them. Through the process of learning in a context that matches their capacity (actually extends their capacity at least one increment forward), they now have hold of the challenges. That is, a congregation can now act on its challenge, affect its challenge, reshape it for redemptive purposes. This is a developmental shift. The shift is from the challenge having power over the congregation to the congregation now holding sway over the challenge.  All this is why at the Center we talk about not only the best resources (books, consultants, training sessions and so on), but the resources that will be the best fit for any given congregation.   
  
  

  Congregations matter. And it matters that the help offered congregations truly meets their needs and encourages their development. 
  
  Tim Shapiro

  Posted Oct 08 2007, 09:18 AM

• The Power of Forgiveness

  At the Center, a large map of Indiana hangs on a wall.  When asked what the congregations we serve are like, I like to point to it and say, “They’re all over the map.” 

   

  And of course they are.  We’ve served over 50% of the congregations in central Indiana.  And they are blessedly different. 

   

  As a result, we’ve discovered an important practice called theological hospitality. What we’ve found is that theological hospitality involves a redemptive reversal.  Our resource work at the Center usually starts with a task, that is, congregations seek to do something.  We hear from congregations what they seek to do; a strategic plan, fixing a building, running a meeting, teaching youth and much more.  This then leads, in many cases, to deeper reflection about belief.  But reflection follows from the desire to do something. 

   

  Another way to look at this redemptive reversal is through religious practice.  Think of practice not just as any activity, but also as particular activities in which almost all humans participate.  So, practice includes activities like hospitality or singing or forgiveness.  It doesn’t matter if you are Baptist or Jewish or Presbyterian, or not part of any religious community, you do these things.  

   

  Let’s take one of those practices:  forgiveness.  It could get complicated, let alone confusing and ultimately unhelpful, to gather a diverse group of congregants (from different congregations) to discuss the theology of forgiveness.  The language wouldn’t match.  People would have so many different ways of talking about what they think about forgiveness. 

   

  A more productive conversation would be about how people practice forgiveness.  After all, almost all humans, from almost all religious traditions, have done something regarding forgiveness. 

   

  That’s why I’m pleased that the Center is presenting a movie premier on March 26 (at St. Luke United Methodist Church,100 W. 86th St., at 7:00 p.m.  -  free admission).  We are hosting a pre-release showing of the Journey Films new production, The Power of Forgiveness.

   

  No, this movie won’t tell congregations what to believe about forgiveness.   This movie will do something more important. The movie will portray a variety of people from a variety of religious communities sharing how they practice forgiveness.  It will invite viewers to consider how they practice forgiveness.  The film serves as an invitation to consider and reconsider what one does.

   

  People who have seen the film have expressed appreciation that the film does not moralize and does not tie forgiveness into a neatly wrapped resolution, but rather leaves the hard ethical reflection to the viewer. 

   

  The Center realizes that congregations and individuals believe all kinds of different things regarding forgiveness.  Just like the geographic territory the Center serves, thinking about forgiveness is all over the map.  Yet, the challenges of practicing forgiveness touch almost every human being.  It is the challenge of the practice we will engage March 26^th at the Indianapolis premier of The Power of Forgiveness.

   

  Here are some related resource materials:

   

  www.journeyfilms.com

  Journey Films not only has produced The Power of Forgiveness but other top documentary movies including Bonhoeffer and Albert Schweitzer: Called to Africa.

   

  Praying the Movies: Daily Meditations from Classic Films by Edward McNulty

  This book discusses several movies in light of a religious worldview.  A small group could use this book as a discussion guide for small group study about movies and religion.

   

  Growing In The Life Of Faith, Second Edition: Education And Christian Practices by Craig Dykstra, Forward by Dorothy Bass

  How does one connect faith and life?  This book describes the relationship between expressed faith and lived faith.  It is an essential guide to religious practice in community. 

   

  www.practicingourfaith.com

  This website is dedicated to religious practice.  It serves as a doorway leading to the exploration of a way of life shaped by practices that respond to God’s grace and reflect God’s love for the whole world.

   

  Tim Shapiro

  Posted Mar 20 2007, 08:39 PM