The Resurrection of National Denominations

There has been some good discussion (both in the blog comments and with me directly) over the past few weeks on my posts regarding Church of God identity and George Bullard's article on "The Coming Death of National Denominations". I will get to part II of my identity discussion next week, but in the meantime I want to pass along Bullard's prescription to the problem. On his blog he has written two posts regarding "The Resurrection of National Denominations": PART ONE, and PART TWO.

I don't know if Bullard's observations are all relevant or valid for us, but it is definitely worth reading as we examine our own structures. In a similar vein I recommend a book I am currently reading that addresses some of the same issues from a slightly different vantage point: J. Russell Crabtree, The Fly in the Ointment: Why Denominations Aren't Helping Their Congregations and How They Can.

Again, your comments are welcome and desired.

Identity

On numerous occasions over the past few years I have touched upon our identity as a Church of God movement. This is a recurring theme that seems to crop up regularly in our circles as we try to resolve our rich heritage and strong doctrinal convictions with the current reality of our impact and place within the larger Christian community. You can hardly participate in a Church of God gathering without this being discussed, either formally or informally, by our leaders and/or regular folk.

The matter of identity came up again in the most recent issue of Communion, the bi-monthly publication sent to ministers and lay leaders across North America. The feature article, "Rediscovering our Purpose", attempts to tackle the identity problem from the vantage point of purpose. General Director, Ronald Duncan, writes that when we lose our purpose "we lose focus, suffer apathy, and become ineffective". While not directly stating that this fully describes the Church of God today, Duncan does indicate that our "movement needs to discover afresh the power and dynamic drive of a biblical purpose for existence", and he shares several insights about the discovery process. The remainder of the March-April issue contains other articles about rediscovering our purpose, specifically related to such topics as global missions, higher education and worship. Certainly Dr. Duncan is well aware of the crisis we find ourselves in and has been the leading voice in recent years to move us forward in this regard.

I too am concerned about our identity. And, clarity of purpose is an essential part of it. But, I wonder if all the talk about identity and purpose is really strengthening us as a movement. Could it be that the incessant chatter on this topic just reinforces our low corporate self-esteem, and drives us further into discouragement and despair? In fact, it is evident in viewing the lifecycle of any organization that the preoccupation with identity issues usually occurs during times of decline. An organization or movement that has a clear sense of identity, purpose and direction possesses these naturally, because they are inherent within its very culture, not as a result of simply trying to define it.

Our own history demonstrates that identity comes as the result of strong leaders who rally people around a clear, God-inspired vision that is readily understood, articulated and practiced. As we institutionalized and lost our movement impulse we have struggled to define ourselves and our place within the larger church. We are also a much more diverse group of people than what originally emerged from our largely rural, Midwestern roots. In the process we have failed to find a more enduring identity than what was easily formed in the period of sociological and religious upheaval of the late nineteenth century. What is needed is a new, compelling vision that integrates our past, is in sync with present realities, and works toward a new picture of the future.

In a subsequent post I will propose some courses for our identity quest. In the meantime, what do you think about all this preoccupation with rediscovering our purpose?

The Coming Death of National Denominations

Life is finally beginning to slow for me, and I'm ready to get back into full-blogging mode again! Here's a good excuse to start...

Church coach/consultant and General Secretary of the North American Baptist Fellowship, George Bullard, has written a provocative article on "The Coming Death of National Denominations". To what extent does this apply to the Church of God. (Or, maybe it doesn't since we don't consider ourselves a denomination!)

ARTICLE

I'd love your feedback on this. It will lead well into another post I am preparing for the next few days.

2009

As the year comes to a close it is an opportune time to reflect on all that has taken place over the preceding 12 months.

For me, personally, this was a very full year. Besides the demanding nature of my work, our family was preoccupied with the illness and death of my father this summer. And, more recently my step-mother also died after a relatively short, and sudden, illness. Despite the emotional intensity of it all God's strength has been very real. The prayers and support of the church, including a number of you who follow ChoGBlog, is also very much appreciated.

2009 was a significant year for the Church of God. While the limits of my time and energy prevented me from blogging on many of the events, there are several things worth noting from this past year. In particular, the fallout from the financial challenges of 2008 really began to take hold this year. Church of God Ministries is in transition, with numerous personnel changes and adjustments, most notably the departure of Jeannette Flynn. A highlight for us was the North American Convention which saw a number of changes that stemmed the attendance decline, at least for this year.

Looking ahead to 2010, this remains a critical time for our movement. I am concerned that we are increasingly lacking a clear identity and vision that is owned across the very diverse North American church. Discussions in this direction need to continue, and I am committed to using this blog as one vehicle to encourage and stimulate dialogue that will strengthen our respective and cooperative ministries. I am praying that things will settle down in my life to allow this to happen, and as I continue work on my book project.

May God continue to lead and bless you during this coming year!

Missions and administration

Today's announcement by Church of God Ministries regarding new administrative practices for missions projects reminds me to complete my two part reflections on the state and future of missions in the Church of God. I will get to that shortly.

But, today's announcement does reveal the changing landscape which is forcing changes upon our national organization.  In short, CHOGM has decided to begin, in 2010, assessing an 8% administrative fee on a number of missions projects (excluding Living Link) to cover the real costs of implementing these projects. This is a common practice among charitable organizations, but one that we have avoided thus far through the general World Ministries Budget. With giving to the latter in decline CHOGM has little choice but to search for ways to pay for the admininistrative engine that runs behind the scenes.

In principle, I don't have a problem with this decision as donors have to accept the reality of administration, and the overall decline in unrestricted giving has left no obvious alternatives. Of course, not everyone will be as understanding of this decision, which could see even less interest in support of these centralized projects. This should result in new discussions concerning the giving to the CHOGM and its role in missions.

More reason for me to get on to my next blog post...

Church of God and social networking

In an effort to bring greater connectivity and communication across our movement, Church of God Ministries is further leveraging technology by launching a new social networking site this week. MyCHOG is a dedicated social network, very similar to Facebook or MySpace, but built on the Ning platform. It allows participants to network within a closed environment, free of all the fluff in the larger, open systems.

The execution of this new site is well done, and already several hundred people have joined based on minimal promotion. I am sure it is hoped for MyCHOG to be a new place for Church of God people to keep connected. My only question is whether people already into social networking are prepared to add yet another stream to their daily routines. (Hopefully, new social networking aggregators will include Ning!). I suppose if MyCHOG lives up to its intent it could be a valuable and desirable place to hang out online.

This is not the first social networking foray for Church of God Ministries. Earlier this year they launched a Twitter account (@ChoGMinistries) which provides a networked way to disseminate information. (By the way, don't forget to follow @chogblog on Twitter too!)

These are interesting times, and it is appropriate and necessary for the Church of God to find new and effective ways to conduct its ministry, especially since some of our former methods (i.e. campmeetings and magazines) have largely lost their appeal in this age. This certainly fits with the innovative spirit of a "movement".

The future of missions - I

This year's North American Convention was unique for several reasons, one of which is the celebration of 100 years of global missions for the Church of God. This was evident in the overall theme and in the large number of foreign leaders and missionaries in attendance. We do have a rich missions heritage, and one that should be celebrated.

Since then I have wanted to offer some personal reflections on the some of the key issues facing us today concerning missions. This will end up being a two-part post.

My particular interest in this topic arises out of a very late night discussion that I had with several missionaries at the NAC. One evening I was invited to a private gathering in the missionary residences where a number of missionaries and their friends were gathered. It was great time to connect with several missionaries whom I know and to hear their heart for the ministries in which they serve.

What caught my attention that evening and during some other private conversations was the frustration I was hearing. While our missionaries are deeply committed to their calling and specific work there was a common thread of disgruntlement with what they consider the missions bureaucracy in Anderson. One told me of serious questioning as to whether they would continue past their current term because of this.

Certainly all is not negative, but it was obvious to me that the concerns I heard in that living room were ongoing, unresolved frustrations that were weighing heavily on their hearts and impacting their morale. I cannot be sure that all of their grievances are legitimate, but when I hear them expressed consistently by a number of missionaries the validity of their comments is increasingly confirmed.

In short, the frustrations seem to revolve around their impression that our national leadership is out of touch with what is really happening on the mission field and not really responsive to the input and perspectives of the missionaries. This impacts such things as strategic decisions and funding.

As we enter a second century of global missions, what are some of the issues we must deal with? I will attempt to address some of them in my next post.

Jeannette Flynn to leave Church of God Ministries

Since the North American Convention blogging has been a low priority in my life due to the sudden illness and death of my father. There hasn't been the time to formulate my thoughts into posts on issues that arose during the NAC. My intention was to get back to blogging this week, and today's news certainly provides a perfect opportunity to do so...

Church of God Ministries announced today that Jeannette Flynn has resigned from her position as Kingdom Ministry Team Director, effective October 31, 2009. This is significant news since Jeannette is one of our most significant, current leaders, not only in COGM, but across the movement as a whole. She is deeply passionate about her ministry and inspires others as well with her powerful leadership and communication skills. Her contribution to our North American ministries has been profound, especially in light of some of her initiatives which include SHAPE. While she will be stepping aside from this prominent role I am sure her influence and ministry will continue to strengthen the Church of God for years to come.

The big question for me in all of this is: What impact will this have for Church of God Ministries?

In short, I believe that her leaving will have a very dramatic impact. Jeannette is a unique individual and leader, and cannot be simply replaced. Programmatically, she has been the key ministry leader at COGM, especially since taking on the combined role of two previous ministry team directorships. I suspect, with good reason, that part of her decision to leave is simply out of exhaustion from her expansive responsibilities and oversight. This will need to be a time for General Director, Ronald Duncan, to revisit the internal operations of COGM and to develop a more realistic leadership structure. Certainly, trying to find someone to take on this position as it currently stands could be a daunting task due to the magnitude of the responsibilities involved.

In addition to the future of COGM, I pray especially for Jeannette during this time of transition in her life and as she seeks to discover the next phase of ministry God has for her.

North American Convention - Reflections

Heading home from Anderson is a good opportunity to reflect on this year's North American Convention which concluded yesterday. In the past week I have summarized some of the daily highlights, but there is value in reflecting on the some of the bigger, overall issues concerning the NAC.

I think the most significant observation about this year's NAC is the positive, optimistic spirit that prevailed throughout the event. This is especially noteworthy considering the fears that negativity arising out of the event changes might cast a dark cloud over the week. The prayers leading up to NAC made a difference.

Obviously, the biggest story leading up to this year's NAC was the venue change from the Kardatzke Wellness Center to Madison Park and Park Place churches for the worship services. I think it is fair to say that the change turned out well. Sure, there were inconveniences, but these were mostly due to the closure of 5th Avenue than because of having to travel across town each evening. Madison Park in particular is a wonderful venue for a worship gathering. The layout of the room creates a much more intimate setting than what we have had in the past. And, the comfortable seats are great!

And, to everyone's surprise attendance was up significantly this year: by 14%! That is incredible considering the pre-event grumbling and the current state of the economy. I wonder, however, if that increase tells the complete story. Did that many more people really travel to Anderson this year, or is that more people from Anderson came out to the services? I suspect that the latter is more the case. Sure, there was some extra influx because of all the missionary families in attendance, but some have speculated that the lack of local cable TV coverage of the service may have brought out more locals, as did the support of the local congregations at which we were visiting.

i believe that one of the other factors making this NAC a success was the 100th anniversary celebration of global missions. Each service highlighted how God has been working through our missionary endeavors, and the preaching kept this focus alive for us, instilling the urgency of God's mission going forward. This was an invigorating theme that gets the church to move beyond itself and its self-absorption. We need more of this.
 
As I have previously indicated a positive spirit prevailed across the NAC this year, and that bodes well for our movement. But, of course, we cannot rest on the good vibes we experienced. The Church of God continues  to struggle to find its identity and voice. Certainly, this event is step in the right direction, but let us not forget that only a very small proportion of our constituency was in attendance, especially from the geographic fringes. This speaks to the future of the NAC itself. Can we genuinely assume that this event can set the pace for the entire church across North America?

I support the move of this year's General Assembly to re-examine the viability of the NAC and to present a new roadmap for the future. I just hope that there will be courage and openness to consider new models that will better serve and draw in the diverse movement that we have become. Hopefully my previous proposal will be one idea examined.

North American Convention - Wednesday

It's hard to believe that the North American Convention is over for another year. The final day began with the final session of the General Assembly, which wrapped up well, with no real surprises.

Once GA is over things start really winding down at the NAC. A number of people begin the trek home, and the afternoon activities are less intense than in the previous two days. At one time most people were sure to stay through to the Wednesday evening service, as this was the climax of the entire event. Increasingly, that is less and less the case.

Despite the growing exodus the evening service was still reasonably well attended, with many locals showing up. Tonight there was an African focus, utilizing music, guests, and a former missionary to Africa, Don Riley, bringing the message. As usual this final service ended with a candlelight celebration (and using real candles again after a number of years!).

I will provide some closing comments and reflections on the entire convention in another post, but let me say for now that this last day at the NAC had a different feel to it. In other years it has not been uncommon to be exhausted by Wednesday, desiring to return home as soon as possible. With the renewed spirit experienced in this convention, there was almost a feeling of sadness that it had to end so soon. In some ways we'd like for it to keep going. That's a good sign for the Church of God!

North American Convention - Tuesday

Tuesdays see the gathering of the General Assembly at the North American Convention. Many pastors, in particular, will drive in just to be part of this annual meeting. Attendance this year appeared to be quite strong, consistent with is happening all around at NAC. We heard today that NAC attendance is up 18% from last year. That's impressive considering some of the negativity that was floating around prior by those upset with some of the changes.

GA has become fairly straightforward and predictable in recent years, and there were not too many surprises this year. A major theme was the recent budget shortfalls that have severely impacted Church of God Ministries. We learned that 1021 of our congregations do not give anything to the World Mission Budget. At the end of the day prayer groups gathered to pray over the matter, and an impromptu offering was held and over $31,000 was raised! Also, decided today was the formation of a study committee to assess the viability of the North American Convention.

A new innovation to the GA this year is the provision of open forums. Yesterday's Town Hall was the first such opportunity, and today after the business session another opportunity was provided for people to come to he mic and asks questions or share reflections, but all outside of the formal business meeting. The opportunity for input and dialogue seemed to be welcomed by people, and something we need more of.

Today's services were quite powerful. In the morning, following the first GA session, emerging leader Patrick Nachtigall spoke, giving an optimistic outlook for the church despite the realities of messiness and change. This evening's service was another inspiring one, providing a interesting array of music ranging from caribbean to Gaither-era gospel to traditional hymns. Milton Grannum shared his powerful story of how he was brought into the church because of Church of God missionaries in Guyana.

I noticed a real positive buzz around the various events and sites. God is working among us!

North American Convention - Monday

With the first intensive day of the North American Convention also came a trend toward cooler weather. It was a pleasant day, but things are looking to be quite cool by Wednesday!

This afternoon were two significant events. First, was the annual Doctrinal Dialogue, sponsored by the School of Theology. This year's discussion was on Women in Ministry, with the main paper presented by Dr. John Stanley. I am astounded as to the consistent low turnout for these discussions, as we really need more dialogue in the Church of God, especially on matters such as this. It's no wonder we have trouble talking to each other. Anyway the presentations challenged us to affirm the biblical teaching concerning women in ministry and to live it out in our churches. I wish more people could have been there, although the papers presented are available online.

Perhaps the people staying away from the Doctrinal Dialogue were saving up for the Town Hall Meeting that followed with General Director Ron Duncan and General Assembly chair Bob Moss. There was a strong turnout at Reardon Auditorium, likely because there are some pressing issues confronting us. Sure enough, a wide range of questions were addressed to Dr. Duncan, most of which concerned some aspect of Church of God identity and vision. A few individuals asked about the future of "Anderson Campmeeting" and the current format. Overall, I was impressed with the civility in which everyone conducted themselves, as there were no outbursts on hot button issues.

Tonight's service focused on the commissioning of new missionaries, something that normally has taken place on Wednesday evenings. Milfred Minatrea, of the Missional Church Center, challenged us to accept our marching orders to "Go" and make disciples.  (It was good to once again have a speaker from outside the Church of God address us!). Also, included in the service, right in the middle of Minatrea's sermon, was a time for annointing.

Attendance hit another peak tonight, and resulted in me experiencing the overflow room first-hand, itself at capacity. The quality video presentation did not lessen the experience, and only reinforced the possibilities of technology to overcome limitations and for expanding ministry.

North American Convention - Sunday

Sunday was a perfect weather day to be at the North American Convention. In the morning local Church of God congregations received convention visitors, except for those visiting the "official" venue, Park Place.

Fortunately, Sunday at NAC is not packed full of programs. It is a great day to catch-up with friends over lunch or coffee. There were also some receptions scheduled that offered more formal opportunities for networking and connection. For example, I was at the annual CMA meet-and-greet, and the Living Link reception sponsored by Global Missions.

Tonight's service continues the new tradition of a global communion service webcast shared by other churches around the world. At least 95 other congregations in North America were sharing in the service live tonight. In keeping with this year's global missions' centennial missions was a big theme tonight, and included a powerful music and visual presentation featuring and past and present missionaries. Hopefully, all the web watchers were able to catch all of tonight's service, as I have been hearing of numerous complaints of the streaming quality from people through Twitter.

Tomorrow begins three very full days of activity. After a late evening of visiting with some friends, including missionaries, I need to get to bed for an early start in the morning.

North American Convention - Saturday

Technically, Saturday is the first day at NAC. For me, personally, it is the busiest, as I had numerous meetings associated with my role as an Area Administrator. But, for others there were a wide variety of conferences, etc. during the day, including a family day activity at Madison Park.

Tonight's keynote service introduced Carma Wood as our worship leader for the week. Andy Stephenson, Coordinator of Christian Education, Youth and Family for Church of God Ministries spoke. With the global missions emphasis this week I was especially impressed with the predominance of this theme permeating the entire service. God's mission as part of worship is frequently neglected or minimized, so this was not only inspiring, but refreshing. Stephenson's message reinforced the theme with several multi-media pieces, and a group exercise demonstrating the rapidity and effectiveness of touching just three other people. My only frustration with the service tonight is that the sound seemed to lack clarity, and was slightly muffled.

I also had an opportunity to visit the exhibits at Madison Park. Instead of the one big exhibit hall or tent, the various displays are spread across several classrooms. I wonder how many people will find their way down the hallway to the rooms, and if this format will be effective for the colleges and agencies desiring to connect and promote.

Time to get ready for Sunday.

North American Convention - Friday

Like hundreds of others I have made my pilgrimage to Anderson for the North American Convention of the Church of God. While people will be arriving throughout the event, if you want to be at the very first service Friday is a must. It is a service of worship and celebration sponsored by Anderson University.

The service itself was a powerful, choral-based presentation with the theme, "One Lord, One Faith". Interspersed among the various selections were presentations from the presidents of our four primary Church of God colleges, highlighting the missions' focus of each school. This is in keeping with the overall focus of the entire convention, which is celebrating 100 years of global missions.

Of course, the big story tonight and this week is the venue change to Madison Park Church of God for the evening services. This is major change, as it is the most posh facility ever used for this event, and it spreads out the various activities of the convention throughout the city, creating transportation and other logistic challenges. It is easy to see how this year the NAC has moved further along the continuum from "campmeeting" and toward a true "convention". Overall, I was quite impressed with the Madison Park facility. The luxurious theater seats are very comfortable compared to anything we've had to endure in the past, and the sound and ambience of the auditorium create a great environment for a worship service. The biggest downside to the facility is the auditorium's limited size (apparently around 2000), and tonight it was practically full.

Time for bed. For me, tomorrow's activities begin real early!

(Reminder to keep up with instant updates throughout NAC on Twitter: @chogblog)

NAC Coverage

Later this week I will be heading to Anderson for the North American Convention of the Church of God. There is much nervous anticipation about this year's event because of all the changes. Because of these significant shifts this is truly an historic year for our "campmeeting".

As has become a tradition over the past few years I will once again be providing daily blog reflections on the NAC. Last year I also offered Twitter updates during the General Assembly, but this year I will be expanding my Twitter coverage throughout the entire NAC. If you are looking for on-the-ground reports and reflections be sure to follow @chogblog. (For anyone else twittering during NAC I would encourage you to use the #nacchog hashtag for easy searching and compilation).

Also, one other NAC announcement: If you will be in Anderson be sure to attend the second annual CHOGBlog Get Together:

Sunday evening
9:30pm
at Starbucks
(4235 Scatterfield Road, Anderson)

I look forward to connecting with you over the next week!

New look Church of God Ministries website

Church of God Ministries today unveiled a revamped website (www.chog.org), with a fresh new look and improved navigation. The site is titled "Official Site of the North American Church of God: Transforming culture by being the body of Christ".

The re-design is a welcome change, as the previous website was hardly attractive, difficult to get around, and too narrow for today's computer monitors. A new consistent menu system at the top of each page will make it easier to find what one is looking for, and the site is generally much more colorful and appealing.

I also noticed the introduction of a section surprisingly called "Chog Blog" (I knew I should have trademarked that name!). There are 14 different blogs listed with RSS feeds. It would be great to have more of our national office staff blogging, let alone Twittering, etc. But, unfortunately, I am not sure they get the blogging thing, as the execution is way off the mark. Almost of all the blogs represent topics or departments - far from the personality-driven nature of blogs. And, both technically and in terms of usability they are not following standard blog formats. So, it will be frustrating for people to work with.

Other new "eCHOG" features include discussion forums and CHOG Tube.

I know that websites are always evolving, and I am sure this one will as well. On my wish list, for now, is better handling of RSS feeds for news stories. It's there, but not properly setup for easy syndication.

What do you think of the new website design?

Church planting discussion

My recent post on "The future of church planting" has generated a number of comments from at least a few individuals. I'd encourage more to jump in on the discussion.

The recent economic climate has impacted church planting in the Church of God. Instead of seeing this as a hopeless situation, I wonder if we are ready to use this as an opportunity to explore new models that could have even greater, long-term impact on Kingdom and church growth?

The future of church planting

It was only back in September that I shared my enthusiasm over my attendance at the Church Multiplication Association (CMA) conference in Kansas. As I indicated, although relatively new on the scene, CMA has been a tremendous bright spot in the Church of God. Apart from the rapid, loosely-organized expansion in our early days the church planting efforts today coordinated through CMA have been the strongest ever. I can speak from personal experience of CMA's effectiveness, as we have several churches in our district that have been and are being planted with their assistance and guidance.

CMA's strengths have been in their visionary leadership and abundant financial resources. Robin Wood and Gary Kendall have done an amazing job of creating a system that develops not just more churches, but the right kind of churches. This has been fueled by an incredible amount of money that was being funded by some very prosperous and generous business people.

But, the economic downturn of the past year or so has changed much of this. The business interests of the well-heeled donors have been hit hard, in fact, so hard that the bulk of CMA's revenues of dried up. This has resulted in dramatic reduction of CMA staff, and elimination of funding support to its many new churches. Of course, this has halted the ongoing startup of new church plants, and the momentum and energy associated with that.

This should be of considerable concern to us, as church planting has demonstrated itself to be the most effective means for Kingdom expansion. Of course, we don't need CMA to plant churches, but the reality is that our track record for church planting outside of CMA has been far from stellar. What is needed is a culture of church multiplication that permeates our congregations. Ideally, all churches should be working strategically toward establishing new congregations within the varied people groups around them. For the most part this is not happening.

CMA's value to Church of God has not only been in the actual planting of new churches, but in reinvigorating this essential aspect of church growth within our movement. Of course, we could argue that Church of God Ministries should be leading the charge on this, and the Church Multiplication division, under John Newton, has tried their best; but limited funds, especially after the recent cutbacks, has hindered this further.  Sadly, even their annual church planting bootcamp held at the North American Convention was canceled this year due to insufficient registrations.

Obviously, the matter of church planting and even the current state of CMA deserves our prayer attention. The future of church planting is closely linked with the future of the church itself.

Patrick Nachtigall

I was recently contacted by Church of God missionary, Patrick Nachtigall, to be interviewed for a new book he is writing for Warner Press. This will be his third book (the other two: Passport of Faith, and Faith in the Future), all of which reflect a broad, global perspective that can only come from someone who has lived and ministered around the world. This latest project is a journey across the Church of God at the dawn of the 21st century, and explores issues facing us in all six continents, and the challenges that threaten to pull our movement apart. His interest in talking with me is because of my district leadership role and interest in new forms of communication, including this blog.

Based on the details Patrick shared with me, this should be an profound book that will be a must read when it is launched next year.

Watch for it!