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Making Progress

By John Dorhauer	Tue Oct 03, 2006 at 02:27:39 PM EST
topic: All Topics section:Front Page	print this story

I have been writing on this website each Tuesday for almost a year now. I am discovering that there are many who read this column and this website often, and I frequently encounter them when out and about.

Some of them are grateful for the information shared. Others are offended by what is written, and take issue with both the facts and the conclusions drawn from them.
Some contact me to ask me to retract something I have written, while others name an episode in the life of their church that they navigated their way through because of what they read on this site.

But two weeks ago I was privy to a most unique moment, as I found myself at once surrounded by a group of supporters and a group of detractors at the same time, from the same church. The encounter was insightful, to be sure.

I had spent the morning preaching in a local church at the invitation of their pastor. This church had been under attack by a group of disgruntled members who were meeting in secret and plotting first to remove the pastor, while laying the groundwork later for the church to leave the denomination.

Key leaders had been assembled in order to speak openly and frankly about what was happening in their church, and what was at stake. In response to that, UCC leaders were asked to come and preach throughout this fall season on themes that would build stronger covenantal bonds with their wider church partners. I was the second such preacher invited for this special purpose, and it was a responsibility I accepted gladly.

While in the fellowship hall following the service, I was approached by two women who asked me about something or other I had written in a letter about their church or their pastor. Not sure what they were referring to, I probed a little and guessed that they might be referring to one of the blogs I had written here. That was in fact the case, and they were reporting that a member of the church was very upset about that.

I described what I had written, and they found it hard to believe that anyone would be upset over that. As has often been the case, they had not themselves seen the article, and what they had been told about it was not in fact accurate.

At about this time, another gentleman approached, and the women pointed out that he was the man who was upset. He confronted me, and we talked about what I had written and why. It became clear that he was not supportive of my efforts to name the ways in which our churches are being attacked, and he denied any culpability in the sustained attack on his own church.

It was at this time that a few more people gathered and engaged in the conversation. One of the women who first approached me began to describe the secret meetings that were taking place, even going so far as to share her own knowledge about where and when the next one would be held. The gentleman who was there to challenge our assumptions declared he knew nothing about any of that, and shortly after asking me who had written the bulletin insert (which was for one of the UCC's four annual, special offerings) and hearing my answer, he walked away saying he was happy that now he knew to whom he should write his letter.

The group that was left remained for some time and spoke with much animation and passion about their own discomfort at what was happening in their church, and wanting to know what else they could do to stop it. It was clear that the leaders with whom we had met had done a good job telling the story of their church's vulnerability, and preparing the members to stand up in defense of their church.

I left that church with mixed emotions. On the one hand, the confrontation with the angry gentleman left me feeling that there was still present an unhappy faction who wanted to continue to fight and struggle with the church's relationship to the wider church. Because of that, the good work of the leaders in this church will need to continue with diligence for some time yet.

On the other hand, I saw first hand what good leadership will produce when faithful members are equipped with clear information about what is going on; are invited to come to the defense of their own congregation; and display the kind of outspoken courage that I saw that day. Left in the hands of the good folk I met, churches like this one will survive the onslaught and will soon return to the purpose and mission for which they were always intended.

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Making Progress | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 hidden)

Is a copy of your sermon available anywhere? (none / 0)

I'd like very much to read it.

by anomalous4 on Tue Oct 03, 2006 at 07:51:35 PM EST

: Sorry (none / 0)

Unfortunately, I am not a manuscript preacher, and there is no extent copy of that sermon.
Shalom, Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer "Time makes ancient good uncouth; we must onward still and upward who would keep abreast of truth." from Lowell, "The Present Crisis"
by John Dorhauer on Thu Oct 05, 2006 at 03:24:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

A Note From the Owners (none / 0)

It is inevitable that there are those who disagree on matters of fact or interpretation with the writers on this site. While the desire to respond may be strong, it is best not to give in to temptation.

In order to join this site, one has to check a box indicating that you understand and agree with the purposes of this site. Nevertheless, there are those who sign up under false pretenses for the sole purpose of disputing one of the writers.

In the blogosphere, we call such people trolls. Definitions vary, but let me be very very clear. People who join this site under false pretenses are trolls according to the rules of this site, and will be dealt with accordingly. Such people are removed from this site by the owners as we notice them.

It is a big blogosphere, and anyone who does not support the purposes of this site, can find many other places to post their views.

by Frederick Clarkson on Thu Oct 05, 2006 at 02:21:11 AM EST

More good news (none / 0)

Posted day before yesterday at US Newswire (also posted at Faith in Public Life):

UCC: In Geographic Twist, Wave of Southern Churches Affiliating With Progressive United Church of Christ
10/3/2006 2:11:00 PM
CLEVELAND, Oct. 3 PRNewswire-USNewswire -- When Holy Trinity Community Church, a 350-member congregation in Memphis, Tenn., was received into the United Church of Christ on Sept. 30, through a vote of the UCC's St. Louis Association, it became the most-recent sign of heightened southern exposure for a largely northern denomination once sparsely visible in the South.
"It was after and because of the marriage equality vote of General Synod that Holy Trinity made their decision to join the UCC," said the Rev. David Schoen, who heads the UCC's evangelism ministry in Cleveland, Ohio. Since its founding in 1990, Holy Trinity Church has supported the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons.
The Memphis congregation is one of 65 more-progressive churches -- primarily in the South -- that have expressed interest in joining the 1.2-million-member UCC since its highest deliberative body called for civil marriage rights for same- gender couples. Conversely, about 100 churches, as well as the UCC's Puerto Rico Conference, have voted to withdraw in disagreement over the non-binding resolution.
Holy Trinity in Memphis joins a number of southern churches that have sought out affiliation with the generally progressive UCC. [...]
Later this month, the UCC's North Texas Association is expected to act on a request to receive the 4,300-member Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, which would make it the denomination's fourth largest congregation. The UCC's second largest church, the 5,500-member Victory UCC near Atlanta, became affiliated with the UCC only four years ago.[...]
In April, the board of directors of the UCC's Local Church Ministries, one of the denomination's four national Covenanted Ministries, voted to endorse an ambitious strategy for planting and welcoming 250 new churches into the UCC by 2011 and as many as 1,600 new churches by 2021.
"Now is the time for new church development in the UCC," Schoen said at the time.
Increasingly, for example, Baptist churches in disagreement with the Southern Baptist Convention over issues of women's ordination or gay-lesbian inclusion are exploring UCC affiliation. [...]
Schoen believes the UCC is finding new momentum in southern states because more-progressive Christians are looking for alternatives to the region's widely-conservative faith communities. Since December 2004, when the UCC first embarked on a national multi-media advertising campaign, the vast majority of those expressing interest in the UCC, where no church was yet located, were those living in southern states, Schoen said.
Widely recognized for its liberal mix of mainline Christianity and social activism, the UCC often touts its "early arrival" on justice issues, including the first ordination of an African-American pastor (1785), the first ordination of a woman (1853), and the first ordination of an openly gay minister (1972).
Until recently, nearly 80 percent of the UCC's 5,633 churches were located in the Northeast and Midwest. Created in 1957 by the union of the Congregational Christian Churches in America and the Evangelical and Reformed Church, the UCC is the largest Protestant denomination in New England, with more than 400 churches in Massachusetts alone. [...]

by anomalous4 on Thu Oct 05, 2006 at 12:08:44 PM EST

: ...megachurch crossover... (none / 0)

I find it more than a little scary to be willing to absorb a standalone megachurch, without a lot of planning & investigatory work. If so, we should not be surprised of the outcome: fundamentalism, pentacostalism, charismatics, et al. Are we that gullible? And the startup congregation in a section of urban decline (read: ghetto) that usurpts a former Congregational or E&R bldg. requires a great deal of shepherding & scrutiny too. Are we so desperate that we'd allow the lower case evangelicals to come in that way, with an untrained staff too? And if we lose our soul in that process, canal we pursue a rebate? I heard John Thomas in late May in that Philadelphia ghetto startup say we should become evangelical for them. My answer, as a fundamentalist fighter for over half a century, is a loud & resoudning 'NO'. Not me, or for me.
Arden C. Hander

by achbird65 on Mon Oct 09, 2006 at 04:29:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Making Progress | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 hidden)

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