December 10, 2008
Mission and Recession
Building a church on “core time” rather than “leisure time.”
by Skye Jethani
The financial talking heads are attributing the current economic crisis to a number of things: lack of regulatory oversight, bad mortgage lending practices, and globalized market structures. But some of the more plainspoken pundits sum up the mess in a single word: Debt.
Simply put, for too long people have been spending more than they have. We have been purchasing homes we cannot afford, saving less than we should, and racking up debt at an unprecedented rate. The average American currently has a negative savings rate and over $8000 in credit card debt. As Dave Ramsey says, we are not "acting our wage." On a national level, we have been importing more than we export and borrowing money from foreign governments to make up the difference.The picture is not pretty. We've made the foundation of our economy consumer spending rather than manufacturing, saving, or production. All that debt simply cannot hold the weight of the economy over time, and now we're starting to see the system crumble.
How does this apply to ministry? Well, most American churches have based their mission on the assumption of affluence. That doesn't mean every church is living large. Rather, it means that our churches expect people to give their surplus time and money to fuel Christ's mission. But what happens if there is no surplus? What if people can't give more time or money? Like our economy, has our church built its mission on a foundation of sand rather than stone?
Here's one way to think about it. The average week of a working age adult includes at least 40 hours on the job, and 40 hours to maintain the family, home, and health (think shopping, meals, bathing, and dentist appointments). These 80 hours represent a person's "core time." (I'm not including 56 hours of sleep-unless like us you've got a baby at home, in which case it's less.)
That leaves most people with about 32 hours each week of "leisure time." Most churches are trying to motivate people to turn off the TV for three or four of these leisure hours to spend on mission. The most valuable and celebrated members are those who give eight, ten, or even twenty hours of leisure time to the church.
But by predicating the mission on leisure time of members, most churches are making two mistakes. First, if leisure time ever shrinks the church will find its mission severely affected. We may be facing that situation as the recession deepens. Just ask pastors in parts of the country where unemployment has accelerated. People who could previously spend multiple hours each week in church programming are now holding down part-time jobs, job hunting, spending more time at home cooking rather than eating out, or taking classes to train for new careers. Some retirees, who are often the most available and celebrated volunteers at churches, are now having to return to work.
We look at these cases and think it's tragic-good churches and ministries are suffering because the economy is taking away people's leisure time. But we forget that most Christians throughout history have not had the leisure time enjoyed by modern Americans. It makes you wonder, how did the mission of Christ get anywhere before the institution of the 40 hour work week, electric refrigeration, or the automobile? (Consider how much time people spent simply gathering and preparing food three generations ago.)
The second, and more critical, mistake is the way basing our mission on leisure-time devalues members without expendable hours. I'm thinking of mothers with the 24/7 job of caring for young children, single-parent households, laborers working multiple jobs to stay afloat, or those in the "sandwich generation" using their leisure hours to care for aging parents. Do we write these members off because they do not have leisure time to dedicate to the church's programs and ministry teams? Do they get a pass on the Great Commission?
Leisure-time based mission explains the 20/80 rule seen in most churches: 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. Many pastors lament this statistic, but I don't believe the 80 percent who are not engaged in the church institution are all lazy Consumer Christians. (Some, yes, but not all.) More likely, the 20 percent who are heavily involved simply have the most leisure time to spare.
But consider the larger picture. A church with 100 adults would be considered truly remarkable if 40 members each give 5 hours per week of leisure time to the institution's mission. That would be double what most churches experience, and many pastors would be thrilled to see similar stats in their congregation. But even this would represent less than 2 percent of the church members' total available time. Is this being missional (however you define the word)? Is that loving God will all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength?
There is an alternative.
Economists are asking what would happen if we built our economy on production, savings, and manufacturing rather than spending and debt. Pastors should be asking what would happen if we built our mission on people's core time rather than leisure time. What if we could tap into the 80+ hours people spend every week on the job, with their families, and engaging in life's ordinary responsibilities? Of course, this would require a fundamental shift in the way we think about mission and institution. Here are a few implications:
1. It would mean helping people see the missional dignity of ordinary work; communicating that their jobs matter to Christ and his kingdom, not just what happens within the walls of the church.
2. It would mean elevating the role of family and household relationships as vehicles for spiritual growth and missional engagement. Yes, raising children and caring for aging parents honors God and advances his kingdom just as, if not more, than institutional church programs.
3. It would mean not extracting people from their lives and communities to engage in church programming or committees unless absolutely necessary, but equipping them to live in communion with Christ within the context he has placed them.
4. It would shift the focus of Sunday worship away from mission and outreach to a time of celebration and encouragement for Christians who are engaged in mission the other six days of the week.
5. It would mean deploying church leaders outside the institution to engage members in their native contexts; mentoring and coaching on their turf rather than ours.
6. It would mean a radical adjustment in what the church celebrates-not institutional expansion or programmatic growth, but stories of ordinary people incarnating Christ at home, at work, at school?everywhere life happens.
A church built upon people's core time rather than leisure time will not only maximize its missional impact, but it will also be far less susceptible to the unstable foundations of our debt-based economy. It would mean fewer churches fearing economic recession because they've build their missional strategy on the foundation of ordinary life rather than institutional programs, buildings, and staffs.
Skye Jethani is the managing editor of Leadership, a teaching pastor at Blanchard Alliance Church in Wheaton, Illinois, and the author of The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity.
Posted by UrL Scaramanga on December 10, 2008
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but does it actually work?
Posted by: Kurt at December 10, 2008
Integration. Why not train people to live a lifestyle of reaching people, and then disciple those people in the context of their lives…i.e. at work, at the gym, etc…so that their faith and their life are one. This sounds a little Pollyannish, but the reality is that this simple version of Christianity is more effective and more powerful, and more “doable”…and a lot less busy. We are living it right now….and the screen on my Blackberry actually just cracked…maybe it’s a sign (cue sinister music).
When we switched to a more simple model of church, one initial question was “if we don’t have kids programs, what will our kids do?” Well, the answer is obvious and embarrassing: I guess we will have to invest into them ourselves, ya know…teach them about the Bible and faith by showing them through other ways than flannel graphs (…preposterous). “What about their social lives?” Well, I guess we will have to encourage them to make friends in our neighborhood. “But, what if those friends aren’t Godly folk?” Well, I guess we’ll have to have them and their families over for dinner. “What if those folks aren’t Christian?” Well, I guess we (not anybody else) need reach out to them and share our life and faith with them…starting with helping them and then sharing how to be saved.
But…this is totally crazy…could it work? We'll tell you how it goes.
...i linked this article to http://www.newchurchreport.com to share it with others...thanks!
Posted by: Scott in Vegas at December 10, 2008
These principles ring true period... Not simply in times of recession. The church (and its mission) is wherever its members are...
Posted by: David A. Campton at December 10, 2008
This whole thing sounds like smoke and mirrors to me. God doesn't accept the whole concept of core, leisure and so forth. For a believer it is all God's time. Perhaps God refuses to even approach the whole thing with this vocabulary. The biblical concept of being a steward, even if one has to define it, is a fine vocabulary to use. I am all for being mission minded and "missional" and don't have a particular problem with the concepts of the numbered points, but using this faulty time scheme to push ones hobby horse is a bit much.
Posted by: Gregg at December 10, 2008
Love it. Love it. Love it.
Well written, Skye. I'm left wondering how to put this into action . . .
Posted by: Pastor Kip at December 10, 2008
Great article. This sounds an awful lot like the Lutheran understanding of "vocation". Luther argued that all believers, not just the ordained, are part of a royal priesthood, called by God to serve our neighbors. So the parent taking care of children and the Farmer providing daily bread, are just as much servants of God as their Pastor.
Because Luther lived during the time of Christendom what is missing from his understanding of vocation is the aspect of witnessing. If we add that into the equation then I think we have exactly the kind of calling described in this article.
The question is, how do we train people and provide accountability structures that take them away from the mission field as little as possible? I think that aspect of community connectedness needs to be retained.
Posted by: Brian Beckstrom at December 10, 2008
This was really encouraging to me. Our church is burning out the few people who do stuff (it's a long story), but I think the celebration of life as the place of ministry is important. I used to go to church that preached a clear theology of the reformation, and this was easier for them to articulate. And guess what? We had a lot of single mothers, people working multiple jobs and families raising many foster kids. They felt affirmed and supported as ones who were just as much part of the mission of the church as the sunday school teachers, deacons and program staff. Thank you for this encouragement to affirm God's call in all of life.
Posted by: Brian Howell at December 10, 2008
If the pastor is preaching the Bible (in depth) from the pulpit every Sunday and the emphasis is on seeking, first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all the other things will be added. The pastor's job is to shepherd the sheep. Learning to love God with all one's, heart, soul, mind and strength begins with repentance and grows from serious time in the Word. The mission will be fulfilled when this verse is obeyed, "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest." Luke 10:2. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who sends people out on the mission. Immature Christians need to be fed themselves before they can effectively feed others.
Posted by: Melody at December 10, 2008
Your categories ring true. Though I'd never thought about it the way you presented this info, Skye, your suggestion that church volunteers are often those with the most leisure time rings true. Funny - those same volunteers often look bizzy, bizzy, bizzy around the church building. I wouldn't think of these folks as the ones with the most free time in their work/family/sleep schedule.
Single moms and dads, those who work weird shifts or two jobs, older folks who are returning to the workforce often don't have the luxury of spare time to staff church programs. Too many churches (probably unintentionally) marginalize those who can't or don't do the church busywork thing. Those who do the church stuff are often viewed as a church's core, spiritual folks. Those who can't participate in programs are viewed with a mix of frustration, pity or even suspicion: "our weaker brothers".
Could it be that a bit of repentance about the way our categories have played out might be in order as we all ready to follow Jesus into a our economic reality?
Posted by: Michelle Van Loon at December 10, 2008
I definitely agree with this concept, that we have become way too introverted as a church in terms of our understanding of how do be missions and do "ministry".....and I've wondered sometimes what would happen if we just canceled all the programs for a season.
As a pastor I can see that in our context we would definitely have to do some serious praying and planning for how we would actively pour our energy as church leaders into encouraging and spurring the body to be more missional and doing kingdom work in their everyday lives.
But I wonder if such an extreme response (cancel it all!) is the answer, or do we simply need to start stepping it up in our teaching to our congregations about not letting church ministry be a substitute for kingdom living in their everyday lives.....about not letting the church children's or youth ministry take over the responsiblity for raising and giving spiritual guidance and teaching to their kids...and about not being involved in more than "x" number of hours of church ministry if they are not doing "x" number of hours of kingdom work outside of the church and in their own homes.
In regards to the 80/20 thing, my experience has been that usually it's the people who are heavily involved who actually DON'T have a ton of leisure time to spare. They are people who are hardworking, manage their time well, are highly active in all areas of their lives, and then they are packing on tons of church ministry stuff b/c of their sense of mission and wanting to contribute to the great commission....
We as pastors have fed the problem with our willingness to suck up as many hours from the "really gifted" people as they have been willing to give, and it needs to stop. We have a responsibility to really observe and evaluate the responsibilities church members are taking on (both ministry and non-ministry reponsibilities) and help them identify when they need to say NO to things or cut things out.
Perhaps we as pastors need to sharpen our senses to identify and encourage those already overbusy to not give more to the church but to perhaps CUT out church involvements. This way they can better focus on investing in kingdom building activities outside of our church walls in the midst of the active and busy lives they are already living
This would create a ministry vacuum in many of our ministries but this would encourage those who normally sit back and are inactive to come forward with their gifts and move the 80/20 more towards 100/100....
2) See the church as a place of training and sending, to build up and equip those who are NOT active to sharpen
Posted by: Kevin McKee at December 11, 2008
One of your best Skye.
Posted by: Jonathan Brink at December 11, 2008
The Jesuits have a motto at Loyola University in Chicago, my alma mater. It's Ad Majorem, Dei Gloriam--for the greater glory of the Divine. The general understanding is, whatever you do, whatever the world or the Divine or some combination thereof, calls you to do, do it for the greater glory of the Divine.
I am Jewish, but the ideal is translateable across the faiths.
Posted by: a_cermak at December 11, 2008
I know the question, "how did the mission of Christ get anywhere before the institution of the 40 hour work week, electric refrigeration, or the automobile?" is rhetorical, but the answer has a lot to do with Christianity being a dominant (perhaps THE dominant) cultural institution in the West for the past millenium and a half.
With the rise of mass communication, cultural authority is becoming more and more decentralized. The question, then, can't be "how DID the mission of Christ get anywhere?" but "how WILL the mission of Christ get anywhere?"
Posted by: Nate Woodward at December 11, 2008
Usher: Isn't it funny Deak, how nearly all these human arguments and comments are based on the institutional church remaining intact?
Deacon: Evidently their idea of "missional" is simply a trend or a way of thinking which can coexist with the insitutional church.
Usher: Alan Hirsch discuss this at http://www.theforgottenways.org/blog/2007/07/11/a-working-definition-of-missional-church/
Missional in my view is at odds with the institutional church. It's new and fresh and everyone seems to want to adopt it. There are entire movements out of some of the biggest conferences renaming "church planting" as missional works.
Deacon: The traditional or institutional church cannot explore missional without divorcing the old model outright. They can talk about it all day, they can rationalize how it might work, just as in many of these comments, but in reality, one must break from tradition completely in order to even explore missional.
Usher: Maybe it's just the western thinking mentality that humans have that they can seem to have not only one of everything, but several of everything. Not to mention that pastors would have to forego their salaries, their titles and their power.
Deacon: The church has truly become a vehicle of consumerism in the form of programs, performances and entertainment, not to mention a place for the humans to "dump their kids" for someone else to teach, nurture and at worst - babysit.
Posted by: deaconandusher at December 12, 2008
Good post Skye.
If chruch activity is something I do in my leisure time then it is just another activity I "have" to do. On the other hand, if it is something I do in my core time, then it is something I "choose" to do, and I think that makes a difference in how we view our involvement.
I'm also struck that a version of the same principle even applies to our financial support of the church's activities. We tend to give the "leftover" funds in the budget to the church rather than make it part of our "core" budget. I wrote about this previously at the link above.
Posted by: Alan Ward at December 12, 2008
It's dangerous to separate core time with leisure time. We should glorify God in all that we do, whether work or play, leisure or vocation. CJ Mahaney has a good article from RC Sproul on this which is a worthy read. http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Blog/post/Time-Redeemed.aspx
Posted by: jimmy at December 12, 2008
Skye,
I've been blogging about this problem for five years now, plus warning of its consequences. Thank you for raising it in another forum.
That said, the problem is worse than you paint it. The average work week is nearly 49 hours in America now, not 40. Plus, commutes are longer, adding another 45 minutes daily. Many people are working even longer hours than this in an attempt to look like the busiest people on their work team so they avoid the pink slip when the inevitable cuts come. Add to this that people are straining to create extra time to stay on top of life by sacrificing natural sleep patterns, sleepwalking through their work week only to collapse on the weekends.
The single greatest reason for this problem is our shift from an agrarian society to an industrial one, the Church in America (and Britain) cheering that move as part of 19th century postmillennial fever. We have been paying for that mistake ever since.
Why?
Well, most of the problems you note would vanish if people worked from home (or barring that, within a couple miles of home). The first century Church's vibrancy was maintained by the closeness of its community ties, with most people working very near where they lived. Taking people out of their communities to work farther away severs the natural ties that make ministering from within the community possible. It leads to the disconnectedness that makes the mission of the Church less effective. It necessitates making decisions for the Kingdom based on employment considerations and not the needs of the Kingdom.
Until Christians start pressing to recover local economies and employment situations that keep neighbors working with neighbors, nothing will fix the fundamental problem, and we will find ourselves increasingly isolated and ineffectual, fighting to stay employed in distant jobs because of our cave-in to industrialization and globalization.
Posted by: DLE at December 13, 2008
It’s true. But the question, is that a solution for that? The downturn that’s prevailing in the economy, are really spreadout. How pathetic are we.? Does it make sense to save our economy? So even though spring season is pervasive, due to our economic condition, people don’t feel it. Spring is here or at least it is for us Northern Hemisphere folks. Spring, when a young man's thoughts turn to love, but these days they turn invariably to the economy and whether or not to get a payday loan at times. The recession has been the headline for months, and the doom and gloom gets old. However, there seem to be more glimmers of hope on the horizon. Some companies have been announcing that they aren't going to be firing anyone else, or even that they're hiring. Maybe less people will need a payday loan this Spring.
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