Looking to grow?
The Church of the Nativity in Raleigh, NC, started ZeroWasteChurch.org,
engaging congregants in ministries and mission that stretch from the local to
the global. ZeroWasteChurch.org
has diminished environmental damage, spread Christ's message of love for all
creation, and been a catalyst for spiritual and numerical growth at the Church
of the Nativity. (In the interest of full disclosure, I served this parish as
priest-in-charge and then as a priest associate but moved to Hawaii several
years before the congregation began ZeroWasteChurch.org.)
Examining ZeroWasteChurch.org highlights
six organizational dynamics essential for congregations that desire to increase
both the number of Jesus people who attend as well as their spiritual depth.
First, ZeroWasteChurch.org
emphasizes an issue central to human existence. Perhaps the two most immediate
threats to continued human existence are nuclear war and the global warming
caused by humans. Scientists detected the first signs of the adverse effect of
humans upon the environment in the early nineteenth century. (For a chronology
of the emergence of global warming as a significant concern and failed efforts
to alter human behavior, read Nathaniel Rich’s “Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped
Climate Change,” in the New York Times Magazine, August 1,
2018.) Since the problem of global warming was first recognized, ending
environmental damage and reversing its ill effects have become ever more
urgent. Other issues central to human existence include the need for meaning (what
psychologist Abraham Maslow identified as self-actualization) and humans’ basic
needs for food, water, and shelter.
Most individuals must cope with one or more of these issues central to
human life. More broadly, many Christians and non-Christians are committed to
helping their local community and perhaps the world address one or more of
life’s central challenges. Consequently, the potential for congregational
growth is pervasive. However, congregations often fail to grow because they (1)
focus on that which is of minor or no ultimate importance, such as liturgical
niceties or biblical trivia, or, (2) remain content with the status quo
regardless of any avowed commitment to growth.
Second, ZeroWasteChurch.org affords congregants
and other people multiple opportunities to get involved. At Raleigh’s Church of
the Nativity, persons may assist with the bird and pollinator friendly community
gardens, work to reduce energy consumption at home and in the parish, aid in
the continuing installation of solar panels on parish buildings (these now
provide in excess of one third of the energy the parish uses), composting
organic waste, recycling non-organic waste, commit to a year of personal
action, publicize ZeroWasteChurch.org or maintain
its website, speak at other churches about the program and ecological
stewardship, develop new resources, etc. In sum, the Church of the Nativity
aims to have enough options for involvement that most persons can hear a call
to support the program in a way that capitalizes on their emotional energy,
utilizes their skills and abilities, and fosters spiritual growth.
Third, ZeroWasteChurch.org
enjoys ongoing support from the congregation’s leadership. For over fifteen
years, the parish’s clergy, wardens, and vestry have enthusiastically supported
what began as a handful of people committed to ecological stewardship that now
involves a large portion of the congregation. The leadership’s commitment
includes: personally participating in the program; encouraging others to
participate through sermons, the parish newsletter, and personal contacts;
allowing ZeroWasteChurch.org
and its associated programs free use of the parish campus; and funding
ecological stewardship programs.
Fourth, ZeroWasteChurch.org took fifteen
plus years to blossom. It began with a few congregants’ interest in the nexus
of science and religion. A small grant from the Templeton Foundation funded
some early initiatives. Those developed into an adult study program that
spanned several years. Congregants slowly started to search for ways to
translate environmental concern into action. This spawned a community garden, a
short-lived speaking program designed to highlight the theological mandate and
scientific rationale for environmental stewardship, a desire to add solar
panels on the roofs of parish buildings, and more. The Episcopal Church gave
Nativity a 2017 $10,000 Stewardship and Creation grant to promote “carbon
farming,” i.e., removing carbon from the air and returning it to the soil. Nativity
eventually united its varied ecological stewardship efforts under the ZeroWasteChurch.org
umbrella.
Fifth, ZeroWasteChurch.org
carries the gospel, or at least one central aspect of the gospel, to the world hoping
to form the lost into Jesus people. Scripture is a window into God’s heart, not
a science textbook. The multiple stories of creation Scripture references
(e.g., Genesis 1 and Genesis 2) historically situated presume the creation
science of different cultures. Israel had no science of its own. When we ignore
the anachronistic, erroneous science found in Scripture, we can hear Scripture
repeatedly and consistently emphasize creation’s goodness. God values not only
humans but also everything that God created. Today, God’s concern for all
creation is a vital issue for both the well-being of the earth and for continued
human existence.
Sixth, ZeroWasteChurch.org
is a sustainable program with an open future. Its founders metaphorically cast scattered
seeds on the ground trusting that the Holy Spirit would bring growth. Signs of
that growth include the Church of the Nativity, its members, other
congregations, and disparate individuals more fully caring for creation and
more closely walking the Jesus path. In the years ahead, some current aspects
of ZeroWasteChurch.org
will fail, other aspects will morph into new expressions, some aspects will end
having achieved their limited objectives, and still other aspects will last
many years. Importantly, the Church of the Nativity’s fifteen plus years of
investment in ecological stewardship has both improved the environment and grown
the parish numerically and spiritually.
Congregations of all sizes can adopt and then invest in a program similar
to ZeroWasteChurch.org
that incorporates the six organizational dynamics enumerated above. For
example, St. Elizabeth’s Church in Honolulu has achieved numerical and
spiritual growth through a set of programs that have dramatically improved the
quality of life for many of Honolulu’s marginalized and the city’s thousands of
houseless who live on streets and in the parks.
Conversely, congregations lacking a program(s) characterized by these
six organizational dynamics implicitly communicate a lack of knowledge in how
to strive for real growth or perhaps a lack of genuine interest in numerical
and spiritual growth. These six factors do not represent everything a congregation
can or should do to as Jesus people to increase love of God and neighbor but
are essential steps for translating laudatory aspirations into effective
programs.
Sadly, most of the congregations that I visit, whether as a guest in the
pews or as supply priest, do not have a program comparable to ZeroWasteChurch.org.
And then we Episcopalians frequently ponder, often with considerable
frustration, our seeming inability to reverse the decline of our beloved congregations.
We should instead, learn from growing congregations. Like good stewards, prepare
the soil and lovingly plant seeds of faith around one of life’s central issues;
engage the energies and talents of clergy and laity in lovingly watering,
fertilizing, and weeding the sprouts; and then joyfully reap a harvest assuredly
pleasing to the garden’s owner.
(Previously posted
on the Episcopal Café website)
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