Church newsletter pastoral column for St. Peter Lutheran Church, Greene, Iowa, for October, 2020.
Always Reforming
“Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us; glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and always. Amen”
– Ephesians 3:20-21
Ask anyone what holiday is on October 31, and the answer will likely be Halloween. But for us as Lutherans, October 31 is also Reformation Day, the anniversary of Martin Luther posting his 95 Theses and beginning the Protestant Reformation. One Latin slogan often connected to this day is Ecclesia semper reformanda est — “the church is always being reformed.”
For the last couple months, (as astute readers of this newsletter may have noted) the church council has been reading together the book, Autopsy of a Deceased Church, by Thom S. Rainer (check it out on Amazon here if you’re interested). By looking at 14 closed church congregations, Rainer identifies twelve common threads contributing to their demise.
Now, your council reading this book does not mean we think our church is dying! Exactly the opposite: The purpose of an autopsy is to help the living, not the dead. The idea is to avoid the traps the dying congregations fall into, so that St. Peter can remain a vibrant, lively congregation serving God and proclaiming Jesus here in Greene for decades and centuries to come.
The capital-C Church which is the Body of Christ active in the world is in no danger of dying. As Jesus promised in Matthew 16:18, even the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church built on Jesus Christ. Hebrews 13:8 assures us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” The Church is animated by the Holy Spirit, and God’s work cannot be stopped. Individual church congregations, however, are always in need of reforming in order to avoid death and more importantly, to continue the work of ministry to which God calls them.
The biggest takeaway I’ve found from Dr. Rainer’s book is the importance of looking outward and focusing on our mission. God has called us here to be a church, to be the Body of Christ in the world. The church is here for a reason: To offer hope to the world through Jesus Christ. We’re here for the benefit of our neighbors, not for our own benefit. When churches lose sight of their mission of spreading the good news of the Gospel, they lose their identity and eventually die.
As we remember Martin Luther’s work of reforming the church and calling it (us!) back to focus on God’s grace shown in Jesus Christ, I challenge you to think about both our congregation’s purpose and mission and your role in our congregation and its mission.
The founder of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, famously describes every day at the company he founded as “Day One.” By that, he means that it’s what’s next that matters. Rather than getting hung up on what they’ve accomplished as a company, he wants his employees to focus on what’s ahead, to constantly adapt to the challenges of a changing world.
I wonder what it would look like to think of today as “Day One” in our church congregation? The Church has been around for 2,000 years—that’s less than a blink in the context of eternity! What if, as we move through the pandemic and all its disruptions, and through all the societal change around us, instead of wondering when we’ll get back to “normal,” we look for where God is calling us to reform? Where might God be calling us to try something new in order to fulfill our mission as church?
In Christ,
-Pastor Daniel Flucke