Building Economy Through Community Conscience

Conscience in Community as a Guideline for Living

We are now working through another election process. Sometime we feel as though this never ends. In our election processes, various questions of values are brought forward by politicians, pundits and voters at every level. Seems real.

This is perhaps one of the finest moments of any democracy.

In every community, questions of conscience arise. The community, and especially the Church must wrestle with these. Some would argue that these questions are irrelevant to Christianity. It is my belief that these questions are at the heart of Jesus’ mission.

The great witness to this perception is Jesus statements in the Sermon on the Mount, and especially in the Beatitudes. These statements are specific guides for the human conscience as it guides the person through life.

Conscience in Community

The community is able to see both the good and the evil that come from its Vision, its labor and its patterns. It can see what changes are needed in its value system to deal with the realities of today and tomorrow. Justice is integrated into the Vision, the strategy and the tactics.

Revelation 18:1-10

Come out of (Babylon), my people, so that you do not take part in her sins, and so you do not share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities; ... and the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn for her, since no one buys her wares any more, cargo of gold, silver, jewels and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet, all kinds of scented wood, all articles of ivory, all articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense and myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, choice flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, slaves – and human lives.... The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud.(NRSV)

The ancient Hebrews seem to have had as much struggle with conscience as have any people. The Lord brought the deluge to the people because of their refusal to live justly and faithfully. Noah and his family were the only survivors of the flood.

Moses and Aaron were accused of "lording it over" the common people among the refugees. (Numbers 16) They eventually seem to have had their accusers, Korah and his people, killed for making this accusation. Amos pointed out that other peoples were being destroyed for their injustices, and that the Hebrews would reap the same harvest.

Questions to help us understand Jesus’ call to our conscience:

*. Are we able to look ourselves in the mirror and be certain we have lived in justice with one another?

*. Have we promoted justice and lived in mutual support by the way we deal with one another in our lives?

*. Do we make a strong point of doing what the Lord requires?

Examples of working toward good conscience in community:

A. The struggle for Civil Rights has been a focus of faith community action for many centuries. The drive toward abolishing slavery has existed almost as long as humankind itself. The American Civil Rights Movement has depended n the Church to lead its motivation, supply its personnel and empower its struggles of conscience.

This has not been an easy matter. But it would be a mistake to assume that any particular region or denomination or sect has had a lock on providing power. When Martin Luther King, Jr., was murdered in Memphis in 1968, I was serving as pastor in Pineview, Georgia. I participated in the service and the march afterward. Then I drove my VW bus west and east along the march route, carrying mourners back to their vehicles or out to the airport. I worked at this for several hours.

On the following Sunday, the congregation at the little church I served in Pineview was most interested in that experience. I abandoned my prepared sermon which completely avoided the issue of racism and segregation. Rather, I talked, and they asked questions. They honestly wanted to know what had happened. It was probably the first time they had talked about these issues in such tones. Perhaps it was because it was in the church building. Progress was made that morning, although it may have been slight.

B. Peace is also a matter of personal conscience and enormous consequence. As long as people are free to speak, someone will protest any movement toward war. That is the nature of war. It chews up everything and everyone. That leaves it squarely on the shoulders of God’s People to call things back together through study, prayer, speaking and singing.

C. It seems that Jesus believed that focusing on our relationship with the Creator would be the best way to live. He both implied and said explicitly that, although monetary wealth was not the point of life, overall good life would come to those who tried to make this relationship right. The overall struggle of spiritual activity is to find the best way to live in a world where the deity reveals the sacred presence in some way. The response to the sacred presence, if done properly, should make human life as good as it can become. That is the point of religious activity, including the work and mission of the Church.

The Beatitudes seem to be a re-statement and re-focus of ancient laws aimed at peace and prosperity. From some thousands of years before Christ many had stated the secrets of the good life in legal format. Hammurabi had a lengthy detailed code nearly two thousand years before Christ. Moses wrote down the ten commandments about a thousand years later. There have been many others.

Jesus re-stated the code in six or eight statements in a slightly more positive way. He said that those who operate this way will be blessed. "Blessed is the one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, for they shall be filled."

Finally someone asked him to boil even these simple commandments down further. Jesus complied by saying "You know the great commandment, the Shema. ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength.’ And the second commandment is like it. ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’"

Questions for evaluating your community and congregation:

* What questions of conscience are covered by your local media, including newspaper, radio, television, church newsletter?

* What sermons and liturgies built around issues of conscience in local congregations recently?

* What issues of community conscience have been topics of discussions in the community and congregation gatherings?

* What have been the outcomes of these discussions.

What are your own brainstorms and creative thoughts?

1. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your own community for Conscience?

2. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your congregation for building Conscience?

3. What programs might work in your church and community?

4. What will be your work in this process?

5. How will you reveal these thoughts to your church and community?

Building Economy Through Collaboration

(Note: This blog is the result of years of travel and study around the lowest income rural counties of the U.S.A. The intent of the study has been to find the factors in these low income communities that might be attacked by the local church and/or its denominational leadership.)

Karl Evans

(Rate your church and community in this factor.)
Community Reality = _____
Congregational Reality = _____
Congregational Mission = _____

"Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord, the god of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of those among you who are of his people – may their god be with them! – are now permitted to go up to Jerusalem in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the god of Israel – he is the god who is in Jerusalem; and let all survivors, in whatever place they reside, be assisted by the people of their place with silver and gold, with goods and with animals, besides freewill offerings for the house of their god in Jerusalem."

Statement of Reality
During the sixth and fifth centuries before Christ, generations of Hebrews spent centuries of slavery. They languished in the Tigris and Euphrates valleys of what is modern day Iraq. The promised release and return to the promised land must have brought a terrible temptation to the survivors.

After the years in captivity, the people must have wanted to scramble. They probably felt compelled to run, not walk, back to the land few of them had seen. The ordinary temptation would seem to have been to ignore community and race across the desert to the Jordan River. It could have been something like the Oklahoma Land Grab or the gold rushes of the 19th century. It might have even approached the opening of a department store on Friday after Thanksgiving.

The repatriates apparently come back to the promised land in some orderly manner. Their order apparently protected their sense of community. Except for the relationships with the Samaritans, things were orderly. The returnees accused the Samaritans of collaborating with the Assyrians while their cousins were in slavery.

The people apparently returned in some decent order. They re-established their communities. They rebuild their systems of collaboration and control, their synagogues, their markets and their city walls. They rebuilt only by re-taking the land and facilities from those who had stayed.

Definition of Collaboration for Economic Development:
The community works together in reliable interdependence. The community functions as a bed of multiple groups and stakeholders for the community good. Interaction among groups or individuals is supportive and effective.

Chaos in community activity will destroy the best attempts at community revitalization and recovery. In five decades of community service I have seen many organizational disasters among well-meaning people.
Collaboration is a result of training, leadership and commitment. It is also a result of recognizing a common calling from a common leader, Jesus of Nazareth.

The United States is an interesting experience in human activity. Although we are many differing faiths, abilities, dreams and persuasions, we can and do work together. We are a people torn apart by civil war, yet able to recover to the support of civil rights. We have changed from a rural nation to an industrial nation, yet work hard to remain small town in spirit. Our society has chosen to defend personal freedoms. We have also become nervous when anyone uses their freedom to speak disparagingly of our system. In short, much of what keeps us together is our choice to be together. It is our common work for the good of all the world that makes us viable.

When disaster strikes, we collaborate. Military personnel, church and nonprofit volunteers, business leaders, utility workers and many others sweating together is common practice. Pastors shovel sand into bags held by company presidents. Moslems struggle to find and rescue Christian children caught in the aftermath of tornadoes. This collaboration is at the heart of the nature of the whole North American Continent. It is also at the heart of efforts to build national and international economies around the world.

Questions to help us understand our community:
/ Does our community support the collaborative efforts of all its groups and individuals?

/ Do we work together for the good of everyone?

/ As a congregation of Christ, do we invest our personal and corporate for the good of the community?

/ Are there groups which refuse to work with other groups in the community?

/ Are these isolationist groups recognized and targeted by other groups within the community?

/ Do our churches, schools and other social organizations understand collaboration within the community as an appropriate target for mission effort?

Examples of programs which may help build Collaboration in our community.
( In Shady Dale, Georgia, a group of us built the first community fire truck. As part of this work we established the fire department. Junior Champion, a Primitive Baptist who drove over one hundred miles each way to church on Sunday, was the leader. Junior’s family and employees helped. I was the pastor of the United Methodist Church. Most of the city council were Southern Baptist.

When the truck was finished, painted bright red and outfitted with lights and siren, we drove around the community. We gathered up volunteers for the fire department. The first man we picked up was a disabled elderly black man who lived in the town. From that point on, we had no distinction, black or white, male or female.

( In Yachats, Oregon, the Presbyterian Church (P.C.U.S.A.) has been the driving force behind a local medical clinic. Others involved were members of the local Southern Baptist Church and other churches in neighboring communities. Other volunteers have come from the regional hospital, the local ambulance crew, local businesses and several local artists and retired persons.

( In thousands of communities around the world congregations gather together to celebrate the great festivals of the faith. Holy Week, Easter Sunrise, Advent and Pentecost see groups coming together for worship.
( In 1998 I was serving a congregation in downtown Las Vegas. As Pentecost approached I was a participant in an internet discussion group for clergy and laity. I entered a Pentecost greeting from the congregation to all those who could receive it. I then suggested that those who wished should send along their own greetings. These could be in any form they wished.

Over the next several days I received something like two hundred greetings from many different faith groups and individuals. The greetings came from every continent, including Antarctica.
Others of the list followed their own path. Perhaps they ignored the messages. Perhaps they saved them. I do not know. This gathering of greetings turned out to be a treasure of ministry and understanding for our little congregation.

On Pentecost Sunday each attender of the small congregation received copies of several greetings. During the service I had each individual read to the congregation the greeting they held. The collaboration of the local congregation and folks on the other side of the earth was startling. It seems that instantly we had a sense of oneness with the whole church.

( At Winslow, Arizona, we held the 1995 Thanksgiving morning service of 1995 at the Roman Catholic Church. This sanctuary was in the lower income side of the town. It was my turn to speak that year. My theme was a simple one. I simply called for the community to be thankful together to God for our blessings.

As I began the message I spoke briefly of the realities of the town. With about 12,000 persons in the general community, we were in several distinct ethnic groups. Winslow had (and still has) white, black, Mexican-American, Tex-Mex, Mexican nationals, Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Apache, German-American, Chinese-American, Russian-American, Irish-American, and a few groups that escape my memory now .

Then I noted that my own heritage is Welsh, Irish, Scotch, English, German, Paiute, and a few other groups. Then I made what seemed to me to be an obvious remark. "I just don’t know where I belong in Winslow."

It was the only time in thousands of sermons preached over a lifetime of ministry that the congregation has loudly applauded my efforts.
The rest of the message focused on building acceptance and collaboration among the many ethnic groups of the community.


What are your own brainstorm and creative thoughts toward increasing community collaboration?
1. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your own community for Collaboration?

2. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your congregation for building Collaboration?

3. What programs might work in your church and community?

4. What will be your work in this process?

5. How will you reveal these thoughts to your church and community?

Continuity in Community Economic Development

Factor #6. Continuity in Community

Karl Evans

(After you read this article, you may wish to score your own community and congregation on their work in the area of Continuity.)

Community Reality = _____

Congregational Reality = _____

Congregational Mission = _____

Isaiah 65:17-22
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind . . .
No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
For one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

Statement of Reality
The community structures that work stay in place long enough to be productive. Gee, how difficult can that be? But you might be surprised.

People want and need to see the results of their labors. If the community is changing groups, enough continuity must be in place to see that positive values and patterns live on. Clergy and lay leadership are left in place long enough to establish programs, see results and celebrate the community efforts.

The nation Israel has been a study in continuity (and lack of continuity!) for around three or four thousand years. When Abraham left the area we know as Iraq with his people, they left continuity behind. No one knows how long their ancestors had lived in that area. They settled in the area with established homes, institutions, businesses and culture. By leaving the area, they left all their community support behind. Poverty, social disruption, war, hunger and early death were likely.

However, Israel took with them the covenant Abraham had made with Yahweh. This was the basic continuity they needed to eventually build a new society. The whole of the Scriptures is the tension between continuity with the past and hopeful vision of the future. This struggle is lived out in the presence of the Lord. That presence especially as known in the Covenant. Was their continuity. Without that, however, all apparently would have been lost.

Mora County, New Mexico, has been a place of refuge and restart for hundreds of years. Family after family of Americans come into the area. They arrive from Alaska, Europe, Africa or eastern North America. They have often escaped disaster from places across the nation. Usually they eventually left Mora to take over some better piece of land away from Mora County. Then a new nation settled in Mora to replace them. The refugees always had little in the way of cooking ability, culture or hope. They built everything from scratch.

In Mora County the young nations had time to put things together for themselves. They seemed to understand they were just passing through, but needed to have a time to build a community. The North American refugees developed their own culture and government around Mora. They rebuilt their religion to deal with the new realities of life in this inhospitable area.

The toughest part of this scenario was that each group had to start over. Every group gave up everything to come in.

A sure sign of a community in trouble is the transient nature of professional service in the area. Clergy, school leadership, attorneys, bank officers and physicians stay only a short time before moving on. Sometimes, as usually in the case of clergy and school administrators, the community forces them to leave. For others, the decision is one’s own, often excused by a better opportunity elsewhere, etc.

A major failing of the church is the frequency of pastoral change. In the small congregation, the pastor may initiate many good programs. The pastor carries them out almost individually, then moves on. This leaves the congregation as weak as the day the pastor arrived. One can usually spot the weakest congregations in any area quickly. Count the number of its pastors over the past twenty years.

My wife and I have made a lifelong pattern of accepting the task of pastor leadership in troubled congregations. This has not been an easy pattern for service, but it has been educational.

One principle has become clear. If a congregation has problems holding on to pastoral leadership, the congregation is in trouble. The outer data is only the symptom of the reality of that congregation. Infighting within the congregation or the community may spell disaster for continuity. A self-important controlling group within the congregation may fight for control. A frequent turnover of pulpit committee leadership may be a symptom. Any problem, if carried throughout the congregation, can be destructive to the congregation, and thus to the life of the community. Anyway, frequent pastoral change is usually a prime symptom of internal trouble.

Questions for Evaluation:
√ Does our community have a core of professional leadership that has remained stable for many years?

√ Does the core change only with honest career moves or personal needs?

√ Do we have patterns of clergy leaving after a few months or a year or two?

√ Do we have difficulty bringing in and keeping physicians, nurses, dentists,
attorneys and school administrators and top teachers?

Examples:

☹ (Bad Example – the pastor left almost immediately) One congregation turned the ‘Pastor’s Study” over to the church secretary because she needed to use the room to work up the Sunday Worship Bulletin. They took the key to the room away from the pastor. The pulpit committee said he could work from home or from the church library. She needed the study for one hour per week because a computer was there. She needed to do the worship bulletin.

☺ In one congregation I visited in Kansas (I forget which one) I stumbled across a special service. The congregation invited the leadership of the community to come to the church for a special service. The point of the service was to thank God for the gift of these persons. All the sacred time was spent telling the god what these and others had done in the community. Of course, these leaders included many of that congregation.

What are your own brainstorm and creative thoughts to increase community continuity?

1. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your own community?


2. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your community?


3. What programs might work in your church and community?


4. What will be your work in this process?


5. How will you reveal these thoughts to your church and community?

Contribution in Community for Economic Recovery

Factor #5. Contribution in Community

Observed Community Reality Score (1-10) = _____
Observed Congregational Reality Score (1-10)= _____
Observed Congregational Mission Score (1-10) = _____

"He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasure; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has but in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on."

Statement of Reality

In the contributing community, people want to give. Giving is especially important if it is to something that satisfies a need. The people accept and celebrate the contributions of all persons. The people know that what they are doing is worthwhile. Systems are in place to enable every person to make their own contribution to the well being of the community. The church is in a leadership role in the development of these systems.

Jesus’ words about the scene in front of his audience were more than a call to the poor to give. He was, it appears, calling for the church to accept and recognize the gifts of even the poorest.

Big industry is a temptation for current society. We often assume only major international corporations can provide economic salvation for our communities. Fayette, Mississippi, panicked when General Motors closed a wiring harness assembly plant there. Navajos feared the prospect of a major coal company being forced out by politics or high wages. In both cases, small industry might supply jobs and benefits, given support in the proper areas. The church can be a major supplier of that support.

Even in slavery many have contributed to the goodness of life for the community. Many African-American and Native American slaves not only learned to read and write, but taught others. Many taught their children and the children of other slaves. Some even taught their masters and the masters’ children.

The migrant labor communities of the 20th century required cooperative living. Those who could no longer work in the fields often tended and taught children. Some cared for elderly, or cared for whatever homes they could. The great civil rights struggle of the 20th century has been to give everyone the opportunity to contribute and also the right to receive.

As pastor I have served congregations that barred certain persons from collecting the offering. Some were the wrong gender, or the wrong race (whatever that means). Others were not old enough or too old. Perhaps the silliest complaint was that some did not wear the right clothes. It is not certain why a dark suit and tie are essential parts of passing the offering plate. Now I can not even ask. Unfortunately, most of those congregations are now out of business.

The matter of race is a matter we must all address. In our lifetimes we have seen this go from the all-important issues of the personal quality to something quite different. Today we understand that race is nothing more than family genetic history combined with ethnicity.

Every family has a unique genetic code. This determines such things as color of eyes, hair and skin, and how the kidneys work. Combined with the ethnic accidents of history, this is our world. Some families have lived in Europe, some in Africa and some in Asia. The problem here is that folks from different families get together. They combine genes, history, creeds and values. It is in the mixing of family genetics that biases and prejudices become nonsensical.

The word and the sense of race are always a matter of greed and false pride. The sense of race bars many from participating in the drive toward the vision. We can cure this division, and the church bears the primary assignment.

Questions for Evaluation:

/ Does our community consciously develop systems that ensure that we include everyone in its life?

/ Is everyone included in the giving and receiving and speaking no matter ethnicity, physical characteristics, age, or their own faith community?

/ Do we openly seek the opinions of those presumed to be the weakest or least important of the community?

/ Do we make certain the doors of opportunity and service are open to all persons?

Examples of Programs which may improve the ability of all to make their contribution:

( The congregation can look at its rolls each year to discover segments of the population left out of congregational life.

( The congregation can continuously look at its activities to discover if we bar some persons for any reason of ability or disability, gender, education, etc. Persons with hidden or silent disabilities are particularly vulnerable to such slights. Cardiac disease is perhaps the most common in this area. Another area of vulnerability is chronic sleep deprivation.

Persons with these disabilities often go undiagnosed throughout their lives. The church can and does frequently dismiss these persons as simply lazy, mentally ill or just unfaithful.

( The congregation can develop and lead community events that pull persons together of different segments. One of the most successful events in Winslow, Arizona, was the showing of a NASCAR race car. The congregation and the local Chevrolet dealer sponsored the event. The highlight of the day was the variety of persons who climbed through the window of the car just to pretend they were driving. Elderly women, young men, Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Latino, Anglo, children, and everyone else who wished could picture themselves at Daytona Race Track.

( Two other events at Winslow were presentations of the United Methodist Church and the Presidents of the Navajo and Hopi Nations. A total of about 500 people attended the two events. These led to participation by both in the annual community Thanksgiving and Christmas parade. About 10,000 witnessed this parade. The parade was the first appearance by leaders of the two nations at the same event in recorded history. Almost everyone credited the nations and the church with bringing about the appearances.

( In Louisiana and many other parts of the world, Mardi Gras is a major event in local communities. The entire community lives out the sacred drama as witnessed in the faith. At Grand Marais, a community of less than one thousand, 20,000 show up for the big parade. The parade is mostly high school bands, walkers and many semi-trucks hauling people. Those on the trucks throw strings of plastic beads at the crowd. Not a bad turnout for a family show.

( At Little Rock, Washington, we received a request from a pastor in Australia for help. He was preparing a special wedding service for his daughter. He needed suggestions for the service.

At one Family Day worship service, we took a computer terminal into the sanctuary. Then, in the sermon time, we discussed family and marriage. While we discussed the potential service, my wife, Donella, wrote several lengthy e-mails to the pastor in Australia. By the end of the service we had sent him several very strong suggestions. He had immediately sent us, and we had received, his first responses in return.

We did, however, neglect one task. We should have sent these same e-mails to our own congregation! We did print them out later for everyone.

What are your own brainstorms and creative thoughts to help everyone making their own contribution to the community?

1. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your own community?

2. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your community?

3. What programs might work in your church and community?

4. What will be your work in this process?

5. How will you reveal these thoughts to your church and community?

Who's Committed To What?

Factor #4. Commitment in Community
Community Reality = _____
Congregational Reality = _____
Congregational Mission = _____

"Whoever comes to me and does not place me above father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." (NRSV Luke 14:26-27)

Statement of Reality

People are an active part of the experience of creating something together. There are existing common commitments to the vision. Strong processes live which enable folks to develop commitments to each other and to the value structure. The church has an active leadership role in developing these commitments.

When the Hebrews under Joshua were ready to come out of the Wilderness, they knew their task would be difficult. Some who thought they could simply cross the Jordan River and set up the new nation were disappointed. Most knew the task would be horrendous, and very costly.
The Hebrews were committed, however. They embarked on the struggle and were eventually successful building the nation. The task took many years, with confusing ups and down, but they kept up their commitment. Their commitment was not just a self-serving platitude, but a statement of faith as well.

This commitment to the Lord was the major human effort toward success. The commitment of the community has been and still is a major task while doing economic development. From Genesis to Revelations, every writer has emphasized commitment as part of the faith relationship.

Questions for evaluation:

/ Do we know ourselves as committed to our community and our common vision?

/ Is everyone included in the processes that strengthen our commitment?
/ How do we justify asking ourselves and our neighbors for commitment?

Examples of Programs that may enhance Community Commitment:

(* For commitment to build, we must develop certain patterns. Ownership by the masses in the community is essential. A vision that exists only in the minds and hearts of a few is a vision that will likely fail. The church can spread the word and build the commitment, even in communities with no other media. Telephone campaigns, meetings and just talking about the matter here are necessary parts of the process. All these can and should be intentional.

(* In Shedd, Oregon in 1967 the community needed a celebration of community. We decided to conduct a lawnmower derby, including a community picnic. We only put up a half-dozen posters around town and put a notice in the church newsletter. One hundred fifty people showed up. Our population in 1965 was less than 100 people in town. About 250 people showed up. The effect included the renewal of some long time friendships. In addition, a few family farming units restructured their own covenants for labor, capital and marketing.

(* The church has been involved with asking for commitment for 2,000 years. We can use this experience and our knowledge to good advantage. If we can get past the sense of being committed narrowly to our own self-righteousness, we will be all right. We commit to Christ and to those whom Christ loves; all of humankind. Then our potential community of faith becomes a reality.

(* Financial commitment campaigns for the church, or for missions, for local needs such as a fire department or ambulance service are common rural areas. All these bring an awareness and a habit of commitment to the fabric of the community.

Specific commitment is always a legitimate part of the life of the church. Money, time, where to purchase goods and community service are all legitimate foods for commitment.

What are your own brainstorm and creative thoughts on helping the community commit itself to the future?
1. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your own community?

2. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your community?

3. What programs might work in your church and community to enhance commitment?

4. What will be your work in this process?

5. How will you reveal these thoughts to your church and community?


Yachats Blue Link

Capability in Community

Factors in economic recovery
#3. Capability in Community
Community Reality Score (1-10)= _____
Congregational Reality Score (1-10)= _____
Congregational Mission Score (1-10)= _____

But Moses said to the Lord: "My Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue;." Then the Lord said to him, "Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, mute or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak." Exodus 4:10-12

Statement of Reality
The community people have developed the skills, knowledge, resources and personal qualities to renew themselves and reinvent their future. They learn collectively and individually. Learning itself has a high priority as a community activity.
Since the beginning of civilization, education has been an active mission of successful communities. Teachers at all levels and in all environments have spoken of their occasional confusion of missions. Sometimes ‘book learning’ seems nothing more than driving data into the brain, just as filling a tub with water. At other times rote learning becomes an end. Perhaps the wildest failure is in religious education. Here, it is God’s own vision, purpose and tools that are at stake. Teachers who themselves to be in partnership with Lord may take their own calling more seriously.

Teachers, administrators and support personnel tend to become more excited when education is much more. It is that tool that opens persons to new options of life, especially the options arranged by their Creator. With a little knowledge, the people can rearrange their lives. They become more able to live according to Christ’s vision.

The Sunday School movement began as the attempt by the church to bring literacy to the masses of the world. Today’s Protestantism uses education largely as an evangelistic tool. This is sad, for education has the potential to be much more. Church education could bring ethics, logic, geography, morality, art and many ore subjects as gifts to the people. This all, in turn, creates in the students and community a much more capable society.

Religious education has often succumbed to parental temptation. It can become a time killer or babysitting tool for the local congregation. Teachers give students platitudes and moralistic recruiting homilies and nonsense recreation. Christ calls for faith-building work that opens tomorrow as we work through today.
As a pastor and one who has tried to be faithful, I have sometimes struggled. I have tried to answer one question at the close of every worship service, class, board or committee meeting. "What have I learned here, and what have others learned?" The answer to this can be both stimulating and frustration?

Questions for evaluation:
/ Do our community and church share an active commitment to skills education for everyone as a means toward a better life?

/ Does the church function as an educational organization always?

Examples of programs that may enhance Capability in Community:

( The church might lift up the various community teachers in celebration. Gather the group together and reinforce their commitment with praise, songs, pictures, meals, etc. The group should include workers from many different arenas. Public schools , religious schools, charter schools, private schools, home schools, Sunday schools, immigrant education, colleges and universities, senior hostels, hospital dieticians and any others exist in every community. Celebrate them and point out their value in God’s vision.

( The church can be host to classes and tutoring programs in any area it wishes. Providing facilities, leadership and administration for literacy classes is easy and appropriate. It is a mission action as easy as reading the Sermon on the Mount. For those who choose to pursue the vision of Christ, it is appropriate. In 1976-1977 the schools of Cottage Grove, Oregon, were closed for lack of funding. Teachers from the schools voluntarily met their classes in various churches and other buildings in town.

( In the worship service itself the congregation learns literacy and language in many simple ways. Extremely young children can learn to pray using pictures in a special bulletin along with words.

( The church might officially or individually involve themselves with the various surveys of the schools in the area taken each year. It can look at the results of test scores, college success rates, etc. The church can be involved.

( In selecting leaders, a most worrisome thing is the tendency of congregations to choose their most experienced and trained persons. This may be a dreadful error, for several reasons.

First, many of us would like to spread our abilities into larger areas of life. Many accountants, for instance, rebel at being limited to the treasurer’s role.

Second, most of us enjoy learning new work and taking on new responsibilities. I have often wished to quarterback a football team. I will never have that opportunity.

Third, spreading the training around forces an inclusiveness that just won’t come any other way.

Given these ideas, perhaps the congregation could commit itself to a three-year term in an area. The congregation can and should set its own limits. One year for training, a second year as chair, and a third year just serving the area is a possibility.

If the training is strong, we know many in our congregations who can and will do the work. We may give up the question, "Who can do the work right now?" and ask "Who can we train to do the work?" People who want to learn to operate a business can learn to handle financial matters. Those who intend to pursue a teaching career can look at issues of the church school.

As a junior high school football coach, one of our league rules was a matter of inclusiveness. Every player was to play in every game. I will never forget the look on one young man’s face when I forget to get him into a game. It broke my heart and his.

What are your own brainstorm and creative thoughts to help the community become more capable?
1. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your own community?

2. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your community?

3. What programs might work in your church and community?

4. What will be your work in this process?

5. How will you reveal these thoughts to your church and community?


Yachats Blue Link

A Mission of Economic Development .. Vision

Statement of Reality
The individuals and organizations of the community are keenly aware of their situation. They have adopted a very detailed view of the future of their community. The people see in this scenario the best possible life for themselves and the people around them. The people see this as the first gift of the Creator to the community.

Christ has shared with us the divine vision for our world for the life to come. He has told us what God wants and expects and works to make real. It is also what God knows to be in our best interest.

It is the nature of God to do whatever is in our best interest. Dr. Max Miller, one of my seminary instructors and a great thinker and scholar, had a key statement here. When Moses asked God "Whom shall I say is sending me?", God answered "Yahweh."

Dr. Miller says the best translation of the word "Yahweh" is the most emotionally packed. "With my own existence, I will do whatever I can to make your existence as good as possible." This divine vision is lived out in Jesus. In his mission, Jesus risks everything for the good of humans. If Jesus had not come out of the tomb, the Creation would have collapsed. Since Jesus did come out of the tomb, life for humans gets better and better.

The Book of Revelations is forward-looking nostalgia. The Reverend Eddie Fox of the United Methodist Church General Board of Discipleship calls it "Aiglatson." He says it is ‘nostalgia’ spelled backwards and looking forward. Because we look forward to it, we find ourselves drawn to help make it happen. It is not just busy work for the Disciples. It is even more than an invitation to share in the Kingdom of the Lord. Just as are the parables of the Kingdom, this vision is active. The parables build us into the kingdom in some sense whether or not we decide to enter it.
Part of this vision, as clearly seen in the Gospels, is good, responsible, ethical, successful business. That is good for everyone. Jesus does not reject business. He calls it to reflect God’s vision of the world. It seems that the vision assumes that profitable business is at least acceptable, perhaps even encouraged directly.

Of course, this does not mean that financial profit is the only end of business. It says that the Kingdom and its vision path can include financial profit.

The Book of Revelation takes the Sermon on the Mount and applies it to the future. "And I saw another world, a world not made with hands." Obviously God will be a willing participant in our creative efforts. Our Savior’s relationship with us will shape our relationships with each other.
If we live by the Sermon on the Mount, what sort of world will we have? The Beatitudes are the new Ten Commandments. These a promise of the future. They are also a call to sacred righteousness and effective faithfulness in our dealings with each other. Most specifically, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."

The Beatitudes make a powerful ethics statement for a major or minor business operation or Chamber of Commerce mission statement. Yet the world’s businesses often attempt to compete with everything short of death to the loser.

The Lord’s vision for the world, shared with us, is the primary theme of the Book of Revelations. Revelation 7:16ff says "They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat . . . and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (NRSV)
The importance of the Gospel to the world is made clear in the Sermon on the Mount. Living that way would be the result of walking with God as if back in the Garden. The new world would be the paradise on earth that Adam and Eve abandoned. They chose not to share creation labor with God. Economic well being in the community is possible. It will require adopting the vision of God that we know from Jesus.

The community outwardly and inwardly shares the vision. Our community promotes that vision among newcomers and succeeding generations. Values that will lead to the fulfillment of that vision live in the hearts and minds of the community. We teach them to each other. We live them out in our relationships.

Questions for evaluation:
/ Does our community have a common vision for its own future and the future of the world?

/ If so, is this vision built on sacred perspectives?

/ Does the church constantly study the community vision for areas which need restructure and revision?

/ Does the church practice the vision of the community and God?

Examples of Programs that May Enhance Your Community Vision:
( Sacred vision is the same as sense of creation, but pointed in the opposite direction. We look to Genesis for guidance on creation. We look to Revelation for guidance on the sacred vision. The church could and probably should include statements from the vision in every service.
The Book of Revelations makes beautiful fodder for poetry, drama and music. Aiglatson is an easy subject for liturgies for the local congregation. The traditional forms and elements of vision work well when given a contemporary or futurist twist.

( The church at prayer can regularly speak to God about the vision of the future. Every prayer that includes an element of confession should contain an element of redemption and vision. Our understanding of our relationship with God is to be a contact with past and future. The vision of our creator includes the notion that our past does not necessarily determine our future. We can change, especially if we move in the direction of fitting more closely into our Creator’s vision.

( The church can and should actively participate in community planning and election processes. An active congregation might invite various speakers to come explain their sense of vision for the community. The congregation might make registration to vote a normal part of church membership. Without some actions of this nature, the church is entirely other-worldly. This would not be in the call from Christ. The sacred vision is not just unrealistic thinking. It is a call to action by faithful persons.

( The church might develop its own vision for the community, then present it to the planning board and the rest of the community for discussion and action. Christ calls his church is called to lead the world and also to follow him.

( The church might develop its vision for the community, then prepare various plans of action aimed at making this vision come true. This might include very specific detail, especially including actions for which the congregation must and can take responsibility.

( One outstanding sacred vision power operates in the sand paintings of Navajo sacred persons. If a person is ill, the patient or others in the family may call the sacred person to attend. That person heals by the ritual of sand painting. At the appointed time the sacred person begins the work. The ill person is present if possible, with the family and close friends around.

The healer pours sand of various colors on the ground. The healer is free to follow whatever design comes to the hand. While the healer works, the healer tells a story or relates a vision. The work may take a few hours or a few days. At a very precise moment the sand painting is announced as satisfactory to the creator, and thus complete. The healing is fulfilled.
Then the witnesses celebrate, pay the healer, and go home. Physicians and other healers have long known of the powers of prayer and vision. Most of us also have a keen awareness of the opposition of prayer and vision against self destruction and despair.


What are your own brainstorm and creative thoughts that may help build the community vision?

1. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your own community?

2. What evidence have you found to support the rating you have given your community?

3. What programs might work in your church and community?

4. What will be your work in this process?

5. How will you reveal these thoughts to your church and community?


Yachats Blue Link