WARNING - church mumbo-jumbo

Back in late June, Alison & I went to Pasadena to attend the Biennial Convention of the American Baptist Churches denomination. It was an enjoyable trip. (You can read more about the lighter side of the trip on Alison’s blog.) One of the main events was the vote on the proposed restructuring of the denomination. To be brief, I’d sum up the goals of the proposal with two phrases: streamlined organization and mission agility. The vote failed by a close 2%, and I was disappointed.
I perceived at least three factors that prevented the proposal from passing. First, I believe the primary problem was not with the content of the proposed by-laws but a communication gap between those who drafted the changes and the voting delegates. Second, there seemed to be significant misunderstandings about the effects of the changes. (Yep, this is related to #1.) Finally, there were certainly some who just plain didn’t want anything to change—they felt no sense of urgency for changing the current organization. (Yep, this one’s also related to #1.)
And here are some bytes of my reflection. #1 – This doesn’t affect our day-to-day life much…even if it would’ve passed. #2 – How many more years will the denomination be viable without some restructuring & refocusing like what was proposed? #3 – How many Sunday morning attendees ever see any value of our denomination anyway? Will we see more and more denominational churches become either nonexistent or nondenominational? #4 – I think there is a fundamental hypocrisy afoot: that it’s more important to speak truth than to live truth. #5 – If the restructuring would’ve passed, I would’ve been more interested in going to the next Biennial (in Puerto Rico!), which would have centered around a Mission Summit. #6 – Maintaining a religious institution is no fun (and sinful?); trying to keep large numbers of us American believers agile and sensitive to what God is doing in our backyards—that sounds like an adventure I’d sign up for.