The Bishop's Most Excellent Book and my Zen-Like Reflections

Our bishop's new book is out: Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations...it is an expansion on the "Five Practices" that have become very much a part of the language of Missouri Methodism over the past two years and which are stimulating churches to strive for excellence. For those who do not yet know and have not yet heard, those outside of Missouri, and anyone IN Missouri who has been asleep for the past 2 years, those practices are: Radical Hospitality; Passionate Worship; Intentional Faith Development; Risk Taking Mission and Service; and Extravagant Generosity. Our bishop asked me this week if I had written a review of the book yet, on the blog, and no, I have not. So here it goes:
In this nifty expansion on the "five practices" that have caught on in a big way in local churches across the state, Bishop Schnase, with clarity of voice and stimulating examples, deepens our understanding in regard to each. Reading tonight a different book that rs himself recommended to me I ran across this quotation from Bill Wheeler: "Good writing is clear thinking made visible"---a good way to describe what the bishop has done for us here. Bishop Schnase writes about important things in a winsome, very readable way. Several annual conferences will be focusing on this book at the sessions this summer.. In Missouri, where we already are quite familiar with the practices, this book will encourage congregations which wish to take more seriously their desire to exemplify "best practices" in their distinct ministry settings. Several lively accounts of churches illustrating each of these practices show our bishop's careful and precise use of language and his ability to state clearly the calling that he hears for us "to give our utmost for His highest." In reading this book, pastors and lay persons will be given further vocabulary to articulate their own visions around the five practices and to experience more deeply the life-changing nature that these will have for any church.
The caveat that I offer is not around the value of these practices or the quality of the book. The practices have become part of a rich vocabulary of change that Bishop Schnase is speaking to us, in his ministry that is leading us into excellence. My difficulty (sometimes) is in regard to the paradigm itself--we need to keep in mind that these practices are descriptions of what a church can be, not a truncated definition that includes all that a church can be. What I mean by that is that I sometimes, playing the devil's advocate, ask myself, "would it be possible to excel in these five practices as a church and yet not be faithful?" I am speaking about the mystery of God's purposes that are far more than we can ask or imagine. I never want us to believe that we have arrived at what a church can be, by saying what it "ought" to be. I have a feeling I am quickly getting into a swamp of ecclesiological muck out of which I find it difficult to climb. But I will try some more! Below are some other thoughts I have had about all of this, Zen-like as they are, offered for your perusal, dear blog reader. I would love to have lots of comments on all of this--no one will be upset with anyone about this. Let's have some talk! I wrote most of what is below while I was on vacation at Saint Simons, sitting on the porch, listening to the sea, so that may be why it sort of ebbs and flows. This is not poetry in any sense, even though there are just phrases.

The Gift of Mystery

What I love most about the church (any church really) :

the unexpected grace-filled remark from the little old lady

the economy of grace means one lost if more than 99 found

the sudden experience of the holy in the midst of a very ordinary Sunday—any you realize it was there all the time

I may never be able to explain it in words

The church can be the church best by holding to the standards of the FIVE PRACTICES

The church will never completely be the church by holding on to anything.

The church is the body of Christ. I do not understand this, I do not need to understand it, I just need to live in the truth of it.

It is a good thing to aspire to the best practices we can identify in order to be all that God is calling us to be.

The church is about being and about doing.

We are resident aliens---we experience time differently, we experience cultural values differently than the rest of the world

Can we be radical, passionate, intentional, risk-taking and extravagant and still be utterly unfaithful? I am still thinking about all of this…

Are these practices defining or descriptive—defining a church only by what it does is dangerous--not giving some shape to what a church SHOULD be doing is just as dangerous

Really, when it comes to the gift of mystery, the gift is that there is always something we will not be able to define about it all. This is why we must always err on the side of generosity when tough decisions need to be made. We do not really know---except to look to Jesus---and his life is shrouded in mystery---virgin birth, resurrection

How do we do church best and most faithfully seems to be the question that the Five Practices answer

Might there be other important questions ?

Possible other questions:

What makes for authenticity of purpose for the church?

Where is the place of “spaciousness” for the Spirit?

How do we make fertile ground of persons hearts, in order to be ready to receive that which the Spirit may wish to give that goes someplace other than the five practices

Using checklists to evaluate our church’s health is a helpful thing.

How do we keep from being reductionary in descriptions of the church if we only use checklists to evaluate our church's health (using a checklist is NOT what the bishop is doing---but all this got me to thinking about that)

Of two minds on all of this, but so grateful that the book/the bishop is here to help point us in a direction. Directionlessness is as bad as ignoring mystery.
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