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For most pastors who are called to one community,
one church, there's no place like home. But if you're an interim pastor and
soon-to-be-traveling theologian like Bob Hoem, it seems there's no place like someone
else's home.
Two years ago this long-time Lutheran pastor stood on the
porch of his home ensconced in a rural neighborhood of Washington state, clicked his ruby
slippers and did a reverse Ozleaving his own church home to take on the full-time
job of pastoring two other congregations in Aberdeen, Washington. Hoem's mission was to
help both churches transition to a new pastor. What Hoem didn't know was that he would
soon be taking on a considerably more difficult challengethat of convincing the two
congregations that they needed to merge. And one of them, at least, was not about to go
quietly into the night.
Their Synod, Southwestern Washington ELCA, was reluctant to be in the position of
having to force Trinity Lutheran, the
smaller of the two churches, to give up the ghostespecially since it had been
around for longer than most of them had been alive. Even the larger church, Our Savior's,
was on the verge of becoming as obsolete as the honky-tonks and gambling houses that once
lined their sawdust-covered streets. Aberdeen was a rough-and-tumble townso raucous
that in the early 1900s this logging boomtown boasted of being the "toughest town
west of Chicago."
But booze and misspent fortunes could not turn out anything as tough as white-haired
Lutheran ladies who, a century later, were about to be turned out of the only church home
they had ever known. Not a few were baptized, confirmed, married...and planned to be
buried there as well. But one thing was for certain: before these descendants of a long
line of unruffable Scandinavian immigrants would move, they would have to be pried from
the pews.
Newly installed interim Pastor Hoem had considerable empathy for
their plight.
"There has to be a lot of listening and affirming over the sense of loss taking place
when a church changes its name, it's buildingalmost everything," says Hoem.
"We are people of place, people of turfit doesn't matter whether it's a church,
or a home...and the idea of even losing one of the buildings, which eventually may happen,
is very traumatic...place has something to do with relationship ultimately."
But the reality was that consolidation (the word "merger" is verboten
in ELCA lingo) was inevitable if both churches were to survive. Trinity, the smaller of
the two Lutheran churches, although "swimming in money" according to long-time
member Dr. John Smith, was experiencing "only marginal growth." Our Savior's, on
the other hand, had a larger building, but was facing both a decline in membership and
financial hardship. Combining the strengths of both congregations seemed to make sense.
Still it was hard to face the idea of consolidation, even though the climate for doing so
had warmed considerably since the year before when talk of a merger set off a
mini-revolution.
While they were not quite ready to order ten tons of tea to throw into nearby Gray's
Harbor, some of the church members were less than happy with the
Synod's attempt to persuade them to merge. Joan Nelson, a professional planner and
ReVision facilitator recalls their vehement reaction when the subject was first broached:
"The question of merger had come up with the Synod's regional outreach person before.
But, frankly, it caused quite a stirthere was a lot of lashing out at
himcomplaints about the denomination interfering and that 'he can't order us around'
sort of thing."
As it turned out, the decision to consolidate became less an issue of survival as it was a
result of revivala spiritual awakening on the part of each church that compelled
them to believe that together they would be a stronger force in reaching their community
with the gospel. Three significant factors in this huge shift were: 1) Strong, visionary
leadership on the part of the interim pastor, Bob Hoem, 2) both churches going through
Percept's ReVision process, and 3) the use of Joan Nelson as a facilitator of ReVision's
small groups and planning retreat.
"Their mindset changed significantly after each church went through the ReVision
process," says Joan. "They went from a 'Oh we are in such bad shape, we had
better just give up and we'll go worship with them,' to 'Well, we really need to go out
there [in the community] and share the gospel, so how together are we going to do
this?'"
Joan and Bob both knew early on that for consolidation to be successful, it was important
that each church do their own ReVision process. "The consolidation had to have both
parties looking at the same material but from their own perspective," says Hoem. The
fact that each church was able to do a separate ReVision was helped along by the
Synod which gave them each a grant to complete the process, etablishing a climate of good
will.
Joan's part in ReVision was minimally invasive. As a professional planner highly skilled
in process she was aware that the greatest (and most lasting) changes on the part of an
individual or group are the ones that come about when you discover them for yourself. It
also helped that she was above the frayneither an official representative of the
Synod or a member of either church. And, she was passionate about what she believed,
bringing compelling stories of renewal and transformation that reinforced the concept of
becoming a church for othersa theme that Hoem was helping to drive home in every way
possible.
According to attorney Rich Vroman, president of the recently formed Amazing Grace council,
Hoem did an outstanding job of being both fire-starter and consummate diplomat.
"Bob is a great interim pastor," says Vroman. "He seems to be able to push
you gently in one direction without stepping on any land mines. Clearly he is there with
an agenda but he doesn't shove it down your throat. But it was evident from the first day
that he preached that he was going to figure out a way to combine the churches...and
ReVision was part of that plan that proved so effective."
Hoem
also found ReVision to be a vital component of the consolidation process. They worked as a
team: Joan did the main facilitating, while Bob did the preaching, weaving ReVision in
with the biblical imperative to become like Jesus and get engaged in the culture. To
reinforce that imperative, ReVision was used in concert with an 8-week bible study program
designed by Dr. James Moy of the Northwestern Washington Synod ELCA in Seattle.
"It was a good marriage," says Hoem. "Because if you are just looking at
the data, you could just say, well, so what? But if the data is connected to the biblical
imperative, and you have decent theology going with this, it is really hard to resist that
kind of combination. Think of it as a set of binoculars. You've got one lens focused on
the biblical narrative and the other lens on the community. That is where ReVision comes
in, because it gives you an unbiased picture. It is simply data or what the Percept
organization has gathered through many sources about people's attitudes, their situation
in life, their preferences about musicall that is in the ReVision material. That's
part of the tool. It's not the answer itself, but it is an integral part of keeping the
binoculars focused."
As to where that lens needed to be focused, Hoem calls to mind the story of the Prodigal
Son. In this parable, the father was always focusing
on his errant son, sorrowful for his loss, but joyfully expectant that he would return.
Hoem believes that the church at largeacross all denominationshas
unfortunately behaved more like the elder brother rather than the selfless, loving Father
who, when he saw his son coming from far off, "ran, threw his arms around his neck,
and kissed him."
Hoem stresses that he's talking about ALL PEOPLEnot just "the successful, the
educated and the people who have got it together," says Hoem. "Particularly the
marginalized. That is a very important part of the New Testament. People may think of a
church as a place open for all but when you say, 'Who are the all?'... well then they
become very nervous."
For the most part, the members of the newly transformed Amazing Gracecognizant of
just how amazing that grace was that helped them through a potentially difficult
consolidationare ready to overcome that nervousness for a higher purpose: that of
sharing in the ministry of Jesus Christ to "seek out and save those who are
lost."
During the end of the ReVision process, the church went into actionputting
six new ministries on the drawing board. The most developed one thus far has been the Alpha
prison ministry. The Alpha Course, which first originated in Holy Trinity Anglican Church
in London is an in-depth exploration of the Christian faith that is widely used in
churches. After the members of Amazing Grace went through the program a team of them
decided to take Alpha into nearby Stafford Creek Correctional Centerthe third largest prison in
the state. "As a result of doing ReVision, they started the Alpha program at their
church which, in turn, gave them the courage to venture out and conduct this same ministry
at Stafford prison," says Hoem.
Alpha Prison Ministry has met with resounding success. The 30 or so inmates who attended
the program have begged them to continue it. Chaplain David Dunning, who has seen a lot of
prison ministries come and go attributes Amazing Grace's success to a proposition built on
the right preposition.
"Most prison ministries fail simply because they don't understand the difference
between doing things "for" God and doing things "with" God," says
Dunning. "Pastor Hoem and his team clearly belong to the latter groupthey are
not just here because, 'we see the opportunity so we're going to do it' kind of a
thing."
ReVision has also been pivotal in helping Amazing Grace to both identify potential leaders
and in giving a renewed sense of mission to the existing leadership. Church council
president Vroman is excited about the direction that Amazing Grace is taking.
"There is lot of lot of energy in the church right now," says Vroman. "We
had a really successful council retreat this summer which was due in part to the issues
that Percept helped to identify. It was very beneficial in the sense that it energized the
Council members in regards to what their responsibilities are as well the role they need
to play in helping us to move forward."
Momentum happens when a vision is birthed. The adrenaline flows and a church is ready to
shift out of neutral and into first gear. But in order to keep ministry moving, it is
equally important to have a pastor who is on the same track as the congregation. In that
regard, ReVision has helped Amazing Grace to focus on exactly what qualities they are
looking for in a new pastor.
"Many of the things that were learned through Percept have formed the criteria that
the Call Committee is using in evaluating a prospective pastor...to get the proper fit for
where we feel we are now going as a church, says Vroman. "They (the Call Committee)
will be asking point blank questions right out of the Percept materials in regards to
where these candidates areespecially in terms of outreach
ministries. So, when we ask a question of the pastoral candidate and he or she comes out
with an answer that is not in sync with our vision, then we know that person isn't the
right leader for us."
Lynette Lyle, a mental health professional and former member of Our Savior's agrees with
Vroman that ReVision has greatly impacted the church leadershipespecially when it
comes to engaging the youth.
Her own daughter, who was in a ReVision group comprised of mainly teenagers, is now
on the Call Committee.
"ReVision is another inroadit's just another piece that I think she (her
daughter) takes with her when she goes to the Call Committee meeting. She has the
demographics in her head and her own experience as a youth. So, between the pastor
preaching about it on Sunday, our discussion groups and Bible study and the input of our
youth...ReVision kind of flowed into the fabric of the congregation."

When the two declining churches of Our Savior's and Trinity merged, they did so for all
the right reasons. Because of that, they will do more than survivethey will likely
thrive. It is perhaps more than coincidental that the name Aberdeen means "confluence
of two rivers". When two streams flow together they form a more powerful body of
waterone that rushes forward forcefully, yet purposefully, molding hardened rock
into smooth pebbles, and making the land around it fertile. This is how Amazing Grace
Lutheran Church has begun to see themselvesno longer as two separate streams
watching their life ebb slowly from them, but as a strong, forceful river that exists to
nourish their city. -Jenni Keast |
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