Sermon Notes for Sept. 10th
September 10, 2006
“The Changing Church in the 21st Century”
1. As a pastor who started out in the ministry in 1971, I can say that I have met and or was acquainted with all of the pastors of this church going back to Clarence Richardson – who was here in the l950s. I know Lyle Christianson very well. Clare Siple I did not know well, but I did know Tom Payne. And I know Marva Jean Hutchins and Jim Clausen. But, the people I would have most like to have met were Dr. Crawford Grays and his wife, the Rev. Edith Grays.
Over my time here in Bemidji I have heard much about them. And in the bulletin is a picture of Dr. Grays with Harold Freutel’s father which was taken back in l940.
Well, this past week I spent a most enjoyable afternoon reminiscing with Harold Freutel as we sat outside his house in the shade of big tree in his yard.
Harold told me that Dr. Grays, as you can see, was not a very big man. He actually had to stand on a pedestal in order to be seen over the pulpit. But, he made up for it with character and feistiness (in a good way). Dr. Grays was born in England and came to America in 1907 and served numerous Methodist churches in Minnesota before coming to Bemidji in l936 – where he served for 16 years – the longest of any pastor. And these were difficult times … during the depression and World War II. And Dr. Grays was instrumental in establishing a set of church chimes in honor of veterans. All in all, fourteen young men from this church alone gave their lives in that war and another 150 men and women served in various branches of the military.
2. Quite surprisingly, I learned from Harold that Dr. Grays and his wife did not drive a car. They either walked or road the bus (which cost a nickel back in those days). And, of course, Bemidji was much smaller and most people walked to church and the congregation didn’t need a parking lot unlike nowadays when people may drive 15-20 miles to church. For a time, on Sundays, Rev. Edith Grays would get up early and catch the 4:30 AM train to Northome where she preached at the small Northome Methodist Church. Then, someone from Bemidji would drive up to Northome and bring her back. The rest of the week, Edith spent much time visiting the sick and making home visits. In those days, the church got two ministers for the price of one.
Also, while Dr. Grays would have no doubt been strongly against gambling of any kind … he loved to play cribbage, according to Harold Freutel.
3. That seems like a long time ago now … and it is … and going to church and the ways in which we participate in church have changed substantially in the meantime … especially for younger people – but also for those who are retired as well. Which is what I want to talk about this morning – especially as we are beginning the church year … and will be thinking about Stewardship next month.
In fact, I plan to take the standard Methodist Membership motto: prayers, presence, gifts, and service and see how these concepts relate to life today compared to the way it used to be back when Dr. Grays was here.
But first, Harold Freutel, who could not be here to today, asked me to tell you about how he recently was rummaging around the house and discovered an old coping saw which belonged to him when he was still a very young man. (You all know what a coping saw is: It has a metal frame in the shape of a U and a thin blade and is used for cutting round edges in wood.) Well, Harold said to me, “it was my first power tool.” Except, of course, he said, “I had to provide the power!” Which is another example of how things have changed.
4. I am not as old as Harold, but I remember how things were very different growing up in the 1950’s. For instance, in those days, stores were closed on Sunday. Not much else to do but go to church unlike today. And I remember when stores were open on Saturday nights because that was when the farmers came to town. The uptown area was usually packed.
And most people didn’t travel much in those days. And on Easter most churches had an Easter Sunrise Service and a breakfast at the church. But, when I came here in l999 no one wanted to do it anymore. Why was that? Well, people are busier on holidays than the used to be. People want to come to church on Easter Sunday and then they are out the door going somewhere to visit relatives or the relatives are in town and that keeps everyone occupied.
Then, a few years ago, Kari suggested that we have a Palm Sunday Ham Dinner. Surprise, surprise, it was a big success. Why? Because no one is going anywhere on Palm Sunday.
And what I want to say is that this is a good example of how by understanding how things have changed we created a successful program which takes into account people’s changing lifestyles. And I want to come back to that in a moment.
5. Another reality came home to me recently when I read that in l950 it was considered by most people that you became an adult at age 18. In fact, most women got married around 18 in those days and some at 16. Then, by the time I was in college in the 1960s the average age of adulthood, in most people’s minds had gone up to 22. But now, today, even that has changed. Anyone care to guess what most people consider when adulthood begins? 26 or 27!
In fact, this past weekend I was down in the cities for Labor Day weekend and took my daughter out for dinner for her birthday and then two days later we got together for lunch. Only this time she BOUGHT ME LUNCH! Which was an all time first. I was pretty impressed – although I tried not to show it. Pretty amazing, since tomorrow she will be 28 years old – all that time – and now she is independently wealthy (or at least financially independent).
As many of you know who have grown children and grandchildren, family life has changed in many ways from how it was back in l950. To name a few things: most mothers today work outside the home and have to juggle day care; many more families are divorced; also many families live farther away from their parents and often travel many miles to be together – especially on holidays.
6. All of this has had an impact on how we do church nowadays. And it impacts church attendance in ways that weren’t so obvious back 60 years ago.
Nowadays, there is greater time pressure on younger families to get everything done on the weekend. Younger families also are more willing to spend money and eat out rather than cook at home. At our church in St. Paul, we hired college girls to work in the nursery so that younger parents could spend time in worship rather than volunteer in the nursery. Some older members were upset that we were spending money on day care. But, for younger, parents, who were already spending big bucks and day care it was just the way things are.
And the big thing is that Sundays are not the way they used to be and going to church isn’t the way it used to be either in terms of church attendance. Today, in our church, many parents drop their kids off for Sunday school, go have coffee, then pick them up and go home, skipping church altogether. And of those who do come to worship, most skip the coffee hour afterward because the kids are tired and they don’t want to cause a commotion.
7. So, unless we are doing something special with children, we don’t always see a lot of younger people and younger parents in church on Sunday. Which leads people to think that this is mostly a church of older adults. But, contrary to the way things appear, there are lots of younger parents in our congregation but you don’t see them. On the other hand, if you come here on Wednesday night you will see 20 or 25 kids running around the building after school – and I mean running!
And perhaps you were surprised when we confirmed nine young people last May. Perhaps, in fact, you didn’t even know many of the kids who were confirmed. Perhaps you had never seen some of them.
For in fact, what has been happening gradually, is that there is a growing separation between the regular Sunday morning worshipping community and the younger group – not totally, but in ways which we need to be aware of – as we look to the future of our church.
8. So, we have a plan on how to involve the congregation in reaching out to younger families and better integrating the generations in our midst.
And the plan is this: Starting in October we will have a family meal at church every Wednesday night.
And everyone is welcome to come. And it won’t cost more than a few dollars. It will be convenient. And one night a week you won’t have to cook or wash dishes. Not a bad idea. What do you think?
But the main idea is to bring families, children, and young people in our church together on a regular basis for fellowship.
Then, after the meal, at 6 PM we will have a short half hour worship service. Our new Parish Assistant, Kathy Douglas plays the guitar and sings and will lead the music. It will be informal and more contemporary and will be aimed at children, teenagers, parents, and older adults. In short, everyone.
9. This is not a new idea. The church I belonged to for fifteen years in St. Paul, Fairmont Avenue Methodist has been doing this for over 30 years. It was a great idea. Because, when I worked for the Red Cross, on Wednesday night, I just drove to the church and the meal was all prepared. And once or twice a year different church members volunteered to prepare it and others washed the dishes.
Many other successful churches are doing this here in Bemidji, First Lutheran, Calvary Lutheran, and the Evangelical Covenant to name several.
In fact, recently I talked with our District Superintendent, Alan Bolte, and discovered that his sister is the youth pastor at the UMC church in Welles (down near Albert Lea) and they started a Wednesday meal and worship program several years ago. So, I called Art Keith, the pastor, who I know, and asked him about it. And he said, a couple years ago their congregation got concerned that they weren’t reaching out to younger families. So, they all prayed about it and several of their leaders decided to go of to a church training event and when they came back decided to try it. Now, he said, they have 75 people coming every week, and their church is smaller than ours. And other Methodist Churches are doing it, too, like in Duluth and Alexandria – I recently found out.
10. And what we are going to do is the same as with the Palm Sunday Ham Dinner, we are going to adapt to the changing culture around us …at least as far as younger families are concerned. For what is happening is that we are not reaching many of them who, for various reasons, aren’t able to participate on Sunday morning on a regular basis because (a) one or more parents have to work on Sunday; (b) because they are divorced and the kids spend weekends with the other parent; and (c) the kids are involved in weekend sports (like hockey) and other activities.
And as we know, its not just younger families, because older adults in our church are gone a lot on weekends, too. For, whether it is fishing and hunting or visiting the relatives, or whatever, Sunday doesn’t always work.
But, now, we will be able to provide an alternative to persons of any age for a meal, fellowship, and worship on Wednesday.
And you are all invited. And, if enough people are interested we will continue our faith discussion group for half an hour at 6:30 and their will also be some other options for kids and parents at that time as well.
11. Now there are some other things that we are thinking about as well, because I want to emphasize that it is very important for us to be thinking about our outreach to younger families and how we can become more integrated between generations. And this is because in terms of our spiritual growth we have so much to learn from each other.
But, I am not going to go into too much this morning … because I want us to focus first on getting this program off the ground. And if this works, others will follow.
So, start thinking about getting involved on Wednesday nights. And, if that isn’t quite what you want, that’s okay, too. For, we do not plan on making any changes on Sunday morning, at least for now.
And, with Stewardship time coming up, I would like some of you to think about helping out with the cooking.
And, this makes me think of a guy name Lou Eaton, who belonged our church in St. Paul. Now, Lou was a retired engineer and his wife had died some time previously, so he lived alone. So, he liked to get out of the house and come down to church on Wednesdays for the dinner. And afterward he would help wash dishes and clean up the kitchen. And Lou was a very friendly guy and liked to talk to people. And if you ended up doing the dishes you ended up talking to Lou, because you couldn’t get away from him.
Well, when Lou died, at his funeral, an amazing number of people got up and talked about how much Lou meant to them and how much he cared about them … especially if they were having a hard time. All because they washed dishes together. We were amazed!
And that’s the point of the whole thing … to get people connected. Young and old. For that is what the church is all about. And that’s what to “be present” whether it is on Sunday or some other day of the week.
12. But, before I conclude, let me tell you about one other project we are going to start up fairly soon. And this one comes from Kathy, who was involved with it in her own church.
It is called “Secret Prayer Sponsor.” And what it does is match up a young person with an elder of the church. The way it works is that young sign up for a Prayer Sponsor. Then, their picture is taken and a brief description of the child and his/her likes and interests, and birthday is put together in a folder. Then, elder members of the church who agree to be Prayer Sponsors and given a child to pray for, write to, send cards and token gifts throughout the year. But, throughout the whole, the actual identity of the prayer sponsor is a secret. Kids love this kind of thing. Kids love getting something in the mail. And they will love knowing that someone cares about them. Then, the child will send the sponsor things they make in Sunday school.
13. Finally, at the end of the year, there will be a dinner at church and the secret sponsor will get to meet the child. How much fun will that be?
And, this, my friends, we hope will be another way to connect the generations in our church. And it’s not too demanding or difficult to do, either. What do you think? Give it some thought and next month during Stewardship, you will be given an opportunity to sign up.
14. Now having said all this, I hope you realize that we are taking a risk. What if it doesn’t work? What if no one comes?
And, by taking a risk, we will need to have faith. And so that is what I am asking from you – faith.
But, as it says in James 2:17: Faith by itself, if it has not works is dead. So, I am also asking you to get involved. Be there. Show up.
If Sunday doesn’t work for you … now there is an alternative. And, better yet, why not do both. Or, maybe just come for the meal on Wednesday. It doesn’t matter. But your presence matters.
And because it is a risk, and because this is the beginning of the fall church year, we want to celebrate a little, since all of you are here … today … with something a little exciting.
So, immediately following worship I want you to all go outside to the parking lot and Kathy is going to shoot up a rocket. And our theme this fall is blast off! So, we are going to blast off a rocket. It should be fun, it should be exciting. And it may not work. But we need to give it a try.
And, in life, if you don’t send up a rocket once in a while nothing ever changes, right?
So, you are all invited to witness the blast off this morning…and then we will all come back inside and go downstairs for sloppy Joes and potluck and have fellowship together. And everyone is invited, guests and visitors, young and old alike.
Now, let us pray.
“The Changing Church in the 21st Century”
1. As a pastor who started out in the ministry in 1971, I can say that I have met and or was acquainted with all of the pastors of this church going back to Clarence Richardson – who was here in the l950s. I know Lyle Christianson very well. Clare Siple I did not know well, but I did know Tom Payne. And I know Marva Jean Hutchins and Jim Clausen. But, the people I would have most like to have met were Dr. Crawford Grays and his wife, the Rev. Edith Grays.
Over my time here in Bemidji I have heard much about them. And in the bulletin is a picture of Dr. Grays with Harold Freutel’s father which was taken back in l940.
Well, this past week I spent a most enjoyable afternoon reminiscing with Harold Freutel as we sat outside his house in the shade of big tree in his yard.
Harold told me that Dr. Grays, as you can see, was not a very big man. He actually had to stand on a pedestal in order to be seen over the pulpit. But, he made up for it with character and feistiness (in a good way). Dr. Grays was born in England and came to America in 1907 and served numerous Methodist churches in Minnesota before coming to Bemidji in l936 – where he served for 16 years – the longest of any pastor. And these were difficult times … during the depression and World War II. And Dr. Grays was instrumental in establishing a set of church chimes in honor of veterans. All in all, fourteen young men from this church alone gave their lives in that war and another 150 men and women served in various branches of the military.
2. Quite surprisingly, I learned from Harold that Dr. Grays and his wife did not drive a car. They either walked or road the bus (which cost a nickel back in those days). And, of course, Bemidji was much smaller and most people walked to church and the congregation didn’t need a parking lot unlike nowadays when people may drive 15-20 miles to church. For a time, on Sundays, Rev. Edith Grays would get up early and catch the 4:30 AM train to Northome where she preached at the small Northome Methodist Church. Then, someone from Bemidji would drive up to Northome and bring her back. The rest of the week, Edith spent much time visiting the sick and making home visits. In those days, the church got two ministers for the price of one.
Also, while Dr. Grays would have no doubt been strongly against gambling of any kind … he loved to play cribbage, according to Harold Freutel.
3. That seems like a long time ago now … and it is … and going to church and the ways in which we participate in church have changed substantially in the meantime … especially for younger people – but also for those who are retired as well. Which is what I want to talk about this morning – especially as we are beginning the church year … and will be thinking about Stewardship next month.
In fact, I plan to take the standard Methodist Membership motto: prayers, presence, gifts, and service and see how these concepts relate to life today compared to the way it used to be back when Dr. Grays was here.
But first, Harold Freutel, who could not be here to today, asked me to tell you about how he recently was rummaging around the house and discovered an old coping saw which belonged to him when he was still a very young man. (You all know what a coping saw is: It has a metal frame in the shape of a U and a thin blade and is used for cutting round edges in wood.) Well, Harold said to me, “it was my first power tool.” Except, of course, he said, “I had to provide the power!” Which is another example of how things have changed.
4. I am not as old as Harold, but I remember how things were very different growing up in the 1950’s. For instance, in those days, stores were closed on Sunday. Not much else to do but go to church unlike today. And I remember when stores were open on Saturday nights because that was when the farmers came to town. The uptown area was usually packed.
And most people didn’t travel much in those days. And on Easter most churches had an Easter Sunrise Service and a breakfast at the church. But, when I came here in l999 no one wanted to do it anymore. Why was that? Well, people are busier on holidays than the used to be. People want to come to church on Easter Sunday and then they are out the door going somewhere to visit relatives or the relatives are in town and that keeps everyone occupied.
Then, a few years ago, Kari suggested that we have a Palm Sunday Ham Dinner. Surprise, surprise, it was a big success. Why? Because no one is going anywhere on Palm Sunday.
And what I want to say is that this is a good example of how by understanding how things have changed we created a successful program which takes into account people’s changing lifestyles. And I want to come back to that in a moment.
5. Another reality came home to me recently when I read that in l950 it was considered by most people that you became an adult at age 18. In fact, most women got married around 18 in those days and some at 16. Then, by the time I was in college in the 1960s the average age of adulthood, in most people’s minds had gone up to 22. But now, today, even that has changed. Anyone care to guess what most people consider when adulthood begins? 26 or 27!
In fact, this past weekend I was down in the cities for Labor Day weekend and took my daughter out for dinner for her birthday and then two days later we got together for lunch. Only this time she BOUGHT ME LUNCH! Which was an all time first. I was pretty impressed – although I tried not to show it. Pretty amazing, since tomorrow she will be 28 years old – all that time – and now she is independently wealthy (or at least financially independent).
As many of you know who have grown children and grandchildren, family life has changed in many ways from how it was back in l950. To name a few things: most mothers today work outside the home and have to juggle day care; many more families are divorced; also many families live farther away from their parents and often travel many miles to be together – especially on holidays.
6. All of this has had an impact on how we do church nowadays. And it impacts church attendance in ways that weren’t so obvious back 60 years ago.
Nowadays, there is greater time pressure on younger families to get everything done on the weekend. Younger families also are more willing to spend money and eat out rather than cook at home. At our church in St. Paul, we hired college girls to work in the nursery so that younger parents could spend time in worship rather than volunteer in the nursery. Some older members were upset that we were spending money on day care. But, for younger, parents, who were already spending big bucks and day care it was just the way things are.
And the big thing is that Sundays are not the way they used to be and going to church isn’t the way it used to be either in terms of church attendance. Today, in our church, many parents drop their kids off for Sunday school, go have coffee, then pick them up and go home, skipping church altogether. And of those who do come to worship, most skip the coffee hour afterward because the kids are tired and they don’t want to cause a commotion.
7. So, unless we are doing something special with children, we don’t always see a lot of younger people and younger parents in church on Sunday. Which leads people to think that this is mostly a church of older adults. But, contrary to the way things appear, there are lots of younger parents in our congregation but you don’t see them. On the other hand, if you come here on Wednesday night you will see 20 or 25 kids running around the building after school – and I mean running!
And perhaps you were surprised when we confirmed nine young people last May. Perhaps, in fact, you didn’t even know many of the kids who were confirmed. Perhaps you had never seen some of them.
For in fact, what has been happening gradually, is that there is a growing separation between the regular Sunday morning worshipping community and the younger group – not totally, but in ways which we need to be aware of – as we look to the future of our church.
8. So, we have a plan on how to involve the congregation in reaching out to younger families and better integrating the generations in our midst.
And the plan is this: Starting in October we will have a family meal at church every Wednesday night.
And everyone is welcome to come. And it won’t cost more than a few dollars. It will be convenient. And one night a week you won’t have to cook or wash dishes. Not a bad idea. What do you think?
But the main idea is to bring families, children, and young people in our church together on a regular basis for fellowship.
Then, after the meal, at 6 PM we will have a short half hour worship service. Our new Parish Assistant, Kathy Douglas plays the guitar and sings and will lead the music. It will be informal and more contemporary and will be aimed at children, teenagers, parents, and older adults. In short, everyone.
9. This is not a new idea. The church I belonged to for fifteen years in St. Paul, Fairmont Avenue Methodist has been doing this for over 30 years. It was a great idea. Because, when I worked for the Red Cross, on Wednesday night, I just drove to the church and the meal was all prepared. And once or twice a year different church members volunteered to prepare it and others washed the dishes.
Many other successful churches are doing this here in Bemidji, First Lutheran, Calvary Lutheran, and the Evangelical Covenant to name several.
In fact, recently I talked with our District Superintendent, Alan Bolte, and discovered that his sister is the youth pastor at the UMC church in Welles (down near Albert Lea) and they started a Wednesday meal and worship program several years ago. So, I called Art Keith, the pastor, who I know, and asked him about it. And he said, a couple years ago their congregation got concerned that they weren’t reaching out to younger families. So, they all prayed about it and several of their leaders decided to go of to a church training event and when they came back decided to try it. Now, he said, they have 75 people coming every week, and their church is smaller than ours. And other Methodist Churches are doing it, too, like in Duluth and Alexandria – I recently found out.
10. And what we are going to do is the same as with the Palm Sunday Ham Dinner, we are going to adapt to the changing culture around us …at least as far as younger families are concerned. For what is happening is that we are not reaching many of them who, for various reasons, aren’t able to participate on Sunday morning on a regular basis because (a) one or more parents have to work on Sunday; (b) because they are divorced and the kids spend weekends with the other parent; and (c) the kids are involved in weekend sports (like hockey) and other activities.
And as we know, its not just younger families, because older adults in our church are gone a lot on weekends, too. For, whether it is fishing and hunting or visiting the relatives, or whatever, Sunday doesn’t always work.
But, now, we will be able to provide an alternative to persons of any age for a meal, fellowship, and worship on Wednesday.
And you are all invited. And, if enough people are interested we will continue our faith discussion group for half an hour at 6:30 and their will also be some other options for kids and parents at that time as well.
11. Now there are some other things that we are thinking about as well, because I want to emphasize that it is very important for us to be thinking about our outreach to younger families and how we can become more integrated between generations. And this is because in terms of our spiritual growth we have so much to learn from each other.
But, I am not going to go into too much this morning … because I want us to focus first on getting this program off the ground. And if this works, others will follow.
So, start thinking about getting involved on Wednesday nights. And, if that isn’t quite what you want, that’s okay, too. For, we do not plan on making any changes on Sunday morning, at least for now.
And, with Stewardship time coming up, I would like some of you to think about helping out with the cooking.
And, this makes me think of a guy name Lou Eaton, who belonged our church in St. Paul. Now, Lou was a retired engineer and his wife had died some time previously, so he lived alone. So, he liked to get out of the house and come down to church on Wednesdays for the dinner. And afterward he would help wash dishes and clean up the kitchen. And Lou was a very friendly guy and liked to talk to people. And if you ended up doing the dishes you ended up talking to Lou, because you couldn’t get away from him.
Well, when Lou died, at his funeral, an amazing number of people got up and talked about how much Lou meant to them and how much he cared about them … especially if they were having a hard time. All because they washed dishes together. We were amazed!
And that’s the point of the whole thing … to get people connected. Young and old. For that is what the church is all about. And that’s what to “be present” whether it is on Sunday or some other day of the week.
12. But, before I conclude, let me tell you about one other project we are going to start up fairly soon. And this one comes from Kathy, who was involved with it in her own church.
It is called “Secret Prayer Sponsor.” And what it does is match up a young person with an elder of the church. The way it works is that young sign up for a Prayer Sponsor. Then, their picture is taken and a brief description of the child and his/her likes and interests, and birthday is put together in a folder. Then, elder members of the church who agree to be Prayer Sponsors and given a child to pray for, write to, send cards and token gifts throughout the year. But, throughout the whole, the actual identity of the prayer sponsor is a secret. Kids love this kind of thing. Kids love getting something in the mail. And they will love knowing that someone cares about them. Then, the child will send the sponsor things they make in Sunday school.
13. Finally, at the end of the year, there will be a dinner at church and the secret sponsor will get to meet the child. How much fun will that be?
And, this, my friends, we hope will be another way to connect the generations in our church. And it’s not too demanding or difficult to do, either. What do you think? Give it some thought and next month during Stewardship, you will be given an opportunity to sign up.
14. Now having said all this, I hope you realize that we are taking a risk. What if it doesn’t work? What if no one comes?
And, by taking a risk, we will need to have faith. And so that is what I am asking from you – faith.
But, as it says in James 2:17: Faith by itself, if it has not works is dead. So, I am also asking you to get involved. Be there. Show up.
If Sunday doesn’t work for you … now there is an alternative. And, better yet, why not do both. Or, maybe just come for the meal on Wednesday. It doesn’t matter. But your presence matters.
And because it is a risk, and because this is the beginning of the fall church year, we want to celebrate a little, since all of you are here … today … with something a little exciting.
So, immediately following worship I want you to all go outside to the parking lot and Kathy is going to shoot up a rocket. And our theme this fall is blast off! So, we are going to blast off a rocket. It should be fun, it should be exciting. And it may not work. But we need to give it a try.
And, in life, if you don’t send up a rocket once in a while nothing ever changes, right?
So, you are all invited to witness the blast off this morning…and then we will all come back inside and go downstairs for sloppy Joes and potluck and have fellowship together. And everyone is invited, guests and visitors, young and old alike.
Now, let us pray.
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