by: Rev. Dr. Anna Hall
When we think about the future, we often first contemplate our personal and family futures. Yet the future is collective. Individualism will only take us so far. Our lives and futures are inescapably entangled with all those in our lives and even beyond.
A more essential question might be: What is your greatest dream for your neighborhood or community? For our world?
Questions like this are an essential part of our discernment around purpose and calling. God speaks to us through those hopes and dreams. The same is true for congregations.
We often speak of legacy in congregational life when it is time to make big decisions about moving, merger, or closure. We talk about being a legacy or threshold congregation if we are nearing financial or numerical unsustainability. We begin then to discuss what gifts we can bestow on our community or other congregations as we change the way we do faith together.
What if we started these conversations right now? Even in the healthiest and most vital congregations, what if we asked these questions today?
Leaving a legacy begins now. Your collective hopes and dreams for your neighborhood, town, city, country, and world are an essential part of hearing God’s call for your congregation. In fact, the way we think about legacy affects all of congregational life. Instead of trying to keep things going until everyone is gone and the lights go out, we can begin to ask how God wants us to use our congregational gifts and assets to build the future right now. We can start thinking about using up those gifts and assets right now, rather than holding them in a tight and miserly grip to prolong our congregation’s life. We can make a plan to pour out our gifts and assets into the world, rather than using them up with internal congregational administration until we are out of money and time.
Yes, working to leave a legacy to our community and world right now might mean our congregations don’t last as long in their current forms. Would that really be such a terrible thing? Nowhere in the Bible does it say that congregations are to be preserved forever. In fact, The Bible says that to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves are more important than any ritual we can perform (Mark 12:33). We must walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us (Ephesians 5:2). We are to do good and share with others as our holy rituals (Hebrews 13:16).
It is hard not to see these words as a commandment to move beyond preserving our individual congregations and their ritual lives (buildings, worship services, administration) toward a willingness to pour out their assets and gifts for the good of others.
I challenge you to start having this conversation in your congregation:
How can we begin building the future we want to see for our community and world, even if it means our congregation as we know it will not be around that much longer? How are we called to leave a legacy of love?
If you need help navigating these questions, Convergence can help. Through our Futures Labs and Congregational Consulting, we can move you in the right direction and support you through all the challenges along the way.
