FULL IMMERSION!

Report to the Assembly 2014

Bishop Wayne Miller

• It is time to decide…

• Will we be an ANKLE DEEP Church… or…

• Are we ALL THE WAY IN?

OH LOVE, HOW DEEP??

• The universal vocation of all baptized Christians is expressed in the ideas of…

• EVANGELISM

• and

• STEWARDSHIP

ESSENTIAL CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

• EVANGELISM is the work of liberating faith by…

• sharing my faith story

• exploring the faith story of others

• creating a shared faith story together

• connecting to the story of God’s relationship with all creation

• EVANGELISM is the way in which the faith community INVESTS in individuals by connecting them more deeply with God through the love of Jesus

EVANGELISM

My Story

Your Story

Our Story

THE Story

• STEWARDSHIP is the discipline of opening our hands…

• to liberate our abundance for building up and expanding Christ’s reign

• to liberate our talent for both Church and World

• to live “all the way in” to the gift and the claim of our baptismal covenant

• STEWARDSHIP is the path by which individuals INVEST in the nurturing community called Church

STEWARDSHIP

• Within the embrace of evangelism and stewardship, Christian mission emerges as three intersecting circles of engagement:

• PROCLAMATION is our explicit witness to the love and power of Jesus Christ

• SERVICE is the work of reaching out with the love, compassion, and generosity of Jesus to those in need

• JUSTICE is the work of setting people free to follow their sacred vocation

ESSENTIAL CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

STRATEGIC EVANGELISM:AFFILIATED MISSION COMMUNITIES

• New mission communities, born from existing congregations that serve as “incubators” for the new community

• AMCs are all built on the 3-circle understanding of essential Christian community

• AMCs are led by a “missionary” called to the staff of the incubator

• Synod accompanies the new community with planning, guiding, coaching and funding

• Form, demographic, and style are unique to each community

STRATEGIC EVANGELISM:AFFILIATED MISSION COMMUNITIES

• Affiliated Mission Communities Already at Work:

• Holy Trinity, Chicago: South Loop Worshiping Community

• Redeemer, Chicago: Second Campus – Redeemer Park Ridge

• Urban Acacia: Young Adult Urban Community

STRATEGIC EVANGELISM:AFFILIATED MISSION COMMUNITIES

• Affiliated Mission Communities Approved and Ready to Start

• Faith, Homewood: African-American Family Outreach

• Concordia Place: Second Worshiping Community on Social Ministry Campus

• Inside-Out: Multiple-site Faith Communities for Returning Citizens

• Affiliated Mission Communities Under Development

• Messiah, Wauconda

• Unity, Berwyn

• St. James, Western Springs

• If Evangelism is the faith community investing in people….

• What is the nature of the community people invest in?

COMPLETING THE CIRCLE

• My Distinctive Personality

• My Unique Gifts and Abilities

• My Sacred Vocation

• My EGO and ego attachments

NAVIGATING THE SOCIAL LANDSCAPE

• A Culture…

• World View

• Language

• Rituals and Patterns

• A Mystical Communion

• A Sustaining Institution

• A Nurturing Community

• All those I experience as “other”

• Anonymous, superficial, or impersonal

• May call me to:

• Avoidance, Fear, and hostility

• Opportunity and growth

• Nurturing Community provides:

• Identity and Belonging

• Freedom and Responsibility

• Security and Challenge

• Nurturing Community loves us completely as we are … AND

Calls us to be more than we have ever been before!

LOOKING AT “US” AS A NURTURING COMMUNITY

• A Healthy Nurturing Community is transformed into a transforming community…

• Transforms “THEM” into “YOU”

• Transforms “YOU” into “US”

• But the “US” never loses respect for difference!

TRANSFORMED AND TRANSFORMING

• What is the NURTURING COMMUNITY that has invested in you… personally?

• What is the Nurturing Community that you are willing to invest in?... All the way in!

• Family… or… Friends?

• Congregation… or… Neighborhood?

• Cultural Group… or… Nationality?

• ELCA… or… All the Baptized?

NURTURING COMMUNITY

INVESTING IN “US”• Scripture gives us two concepts for how individuals invest in the “US:”

• Tithing… is a proportional, unconditional, unrestricted release of the first fruits of our abundance with the community we consider to be “US”

• Almsgiving… is a designated compassionate response to a particular need.

• Almsgiving is an expression of our generosity

• Tithing is an expression of our freedom from attachment… and an “all the way in” investment in the community we call “US.”

• Both are good; both are necessary… BUT THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING!!!

STRATEGIC STEWARDSHIP:OPEN HANDS OPEN HEARTS

• A partnership between the Metropolitan Chicago Synod and Design Group International

• Designed to open the conversation about stewardship in a fresh way

• Stewardship Development over time in local congregational networks

• Flexible and adaptable menu-driven resources

• Synod staff serves as coach and convener for congregational networks

• Focus on congregational stewardship FIRST

• The Pathway

• Go to Open Hands Open Hearts website

• Complete simple assessment

• Explore resource portal

• Synod staff will construct networks

• Synod staff will meet with network leaders

• Networks develop plans with resources available

• Quarterly check-ins to learn and adjust

STRATEGIC STEWARDSHIP:OPEN HANDS OPEN HEARTS

STRATEGIC STEWARDSHIP:OPEN HANDS OPEN HEARTS

• Desired 5-Year Outcomes:• Participation by 100% of our congregations

• The development of accountable, mutually resourcing congregational networks

• Clarity and behavior change around the Biblical concepts of “tithing” and “almsgiving”

• A grass-roots experience of congregations being stronger together than they are alone

• 25% increase in per capita giving TO CONGREGATIONS

• An abundant and reliable revenue stream to support new mission initiatives

• A deeper and more joyful experience of the ELCA as a nurturing community

CALLING US IN – SENDING US OUT!

Only a faith community that can call us all the way in –

Can send us all the way out – INTO ALL THE WORLD