Study Guide for Session 3

Study Guide for Session 3 – April 30, 2008

Part III: From Tourists to Pilgrims

Chapter 15: Transforming Lives

The chapter opens with the story of Bernard and Catherine, an unmarried couple who begin looking for a church after the birth of their son. Bernard could be classified as a spiritual nomad. Though he was born into a Catholic family, he no longer attended church. Catherine and he chose First Presbyterian simply because it was close to their house. Through the new member process, which included “scripture study, prayer, discernment, and reflection,” they “became more than members.” They married and Bernard felt called to pursue a new career, to change from a profession that had “’only negative impacts on the world’” to one that would be a benefit to the world.” Bernard’s story serves as an example of the conversion experience or metanoia that can result from an hospitable church. Bass emphasizes that a conversion like Bernard’s (or the biblical parallel of Paul that she mentions) is not a “split-second decision at a revival meeting” but a “process of transformation” (222).

Bass emphasizes that churches that have a transforming effect on people’s lives do so by finding that “third way.” They don’t resist change or separate as a fundamentalist church does. However, they don’t just accept all changes and “remake religion.” Instead “[t]hey were selectively adapting to the cultural changes that are pressuring the practice of Christian faith” (224). The remainder of the chapter focuses on specific stories from Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church in Seattle, Calvin Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Providence United Methodist Church in Charlotte, NC, Redeemer United Church of Christ in New Haven, and Saint Mark Lutheran Church in Yorktown, VA.

Chapter 16: Transforming Congregations

Churches should not resist change. Instead they need to embrace change and trust that the Holy Spirit is working through the change. By concentrating on Redeemer Episcopal Church at the beginning of the chapter, Bass is able to show a congregation that views change as “a spiritual practice,” a church where nothing “is a finished product” (241). Bass emphasize that change for churches needs to be more than “market tinkering,” such as adding guitars to worship or opening a food court. Some examples of transformation:

• Saint Mark Lutheran Church regularized the liturgy, began a process of “prayer formation,” and developed Montessori methods of “hands-on” Sunday school programs for children that emphasize the Bible and “Lutheran theology, history, and identity.”
• Holy Communion Episcopal Church transformed itself into a “spiritual center” for Memphis by having their worship services, book events, and special speakers serve the entire community.
• Calvin Presbyterian church shunned “externally derived order” in the service for “improvisational and internal harmonies of the Holy Spirit’s jazz” (248).

Chapter 17: Transforming the World

How political should churches be? In her study, Bass observes that churches have dropped the politics of protest, systematic change, and policy platforms in favor of “communal practices of service,” a “social transformation that works ‘up’ toward larger change” (259). These churches do not have the secular political tradition of the “old-style” mainline Protestant churches, but instead they put their “theological vision” first and work in the public arena with a “distinctly Christian sense of identity” (259). This is the chapter that uses Saint Andrew Christian Church in Olathe as an example of a church that is committed to social justice through “joyful worship and serious Christian practices” (268). Bass emphasizes that even though these churches never ignore their Christian identity in their public work, they do not use that identity to create “us vs. them” or “right vs. wrong” divisions.

Some questions to consider:

• After reading this book and our discussions, what are some things that churches should not do to become vital congregations? Instead, what should churches do?

• After reading this book, has your attitude toward the function of a church changed at all? Why is church important?

• Is denomination still important?

• What is meant by transforming people from tourists to pilgrims? How can our church do that?

• What opportunities for transformation exist at Second? What signposts of renewal might be emphasized here more than they are already?

What is the emerging church?

Emerging churches are communities that practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures. This definition encompasses nine practices. Emerging churches (1) identify with the life of Jesus, (2) transform the secular realm, and (3) live highly communal lives. Because of these three activities, they (4) welcome the stranger, (5) serve with generosity, (6) participate as producers, (7) create as created beings, (8) lead as a body, and (9) take part in spiritual activities. (from Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures qtd in McKnight, Scot. “Five Streams of the Emerging Church.” Christianity Today. February 2007)