Quit Worrying [KrisAnne Swartley]

Last updated on: August 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm by KrisAnne Swartley

Quit Worrying [KrisAnne Swartley] 2018-08-16T14:21:45-05:00 KrisAnne Swartley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Small to medium sized traditional churches with long memories + a changing culture that increasingly finds our traditions irrelevant to daily life= decreasing attendance and tithing = high levels of anxiety.

Is it too much of a generalization to say that this is the context in which most pastors in the Northeast United States minister? It is certainly my context, although hope is present as well. Not long ago, it was time to lead our congregation through change, and we let them know that the future was unknown: “We are going to try some things and fail, and try some other things and succeed. We are going to share our building with community groups. We are going to stop these old programs to free up time and resources for new ministries, that may fail or succeed, we don’t know. We are going to give a large piece of land to the community for gardening.” For a two hundred year old church, of course this raised the level of anxiety.

I’m becoming convinced that congregational anxiety will not diminish by simply telling people to stop worrying, by preaching against worry, or by talking about faith and trust. I cannot talk myself out of a worried state, although I often try (you’d think I would learn). I cannot talk my family members out of their worry, either. Words are not magic.

Instead, I wonder if we should embrace our anxiety and bring it with us into the future. Maybe we should accept it, explore it, actually move into it. Where is the anxiety coming from? I’m worried that the end of this program will mean _________________. I’m worried that we will try ______________ and then _______________ will happen. And if it does, then ________________. If we allow others to use our building, I’m afraid ______________________. And then _________________ will happen. Let all the downward spirals spin until we’ve hit bottom. And there is the root.

Then we move forward anyway. The feelings probably will not go away, no matter how much we want them to, so we take them with us. We practice new things. We give and we share and we reach out into the community, aware of our anxiety but not allowing it to paralyze us. In my context, I have found this is the only way congregational anxiety diminishes… through action. I can’t ask people to stop feeling afraid, but I can ask them to practice a new kind of ministry anyway… in spite of the anxiety. Practice and reflect, practice and reflect, is our new rhythm. So far, it seems that hope and confidence are being born out of practice; and anxiety is lessening. We have learned that we can survive failure (at least in small doses). And we have learned how to celebrate success! It turns out we needed to learn how to do that, so we had ice cream in our plush-carpeted sanctuary one Sunday, which in itself probably raised some anxiety levels… but no one spilled sticky stuff on the floor, thank goodness.

What are your experiences with leading change in traditional churches? How have you tried to manage anxiety? What do you think of the “practice and reflect” rhythm of ministry in congregations?

—

[Image by Holly Lay, CC via Flickr]

Uncategorized

missional

Previous Post

July 28, 2014

Israel, the Internet, and Purging the Scapegoat

Next Post

July 29, 2014 What Do You Do When You Don't Like the Bible? [Mandy Meisenheimer]

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2018 August 2018 July 2018 July 2017 May 2017 January 2017 November 2016 October 2016 August 2016 July 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 March 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 March 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz