Moving Forward

O God, we pray for this congregation, Salem Church, and our future with you.
Show us what you are doing, Lord, and allow us to be a part of it. Amen.

We have prayed this prayer for the last several weeks in our worship services. Now the Administrative Council has unanimously agreed to consider purchasing the King of Kings Lutheran Church building. As we continue to pray, how will we as a congregation decide to move forward?

Some things are outside of our control. We do not control time. If the Kenwood Park building sells, we will need to be out in sixty days. Furthermore, if we do not begin making decisions now, we will not be ready to act later. We cannot make time stand still. Life is not static. Change happens. The question is, will we be intentional about making change to follow God’s leading or will we passively receive change that we do not choose?

The future of our downtown location is also beyond our control. We should have a better idea in another month what decisions the city will make and how they will impact our downtown site. Will there be a flood wall between our building and the river? Will it be taken over as green space around the river? Will the city buy us out? We just do not yet know.

Some things, however, we do control. We control how we pursue our mission. Many of us have personal opinions about where we should locate. But our mission determines our location. We exist to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. The question is, what is Salem’s niche in the Cedar Rapids area? How do we fit together with the other United Methodist congregations and ministries? Salem is not an island unto itself. We are part of the connectional team of United Methodist people.

Besides the other UM congregations, we know that the Trinity and St. James congregations are trying to rebuild at their same locations. The Matthew 25 ministry continues. St. Paul’s UMC is working downtown on the east side of the river. If it would be possible to go back downtown, what part of our mission would necessitate our physical presence there? What would we do that would not be covered by these other ministries in the downtown area?

Furthermore, if our mission determines our location, Who are the people around us not being reached by the United Methodist Church (not just Salem) in a significant way? We can answer that by simply looking at the people of the Church. We are getting older. There are not as many kids and young families. Our denominational State of the Church Report 2007 (p.6) says, “The membership of The United Methodist Church is aging. And little indicates the church is effectively reaching out, or is willing to reach out, to attract younger people” (click here for the full report).

In response to this report, Lovett Weems, at Wesley Theological Seminary, wrote Ten Provocative Questions and presented it to the Council of Bishops. Regarding aging he said, “When the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren Churches stopped growing in the 1960s, the average age of members was well below the general population, and that continued until about 1975. Since 1975, the average age in U.S. United Methodism has gone up consistently.” This failure to reach younger people is quite clear. 50 years ago the average age in the United Methodist Church was younger than the national average. Today, the average age of United Methodists is around 60 years old while the average age in the United States is in the mid-thirties!

I have heard repeatedly of Salem’s concern for reaching children and youth. If that is a passion, a burden on our heart, then how will we be intentional about accomplishing that? Obviously, what has been done in the past is not working. We may need to make radical changes in order to reach the younger generations, changing such things as style, communication, worship, budget, and location, etc.

So where are the kids, youth, and young families located? Not downtown. There is a significant presence of United Methodists there but not many young families. There is a growing presence of kids and youth in the area around the new land on Blairs Ferry Road and a significant presence of kids and youth around the King of Kings Lutheran Church building, but a much smaller United Methodist presence in those areas.

Could it be that God is leading us out of the flood and into a new territory in order to reach out to these missing children, youth, and young families and invite them to join us as disciples of Jesus Christ so that together we can work to transform the world?

If Salem begins anew with this mission, will we lose people? Yes. The truth is, however, we will lose people no matter what decision we make. Some people will come and some will leave in any major transition in a congregation. Taking the gospel seriously always leads to risks and sacrifices. My prayer is that we will all be open to God’s leading and allow the Holy Spirit to work through us as a community.

Still, if we have a Kingdom vision, that is, if we understand that all of the congregations are working together in God’s mission field and not competing with one another, then we are not losing people. If some of our members decide to leave Salem and instead begin participating with St. Mark’s, for instance, or another congregation, then we have not lost anyone. We are one part of the United Methodist mission in Cedar Rapids. And as United Methodists, we are one part of the body of Christ together with our brothers and sisters from all the different Church traditions.

So let us continue to pray (and listen!). Ultimately, this is not about our good ideas. This is about what God is doing. Let us open our lives to God who will steer our hearts to follow his will.