From John Knight

The United Methodist Church of Davis is a wonderful church with a dynamic pastor, a caring congregation and a beautiful new sanctuary. Many good deeds are done by church members. Increasing study opportunities are leading to a stronger sense of faith in our community. We truly strive to live our credo: Open Hearts. Open Minds. Open Doors.

Virtually all human communities—however defined—find a way to organize themselves. Here at DUMC we have, of course, an organizational structure that, at first glance, works well. We have various committees (which we understandably call Ministries) to do the work of the church. You know them: Finance, Staff Parish Relations, Worship, Board of Trustees, Church and Society, Nurture and Growth, Reconciling Ministry, etc. etc. Each of these ministries and very many other activities in the church are manned (personned?) by dedicated, hard working folks who care about the church. Who care about emulating the life of Jesus. Who are committed to making disciples of Jesus Christ.  And, yet, I have been trying to figure out in my own mind why I am vaguely dissatisfied with the very structure of which I have been an active, supportive participant. Why is it hard to get folks out for monthly meetings? Why is it even harder to find enough people willing to commit to a year or two of serving on one of the Ministries? I wonder if we could more productively organized?

There is a provocative book making the rounds titled Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations by Robert Schnase. The five practices of the title are: Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-Taking Mission and Service, and Extravagant Generosity. He claims that the “presence and strength of these practices demonstrate congregational health, vitality and fruitfulness.” And upon reading the book I really think we at DUMC do quite well—we may very well be silver medalists!! But I wonder if we organized ourselves around these five core principles (as opposed to a mainly administrative structure) we might find it easier to fit the church mission into the life of this church and into our own individual lives.

Look at the adjectives describing the five practices. Radical, not friendly, Hospitality. Passionate (wow!) worship. Intentional faith development. Risk-taking , not helpful, Mission and Service. Extravagant, not prudent (ouch!), giving. I am pretty sure Jesus would like powerful, challenging adjectives! The book, of course, goes on to describe in detail and with many examples what each of these practices looks like. Perhaps we could offer a five or six week course on the book, examining its precepts and thinking about how they might work for us. Perhaps we could enter into positive conversations about DUMC’s practices and how to work toward greater fruitfulness to the Glory of God.

In ending let me quote the author, “Allow these practices to shape your own reflections about your church, your area of ministry, and your personal discipleship. Use them, amend them, deepen them, pray about them, and extend them so all may fulfill the greatest task ever entrusted to humankind, the work of sharing the good news we have seen and known in Jesus Christ.”