Sermons

"Moving Beyond Our Comfort Zone! "

Emmanuel Church
The Reverend Gregory A. M. Cole
January 26, 2003

It is the faces! The faces are what I remember most vividly about 2002. I remember the faces of families in rural West Virginia who lost so much in the floods and who seemed so grateful when our small group arrived to help them. I remember the faces of the teenagers who worked so hard to clean basements and tear down walls. I remember the faces of a mother and her children as we blessed their new home – a house that many of you helped to restore. I remember the faces of children sitting in the auditorium listening intently to the story of Moses and learning about God’s love for them during our Vacation Bible School.

When I think about life at Emmanuel in 2002, my mind quickly moves from one wonderful event to another. During our one hundred and fiftieth year, we saw the people of this church engaged in powerful ministry, embodying the slogan that we set for our anniversary year – “Emmanuel, a light for the community.” I am proud, and I hope that all of you are as well, of our accomplishments during 2002.

While some of the memories of last year will last a lifetime, we cannot rest on the merits of the past. God continues to call us to move beyond our comfort zone, challenging us to move deeper into the life of God’s Spirit. In today’s Gospel reading, we hear the call of Jesus to those who would become his disciples: “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” The call to those disciples is our call as well. As we look to 2003 and beyond, we do so within the context of God’s call to us. What does it mean for us to say that God calls us to be a light for the community? What does it mean for us to say that we are members of the Body of Christ, people chosen by God to continue God’s work in the world, chosen to fish for people?

As we look forward to 2003, we do so with optimism and excitement, but also with an awareness of the challenges that we face. We are a healthy, vibrant, and energetic church. We have good programs of Christian education, worship, and outreach that get better every year. We are in the process of preserving and improving our buildings. We continue to respond to God’s call to be the body of Christ in our world. I believe that our future is bright and that God will continue to guide us.

The Challenge That We Face

While optimistic, we also must be realistic about the situation that we face. Later, at the annual meeting, you will have opportunity to review the budget that the Vestry set for 2003. The budget includes a deficit of over $50,000. This deficit reflects increased staffing costs, higher insurance premiums, and an increase in our apportionment to the diocese. I do not have to tell any of you that no institution can survive for long while running $50,000 budget deficits. You might wonder why the Vestry would approve such a budget. It is a good and fair question and one that I hope to answer for you now.

During the past several years, the Vestry and I have made a commitment to increasing the quality and quantity of the programs that we offer. Specifically, we have increased staffing for our children and youth ministries and our music ministry. Our hope is that this increased programming will result not only in the spiritual growth of our members but also in the numerical growth of our community. In fact, the commitments that we have made depend on our ability to grow numerically. Presently, we are in the stage of our development where we are experiencing the increased costs but not yet the increased growth. This is normal for any organization that seeks to grow but it is not a situation in which we can remain much longer.

This in between time puts us in an interesting position. During the last few months, the Vestry and I have spent a great deal of time praying and discussing our finances. What is important for you to know, however, is that these conversations about money took place almost exclusively within the context of who we believe God is calling us to be and what we believe God is calling us to do. We came away from our discussions more convinced than ever that we are doing the right thing and that now is not the time for us to pull back or to act out of fear. Therefore, we decided to hold course, to step out in faith, firm in the conviction that God is with us and that we are doing what God is asking us to do. We also came to the belief that God never asks us to do anything without also providing the means to do it.

During the coming year, the Vestry will focus its energies on church growth. We believe that we have a great deal to offer to spiritually hungry people. We have a responsibility to extend an invitation to those hungry people so that they can experience God’s love.

In order for this to happen, each one of us must share a commitment to growth, a commitment that may take us beyond our comfort zones. Much has happened in the last few years here at Emmanuel Church. We have seen growth in the number and quality of our programs. What we have not seen is significant growth in the number of people who worship here and who call Emmanuel their spiritual home.

I have analyzed weekly attendance records for the last fifteen years. During that time, our average Sunday morning attendance has ranged from about one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty people. The good news is that we are a very stable church. The challenging news is that we are a very comfortable church. We exist within a comfort zone that allows us to accommodate a certain number of people. Twice during that fifteen-year period, our attendance pushed beyond one hundred and forty people. The first time was around the time of the Persian Gulf War. The second was during my first year as Rector. We could not sustain the increased numerical growth either time.

Moving Beyond Our Comfort Zones

There are many institutional reasons for this that we will save for another discussion. However, let me say simply that moving beyond an average attendance of one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty will lead to the stretching of our comfort zone.

The Church is one of the few institutions in our world that exists not for the people who are already members but for those who are not. The church is not a club. We do not have a membership committee charged with deciding who can come in and who cannot. In fact, we have the express mandate to invite all people into the church and to do all in our power to be hospitable and welcoming to the stranger.

One of the most common but unfortunate phrases that we use is the phrase “our church” or “my church.” I remember some years ago as a new priest saying to Bishop McKelvey in the Diocese of Newark, something like, “In my church we have a really great Sunday School program.” We were walking when I said it and he stopped and turned to me and asked me, “In whose church?” I did not have to think for very long about what he meant. The lesson was clear. Instead of referring to Emmanuel Church as “my church,” I try to call it “the church where I serve.”

Now, it is perfectly understandable that we should take ownership of the church. Many of us commit countless hours and dollars to Emmanuel Church. However, we must remind ourselves constantly that it is not our church but God’s church and that the church exists for one purpose – to be the Body of Christ in our world. God entrusts us with the awesome responsibility of being stewards of God’s church and of exercising our ministry through God’s church. I believe that a shift from the language of ownership to the language of stewardship is revolutionary. It reminds us that we constantly must seek God’s will rather than our will for the church, that we must act in the best interest of the entire community rather than our own, and that we exist not for our own comfort or satisfaction but to proclaim the Gospel to the people of our world.

The next step in our journey is for the Vestry to form a Church Growth Committee that will guide us through a process that we believe will lead to growth. Mike Langston and I will share leadership of this committee. Mike has considerable experience and expertise in this area of church life and we are fortunate to have his leadership. If you have any interest in serving on this committee, please speak with either Mike or me.

As I said earlier, growth leads to movement beyond our comfort zone. It means challenging the status quo and being willing to do things differently. It means understanding that a ministry of hospitality to visitors takes a commitment from each one of us.

Let me give you a couple of very simple yet real examples. We are fortunate to have our own parking lot. However, it is not large enough to accommodate everyone on Sunday mornings. This is a direct barrier to growth. If a family comes to visit and cannot find a parking spot, it is less likely that they will come back again. Fortunately, we have the use of the Lenthal School parking lot. A willingness on our part to walk a few extra steps each Sunday morning would at least partly solve this problem.

A second example involves seating during church. At our current attendance levels, most people can sit where they want to sit. We are creatures of habit. We find a comfortable spot and we return to it each week. That is very normal behavior. However, what happens if a visitor comes and sits in your pew? Do you celebrate the fact that there is a new family in church and go out of your way to make them feel welcome? Or, do you resent the fact that someone has taken your spot? People have come into this church in the past and been told that they cannot sit in a certain place because so and so sits there. Some of them never come back. If we grow, you may loose your comfortable spot. Are you willing to allow that to happen?

Let me say one other thing about seating. We want people to feel comfortable when they walk into the church for the first time. The more available pews there are in the back of the church, the more comfortable visitors will feel. It is much easier as a newcomer to walk in and slip quickly and quietly into a back pew than it is to walk past everyone to the front of the church.

These are simple issues but they highlight the fact that being a welcoming community is hard work and that success lies in the details. I challenge you to do three things. One, if you are able, park in the Lenthal lot so that there are more spaces available for the elderly and for visitors. Second, next week sit in a different pew than the one you sit in this morning. Third, when you change pews, choose one that is closer to the front. I know that some of you are squirming inside. Some are saying, “Hey this is my church. I’ll sit where I want to sit.” For some, these simple things will take you out of your comfort zones. At the same time, they will speak volumes about our desire to be a welcoming and hospitable community.

From my perspective, the state of Emmanuel Church is excellent, although not without its challenges. We are a vibrant community of committed people who care deeply about the church and about reaching out to the people of our world. We have reached a point in our common life where we desire to grow numerically and programmatically. It takes a conscious decision to make that happen. I believe and I know many of you believe that God is with us and that God continues to lead us down the path that God has set for us. I invite all of you to engage with me in this exciting journey as we seek together to be God’s people.

Greg Cole