In an Op-Ed piece that appeared in the Syracuse Post-Standard on June 15, New York Times columnist, Thomas L. Friedman, described the work and philosophy of the entrepeneurial "think tank" at Ben Gurion University in the Negev desert of Israel. This think tank is actually a "seminary" for venture capitalists. Said one student, "Today, every Israeli Jewish mother wants her son to be a dropout and go create a start up."
Besides the notable success of Israel's stock market which Friedman thinks is the direct result of the work of programs like at Ben Gurion University, he continues with a discussion of the philosophy underlying them.
"Israel is Exhibit A of an economic phenomenon I see a lot these days. Of course, competition between countries and between companies still matters. But when the world gets this flat, the most important competition is between you and your own imagination, because energetic, innovative and connected individuals can now act on their imaginations farther, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before. "Those countries and companies that empower their individuals to imagine and act quickly on their imagination are going to thrive. 'We are not investing in products or business plans today, but in people who have the ability to imagine and connect dots,' said Nimrod Kozlovski, a top Israeli expert on Internet law who also works with start-ups. Israel is not good at building big companies, he explained, but it is very good at producing people who say, 'Wouldn't it be great if you could do this...The motto here is not work hard but dream hard,' Kozlovski added."As I read this column, I couldn't help but think of it's application to the church. And so, I've been thinking...
- How would our congregations thrive if we empowered individuals to imagine and to act quickly on their imagination.
- How would our life together across all settings of the United Church of Christ look like if we invested in people with the ability to imagine and connect the dots?
- How would our congregations become transformed to do ministry by changing from a "work hard" approach to spirituality to a "dream hard" approach?
Budgets, membership roles, worship attendance are all shrinking. Plus, we don't want to talk about money. Many churches, if they have any stewardship campaign at all are so understated in their efforts, is it any wonder they have annual shortfalls in their budgets? Plus, many pastors neither feel the inclination nor the permission to preach on stewardship.
A couple of years ago Carol Giordano the Minister for Stewardship, Finance and Development of the Conference conducted a stewardship survey of several local UCC churches across the state. In most cases the churches did not have consistent stewardship education nor was the pastor involved in any way. Again, is it any wonder that we don't have enough money to do ministry?
I would much rather talk about faith and mission and not money. Yet, in every ministry setting in which I have been involved as a pastoral leader it became clear that in order to talk about faith and mission we first had to talk about money.
And, invariably, we realized that money is not the issue, motivation is the issue. People are willing to support that which they feel is important. The outpouring of monetary donations in the aftermath of the hurricanes, tzunamis and earth quakes over the last several years is evidence enough of the money available for ministry.
Money is not the issue. We have the money in our churches. I think that we need to let our faith go to work. Faith allows us to dream, to celebrate our life together in Christ, to rejoice in the mission to which God has called us, and to dare to imagine the ministries that God makes possible.
The First Congregational Church UCC, Phoenix (Oneida Association) has experienced some renewed vision over the past year. Many changes have taken place in staff, membership and program in the last few years. Change is difficult and life has not been without conflict.
Still, 12 people were taken into membership this Spring, worship attendance remains solid, the Sunday School is creative and vibrant, and the most recent stewardship campaign raised a record amount of pledges to the ministry of the congregation.
Like so many other congregations First, Phoenix has struggled with stewardship. However, the present vitality of spirit in the congregation as a whole has allowed for a different approach to the constant worried about budgetary shortfalls. For one thing, the projected deficit is at a manageable level. So, this year Pastor Lauri Craig has invited the congregation to come to her house for a picnic and a dreaming session to plan ways to close the gap in the deficit.
Emmanuel UCC, Watertown has had a vibrant, multi-faceted and creative ministry for several years. Co-pastors Patti and Ron Farr have worked with congregational leaders to build a church culture that seeks to nurture the ministry of each member.
The church has also developed a creative way for their members to easily give to the church in as worry free a manner as possible. The financial ministry of the church has set up an online automatic bill pay program with all of the banks in Watertown. Members are invited to sign up with their banks, designate amounts and frequency of payments, and the banks will send checks automatically to the church.
This reminds me of Ruth Carr who budgeted by attaching labeled envelopes to a bulletin board in her kitchen. Whenever she received her paycheck from the local chicken farm where she worked, she divided up the money in each envelope. She filled the one marked "church" first.
With the students at Ben Gurion University churches need to dream hard. Dreaming hard helps us to consider what we can do and how we can do it. Dreaming hard even helps us to see our money as the means by which we can do ministry not as the limits within which ministry might be considered.
And so, lets dream a little about ministry (and let the money follow).
Blessings,
Rick Cowles
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