Thursday, May 20, 2010

Inklings on Church

Seeing as one day I hope to be a pastor, these inklings are mostly a reminder to myself.

Inkling 1: I've been thinking that all churches should have a vegetable garden and the produce should be divided so that a small portion can be used at church gatherings and all the rest be given away to soup kitchens or food pantries.

Inkling 2: Pastors and deacons should walk through and around the community in which their physical church sits at least once a week. They should know their neighbors well.

Inkling 3: Have your church host every event under the sun. Thus giving parishioners opportunities to talk about said event and/or invite people to said event. Sends message to community that your doors are open. That the church is welcoming.

Inkling 4: Liturgy is meant to be alive; every congregation should have one experimental Sunday.

Inkling 5: Someone on the church staff has to be technologically savvy and hip.

Inkling 6: I love pieces of the emergent church philosophy, but it often feels like the sole purpose is to recruit 20 and 30 somethings, and the rest of us are chopped liver. In my opinion creative, compassionate, radical hospitality church just plain gets people excited no matter what your age is.

Inkling 7: Pastors should join or form interfaith peer groups.

Inkling 8: All churches should recycle and compost, and if they have a community garden then they should use their own compost.

Inkling 9: The details really do matter.

Inkling 10: If your pastor isn't praying, modeling prayer, and talking about prayer; something is probably wrong...go hug that pastor.

5 comments:

murat11 said...

Amen to all. Inkling 11: Your pastor should have a rainbow stole.

jsd said...

murat: I like Inkling 11 :)

San said...

These are significant inklings, JS. Somehow the praying and the composting and recycling are related in my mind. Maybe because I often have to pray to know when to let go of what isn't useful to me but may be of use to another.

jsd said...

San: You know I hadn't ever really thought about praying to know what isn't of use...thank you for the thoughts to chew on.

Lee said...

JS, in your inklings I see a missional point of view. Good for you! And good for the future of the church! The Church News, July/August edition has an article in it on Becoming A Missional Church. Rec is considering building/rebuilding a relationship with an elementary school. Good for us!

Love,
Lee