In Diana Butler Bass’ most recent book, “Freeing Jesus,” she tells of praying in the National Cathedral, and three times hearing the voice of Jesus saying to her, “get me out of here!”

Why would Jesus want our help getting out of church? And yet, that’s exactly what we have been doing for the past year!

           Isaiah 43:19 reminds us, “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth.

Do you not perceive it?”  We have known for years that we needed a new thing, but who knew that something as insidious as the covid virus would, among other things, get Jesus out of the traditional church and into the world?!

While we were zooming and distancing behind masks, our Presbytery was developing new goals!

           The first goal that we accepted was to increase the vitality of existing churches.

As a result, with Mike Harbert’s leadership, many churches are becoming engaged in the Vital Congregations initiative with goals to connect, grow, worship, and serve.  Acts 2:46-47 reports of the early church, “day by day as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.

Day by day, the Lord added to their number.”  the same thing is happening in San Fernando!

While we are doing God’s new thing, both Robert MacAfee Brown and Diana Butler Bass have suggestions about signposts of renewal. For both of them, worship is key. Brown speaks of the centrality of worship. It brings us closer to God but does not bring us tidy assurances. Instead, it brings challenges and sends us forth to connect more broadly, grow in faith —both individually and as a body — and serve, whether we like what we are called to do or not. Brown cites the amazing worship experience that Moses had in the desert, where he was close enough to God to be allowed to know God’s name, only to then be sent back to Egypt and commissioned to take on the royal establishment!  “He discovered that there was a direct relationship between seeing a burning bush in the desert and becoming a political firebrand back home!”  Effective worship is a springboard, not a safety net!

There is no escaping the fact that worship and service are closely linked!

           The second goal that we accepted was to increase participation in worship.

I’ve always envied Peter his Pentecost sermon, where, according to Acts 2:41-42, at the end of his preaching, “those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 persons were added.  they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers.”

Actually, a lot has happened in the last year to increase participation in worship.

We currently celebrate 35 new worshipping communities.  many of these growing groups are producing worship and programs that are “out of the box.”

Nick Warnes reports 1.049 new Christians as a result of cyclical la efforts alone. Jim Milley, through the bridges program, has brought innovative growth through laypeople in established churches bridging to non-churchgoers in their communities.   Randy Lovejoy has us totally out of the church by starting with Bible study for seekers. He finds that much of his work involves people who were hurt by the church, helping them to understand that, even outside the church, they can still grow in their spiritual journey. He says he is working “outside the church, but inside the faith.

Michael Kinsman uses social media to create community groups focused around specific issues. He focuses on millennials and gen-ZERS by placing content on platforms where the young people spend most of their time: Twitter, Instagram. And Tiktok is next!

Perhaps the greatest increase in worship has come about because we couldn’t be in our churches to worship! We have had to rely on technology to worship online. Despite the steep learning curve for many pastors, and the resulting level of fatigue, worship attendance has increased dramatically, due to the fact that people can watch from home, at any time during the week that we choose, wearing whatever we choose!  At the church where I worship, for example, we had 60 people in person a week ago Sunday, but by the end of the week, 343 people had “tuned in.”

The key here is to find ways to facilitate community and connectedness when people are not together in person.

           The third goal that we have adopted this year is to increase the ethnic diversity in our congregations.

We are reminded in Galatians 3:28, “there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male nor female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”  While all of our new goals are relevant and important, this third one is imperative.

If Jesus walked through our doors today to give us a mandate, this would be it! Of all of the statistical data that Juan has given us since he came, the fact that 47% of the residents of the San Fernando identify as “white,” and 84% of our churches do, is of the greatest concern.  As long as this data is accurate, we will be closing churches at an even faster rate than we currently are. We can no longer maintain traditional patterns, open our doors, and expect others to come to us. We must go where our neighbors are! We must learn their language and their culture. We must bring service and programs that are relevant and attractive. Nick Warnes reminds us to ask, what are the communities around you interested in? Thanks to the task force on Advancing Leaders of Color, we are heightening our awareness and getting new tools. If Jesus is imploring us to get him out of the church, this is one place to start!

Diana Butler Bass concludes her book with the statement that she didn’t free Jesus from the church. Covid did!  I am a witness that doing church in new ways is not just for young people.  I am a member of this Presbytery, yet I live in Medford, Oregon. Because of Zoom I am able to be active in the Presbytery long distance.  I have been able to hear new ideas, sharing the exciting work that is going on in the San Fernando Valley with churches in the Presbytery of the Cascades. Without freeing Jesus from the church buildings, I would not have been able to connect with old friends and meet new ones.

The bottom line is that we are called to change, and change is hard, for loss is feared. Yet, the churches that survive are the ones most adaptable to change. as  leader of the Evangelism and Church Growth Committee, Rich Poole says, “each church must develop a culture where, individually, we can identify, endure, and initiate changes.”

Pastors of thriving Westminster Presbyterian Church in Salem, Oregon affirm, “the Spirit will never be canceled. Dwindling numbers, the global pandemic, and a world moving away from organized religion will never have the last word. God says, “Behold; I am doing a new thing.” We are perceiving it!   Alleluia!