Today we commemorate the life of Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Jesuits in the early 1500s. He was also an extraordinary missionary who by some estimates, converted and baptized hundreds of thousands of people. When I review his biography, I feel inspired and awed. He traveled to India, Ceylon, and Japan. He learned the language in each country, translated scripture and taught classes to convert people to Christianity. He turned Christian doctrines into jaunty jingles in the local languages that everybody loved and memorized like we know popular songs today.
Our own parish secretary’s father founded several thousand churches worldwide through his calling and indefatigable efforts. By contrast, the third Episcopal bishop of New York, John Henry Hobart (consecrated 1811), founded 120 churches and two schools in his tenure. He confirmed 15,000 people. Since that time, no one in the Episcopal Church has come close to these kinds of missionary numbers.
At our own parish level, we struggle to get by. Before the pandemic, 80% of all churches in North America had plateaued or were declining. Now however, the pandemic gives us an opportunity.
On the downstream side of the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps next summer or a year from now, every church will essentially be a startup. Whether the church is a huge evangelical church, a Roman Catholic or Episcopal church, we will all be, what is called in the trade, a new “church plant.” Planting a new church requires a different skill set and a different mindset than keeping the same old thing running.
There are lots of tools and techniques for church planting, but what we need to do most right now is switch our thinking from old church to new church, from membership to baptism, from maintenance of what is to mission for what will be. Grace Episcopal Church in Muskogee has many assets in terms of people, finance, skills, passions, and facilities. If we can switch our thinking and begin planning for the brave new world of post-COVID, we can add the blessing of time to our assets. We will have about a year to switch gears, make plans, and get moving.
Whatever Grace Episcopal Church becomes in the future, we hope it will have firm roots in its Episcopal-Anglican tradition as well as solid roots in the local community. Those two do not necessarily have to be in opposition. Let us all pray for the wisdom and courage we need to plant God’s new vision for this church right where we are.