{"id":6829,"date":"2023-04-28T16:03:44","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T20:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/?p=6829"},"modified":"2023-04-28T19:00:56","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T23:00:56","slug":"6829-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wellspringsuu.org\/new\/6829-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A Letter & Survey, From Rev. Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear WellSprings,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, I read a short reflection from a congregation I got to know back when I lived in Washington, DC. The Church of the Saviour is a Christian community with a social mission: they\u2019ve always been a small congregation, but they\u2019ve birthed nearly a dozen community-based nonprofits in the city, in their 50-year history. I still follow their mailing list, and on this particular day last Fall, I read something about them that I didn\u2019t know before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once a year, this congregation asks its entire membership to\u00a0re-commit\u00a0<\/em>to joining. They make an annual, community-wide practice of it, hosting a week of small group conversations, with time set aside for prayer and discernment. As one member said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt is an unusual church practice, perhaps unique, joining and re-joining the same faith community year after year. Or not. This is a serious time of soul-searching, listening to the Spirit, reviewing the community\u2019s chosen commitment and practices for spiritual growth, and asking questions like: How am I being drawn into deeper connection? What does sacrificial giving look like this year? Is my calling to serve taking on a new shape?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I was inspired reading this story, especially after all the changes of our current decade, so far. We know that many folks\u2019 relationship to WellSprings has changed in the past three years. We also know that the old model of church membership (basically un<\/em>-changed since the 1950s) no longer reflects how most people engage. It\u2019s rare that we settle in one place for 30 years or more. Online worship makes membership possible at great distances. Family structures, and demands on working parents, are different. Economic pressures leave less time for volunteering \u2013 or sometimes even for just showing up on Sunday mornings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add all this to the regular ebb and flow of people\u2019s lives, the natural waxing and waning of a relationship with one\u2019s spiritual community over time, and we find that a \u201cjoin once and then everything stays constant forever\u201d membership model leaves a lot of questions unanswered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n