Omer's Four Tasks Assignment
Introduction
The Descriptive-Empirical Task
The Interpretive Task
The Normative Task
The Pragmatic Task
In Conclusion
During
the years between 1992 and 2005 the faith community of Dillard Memorial Church was a dynamic evangelistic force in the faith community of the Greater
Tri-State Area of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and as well as in their
home state. This fellowship consisting
predominately of college undergraduates and led by Sara X, became the coveted
example of how to attract and utilize young people in a Pentecostal, holiness
and apostolic tradition. However even
with youth, the touted panacea for aging congregations, the Church began to
wane and eventually died. An analysis of
this fellowship will show how even a church pregnant with promise can die.
The Descriptive-Empirical Task
DMC, as it was affectionately called, started off as a Bible Study in the home
of Sara X who was a very popular Evangelist out of the Assembly of God Christian Sabbath
keeping reformation. Evangelist
X in support of her freshman son became the adviser and overseer of the gospel
choir at State University. Her leadership style filled the void of
familiarity for many of the young adults away from home for the first time. They
were so fascinated by what they were learning and the community they were
building, that the news of the Bible Study spread through the campus prompting
scores of young people to attend. Sitting cramped and crossed legged on the
floor of the Sara X’s family home. There never enough room for everyone.
In
these studies Evangelist X taught on likely topics such as salvation, yes but
as most of the people had exposure to church she delved into topics that
combated the party life of the college experience. Topics such as Holiness, the body being the
temple of the Holy Ghost, no sex before marriage and why, a life of moderation,
no excesses and how to change your life and maintain that change. Additionally,
as most participants had never heard of the Sabbath Keeping tradition many had questions
and she obliged and taught on the Sabbath and clean eating and feast days. Other popular areas of interest were the
Gifts of the Spirit, signs and wonders, purpose and destiny, prayer, fasting
and casting out of devils. The
collegiates were hungry and Evangelist X for serving a complete buffet not only
of don’ts but explanations, according to scripture, for the reasons why
not. An element that is missing from a
lot of the instruction to teen and young adults. She was meeting their spiritual inquiry.
Evangelist
X was a wife and mother of four teenage sons.
She hailed from a neighboring city where she lived out her Christian faith
in a sabbath keeping Pentecostal tradition.
She rose through the ranks of her denomination at a time when the
opportunity for women to preach the gospel was dawning. Evangelist X did not have a seminary
education however she was informally trained in her church, had extensive experience
with cross denominational relations and was gifted in presenting complex
concepts of the Bible simply and with clarity for everyday understanding. This quiet, shy and demure wife and mother
when place behind a pulpit became a preaching and teaching machine that
commanded a congregation.
The
community continued to grow and without access to a sabbath keeping church in
her state Evangelist X started what became Dillard Memorial Church. Initially services were held in her home and
then they became a traveling church having services at various locations around the state and surrounding areas. Now as a Pastor and with an official church, Pastor
X began to harness the talent of the students.
She taught the Word intensely and furthered the doctrine of Baptism of
the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. She taught that the overcoming power was in the
Holy Spirit. Of course, everyone wanted
to be baptized and many received. Pastor
X put a demand on everyone’s gifts and callings to function. Leaders, gifts and talents began to emerge. Young preachers, teachers and
prophets began to manifest. The gifts of
music and singing together with the Gifts of the Spirit began to appear in
abundance.
The
message of a clean life, Pastor X’s evangelistic preaching style followed by
signs and wonders was a novelty in the area.
The entity of DMC , now complete with a traveling
ministerial team of young adults. The
ministry was evangelically hard hitting and paradigm shifting. She didn’t try to tame the raw energy of the
youth but rather encouraged growth and freedom of ministry expression. One of Pastor X’s many questions to her flock
was, “Can you put new wine into old wine skins”? Meaning if you wanted something different you
had to do things differently – referring to the young people functioning in ministry. As the church traveled many joined along the
way. DMC became
a beacon of hope to an oppressed African American community experiencing recessed
economy.
People
were dedicated to the ministry. Students oftentimes
many went hungry because the cafeteria was closed while they were leaving for
service and closed by the time they returned. Because of this Elder X, Pastor X’s husband,
would make hot dogs and turkey sandwiches to feed everyone. People hauled drums and keyboards and set up
everywhere the church went. A typical
Sabbath Day would involve prayer at 7am for an hour. Sabbath School from 10 -12p. Lunch for two hours with Sabbath Service at
2pm which could easily last until 7 or 8pm. People just could not get
enough. On days that Pastor X had a ministerial
engagement at least two busloads of people would accompany her with the praise
& worship team, musicians and ministry team in tow. There was Bible Study on Wednesday nights and
Prayer on Friday night. Every service
was packed. People hitched rides to
service and quit jobs that wouldn’t allow them to be off in time to enjoy the
fellowship and observe the Sabbath. People often joked that you would need to
be dead or near dead to be late or miss services.
As
the momentum increased so did parental concern.
Initially parents and families were happy their children had found an
encouraging faith community of young people but as some of the more
controversial teaching that accompany Pentecostal, holiness and apostolic
churches began to surface parents began to become weary. Many
of the participants already came from faith traditions and began to abandon
them for what Pastor X was teaching. Teachings
such as sabbath observation, dietary restrictions; major changes in attire
complete with head coverings, long skirts, no make up for the woman and no
jewelry. She encouraged manifestations
of the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues, social separation from “worldly
activities”, observation of special Jewish Feast days and ultimately no
celebration of traditional holidays including Christmas. Without the teachings that their off spring had
received many parents demanded their children and DMC part
ways. There was even whispers that DMC was a cult. The parental lack of
consent led to a split in the community and many fell away. A controversy brewed over who was right. Pastor X held many conversations with upset
parents. She tried to put their fears at
ease but DMC was experiencing its first weeding process. Ultimately, those that stayed lost friends, community
and endured harsh criticisms, but the persecution produced and unbreakable bond
between those that endured which remains with them to this day.
With
the years passing, students began to graduate, look for jobs and start careers. Many married and started families. With these
expansions came tithes and offerings. The
church came off the road to settle with an actual location. Pastor X became a
full-time pastor. DMC was
starting to look more like a traditional church and with all those changes the
dynamics of the ministry began to change.
There were many failed attempts to purchase a site or land and
suspicions began to arise. Advice from
long time members who were now fully qualified accountants and professionals
was begin ignored. Undercurrents began
to flow, and evidence of favoritism and nepotism began to appear. Those that questioned or voiced concerns were
silenced. At the same time those seeking
to establish careers began commuting, for an hour or more, North for viable
employment. As a result, congregants
were not able to attend as frequently as they once had. Because of this their commitment was begin
questioned and a now more mature congregation began to rile under the ridicule,
unfair practices and inconsistencies of the ministry.
In
2000 in accordance with prophetic words was anointed to the position of Bishop
with the anticipation of planting churches.
An established church in Florida came under Bishop X’s covering and she
planted churches in New jersey, further south in lower Delaware, Philadelphia
and northern Delaware. All the
established ministries were Sunday observing.
Now a Bishop and a member of the College of Bishops, Bishop X’s travel
agenda expanded to included international destinations to serve in
ministry. Her message and delivery style,
still very evangelistic, were well received.
In late 2002 one of the first core
members of Dillard Memorial Church of Deliverance moved away to pursue
other avenues. That one move was the
start of an exodus that would destabilize DMC and ultimately
devastate the ministry. By end of 2003 more than half the parish had
departed. The ministry continued to
decline with die hard members giving up and walking away. Approximately,
16 years from its conception Dillard Memorial Church of Deliverance , its ministries and
planted churches dissoloved and the house ministry died.
The Interpretive Task
In Richard Osmer’s book “Practical
Theology: An Introduction” for the Interpretive Tasks he poses the question “Why
is this going on?”.[1] Or in this case, why did the congregants leave
this ministry? To answer this question a
survey was conducted. This survey asked
a range of questions such as:
1. Do you agree that the ministry
experienced a decline? (closed response)
2. If you responded No, please briefly
explain what you feel happened to the ministry (open response)
3. Did you leave before 2005? (closed
response)
4. If you answered No, how many years
after 2005 did you remain as part of the ministry? (closed response)
5. Why did you leave? (closed response
with additional space to elaborate)
6. Did you or someone you know
experience backlash for deciding to leave from leadership? (closed response)
7. Did this influence your decision to
leave 7th Day? (closed response with
additional space to elaborate)
8. What are some of the internal
contributing factors do you think contributed to the demise of 7th
Day? (closed response with additional space to elaborate)
This poll was distributed to 60 former members of Dillard Memorial Church of Deliverance via social media. Initially there were concerns that no one
would respond to the survey because of the sensitive nature and as one participant
reported, (there was) “… a cultist (like)
movement enforcing unencumbered loyalty to the Pastor and the church doctrine
at the cost of family, life balance and integrity.”[1] Despite
the odds, the survey did procure 10 submissions.
The survey highlighted a variety of
issues DMC was experiencing.
Yes, the economy was a factor as 30% of submissions stated that they
left for Career/Job opportunities. 50% of those polled left because they felt God was
leading them in a new direction and as one submission advised, “I moved to another region however had it
not been for some of the troubled circumstances I experienced I would not have
been as motivated to focus on starting life fresh elsewhere.”[2] When
reviewing the closed responses to question eight, it was here that insight was gained
into the internal happenings of the church.
Each survey participant selected an average of eight options out of the
13 available for question eight. Fig 1[3]
denotes the statistical break down on the perspective of those taking the survey.
70% were disillusioned
100% felt favoritism and nepotism played a big role
70% believed there was financial mismanagement and
misappropriations
60% sensed a lack of direction
80% stated a certainty to sexual harassment and
coercion
70% felt the church had become stagnant
70% claimed leadership was too involved in personal
matters
100% noted unfair treatment of various members
70% felt the ministry was doing more harm than good
Fig 1.
Upon review
of the data there appears to be a plethora of reasons for why this church died,
some quite serious, such as: spiritual / religious abuse and in some instances
religious abuse to commit physical and sexual offenses of the membership. Religious Abuse being defined as abuse
administered under the guise of religion, including harassment or humiliation,
which may result in psychological trauma.
Religious abuse may also include misuse of religion for selfish, secular
or ideological ends such as the abuse of a clerical position.[4] Even with these grievous, and some criminal, offensives
the overarching theme which permitted such indecencies was a lack of prudent
leadership and accountability.
This
inability to provide or choice not to provide sound oversight (a form of
protection) for the membership of 7th Day manifested itself in the
following:
1.
No
clear vision or mission for the Church resulting in a lack of cohesiveness
between the churches under its pervue; ministries being aimless and clergy
becoming idol.
2.
No
accountability left the church structure less and with poorly functioning
administrative systems.
3.
Without accountability the church financial systems were
utilized as an extension of the first family’s personal finances.
4.
On
a personal level not having a spiritual covering denied Bishop X’s the benefit
of spiritual maturation. The ability to
grow, be spiritually challenged and pruned.
This absence resulted in deficiencies in her work/life balance and
compromised her position.
With the increasing demands of the
ministry and no structures to assist in the administration – (Bishop X was
“chief cook and bottle washer”[5]
due in part because she didn’t trust anyone and part because of lack of
knowledge) of the burden. So much
emphasis was being placed on the church that the family became resentful of the
members. This inability to separate her
home from her church life left Pastor X being indulgent with her sons who
manipulated both her and the congregation without chastisement. Her health deteriorated and eventually she
and Elder X divorced, and the church died.
One submitter said, “The potential for an absolute(ly)
amazing ministry was there. I believe
leadership needed more development in ministerial care and operations. Leadership needed healing and deliverance. (Their) insecurities and lack of integrity to
damaged so many.”[6]
The Normative Task
Utilizing Dr. Israel Galindo’s book “The Hidden Lives of
Congregations”[7] as
a guide it is clear to see that 7th Day X ventured off a positive
path to maturation. Dr. Galindo
documents the early stages in his book as though he was specifically talking
about DMC. Now having
progressed through the exciting Establishing Stage[8],
characterized by its “can-do” spirit, the church wonders into The Formation and
Formatting Stage. Here they worked on
developing clear lines of communication and welcomed multiple waves of
newcomers.[9] Even with conflict and challenge there were
clear processes in place until Bishop X’s sons began needing to be
corrected. One former member noted,
“…Sins of close family and friends were condoned and those people committing
them were covered. Not saying others did
not sin but how do you punish one and not the other.”.
In attempting to answer Osmer’s third
question of “What ought to be going on?”[10]
it is clear that DMC began to experience difficulty somewhere
between The Formatting and Formation Stage and the Adolescent Stage[11]. The Adolescent Stage continues to be
characterized by high energy, but the programming dynamic becomes more
important and prominent. A necessary
pastoral leadership function for this stage is that of tapping into the Energy
dynamics present in the congregation and focusing them more intentionally into
programming and ministries. In addition,
a congregation at this lifespan stage begins to require more services for its
membership.[12] While the ,DMC, congregation
still exhibited high worship services all other aspects of the previously
described enthusiasm had died out. Bishop
X had bartered away her social capital by this time and the effects of
irreparable damage had begun to set in. DMC never got the opportunity strengthen its self with
the full benefits of the Adolescent Stage.
Where Dr. Galindo writes about the
static chronological stages of a church’s lifespan. While it can pin point the church’s location within
the maturation process its purpose is not to provide tools to assist the church
after it has gone astray. Dr. Osmer’s,
on the other hand, presents strategies to aid leaders in helping parishioners. So, to answer the question of “what ought to
be going on” one must ask, can this church with scaring and bruising inflicted
by its leader recover? Before any assumptions could be make a thorough
investigation by third parties would need to determine the extent and types of
the damage. In an ideal world
adjustment could be made then “yes” would be the answer. With a laundry list of changes starting with
and hinging upon:
- Clear
recognition of wrong committed collectively and individually
- A personal desire to want to privately and publicly confession / asking for forgiveness
- Assign an objective third party for ministry oversight and to administer a plan of guidance for both the church and the home
- Removal offenders and be open to however the offended party’s choose to resolve the matter.
- Allow the congregation time to process heal and trust again.
- Be prepared for a shedding in the ministry and to be patient for a very long time to come just to name a few. Etc.
- Additionally, the individuals affected has the discretion of whether to report them to the authorities.
However, in this world where the church is not only
accountable to God but additionally we are also accountable to the Laws of the
land. Should a person(s) break the law
inside the function of church by committing or allowing abuses of power
(spiritual abuse), sexual misconduct and financial mishandling they become
subject to the law.
The Pragmatic Task
“How
might we respond?”[13]
To scream “Run” comes to mind as a response to the faith community begin
affected.
In Conclusion
The Dillard Memorial Church reads like a good book. A unique
Christian start up crossing barriers and bridging with hope between young and
old, rich and poor. It starts out
pregnant with promise and destiny.
Transverses through Dr. Galindo’s stages of chronological maturation of
the church. He so accurately describes DMC as if His book, “The Hidden Lives of Church Congregations”, was
written about them. All the while a
current is stirring beneath the surface being facilitated by a lack of
accountable leadership. Soon this
panacea of youth and young adults is faced with challenges beyond their ability
to resolve. In a few short years this
phenom ministry that appeared to be unstoppable had died a premature death all
due to irresponsible leadership. The
story of DMC is a warning to ministry leaders of the many
damaging effects improper ministerial oversight can cause. From frustration and disillusionment to
psychological trauma and loss of faith. Leadership with a lack of accountability afflict
and destroy an entire faith community in a
a very short time. Dr. Israel Galindo says, “Leadership is a
congregational resource. It must be used
with responsible stewardship, because to squander or misuse this important
resource will result in dire consequences to the congregation and is members”.[14]
[1]
Richard R. Osmer, Practical Theology: An
Introduction (Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008), 4.
[2]
Brown, Osmer’s 4
Tasks Survey, 3
[3] Brown,
Osmer’s 4 Tasks Survey, 11
[4]
Keith Wright, Religious Abuse: a pastor explores the many ways religion can
hurt as well as heal (Northstone (January 1, 2001), page number
[5] Eminent
domain
[6] Brown,
Osmer’s 4 Tasks Survey, 3
[7] Galindo, The Hidden
Lives of Congregations: Discerning church dynamics Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
(November 30, 2004),
[8] Galindo, The Hidden
Lives of Congregations: Discerning church dynamics, 61
[9] Galindo, The Hidden
Lives of Congregations: Discerning church dynamics, 62
[10] Osmer, Practical
Theology: an introduction, 4
[11] Galindo, The Hidden
Lives of Congregations: Discerning church dynamics, 66
[12]
Galindo, The Hidden Lives of
Congregations: Discerning church dynamics, 66
[13]
Osmer, Practical Theology: an
introduction, 4
[14]
Galindo, The Hidden Lives of Congregations: discerning church dynamics, 185
____________________________________
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Class: Introduction To Practical Theology
Semester: Fall 2018
Degree: Master of Arts Practical Theology
Assignment Description: A thick description and Practical Theology application of Osmer's Four Tasks on a particular congregation/or ministry
Purpose of this Assignment:
To evaluate mastery of the four tasks of Practical Theology outlined in class with a setting familiar to the student.
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