Welcome to the next installment of whiteboard Wednesday
I'm Jason Barnhart your facilitator and our hope is that as we move forward you will see different facilitators in front of the whiteboard
attempting to find the practical rub of our story and
Leadership our story and culture and what's going on in the larger society around us
today's whiteboard Wednesday is about
Denominationalism it's kind of a boogie word for people
You have some who will fight
For the survival of their dinette denominational identity and you have others who go denominations are a done deal
And and I hope by the end of this time that I'll prove both those groups are wrong
Denominations are not a done deal they are
sociologically they are inevitable
We may call them associations. We may call the networks when we call the Fellowship's
But we tend to gravitate towards like mind people and swap resources swap leaders
Swap, you know you name it and so that is a denomination folks, and those who fight
rigidly for a particular denomination or entity
Do not allow that denomination to breathe to be able to expand and the irony is and their quest to fight for a very particular
understanding of a denomination they can end up killing the life in that denomination
Since I love historical theology
I think it's important that we begin with
Just kind of where do American denominationalism come from and what I mean by that is is not so much where does a particular denomination?
Come from but what are the larger kind of themes to the story of developments of of the various American?
Denominations that we have and a great book for this and again will include this in a worksheet afterwards is Russell Ritchie's book
denominationalism it is a riveting title there my friends, but he attempts to
categorize the different stages of development that we see in the American religious lexicon if you will about this thing called denominations
And Ritchie's work the the first step for a denomination is what he calls Plantation this idea that there is a a sect of people
Who think like minded they may be responding to a crisis or a controversy and they begin to band together?
They made to start meeting in homes and barns
And meeting houses and churches you name it
But they begin to realize that they think similar similarly in
Contrast to what they see in the society around them and very quickly what happens is that sect
as they begin to kind of bond and network together
Realizes that they are not somebody else
They are not a religious other another religious group a neighboring religious group in there, and this is the stage that
Ricci calls ethnic volunteerism, we're now all of a sudden. I am NOT. Just isolated
I'm not just a sec anymore
I am beginning to branch out and I'm beginning to be in conversation
With those who think very differently than I do
And what occurs as I begin to branch out and and begin to?
Network with other religious groups in this stage that Ricci calls ethnic
Volunteerism because by the way this group is still very very much based around an ethnic identity
Is that we begin to move into what he calls purposive missing missionary?
association
Big words what Ricci is attempting to say is that there is now an a desire to?
Expand the identity as we begin to engage in debate as we begin to find others
We begin to try to win them over if you will throw revivalism through evangelism
To our way and as we expand our identity and begin to talk with neighbors who think differently than we do
Richie says we move into what is called the confessional order now where we realize that it's probably time that we begin to write down
The the the dogmas if you will what do we believe?
What is the systemic belief of our particular people and this?
Confessional order is very important because what we have now
It's it's if in history will be called an axial moment where where you move from a from a sect
That's moved to a movement
Mentality to where you're now starting to think
institutionally, which
Sociologically is inevitable it happens to every organization
There is a sect that begins to think a different way that leads into a movement as they begin to engage
Larger world with their beliefs and then gradually need to organize that or systematize that in an institution
After the confessional order what occurs is what Ricci calls the corporate organization?
We now need to find a way to perpetuate ourselves
And so we start creating boards we start creating systems and structures
to be able to find the most efficient and faithful ways to execute our identity and
The struggle Ricci says is that for most denominations and brethren are are no different?
We are living in a post denominational confessionalism
And and this is where all of a sudden we have moved from sect to movement to
institution and what occurs about the fourth generation is the institution and the idea of just
Perpetuating the institution begins to rub that generation the wrong way
And they want to begin to recapture the founding impulses the founding
ideology
identity of their particular branch of Christianity
And this is where which you would say that there is a revisiting again of
The sect mentality of what what were the the founding concerns of this denomination?
Now for brethren and for Ashland brothers and specifically this story is really interesting and excuse me as I'll reach
off-screen here to to grab a red little marker here, but
for brethren life what we see is we follow these quite naturally you have the
Plantation mentality where we have a band of believers from reform camps and lutheran camps who have this
Come to Jesus moment if you will through
an Anabaptist understanding of Church and a PI just
understanding of a lived theology that starts from the inside out
And this group in Schwartz now really does
Fit Ritchie's plantation mentality. They think differently they withdraw from other groups
But quickly as we see in the writings of Alexandre Mack senior
And his son sander Mack when we come to America this ethnic identity begins to not necessarily
rub shoulders
At first with people who are not German it begins to rub shoulders with with Germans who think differently
So we come to America we encounter Mennonites German Mennonites to be exact we encounter German Lutheran German Reformed
but also when we come to America we begin to
interact with English Quakers who dominate the government of the Pennsylvania Colony and
So ethnic volunteerism begins to move into this idea of missionary
Association for the Brethren and what we see is brethren they're not afraid to poach any group
So there when he Mennonites to their side, they're going to the German Lutheran German Reformed because still in this era and American life
German groups
Kind of hide away around that that ethnic identity there
And what happens by the 19th century is we begin to see the development of a confessional order late 18th into the 19th century
What we begin to start to write down
What do we believe about the certain practices and we'll begin to see tension developed in the order?
Around ideas of what's the proper way to do foot washing?
How should we engage larger larger?
society
Should we acculturate to America or should we continue to stay separate should we speak English or should we continue to retain the German language?
and
What occurs is by the late 19th century you have the development of a pretty robust confessional order you have annual meeting
which kind of is the embodiment of this entire stage here annual meeting makes all the decisions for the for the body and
anytime that there needs to be a certain kind of change or shift and the identity of
brethren it has to go to annual meeting which causes action and
What occurs is that what we have is a?
schism develops right here in the 1880s
Where as we're beginning to talk about the idea of expanding our identity to remember?
This is what Ricci describes as this missionary
association we begin to have different understandings of what the confessional order will look like in many ways the
Divide the 1880s we are down to corporate organization. We have annual meeting we
We're starting to understand who we are corporately, but what the a teenager reveal?
Is that there are unsettled issues and this transition from missionary?
Association to confessional order and so we have the three-way split we have the the conservative group
The old order which will depart from the moderates will become Church of the Brethren
You have Church of the Brethren are trying to retain the middle the balance and then you have the progressives
which is my branch our branch Ashland Brethren who who are the progressives who kind of form a
third chapter and in the Brethren story and then move into corporate organization
The struggle for us right now as a people is that what Richie would say is that in post?
Denominational confessionalism we begin to return to these founding impulses here
But the reality is our story only goes back to here
and
What I want to say is in some ways that's problematic
Because there is a struggle sometimes if we can't fully recapture this to have a buy-in to that being our story
But in some ways I think it's a good thing
because it's goods the wrong word I
guess the only I'd say it's not a bad thing because
The reality is up into this point our story is the same Church of grace
Ashland brethren
Here we need to begin to think about what did it look like for the Ashland Brethren particularly to?
Wait like for them to understand
confessional order who they were as a people and
what you will see is you will see that the founding impulse is here was taking these three steps and
having greater engagement with American society you do not see the
Sectarian impulse in the progressives that you find in the other two
You'd you see a desire to engage the best of American society you see a desire to engage?
Technological advancements scientific advancement and you see a really strong push to lean into a very liberal arts
understanding of truth of
theology that
We can be critical thinkers
we don't have to rely on annual meeting to tell us what to believe and we don't have to rigidly ascribe to a
Particular identity dogma to be who we are there is a a greater diversity if you will
and what it means to be brethren and so this kind of leads into the question of then what is the denomination if it's
Some groups will say it's it's the belief around a central Creed
Some will say that its its its its practices some will say it's it's a particular entertaining organization
And if it's not that then what is it, and I've already alluded to some of this here
But I think we need to kind of say what what it is not
And when I when it says not here
I want you to read between the the red and the black the word just it's not just
Organization or structure the Brethren Church has people who love systems and they love structure
That's important the problem though is when that becomes all that is brethren we have truncated our witness
It's not just religious justification of our ethnic identity well first off. There is no real ethnic identity
Because we don't have just a bunch of Germans around anymore
There is more to us than that but what I might say is take out the word ethnic
it's not just a religious justification of our identity that's part of it though a
denomination does exist you perpetuate a particular understanding of
The word I use tradition you may not like that word heritage history, and it's not just a list of values or practices
Because the reality with with this last one here, and this is really common in postmodern context
Let's just get to the shared value to the story and the shared practices and all this of our communal witness. That's awesome
Only problem is the sustainability of that project
Who determines the shared values who determines the shared practices? How do you assess that?
And and we got people in our group who would read the Brethren witness for the 21st century there we go
That's not my story. That's not how I understand brethren and I want to go. That's okay
But when they start saying that's not brethren. That's a different conclusion
That I don't think this there are this understand denomination would allow
So there were some who would look at brother and witness and go
But that is my understanding of brethren there are those who go it's not
But the the shared the collective wrestling of all these things
creates
this idea of a
denomination being a web of meaning around
theological identity formation
And what I mean by this idea of web of meaning is if you come to an annual conference of the Brethren Church?
You'll find people who go I want to be there for the business. I love the fact that we are
Communally deciding things about about our identity about our body
And how we exist in the world you will see people who go I am there for the family reunion
because
So in some Western in my life, and they were a surrogate grandparent or grandmother to me
You will see if some people who go I?
Am here because I love to talk about our history as a people
Where we've been and I love to talk about where we're going and you'll find many
different understandings of what role annual conference has because that speaks to
This idea of a denomination being a web of meaning, but it's all around theological identity formation
organizations and structures are
Theological for us they're not just corporate
Religious justification is a theological endeavor values and practice our theological in nature
so what we're attempting to do is to steward this idea of of
Who are we as a people when we think about God and us and us in the world with God?
and and so in this case what what a
Denomination the role it serves is is really what what I would say our four Arius, and there's a great book called
church identity and
church identity and change
Trying to think of the title here see a lot
Let me see you know what folks can get the most. Icky note here church identity and change
theology and denominational structures and unsettled times
Because apparently I can only read books that have exciting riveting titles like that
But and the authors argue that there are four purposes the denomination ultimately serves
it conserves memory and
That memory includes both good and bad, and we need to be honest about both
And I'll touch on that in a minute the the good of all those stories of leaders who invest in leaders
one generation point to the next generation
But the bad is also in our web of meaning or crisis moments
Schisms that occurred places where we went off the tracks places where we forgot who we were and any healthy
Denomination will engage all of that the second, is that a denomination pronounced
Connectivity so the idea as we move into regionalization in the Ashland brethren that not one
Region can own brethren identity actually there's great danger in that?
Because when we do not respect diversity of views on brethren then we end up truncate ourselves and again
We go back to that rigid kind of silo and that rigid that
calcification of what brethren means that in a generation or two the the
Animating value that was at the center falls out and the whole thing dies
The third idea is this that a denomination exists to to resource and and this is a struggle per
Denominations because many of you watching this go to other places to find resources for who you are
And you may look to a denomination to help resource you in the area of
global missions or and pastoral care and
in this resourcing here I
I want you to hear less of a I'm just going to give you a bunch of resources from Willow Creek or
Whatever and more of a providing your resources about what does it mean to engage particular?
Topics from a brethren perspective, which means that these resources cannot just come from me
They have to come from a web people from different backgrounds different generations
Who are speaking into this common thing that we call brethren and then the fourth thing which I think is lost a lot
is the idea of retaining diversity that not everybody in the Brethren Church thinks like you do about the Bible and
That the Bible of the whole Bible or nothing
but the Bible while the historic impulse for that was that every generation goes back to the Bible what it has become has become a
Calcified legalistic expression where the Bible only has one thing one meaning?
I should say nobody could read it differently and so I
That idea is easily blown out of the water
Southern Baptist do not believe in the idea of or Dania women for ministry brethren do both groups say
They go back to the Bible for their review you you need to appreciate
Where the Bible speaks to essentials and where the Bible speaks to non essentials?
And so this idea of retaining diversity is that?
progressive conservative
Democrat and Republican
Different ethnic backgrounds different genders are all coming together
engaging the text and that our faith is centered on the community coming back to the Bible together and
We appreciate the diversity of voices there
And we also when we have disagreement can find healthy ways to go how can I compromise?
for the good of the larger family
It's not just about me being right and again when I say compromise. I know some red flags meant for people there
I'm not talking about compromising on the essentials, but if everything isn't essential then nothing isn't essential
So how do we move in a healthy forward in this idea of web of meaning well?
the book would say that we need to
Recall our mistakes. I'm touched on this earlier
any tradition that cannot critique itself is traditionalism and
A great quote that I think I've shared before from Yaroslav Pelican the great theologian historian is that?
Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living tradition is the living faith of the dead?
We are not talking about traditionalism. We need to recall our mistakes. We need to put oil and
We need to put on another where that came from we need to in a healthy way
Critically reflect on who we are to people we need to allow for multiple
Narrative streams different understandings of brethren to come into the mix that some people approach from a systems standpoint some will approach it
Relationally some people approach it historically some will approach it through
certain events some bill approach it from the various crises that have that have kind of
Animated and informed rather an identity and all those streams are necessary for a robust
Denominational identity and the larger thing is that we need to locate our story within a larger theological framework
this may be with Church of the Brethren this may be with Mennonite groups who or have a
Similar theological makeup that we do but also for our branch of the brother it has been larger evangelical concerns
And what that does is by engaging the religious other it? Helps us hone in on
What are the distinctives of our particular identity so in closing?
The reality is that?
Denominations do morph as they engage larger society
Because the boundaries of theological identity for us are not
Concrete walls they're porous we take in ideas and we send out ideas and that is part of the the evolution
So that weren't a good in a good way of the evolution of who we are as a people
But as we move forward we need to be careful not to truncate down to a particular
expression what it means to be brethren any healthy religious identity will allow for a
robust kind of engagement of a plurality of voices and
Realize and have a respect that people approach brethren from different ways and there's beauty in that makeup there
And
if we can understand
Denomination you can understand brethren as a web of meaning and we can go to an annual conference in July and realize that
People are bringing many different memories together
Then we can see the denomination serving almost as an idea of of an archives if you will that pulls together
all these various streams and Archives them to create a
Larger identity of what it means to be brethren and so moving forward my challenge to you
As we as we look at you know as we look at the next
decade of
Brethren life, and we live in this juncture right now where we're seeing this kind of resurgence of brethren identity
But we're also seeing this this
Incredible surge of resources that are saying denominationalism is dead. It's a done deal
Is that is that there's there's truth in both of those, but the reality is that?
denominations are dead
Only when they have a calcified understanding of who they are
Denominations that understand that they are a web of meaning that is ever
Evolving that allows multiple kind of narrative streams to pour into it will be those groups that will exist tomorrow that may not be called
denomination they need to call fellowship
Association you name it
but they will capture the animating concerns of what a denomination is and so the the the the
rubber meets the road if you will
When you come into the Brethren world there is this this request that churches would would tithe?
of their annual budget to this and and what you are tiding to I
Hope what you hear is is not this idea that we're just perpetuating an organization
You're not tithing for
Regionalization you are tithing to what regionalization makes possible and what that makes possible what?
Regionalization makes possible what?
robust reflection on our identity makes possible what the values and practices that we share make possible is the
perpetuation of a particular understanding of the Bible of the church
Jesus
That that we call brethren that we don't engage those things the way that other people do
But to be able to do that well to be able to resource both large church and small church alike we have to
Recognize and respect the web of meaning that is our that is our theological identity
and and we have to give accordingly to be able to to join that fellowship, so that our particular branch of
Christianity which by the way we're not fighting to be brethren because that's traditionalism
We are fighting not new fighting them alone to fight. We're a peace group, but we are we are seeking to perpetuate
What we believe to be the closest?
embodiment of the New Testament witness of the plurality of voices that we see around this thing called church we
We engage brethren life
Because at the heart of it we see an image of the kingdom that we find attractive
And then we want to give our lives to that's why you are a leader. That's why you are
This that's why you gather people Sunday after Sunday. That's why you go to church on Sunday morning
That's why you want to make a difference through your work through your school wherever you name it
because there's been this animating vision of the kingdom that came to you through a brethren lens and
That is what a denomination should be about perpetuating. Thank you. See you next time
You
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