Talking Points with Pastor Lucas - Ministry in the Gray Zone

There is nothing new under the sun, says Ecclesiastes (1:9). Challenges come and go, repeating themselves throughout history, including within the Holy Christian Church. Nonetheless, each age encounters challenges new to those living in it. So it is for the church today. A digital world, a fractured and secularized culture, obsolete institutional structures, outmoded governance models, contracting church bodies, shrinking congregations longing for the past, pastoral shortages, all exacerbated by a global pandemic, just for a start. With the rest of culture, the North American church has entered what author Mark Sayers calls a “gray zone”— an overlap of time between the ending of an old era and the beginning of a new one. With it comes uncertainty and anxiety. What’s next? How will we survive? What will we do?

The Gospel of Christ the crucified speaks a clear word of hope and confidence for all times and places. Those who speak it bring with them a non-anxious presence regardless of the challenge faced. More than ever, the church needs non-anxious pastors and church workers to shepherd and lead congregations living in this gray zone. We must understand the age we are in, take it head on, and learn to flourish in it with the calmness and confidence of the Gospel.

Across the district, I regularly see the gray zone frontline challenges the church is facing—an unbelieving world, a secular culture, the loss of its privileged position, extracurriculars taking priority in families, declining attendance, aging congregations, financial struggles, conflicted congregations, and a loss of trust in the church itself. Satan would have us become overwhelmed by anxiety and wallow in despair. He wants us to become cynical and give up on the mission. But we have a Lord who declares, “The gates of hell will not prevail against my church!” (Matt. 16:18). This promise gives us boldness and confidence to act as the church, “the holy community,” as Luther says in his Large Catechism.

Our congregations and workers must continue to be unashamed of the Gospel we confess, unabashed about teaching it to adults and children, and unyielding about evangelizing the lost, all the while remaining passionate about the care of souls—lost and found. Congregations must be strategically agile as they engage their communities which have changing needs and a fluctuating worldview. They must be adaptively nimble with their governance and organizational structure as they meet the realities of this world. All of this even as we remain steadfastly faithful amid a digital generation whose worldview has been shaped by a screen carried in their pocket.

This means 1) the technical competence of our congregations - “the way we’ve always done things around here” - must be balanced by 2) the adaptive capacity to meet people where they are at, and 3) the relational ability to demonstrate a sincere care for the souls traversing the gray zone of individualism, misinformation, cryptocurrency, digital chaos, a fading democracy, and globalization. The overlap of those three areas, says Todd Bolsinger, helps the church find its footing in the community by looking outward rather than only inward. In our case, this means we must cherish our 16th century Reformation heritage and 19th century Germanic immigrant history without imposing the nostalgia of the past as a requirement for the church of the present.

The truth of Holy Scripture is unchanging and relevant to every age. Its message remains powerful and sufficient for all times. The church’s job, therefore, is not to contextualize the gospel to every age (i.e., change it to look exactly like the culture), but rather to textualize the people of every age with the unchanging word of God (i.e., wrap people in the truth of Scripture), and thereby create a culture of the word, filled with disciples of Jesus Christ. Doing so requires a commonsense assessment of the culture around us where we compassionately, morally, and ritually engage the people with the word of God. In doing so, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting become joyfully instilled among them.

To that end, I give thanks for how so many pastors, teachers, and DCEs remain calm and stand on the promise of Christ, weary as they might be. I rejoice how our church workers are meeting the challenge of the day. I love to see how they get into the lives of their people and walk right into the life of their communities. It may not always be perfect, but despite the challenges being faced, the pastors and church workers of the MN South District boldly engage people adrift in the gray zone of uncertainty with the certainty of the shed blood of Christ and the life He gives. It is a joy to behold!

In Christ,

Rev. Dr. Lucas V. Woodford
President, MN South District, LCMS