I was struck by St. Paul in New Ulm spending millions on remodeling while it was going downhill.
A downtown WELS church in Glendale, Arizona did the same thing. Millions of dollars were spent there too.
Brett Meyer found this link, which promotes the edifice complex in WELS.
Isn't it great to have a free ad posted in the WELS archives? Could I have one, too?
The Chicaneries have a nifty system of promoting their own board member to do "stewardship" for a commission, the Jewish system of fund-raising. Jeff Davis (Chicanery board) and Ron Roth (the old man of Church Shrinkage) will be happy to help out.
Similarly, the Chicaneries used their website to promote WELS Perish Services, where Chicanery leaders like Paul Calvin Kelm sold boilerplate to congregations for $20,000 to $35,000. Their perish experts did not even check the boilerplate for errors, like the name of the church or "when the bells stop ringing."
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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "This May Explain Why WELS Has So Many Big Building...":
Freddy,
Thank you for sharing your experience with a building program. I have a story also. Many of the details are different form your's. But the attitude is the same. As you have so aptly stated, this is a "build it and they will come" approach.
My story is from my former congregation, which I left about six months ago. They began their scheming about five to six years ago. They waited until the senior (in age) pastor first retired. Looking back now, I can see how they eased the members into the idea of expanding. A lot was done ahead of time to minimize resistance. The list includes steering committees, informational forums, and financial planning.
All of this sounds innocuous enough. We all understand the need for financial responsibility and stewardship. My observation to several members was, "we will get this expansion. But, what will we become?"
As all of this unfolded, I witnessed one of the most craftily planned series of manipulations with the members that was even more subtle than what most cults engage in.
The end result was to create a high profile congregation that was self serving. A nearby congregation closed their LES. The first wave of new members were those who transferred in from that congregation to allow their children to attend the school. The next bunch were those who were also transfers from close by.
The voters' meeting to approve the expansion was like an Oprah Winfrey show. Some long time members gave a tearful plea to claim that one soul was worth it. Next, was the appeal to the women, who allegedly had no voice.
Once approved, the antics really proliferated. Part of the plan was to get members as stakeholders. The number of committees increased. All along, the use of financial commitments was bandied about. There was the constant positive feedback from new members which was printed in the monthly newsletter. Those members who grumbled, mostly did so under their breath.
The final straw for me was when they hired Cornerstone Stewardship Ministries, on a commission basis, to ratchet up the appeals. I contacted the Council President to express my misgivings about Jeff Davis and his connections to Church and Chicanery.
I spent two hours telling my concerns to one of the pastors before I left. I found very few members who were willing to listen. I did not attack anyone or cause any type of a scene in public. I am glad that I did not waste much time and energy fighting all of this. Those who continue to grumble, still murmur under their breath.
When you do not believe in the Efficacy of the Word, you think that building a Tower of Babel will increase your numbers. If all you care about is increasing your numbers, you will use methods to achieve that end. This will come at the expense of serving your members with proper pastoral care.
I read about this type of scenario happen many times. When it happened at a congregation where I spent most of my adult life, I was horrified. I refused to play any of their games. That was the best way to resist it, in my situation.
An informed and discerning laity, strengthened by the Means of Grace, is a powerful tool against all forms of Enthusiasm. We must remember to always be thankful for the Word of God, which is sharper and more powerful than any two-edged. That is our only weapon.
8 comments:
WELS has been obsessed with building projects for decades, now. Certainly the devil is at work here.
Also, pastors who get new buildings erected come to be known as real movers and shakers for God. Things naturally fall their way after several buildings.
Weird metrics. Then they go hand-in-hand with WELS mysteries.
WELS goes for new buildings believing that they will attract new members. Hence, no need to do outreach.
What Anon @4:10pm said is very much the case. Additional buildings represent greater responsibility for those who build and maintain them – they are a means of gathering more revenue (mortgage, maintenance, etc) and of vaunting the importance of those who manage the revenue and effort. As for pastors, I can only imagine what such building projects do for them in the eyes of the peers, but more importantly, in the eyes of their leaders in Synod.
I.J. Reilly had a story a few days ago. I have one of my own. Many years ago, as a relatively new WELS Lutheran, shortly after joining my congregation, I was very solemnly taken aside and informed of their “building project.” The project leaders told me all about the need for more space (things were tight, and there was legitimate need for expansion), and explained the spiritual journey that led them to propose their building plan to the congregation several weeks before I had joined: they told me all about the earnest praying, the Bible reading, the genuine emotions they experienced together, the consequent deliberation, and the final conviction that if they built an elaborate $750k addition, triple the size of the current structure, the community would be so impressed, they would start coming to church and the congregation would grow. The size of this congregation was ~150 souls, and it had begun to decline slightly.
I laughed in their face. Fresh out of pop-church Evangelicalism, I was no stranger to the “God is big, so plan big,” mantra – but a $4k per person project, with all of the ongoing maintenance cost that would ensue, was pretty steep. I replied, “Surely you have a program in place to raise funds. I would imagine that you plan to take a few years to do so. How long did you think it will be before you have the funds?” His answer: “We made an appeal at last quarter's voters' meeting, and agreed that God's people in this congregation will supply the needed funds by the next voters' meeting so that we can proceed before the end of Spring.” I was no longer laughing, but bug-eyed with incredulity. This was January. The voters' meeting of which he spoke was the previous October. “Six months to raise $750k!?” I practically shrieked. “No,” was the answer. “Six months to raise whatever the Lord feels will be enough for a down payment. Whatever it is, it is – we'll trust that the Lord knows the future, will have provided what is sufficient for us now, and will continue to provide in His good time according to His plan for us.”
How pious! I thought – while at the same time thinking, This has got to be the worst Stewardship I have ever heard of! Needless to say, I didn't support this project at all. Out loud, I said something like, “Well, good luck with that...”
Apparently, I wasn't the only one in the congregation who thought this was nuts. The senior men of the congregation – the successful businessmen, the one's with a lifetime of real experience behind them, and the one's who had been pushed out of leadership but were still called upon by the congregation to finance their existence, and this project in particular – thought it was nuts, as well. Not only was a mere pittance collected for down payment, but the project was scrapped at the next Voters meeting. I don't know the details, but somebody had a “Come to Jesus Meeting” with somebody.
God's plan was evidently a little different than what the glory seekers had in mind. A modest addition was built a few years later, but even then need was secondary to the main criterion, If we build it, they will come. Well, they didn't come, and numbers continued to decline. Not until long after we started reaching out into the community did this trend reverse – reaching out, not with advertisements and promotion of the congregation, and not with "felt-needs programs," but with a direct and substantive message of Law and Gospel.
Freddy Finkelstein
That shows you how bad the WELS pastors hate outreach, when they'd rather spend hundreds of thousand of dollars on a brand new building to do "outreach" rather than spend a few bucks on tracts and videos and use a less expensive buildings. In fact, I've traveled around the WELS a bit, and I don't recall ever hearing anyone say "our WELS church used to be the, say, Baptist church before they moved on to their bigger building across town."
Freddy,
Thank you for sharing your experience with a building program. I have a story also. Many of the details are different form your's. But the attitude is the same. As you have so aptly stated, this is a "build it and they will come" approach.
My story is from my former congregation, which I left about six months ago. They began their scheming about five to six years ago. They waited until the senior (in age) pastor first retired. Looking back now, I can see how they eased the members into the idea of expanding. A lot was done ahead of time to minimize resistance. The list includes steering committees, informational forums, and financial planning.
All of this sounds innocuous enough. We all understand the need for financial responsibility and stewardship. My observation to several members was, "we will get this expansion. But, what will we become?"
As all of this unfolded, I witnessed one of the most craftily planned series of manipulations with the members that was even more subtle than what most cults engage in.
The end result was to create a high profile congregation that was self serving. A nearby congregation closed their LES. The first wave of new members were those who transferred in from that congregation to allow their children to attend the school. The next bunch were those who were also transfers from close by.
The voters' meeting to approve the expansion was like an Oprah Winfrey show. Some long time members gave a tearful plea to claim that one soul was worth it. Next, was the appeal to the women, who allegedly had no voice.
Once approved, the antics really proliferated. Part of the plan was to get members as stakeholders. The number of committees increased. All along, the use of financial commitments was bandied about. There was the constant positive feedback from new members which was printed in the monthly newsletter. Those members who grumbled, mostly did so under their breath.
The final straw for me was when they hired Cornerstone Stewardship Ministries, on a commission basis, to ratchet up the appeals. I contacted the Council President to express my misgivings about Jeff Davis and his connections to Church and Chicanery.
I spent two hours telling my concerns to one of the pastors before I left. I found very few members who were willing to listen. I did not attack anyone or cause any type of a scene in public. I am glad that I did not waste much time and energy fighting all of this. Those who continue to grumble, still murmur under their breath.
When you do not believe in the Efficacy of the Word, you think that building a Tower of Babel will increase your numbers. If all you care about is increasing your numbers, you will use methods to achieve that end. This will come at the expense of serving your members with proper pastoral care.
I read about this type of scenario happen many times. When it happened at a congregation where I spent most of my adult life, I was horrified. I refused to play any of their games. That was the best way to resist it, in my situation.
An informed and discerning laity, strengthened by the Means of Grace, is a powerful tool against all forms of Enthusiasm. We must remember to always be thankful for the Word of God, which is sharper and more powerful than any two-edged. That is our only weapon.
May God richly bless you in your present situation, Mr. Schulz. And thankyou so much for sharing with us the things you did.
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