Category: church

Posted in church, Life, Ministry

How Technology Transformed My Ministry Experience

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Alex Kotliarskyi on Unsplash
Daily writing prompt
How has technology changed your job?
View all responses

I’ve been retired for nearly three years now, but as a parish pastor, technology had a huge effect on how I did ministry in a local congregation.

When I started working in my first congregation in the mid-1980s, there were three ways to keep in touch with church members. You either sent a letter in the mail, called them on the phone, or knocked on their door.

By the time I retired in 2022, I had mastered many electronic ways to communicate with the church. While I still sent letters and made phone calls, I also sent email, text messages, messages through social media platforms, and broadcast an electronic newsletter each week. I never went to someone’s home without an appointment. People either weren’t home or just didn’t answer the door.

That being said, all that technology failed to silence the lament, “people don’t know what’s going on!” People just had more noise to ignore.

When I graduated from the seminary, I had a modest collection of books that I used for sermon and bible study preparation. That collection grew when I was at a church that gave me a generous annual book allowance. By the early 2000’s I found most of the information I needed on the internet, so I sold and gave away most of my printed books.

The Covid pandemic closed down in person worship services for our congregation. We were forced to learn how to broadcast worship from an empty church to members’ homes. I started with an iPhone propped up on some hymnals, moved up to my laptop balanced on a stack of bibles, until we invested in some digital camera technology. It was only a few weeks before we resumed worship in the sanctuary, but once we started, we just couldn’t stop broadcasting weekly services. As a result, people watched from all over the world. Some viewers financially supported the ministry, folks I would never meet.

When it was time to choose the next pastor, the leadership was not limited to a written resume. The selection committee interviewed every candidate via Zoom. Every prospect had a collection of online sermons to listen to. The process demanded a lot of time and energy.

Technology has been a blessing for the church since not every generation embraces new technology. But it’s also been a blessing. The church is here to communicate good news, and technology has helped her do that in so many ways.

Posted in church, Devotions, Through the Bible Devotions

Think twice before you mess with Abram or his family

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Joel Moysuh on Unsplash

A “through the bible” devotion from Genesis 14.

A number of years ago, two men from my church took me out to their gun club to do some shooting. They gave me lots of instruction since I had never shot before. Each had several guns with them they let me try, including some 9mm, a .22 target pistol, and a .357 revolver. I did well, hitting targets and a few bull’s eyes at 15 yards.

As they described the guns and how to use them, I asked, “How many guns do you own?”

“Right now, I have eleven.”

Eleven? Why does someone living in a relatively safe suburban neighborhood need nearly a dozen guns at home? In addition to handguns, their collection included a shotgun and several rifles. Apparently they are like potato chips. You can’t have just one. You need one to carry. You need one in the bedside table. You have a favorite for target practice. You have one you used to use for hunting. And so on.

“When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, numbering 318, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.” (Genesis 14:14)

I never would have guessed Abram had an army. Servants? Yes. Workers who watched the flocks? Of course. But trained men, men ready to fight, men able to rough up four formidable kings that had captured Lot, his food, and his family? Think twice before you mess with Abram or his family!

It’s good to remember that we don’t do this alone. Training ourselves for godliness, we fight the good fight of faith together as a church. And God still gives us the victory.

Posted in church, Devotions, Through the Bible Devotions, worship

Why does someone have to get hurt?

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Tom Jur on Unsplash

A “through the bible” devotion from Genesis 4.

As soon as people began to worship God, worship began to separate people. Cain and Able both brought an offering to God in Genesis 4. But their style of worship was different. Cain brought produce from the farm; Abel brought something from his flock. Because God had regard for Abel’s offering but not for Cain’s, there is post-worship anger, gloom, assault, and murder (Genesis 4:8).

Not much has changed. Worship styles vary from church to church. There is gloom, despair, and agony when some congregations grow and others shrink. Worshipers openly criticize, discredit, and attack each other. And along the way, someone usually gets hurt. That’s what happens when “people [begin] to call upon the name of the Lord” (Genesis 4:26).

Jesus himself got caught up in a worship system that had plenty of room for laws, sacrifices, rituals, and priests, but little room for God. He was the one who ended up getting hurt and ultimately killed.

But that changes everything. The Lamb who was slain is on the throne in Revelation where everyone is on the same page, giving him “blessing, honor, and glory” (Rev. 5:13).

I suppose there’s a lesson to be learned here. Rather than focusing on what someone else is doing for worship, put the blinders on and let the Lord be in the spotlight. Listen to his word, receive his gifts of grace, and respond as someone who has been abundantly loved by loving others.

Posted in church, Life

My own personal parking spot

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Gerrie van der Walt on Unsplash

I parked the car about one hundred yards from the front entrance of the church yesterday morning. After I dropped off my wife, I had to drive the entire length of grassy overflow parking area, past senior and guest parking spots, to find a spot.

I guess that’s what happens when your arrive ten minutes after the service starts. Worship was at 9:00, but we arrived for the bible class that starts at 9:15. Hey, I don’t mind the walk.

In fact, I used to pull my car into in the most remote corner of the parking lot on Sunday mornings. It was, unofficially, my designated parking spot. Why did I do that? Well, I figured my day would come and I would need a handicapped spot. Until then, since I was able to walk the distance, I would take the furthest spot.

What about rainy mornings? Yeah, they were a challenge. But once I got to the first building, I could use the covered walkway. If my car wasn’t there, everyone knew to welcome a guest preacher that day.

Who doesn’t like to see a church parking lot filled past capacity? On my way in, I commented to another walker, “I think I’m going set up a table about halfway to church and give out free water. We both chuckled. But you know what? When the summer sun is beating down, I’ll bet a lot of people would appreciat that.

When I went to the church where I used to be pastor, I saw that my spot was empty. I don’t think people were avoiding it in memory of me. Instead, worshipers are simply looking for the closest spot.

If the day comes when I guest preach at my old church, I’ll be sure to park in my spot.

Posted in church

Where do the ashes come from?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Photo by Ahna Ziegler on Unsplash

The tradition of receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday in the shape of a cross on the forehead is a tradition that dates to the 11th century church. They are a visible reminder that the wages of our sin is death, but by Jesus’ death on the cross, we have life. This worship practice kicks off the season of Lent, during which the church focuses on the suffering of Jesus for us.

I don’t remember ever having ashes on Ash Wednesday at the church my family went to when I was growing up. We were always members of a Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod congregation, and in the 1960s, the practice of receiving ashes on your forehead was a Roman Catholic tradition, and therefore one to stay away from.

I am not certain, but I believe the first time I experienced ashes on Ash Wednesday was in 1997 at our church in Florida. That was a time of restoring some ancient traditions in worship. The first time I did it, no one had saved any palms from the previous Palm Sunday. But surrounded by palm trees and palmettos, it was easy to gather up fronds to burn into ashes.

The first time around, I used a pan from the kitchen and set a bunch on fire. I had to throw out the ruined pan I used and the kitchen smelled horrible for a few days, but I had some ashes to use. I began saving the extra palm crosses from Palm Sunday that year. The trick is to remember where you have them stored away to use a year later.

That first year, someone asked me, “Whose ashes are those?” I would always explain where the ashes actually came from as well as their significance.

A colleague suggested baking the palm leaves to dry them out before burning them. Great idea, except the kitchen still smelled bad for a few days. This time, I took them outside to burn on some aluminum foil. This worked much better.

One year, I ordered some online. The ashes were very fine, much finer than I had ever been able to grind them up. This worked well, but I still felt like homemade were better.

The next year, I found the palm crosses, dried them thoroughly, burned them nicely, ground them up into a very fine ash. Best batch ever. Biggest batch ever. A little bit goes a long way. So I saved the ashes in a little jar I kept on my bookshelf. They lasted for years.

So when someone asked, “Where do the Ash Wednesday ashes come from?” I only had to point to the jar and say, “Right there.” But then I would explain the tradition and the process.

After retiring last summer, I didn’t think much about Ash Wednesday ashes until last week, when the church office manager called and asked, “Where did you get ashes? And do you know where the leftover palms are?”

Well, I explained, “if you can find the palm crosses from last year, you’ll need to bake them, burn them, and grind them up. Or you can just order some on Amazon.”

“I think we’ll order some this year.”

Posted in church, memories

They closed the church

Posted on by William Douthwaite

My brother emailed me a few weeks ago to let me know that the church where we grew up, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania had closed. He thought the building was sold or given to an Ethiopian congregation that had been renting space there. The closing of the church feels like the loss of a close friend.

I was eight years old when our family moved from northeast Philadelphia to Ridley Park in 1965. We attended that church on Sundays because my aunt and grandmother lived in the adjacent apartment building, and that was their church. That’s how I became Lutheran.

When we first began worshiping there, the congregation met in a fairly small building that had a preschool and kindergarten wing on one side. I only have one memory from that older sanctuary. It’s from an Easter Sunday morning worship service. The pastor’s son, a few years older than me, was singing with the choir. He had a solo verse in a piece called, “In Joseph’s Lovely Garden.” He had a wonderful voice and sang well, but felt faint and passed out after his solo.

The congregation built a new sanctuary that I think was dedicated in 1968. My brother remembers going there with my dad to do things during construction, but I have no memories of that. The new sanctuary had two rows of 22 pews with a red-carpeted aisle between them. I know the exact number because I dusted them all many times when I worked there as a janitor while in high school. I have two vivid memories of the dedication worship service. From the loft the organ and piano played “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring.” It was the first time I had ever heard that piece, and it too my breath away. The robed choir processed up and around the nave several times during the first hymn before ascending to the loft.

Our family always sat in the third pew from the front on the left hand side in front of the pulpit. My mom and dad never left us three kids there alone when they went up for Holy Communion. They went separately so the other could stay with us. A wise strategy. I didn’t find church all that exciting. The cross in the front consisted of many stained glass stones. We sat there and tried to count them all many, many times.

We never missed Sunday worship unless one of us was sick. I heard a lot of sermons from age eight until I graduated from high school. There is only one thing I remember from all my pastor’s sermons. He would preach about those who were on a “rolley-coaster to hell.” I’m not sure what that was, but I sure didn’t want to be on ride!

After high school, I went to college and then to work in New Jersey, only worshiping there when I was visiting my parents. Both mom and dad had their funerals there in 2005 and 2019 respectively. Over time, pastors came and went and the church went into a slow decline until her final service on May 9, 2021.

Over it’s seventy years, the church educated so many children on Sundays and during the week. It spawned four pastors that I know of, including my brother and I. It served it’s community in many ways.

If you grew up in the church, then you know there is something about the church you grew up in that makes it different than any other. When I grew up and moved away, it was hard to find a new place to worship. No other church ever really measured up.

Posted in church, Lent, Ministry

It’s time for purple

Posted on by William Douthwaite

In liturgical churches like ours, the altar will look different this week. As the season of Lent begins on Wednesday, the paraments will be purple.

Purple was an expensive dye at the time of Jesus. It was made from the secretions of a certain snail. Thousands of those snails were needed even for a small amount of the dye. Only the rich, which usually meant royalty, could afford purple garments.

Jesus wore a purple robe just once, along with a crown of thorns, as soldiers mocked him for being a king (Mark 15:17). This color is a powerful reminder of that Jesus was despised and rejected, a path of suffering that culminated with his crucifixion.

Reminded of the sacrifice he made for us, we enter the season of Lent with repentance. Turning from our sin to our Savior, we will find forgiveness from our king, who came to suffer and die for us.

Posted in church, future

The future of the church

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash

You have no doubt heard someone at church say, “We must have a strong children’s and youth ministry.” Why? “They are the future of the church!” Many hours are spent discussing how to attract younger families with children. A United Methodist congregation in Grove Cottage, Minnesota decided to shut down one of its campuses and relaunch that church to reach a younger demographic. Part of that process included asking the current members, most of whom were older, to attend another church for twelve to eighteen months. The approach and the reaction made national news.

The many different sides of that story does prompt the question, “Who is the future of the church?” I think it depends on the context. While children and youth may be the future of the Church, they are probably not the future of our church. You see, they grow up, go to college and move to where they find employment. We pray that they will be a part of the Church at large, but they will not grow up to be a part of our congregation.

Many of the people moving to Florida and our community are older. They are retired. They are tired of northern winters. And they are the future of our church. They are the new members, leaders, voices and teachers in our congregation. Yes, there are young families who move to our area, too. It’s an affordable place to live. But they are not necessarily the majority of the folks who come to visit and join our churches. That’s just the way it is here.

That is not necessarily a negative thing. In the pages of scripture, we find God staking the future of the church on a variety of people of different ages. Abraham was 75 when he got the call to move. Samuel grew up in the church. Moses was 80 when he was told to go to Pharaoh. David was a young shepherd when anointed the king of Israel. Josiah ascended to the throne when he was eight years old. Jeremiah had a job before he was born! Noah was 500 years old when he built the ark.

I love the babies, children and youth of the church. Yes, I am in my element when holding the infants, playing with the toddlers, teaching the middle schoolers, serving alongside the high school youth and praying the graduates off to college or the military. But I am also grateful for those who come with a lifetime of managerial, financial, educational and musical experience that fund, lead and drive the ministry of the church.

It’s ironic that some churches with a strong youth emphasis shuffle their young off to nursery and children’s church. It’s also ironic that those who want young families in church get irritated when the little ones get squirmy, noisy and leave Cheerio crumbs in the pew. Don’t you know how Jesus responded when the disciples tried to keep the kids away?

The future of the church will always be the gathering of people who need to hear the gospel, receive God’s forgiveness and be equipped to take that blessing back to their world. There are no age, height, income or experience restrictions on that experience.

Actually, the future of the church is “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev. 7:9-11).

Posted in church

A new, modern church

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Daytona Beach First Baptist Church

I attended a required Child Evangelism Fellowship workshop today so that I could continue working with the Good News Club at a local elementary school. The workshop was held at the new campus of First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, which recently moved from its historic location closer to the heart of the city. I looked forward to seeing their new site.

On the way there, I missed the turn into the church entrance. After I turned around, I turned into a mile long drive into a gorgeous acreage with the two new church buildings. A friend of mine commented, “That drive must have cost at least a million dollars.” I believe he was on target.

But as I pulled into a parking space, I was underwhelmed by two very understated buildings. I felt like I had pulled into an industrial park rather than a church complex. OK, take a breath. Just walk in and see what they have done here.

I walked into a space that was designed to be a coffee shop, restaurant and gathering area. It was very nice, and I quickly recognized others from my Good News Club. We sat together with coffee and bagels and caught up since our last time together.

The opening session was in the adjacent building, the main worship space. I tried to keep an open mind, but to tell you the truth, it felt like a warehouse rather than a church. The audio/visual technology was spectacular, but with a back wall of garage doors, exposed ventilation ducts and exposed walls, I did not feel like I had stepped into a church. I know that this design was intentional, but wow, what a difference from what this church used to be. Our breakout sessions were in very nicely appointed classrooms with very homey appointments.

So many thoughts went through my mind. Is this what a church looks like in the 21st century? Am I old enough to feel uncomfortable in a contemporary church? Is this what Jesus had in mind?

Jesus never went to church. What would he have to say about our churches? I am so glad he is merciful and abounding in love!

The dais, screen and stage