Unitarian minister Andy Pakula writes that once upon a time there was something know as the ice harvesting business. Then came refrigeration, and those who saw there business as carving up frozen ponds floundered, while those who saw their business as providing ice to homes and businesses prospered. Seeking a lesson for the contemporary church he asks:
What business is your congregation in?
Many congregations would produce answers to this question that reflect what they do today – such things as sermons and hymns, committee meetings, church buildings, members, pledges, organ music. They have been so resistant to change that I can only guess that they firmly believe these ways of doing things to be their “business.”
What business is your congregation in?
Is it not in the “life transformation” business? The “meaning-making and purpose-finding” business? The “gratitude-building, connection-revealing, justice-seeking” business?
If we come to these kinds of answers and we begin to think beyond our equivalent of the ice business, how then do we do things differently?
Does Pakula’s analogy hold? If so, how thoroughly do Episcopalians have to rethink the nature of our “business”? Is the liturgy up for grabs? Musical styles? The focus on Sunday morning as our primary “hours of operation”? Or are there certain foundations which ought not be shaken?