Set Up a Contextual Analysis of Your Congregation

Read II Corinthians 13:1-10

What is a contextual analysis and why is it important? Glad you asked! Many churches are unaware of this valuable tool for learning more about their faith community. What is learned through a contextual analysis can inform the congregation’s decision-making in areas such as: dealing with people, conducting a pastoral search, planning worship, training leadership, developing education, providing pastoral care, and organizing general programming. It is also a helpful tool when dealing with conflict resolution. Contextual analysis, as defined for this study, is the integration of a church’s history, culture, theology and experience.

Have you ever tried to find a particular store location, in a shopping mall, by using the big colorful diagram posted in the building? Two tasks must be accomplished before you can find the store or location you want:

· Locate the YOU ARE HERE marker to determine your starting place

· Locate the store

Knowing this information provides a way for you to get to where you want to go in a fairly straight line from point A to point B.

In the same way, I believe that before our churches can move ahead with their mission and vision we need to know:

· Where we are

· Where we want to go

Perhaps your church wants to grow in numbers, develop new programs, write a vision statement, or launch a pastoral search; perhaps it is facing personnel issues or a pastoral search. If you truly wish to have a positive and successful process you will want to consider conducting a contextual analysis. In other words, you’re going to find the YOU ARE HERE marker for your church.

This analysis would have you look at four primary influencers in your church:

• The History
• The Culture
• The Theology.
• Major experiences in the life of your congregation

Every church is different because of the above four influences. Your goal is to discover where you church is at this particular place and time. Warning: You may believe that you know exactly where your church is, but doing this analysis may yield some surprises for you.

The first step in performing a contextual analysis is to write out the history of your church with all of the details possible. Start with all of the Who, What, Where, When and Whys of the moment it became a gleam in someone’s eye. List the leaders and key players throughout the years, important events in the life of the church, and where the church is today.

Next, look at the culture of your church and the area in which it is located. What are the demographics of your city or town? Does your congregation reflect these demographics? What is the make-up of your congregation in regard to gender, age, race, nationality, class, and sexual orientation? What other local factors might be specific influences in the life of your church?

Next, look at the theology reflected in your congregation. The UFMCC is not a melting pot. Usually several different denominational backgrounds are represented by the people in our churches. Because of this all MCCs are different from one another. We might walk into one of our churches and find it to be very high church as in the Catholic tradition. We might walk into another church to find a very Pentecostal type of worship service. What is the primary message about God that is presented in your church? How is it presented? Has your congregation’s theology changed over the years? If so, why? Who/what influenced that change?

Finally, look at the major experiences within the life of your church. Some of these experiences might be positive while others may have been very challenging. For those you see as positive (such as a move into a new building), how did you celebrate it? For those you see as challenging (such as a split in the church), how did you deal with it and overcome it?

I also encourage you take the time to consider what you know best: YOUR EXPERIENCE. What was your experience the first time you walked through the doors of your church? What is your experience today?

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Here is a description of how doing a contextual analysis worked for me:

My home church, founded in 1974, was situated in a beautiful three story building in the large metropolis of Minneapolis, Minnesota. We had a membership of approximately three hundred and fifty people and averaged close to three hundred people per Sunday during most of the time I attended there.

The church owned its own building; a large beautiful structure with a spacious sanctuary, upstairs classrooms and office space, and a social hall and bookstore in the basement. It had been exciting to watch this church grow over the years, moving from a storefront to this beautiful building. The pastor was a dynamic preacher and knew how to inspire the congregation to applause on any given Sunday morning. The membership was primarily Lutheran and Catholic; the worship service combined these influences, most closely resembling an Episcopal style of worship. Minnesotans are often known to be rather reserved and even stoic. The standing joke was that we lived in the land of the chosen frozen.

In 1991 I was credentialed UFMCC clergy and left this large seventeen-year-old training church to pastor my own congregation.

My first pastorate was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. When I arrived, the church was seven years old and had a membership of approximately eighteen people; they had been averaging close to twelve people per Sunday. The congregation met in a sanctuary rented from the Uniting Campus Ministries of Louisiana State University. There was no office space; the church office was in my home. We could only have the sanctuary space on Sunday mornings. At that time we would have to set up the altar, chairs, hymnals and MCC banner in order to turn it into an MCC. We never knew who might have rented the space the previous night, so we learned to come early in case we had to clean first

The church had been through tough times in its short seven-year history; a year before I accepted the pulpit the congregation had gone down to eight strong people who had refused to close the doors. With the help of an interim pastoral lay leader they had brought the numbers up to eighteen. The congregation had a primary mix of Catholic, Baptist and Pentecostal. Known for the laissez les bon temp roulet culture deep in the heart of Cajun country, there was a strong New Orleans influence that basically said, “You’re gay? OK, but let’s have some beer and crawfish and dance anyway.”

Can you say, “Culture Shock?” From the reserved and stoic people in the land of ten thousand lakes to the chank-a-chank music in the land of ten thousand drive-thru daiquiri stands, I found myself utterly unsure of how to pastor this church. The district coordinator was clear that if I came down there with a “Yankee attitude” and preached against the drinking and casual sex prominent in New Orleans, I wouldn’t last a month.

For me the answer was to set up a contextual analysis. By doing an in depth study of the church’s history, culture and theology, I was able to better understand who they were and how to best meet their needs. This wasn’t a task I could do on my own. I spent countless hours talking to various people about the history of the church while making copious notes. I bought a book on Louisiana and began to study its history; I visited historical sites all around the area. I sampled the variety of Cajun fare and learned how to create a good roux that made the perfect gumbo. I incorporated their culture and history into worship whenever possible. In addition we added some Baptist hymns, some holy water in the baptismal font for Catholics who wished to use it to make the sign of the cross as they entered worship and some “amens” for the Pentecostals. We provided Christian education classes that went across such denominational lines, spiritually challenging people no matter what background they were from. As a result, over the next three-and-a-half years we grew to a membership of seventy-nine people, averaging eighty people a Sunday. We started a financial campaign to purchase our own building and were able to rent office space in the same building as the sanctuary we rented. I stayed longer than any pastor in their previous history and thus the church broke out of an old cycle.

Although I have been gone for many years now, that church is currently twenty-one years old and has purchased its own building using money we began raising over ten years ago. Unless I had done a contextual analysis of the church, I am not sure we could have had such successful ministry together.

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Here’s the next part that ties into a contextual analysis. All of us, as individuals, carry into the church our own past experiences. If you were to walk into a new church, this Sunday, one that you had never attended before, you would likely begin an immediate comparison to your own congregation. Both consciously and unconsciously we carry our experience with us. These experiences also affect a contextual analysis. This is why some people will come through the doors of our church and absolutely love it, while others are uncomfortable and choose not to return. There is no one church that will meet the needs of everyone!

If you want to locate the YOU ARE HERE marker, set up a contextual analysis of your congregation. Look at who you are as a faith community based on your history, theology, culture and experience. Once you understand where you are, you can use this information to help you go where you want to go.

For example, let’s say that your church is about to begin a pastoral search. From your contextual analysis you have determined that you are a church of fifty people in a congregation of primarily upper middle-class white lesbians between the ages of twenty and thirty-five. Your church rents space from a Unitarian Universalist congregation located in an upscale suburban neighborhood. Your theology is very liberal and you are hoping for a pastor who can provide enlightening worship experiences and empowering workshops for women.

Of course this is just a simple example of a much larger process, but can you see how this process could impact your pastoral search?

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Let’s take a look at our scripture reference from II Corinthians:

My initial response in reading this chapter 13 is that Paul is sounds very harsh in his writing. He has evidently given them some sort of warning in the past and now is coming to visit them for a third time; he is threatens disciplinary action toward anyone who challenges his authority in Christ. He tells them to examine themselves and see what’s in their own hearts rather than rebelling against him. If they look into their own hearts and pass the test and do what is right, he won’t need to take any disciplinary action.

Could you imagine your church receiving such a letter from Paul? You would likely be outraged; I know I would! Let’s set up a brief and simple contextual analysis of this church in Corinth and see what we can learn.

THE HISTORY:

Paul was a missionary with a passion for starting churches that were centered in the gospel of Jesus Christ. He traveled extensively starting churches in various places. He also had others working with him to start new churches and to assist at these new churches. This church in Corinth is one of the churches started by Paul. Though Paul is believed to have stayed at Corinth longer than any other church he started, he did not remain there as their pastor. He corresponded with them through letters and through the leaders he appointed.

THE CULTURE:

Corinth was a narrow peninsula known as the Bridge of Greece because it connected the two parts of Greece. Only four miles long it was situated in an area that made it one of the greatest trading and commercial centers of the ancient world.

The culture was primarily Greek; the people placed high value on Greek philosophy and wisdom. It was the location of the Isthmian Games, second only to the Olympics.

“Korinthiazethai”, a word meaning to live like a Corinthian, was translated, “to live with drunken and immoral debauchery.” Aelian, the late Greek writer tells us that if a Corinthian was depicted on stage in a Greek play, they were always shown drunk and acting immorally. Corinth became a synonym for wealth, luxury, drunkenness, and immorality.

THE THEOLOGY:

Corinth had at least twelve temples. The temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, had about a thousand temple priestesses who were sacred prostitutes. These priestesses descended from the Acropolis in the evening and plied their trade on the streets of Corinth. Archaeologists have unearthed the remains from seven columns of the temple of Apollo. There were also temples to: Athena, Poseidon, and Asklepios to name a few. In addition, the Jews had established a synagogue in Corinth.

Into this wild city with its Greek, pagan and Jewish influence comes this little Christian Church.

THE EXPERIENCE:

Looking at the Corinthian church beginning with I Corinthians chapter 1 we can see Paul’s experiences with this church. Some of his experiences included:

• Dealing with divisions in the church
• Correcting ideas about ministry and ministers
• Correcting ideas about what it means to be a Christian
• Confronting moral and ethical issues
• Handling issues in regard to lawsuits
• Confronting Issues about marriage
• Dealing with food that has been sacrificed to idols
• Establishing authority of the Apostles
• Giving directives about the Lord’s Supper
• Teaching about the Body of Christ
• Handling problems with order in the worship service

Before this church can become mature and faithful we have to look at where they are. Before we can criticize them for their lack of faith and maturity, we have to remember the culture, theology, history and experiences of that little church in the midst of Corinth. How can they easily teach, preach and live out the Christian faith with so many cultural and theological influences?

On the other hand perhaps we can see why Paul was so firm in the scripture from II Corinthians 13. He wanted the Christian church to stay pure from all of the influences around them. He had already invested a great deal of time and energy with them trying to get them on the right path. Now he is warning them that he will not tolerate any challenge of his authority.

“This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority Christ gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.”

II Corinthians 13:10

Paul is hoping that they will get the point with his letter and pull things together before he gets there. The reader can only hope for the same.

YOU ARE HERE: A small group of new believers struggling with the influences

of the culture, and theology prevalent in Corinth.

WHERE THEY WANT TO GO: Paul wants for them to become a healthy,

thriving congregation that is faith-filled

and growing in maturity. He envisions a church

that can withstand the influences and spread the

good news of Jesus to others.

If we look at the Corinthians from a “YOU ARE HERE” standpoint we have a much bigger picture of who they are and what they are up against since we developed a contextual analysis. Knowing this information informs Paul of the work that will have to be done in order to strengthen and encourage this church. It further informs the reader as to why Paul is so firm in his letters to the Corinthians. If he wanted them to mature he had to be firm.

A contextual analysis gives us a big picture of our churches. It helps bring to light challenges as well as opportunities. What we learn informs decision making in the life of the church. I have used it to deal with personnel issues, conflict management, church growth, and more. It is my hope that you will discover what a valuable tool this simple process can be in the life of your church.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

What is the history of your church?

What is the culture of the area in which you live?

What is the culture represented in your church and how does the culture of the area reflect there?

What is the primary theology/message represented at your church?

What are some of the major experiences your church has been through?

What was your experience the first time you entered the doors of your church?

What kept you coming back?

In the course of this study what did you learn about your church that you hadn’t previously known?

How might a contextual analysis help your church in making major decisions?