Festival of the Epiphany, 2014

Transcription

1 Festival of the Epiphany, 2014 Bonhoeffer had in mind a kind of monastic community, where one aimed to live in the way Jesus commanded his fo"owers to live in his Sermon on the Mount, where one lived not merely as a theological student, but as a disciple of Christ. It would be an unorthodox experiment in communal Christian living, in the life together as Bonhoeffer would so famously put it. - Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer, pp Précis Greetings from First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas! Before you is a proposal for an evangelical and communal house in Houston, Texas called Bonhoeffer House. This house seeks to serve a variety of needs in the Church at large, notably allowing young men and women to live in an intentional Christian community and practicing the arts of evangelism and discipleship. While the house may become in future a home base for Lutheran seminary students, it seeks now to be a place for a wide range of students, so long as they have an interest in some form of Christian ministry. At the core of the proposal is, quite literally, a house: a parsonage on the campus of First Evangelical Lutheran Church (FELC). The house, originally built in 1927, has been restored and is ready to be lived in by as many as six students. This restoration was achieved in the hopes that this home could be employed for a ministry such as this. (There is also a garage apartment for two more students next door, which would be needed to facilitate different genders in the program. We do not see the house being co-ed.) Bonhoeffer House will have two defining hallmarks: intentional community and evangelism/ discipleship. The evangelism ministry will be a unique offering of the House. As FELC and Bonhoeffer House are situated across the street from a 20,000-student community college, there are plentiful opportunities for Lutheran seminarians to participate in street-level evangelism. For almost three years, FELC has developed and implemented Jesus 101, a class that reaches out to the community college students. This weekly class is an introduction to Christianity, employing natural theology and Bible study to introduce non-christians and Christians to the case for Christ. The invitation to the class itself is achieved by the simple act of handing out flyers, setting up a table and engaging in dialogue on the sidewalk with those who want to learn more. One can imagine pub ministries and any number of possibilities in this context in the future. The relationships that come from this evangelism will deliver discipleship opportunities in spades: students will mentor new/young Christians, they will teach the apologetics-driven class, and they will gain the confidence of talking to un-churched strangers and inviting them to learn about Jesus.

2 The second hallmark of the House will be practicing the art of intentional life together, a vital skill for any pastor in the parish. The House, of course, derives its name from the author of Life Together, the classic text on community that has helped several generations of pastors understand the joy and struggle of life in Christian community. The students in the Bonhoeffer House will participate in an active prayer life, will break bread together, and will do their evangelical ministry together. Participation in the communal life of the house will be as mandatory as can be in the context of evangelical freedom. Sabbath rest and flexibility regarding academic schedules notwithstanding, the culture of the House will depend on the commitment of all who participate in the program to pray, eat, and live together. Academics The thrust of this proposal is rooted in the life of the House. If seminarians live in the home, they will find academic training online or at a local seminary. The community would provide an excellent conversational context for diving deeper into theological studies. But Bonhoeffer House will not be a seminary and outside of its evangelism and discipleship programming, not to mention the life together piece, will not offer a curriculum per se. If and when faculty are needed for certain studies, they could be brought in. The House seeks for this first year recent high school graduates who will attend college while in Houston. They would, in many ways, mirror the lives of the seminary students except their studies would be undergraduate and not graduate. They might even consider attending classes at the community college no more than 100 feet from their front door. Bonhoeffer House would serve for them as a place and time to discern a call into ministry and test out their giftedness for such service. How Can You Help? The Bonhoeffer House, especially for this first year, is looking for students! Here are some of the folks that you might speak with about the Bonhoeffer House: Seminary students who are already studying online, perhaps with ILT or the fully online MAR program at Trinity School for Ministry. High school juniors or seniors who have the gifts for ministry and would be interested in any of the colleges or universities in Houston. Folks who are working but have considered ministry and could work in Houston while discerning the call. In some ways, the Bonhoeffer House would be a little like what our denominational universities used to be: places to form future pastors or Lutherans for a variety of ministries. As most denominational universities have begun to mirror secular universities, these Bible colleges are hard to find in mainline circles. So while at first blush it is a different offering, it does seek to recreate what the Church understood in the past, that the college years can be just as formational for ministry as the seminary years can be.

3 Staff and Funding We believe that this proposal, which has the advantage of being lean and modest, can be funded almost entirely through the efforts of our mission district(s). If the students are responsible for their tuition and a participation fee (which is the rent), the Bonhoeffer House will be relatively inexpensive to operate. The staff needs will be fulfilled by two part-time staff members. A House Director would oversee the program at large. He or she would be an ordained pastor who is competent and theologically sound. He or she would serve as a mentor when needed, perhaps a Father/ Mother Confessor, someone who could help the students with their studies, and in general, be the face of the program to raise funds, visit with prospective students, and make final decisions on the property itself. He or she would report to the FELC Council, the board of the Bonhoeffer House and to supporting congregations. A Program Director would also be employed. He or she may not be ordained, but would be someone with training and experience in communal life to oversee the day-to-day operations of the House. He or she would meet with the House collectively and individually to monitor and lead community dynamics as well as handle administrative duties. Both staff members would pray and break bread regularly with those living at the house. Assuming tuition and modest rent remain the responsibility of the students themselves, the costs of the program, including staff and administrative costs, should be between $20,000 and $40,000 per year. That would pay for the part-time staff positions as well as administrative costs. The range is wide because it is unknown how many hours will be needed by the staff and if there will be other ways to support the house, like through a craft that the house members produce as in the monasteries of old. Field Education Houston is fortunate to have a good number of congregations that will offer field education opportunities for residents at the Bonhoeffer House. About 35 miles from downtown Houston are three NALC congregations that would offer terrific field education experience if so desired. In Houston proper, in addition to FELC, there are two mission congregations that would be unique blessings to the students: the Chinese congregation, Church of the Living God, and the Oromo Evangelical Church, which is housed at FELC. A Day in the Life One of the most striking stories from Bishop Brodosky s annual report was visiting a congregation with a heart for evangelism that had evangelized no one in the past year. While evangelism itself is not hard, few in our parishes know how to do it or have the confidence to try. One way the Bonhoeffer House could be of benefit to our Mission District (or indeed to anyone in the NALC) would be to offer a Day in the Life for members of Evangelism Committees desiring to see evangelism in action. They could come to

4 Houston, pass out fliers, attend the class, and pray with the students to see what an intense evangelism-driven day can bring. While the exact model that is practiced at FELC cannot be duplicated at every congregation, the spirit of witnessing can be taken home. For example, few, if any, other churches in the NALC have the urban environment of FELC. But it isn t hard to imagine someone who has spent a day in the life at the Bonhoeffer House being motivated to do door-to-door evangelism or to start a house Bible study. Because we are a discipleship-driven church body, we need to give seminarians as many examples as possible of what a discipleship-driven parish looks like. Classes, courses, and books on discipleship and life together are no substitute for practical experience, and the Bonhoeffer House will be a virtual laboratory for these two enormous tasks. Other and Miscellaneous Opportunities In addition to the nine-month academic year that the students would live and study at the Bonhoeffer House, the House could be available for other uses during the summer. The House could provide space for church planters who needed a three-month intensive, for example. FELC already has strong connections with the ACNA Greenhouse movement that could be beneficial. In other words, the program itself, with its two foci of communal life and evangelism, could end up housing a number of students if we, in the future, find this context helpful in one-off kinds of ministerial formation. Summary Because of our unique context, our urban location, congregations nearby, a number of possible seminaries in the area, and the two defining hallmarks of the program, we believe this program will create well-rounded theological minds and hearts who not only have the knowledge to teach and preach, but the confidence and experience to evangelize and make disciples. The Church of the 21 st century needs pastors who can thrive in all four of those tasks. Respectfully submitted, Pastor Evan McClanahan First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Houston, TX

5 The house and garage apartment Staff Office Library/Study Living Room

6 Dining Room 1 of 4 Bedrooms 1 of 4 Bedrooms Church nave Chapel Mission Field