Claiming Resurrection in the Dying Church: Freedom Beyond Survival

by Anna B. Olson

How do you minister faithfully to a congregation that is in decline? While many congregations struggle with trying to find the key to regrowth, pastor Anna Olson suggests that the answer may actually be to accept and embrace this moment for what it is. In this beautifully written work, Olson helps pastors recognize that, while the congregation might be going away, the community of which it is a part is still very much alive. Using her own experiences in a dying congregation, Olson encourages pastors to use this opportunity to explore new ways to minister, freely and selflessly, and provides a powerful model of what faithfulness to the gospel looks like. This hopeful book about letting go of false hope gives pastors the guidance they need for ministering effectively during the final stages of a church's life.

Genres: Religion

134 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2016

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got a lot out of this book and would like to have a conversation with the author. Her perspective is clear and thoughtful, realistic and hopeful. This book is filled with wisdom about serving the Church in an era of great change.

[Elizabeth Felicetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe how good this was, and that I had not heard of it before. Solid biblical theology and a realistic view of death and the current state of the church.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anna Olson is an Episcopal priest in a struggling church in Los Angeles. Historically Japanese-American, the church is now in the middle of an immigrant Hispanic and Korean neighborhood, and it is slowly trying to see what new future God has in store for it.

While this tidy book does offer many examples from her own parish, Olson's lessons are universal. Anyone who has been in a declining small church or worked with one will be able to empathize with the struggles her congregation has faced and her ideas for how to respond to those challenges.

A key to Olson's theology is that God is in charge of whatever will happen in these situations, and that if a congregation truly believes in the resurrection, it must face the possible death of its church squarely and push on ahead, knowing that the work God has to do in its community may not mean that the church itself will be able to survive.

Only when churches can stop obsessing over how to save themselves and recapture past glory, Olson says, can they begin to embrace possible new futures.

The book is not all abstractions and philosophy, though. She offers several concrete steps for following the path of renewal, including the seemingly mundane tasks of clearing out the clutter in your building, truly investigating the neighborhood you live in, saying yes to the use of your building by outside groups, responding with love when there are inevitable misunderstandings and trespasses, and looking first to yourselves if there seem to be communication problems, not those bothersome outsiders.

One of my favorites quotes: "In every community there are people Jesus would be proud to claim as followers : people who choose love, who give sacrificially, who put the needs of their communities before their own needs, who look fear in the face and choose to walk the life-giving Way. They may or may not have anything to do with church. They may not identify as Christians. They may even be a little grossed out by the whole church thing. When did attendance at worship and involvement in the institutional church become the primary marks of Christians?"

One small complaint: As with so many other religion books, I sometimes felt this was a magazine article that had been puffed up to make it into a book. It wasn't overly repetitive -- but I still often feel that these really good writers and thinkers could stand stronger editing.