Posted 132 days ago

Turbulent Times—Ready or Not! Manual Introduction

By Tom Sine, Mustard Seed Associates

The rest of the Manual is available FOR PURCHASE for only $10.00.

“Once the great recession ends, don’t break out the party hats. What follows it could be a period so weak that the average American’s standard of living may not reach its 2007 levels for years,” states David Francis who writes on economics for the Christian Science Monitor.¹ Francis is right. We may see the beginnings of recovery, but it is essential to recognize that the difficult times caused by the worst global recession in 70 years aren’t over. Most likely this recovery could be jobless, which will draw out the difficulties our economy faces. Many will not only remain unemployed, but their benefits will run out as well. To make matters worse, it could be years before government and non-profit agencies can restore basic services to those in need. This means our churches need to create new ways to be God’s compassion locally and globally.

Even as we begin to claw our way out of this difficult recession, we will see other major waves of change break on our lives and communities between 2010 and 2020. These waves could be even more devastating than the mortgage crisis that started this downward spiral, so we need to start getting ready now to be God’s compassion in troubled times.

These waves may include:

• an H1N1 flu pandemic this winter.
• global inflation as a direct result of all the money governments have invested in stimulus efforts to bring us out of the global recession.
• a Peak Oil crisis in the next ten years during which gas prices could reach $7 to $10 a gallon.

• a Peak Water crisis. Only one percent of the world’s water is drinkable, and the pressures of a growing population and increasing pollution already place severe restrictions on water usage in many parts of the world.

Our neighbors in developing countries will be hit the hardest by these kinds of new challenges. For example, because of inflation or Peak Oil, grain prices would soar, placing millions in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia in extreme peril. This would halt the campaign to make poverty history.

Hope in the Midst of Chaos

As we examine some of the daunting new waves of change that could impact people all over the planet, it is important to remind ourselves that God has not lost control. Scripture repeatedly reminds us that our God is a God of hope and compassion. We are told that in Christ God intends to make all things new. And the prophets described imagery of the shalom future of God as a world of peace and plenty, in which justice finally comes to the poor, and healing comes to the wounded.

We are called to live securely in the hope of that future in both good times and tough times. But we are also called to be God’s hope and compassion to vulnerable neighbors who are much more at risk in changing times than we. In a resource produced to get Canadian Mennonite churches ready for a possible flu pandemic, Jack Suderman declares, “Right from the earliest days of the church, Christians have followed Christ’s command to love their neighbors by responding in times of crisis and emergency.” ² These uncertain times provide all of us the opportunity to imagine new ways to be God’s compassion to our neighbors before the next waves of change hit.

Looking Back on Looking forward

Mustard Seed Associates helps Christians, churches, and Christian organizations anticipate new challenges coming their way in order to have lead time to create new responses before these challenges blow up on their doorsteps. Over the past thirty years, we have worked with several denominations, from the American Baptists to the Presbyterian Church (USA), and organizations like Bread for the World, Tear Fund UK, and Habitat for Humanity to present ways to both anticipate and creatively respond to new challenges.

Starting in January of 2007, I attempted to challenge certain Christian organizations to prepare contingencies for a possible global recession, but they didn’t buy in, and they didn’t act. So instead, on September 7, 2008, MSA hosted a Recession Readiness Brainstorming Session here in Seattle with about fifty local leaders. Those participants came up with a number of creative ideas of ways to help those in need beyond the limited “Deacon’s Fund”:

• Starting an online ”Church Craig’s List” to gather available resources in a congregation, like available cars, rooms in homes, and household services.
• Beginning a collaborative program between rural and urban churches to glean and process produce to share with unemployed families in both communities.

• Initiating a community dinner once a week where those who are struggling with the impact of recession and those who are not can share their lives and stories.

Thankfully, a few churches in Seattle actually created some new plans before the meltdown began. For example, Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynnwood started courses on financial budgeting and food preservation. After the recession hit, a number of other churches around the US and other countries began creating innovative ways to be God’s compassion to those losing jobs, homes, and resources as well.

On March 14, 2009, when the recession was devastating growing numbers of people in our communities and around the world, MSA hosted a second gathering for 65 local leaders. This session brought forth not so much new ideas, but the best practices that many of those churches had already created. These practices indicate how creative congregations can be during tough times when they put their minds to it. Here are a few examples that were reported in that session:

• South Everett Foursquare, which is located in a community that was already struggling before the recession hit, started a comprehensive job assistance program. The program helps unemployed people identify their job skills, explore a range of educational options, and increase their employability by learning to write resumes and do interviews.

• Edmonds United Methodist Church started a large community garden to assist neighbors who are struggling financially in feeding their families.

A New Resource From MSA

Turbulent Times—Ready or Not! is MSA’s latest effort to help the church prepare for what we believe are going to be increasingly volatile times.

These coming waves of change are opportunities for churches to create new ways to both help those in need to help themselves and to live more responsibly in a changing world. Many church leaders tell us they are looking for resources to help them more effectively anticipate and creatively respond to these new challenges. So we decided to share our experiences and research in Turbulent Times—Ready or Not! A Creative Response Manual 2010 to 2020, a resource to enable congregations to be pro-active instead of reactive in this time of rapid change. We hope this manual will prove to be a valuable resource to your church.

The intent of this educational resource is to enable your church:

1. To imagine new ways to be a difference and make a difference in our troubled world.
2. To identify some of the new waves of change that will likely impact our lives and communities from 2010 to 2020 so that we have lead time to respond.
3. To create innovative new ways to reach out to neighbors who will likely be hammered by these waves.

1. To create new ways to live and steward resources to more authentically reflect our faith, reduce our economic vulnerability, and increase our availability to our neighbors near and far.

This curriculum is designed to be used as a study resource with discussion questions and exercises at the end of each section. After six to eight weeks of study, you should be able to both discuss the material in this manual and create new possibilities for your life and congregation. We hope you will be inspired to initiate new missional ventures locally and globally to meet the needs of those hammered all the waves of change.

Since this is a brand-new resource of MSA, we are looking for a few churches to field test Turbulent Times—Ready or Not! We invite you to work through the manual in your small groups or adult educations classes and then report back to us on how it went and your plans for making a difference in these increasingly volatile times. We would appreciate your help in evaluating this resource so it can become an even more valuable resource in the future.

Quick tour of Turbulent Times Ready or Not!

Here’s what is included in this educational resource to see if you are interested in examining a copy for possible use in your church. We have included questions at the end of each section to make it as useful as possible for a study group in your church.

• Taking the Future Seriously: Methods to help leaders lead with foresight, anticipating future challenges instead of doing long-range planning as though the future will simply be a continuation of the past.
• Taking God’s Compassion Seriously: Reassurance that our hope is in God; we need not give in to fear, but instead should join God in imagining new ways to help the most vulnerable.
• Taking Missional Innovators Seriously: Examples of the new things missional innovators are doing in both experimental and traditional churches.
• Taking Recession Response “Best Practices” Seriously: Facts about the human impact of the global recession and some “best practices” from which we can learn.
• Taking Innovative Missional Ideas Seriously: Ideas for helping your congregation become more missional, mostly from the brainstorming sessions MSA has hosted.
• Taking Seriously Curriculum for Re-imagining How to Live and Serve in Uncertain Times: Methods for educating people within the church to reach out in times of crisis and steward their resources more faithfully.
• Taking Preparation for a Flu Pandemic Seriously: Suggestions for preparing for an H1N1 flu pandemic.

• Taking the New Waves of Change from 2010 to 2020 Seriously: Future waves of change and new ways to create sustainable lifestyles that will help us weather the challenges.

There is also a resource section at the end of the curriculum for those that want to further explore these important topics.

If you would like to field test and evaluate this resource, please email us at mail@msainfo.org. We look forward to hearing how this manual helps you and your church develop creative responses to the challenges of the future.

The Turbulent Times—Ready or Not! manual is a resource of Mustard Seed Associates produced with the sponsorship of World Concern. Penny Carothers assisted in researching, writing, and editing this document, and Jonathan Brink of Thrive Ministries did the graphic design.

Notes

1. David R. Francis, “Economic Scene—US living standards may languish even after the recession,” The Christian Science Monitor (July 26, 2009), 32.

2. Mennonite Church of Canada, Church Pandemic Resources

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