Church on the Move: A Practical Guide for Ministry in the Community (G. Travis Norvell) - A Review
CHURCH ON THE MOVE: A Practical Guide for Ministry in the Community. By G. Travis Norvell. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 2022. Xviii + 108 pages.
Churches and religious institutions
can easily become insulated from the surrounding world. They create bubbles or
silos by turning turn inward, seeking to protect whatever space they have
accumulated over the years. The future becomes increasingly uncertain as the
world speeds up (see the books by Andrew Root regarding that matter). Many
smaller churches are especially caught up in survival mode, fearing the
realities of what they perceive to be a hostile world. So, they hunker down
hoping to survive. As for an answer to the questions of the day, there are many
possible answers. Books get written every year offering guidance, and yet the
decline continues, and the churches feel ever more irrelevant to the concerns
of the world around them. When we consider possible solutions, we discover that
there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each congregation lives in its own
context. Thus, a rural context is different from a suburban one, and a suburban
one is different from an urban one. tuned in that direction. So, what is the
answer? The truth is, there is no one answer to every question or concern.
Every congregation lives in a different context. A suburban context is much
different from an urban or a rural one. Nevertheless, while all of this is
true, we can learn from the experiences of others always being aware that the situations
we face are different.
Travis Norvell's book Church on the Move offers us one possible answer to how the church might move
forward. The book’s title is intriguing. The same is true of the cover, which
features a man riding a bike. That should serve as a clue to what is found
inside. The subtitle suggests that this is "a practical guide for ministry
in the community." In other words, this is a book about getting out of the
building or at least using the building for ministry that engages the large
community.
Norvell is the pastor of Judson
Memorial Baptist Church in Minneapolis. He also teaches at United Theological
Seminary of the Twin Cities. His church, which is affiliated with the American
Baptists, is situated in an urban area, not far from where George Floyd was
murdered by a police officer. Part of the goal of this book is to demonstrate
how social justice and church renewal can go hand in hand.
I read the book from the perspective
of a retired mainline Protestant pastor who served a small suburban
congregation that has roots in the city and draws its members from across a
metropolitan area. In other words, my recent experience has been with a
congregation that had never developed an identity as being a neighborhood
congregation. In other words, I was not in a position to use a bike as part of
my ministry. While Norvell lives and ministers in a city that is known for cold
winters, he discovered that it is possible for a small congregation to become
intimately involved in the life of the community. In his case, that involvement
started with him riding a bike to work and worship. While, as I noted, the
weather in Minneapolis is not balmy in the winter, nevertheless, Norvell
invited his congregation to join him in riding to worship, or if not riding a
bike, walking, or riding public transit. Of course, that is not always
possible, but in an urban area, it can be possible (if the city has an
effective public transit system).
With the above example in mind, Norvell
invites us to consider what it means to be a Church on the Move. He
proposes that the church might metaphorically promote "movement into the
neighborhood/parish as a way to reconnect with neighbors and renew church
mission and ministry" (p. xvii). Part of his message here is that a church
needn't have a big parking lot to thrive, countering a message one of his
predecessors at Judson had promoted. Perhaps there are other ways to thrive,
and with that in mind, he ponders whether a big parking lot actually separates
a congregation from its neighbors.
Norvell began to ponder the
questions that form the foundation of this book after his car broke down and he
faced the question of whether to replace it. As he pondered that question, he
discovered that his parish is quite bikeable. In examining his context, he
realized he lived less than three miles from the church and that most of his
trips were less than three miles in length. That made his ministry rather bikeable.
This discovery led to a further evaluation of his neighborhood and its
connection to the church. His reflections on the nature of his neighborhood
(chapter 1) lead to an extended reflection on parking and how parking lots
function in the life of a church. He notes that parking lots are designed for
temporary storage. In other words, they may lie empty for much of the week. So,
perhaps a church doesn’t need one or it can be utilized differently. One idea
he offers up suggests using the parking lot as the location of a community
garden using straw bales as the foundation. It's an intriguing conversation
that raises again the connection of a congregation to its neighbors. He offers
a variety of possibilities for how churches can become less dependent on
parking lots/spots. Even many smaller congregations in the suburbs may have a
large parking lot built for a different era and so a portion could be used for
such an offering to the community while still providing parking for the
gathered church.
Now, this isn't just a book about
biking and parking. Norvell also addresses staffing. He reminds us that there
likely are gifted people within the congregation who can provide the kind of
leadership the congregation needs without hiring additional clergy. He shares
stories of how his congregation discovered just the right people already
present in the pews that enabled the congregation to extend its ministry. He discusses
ways in which the building can be better utilized in service to the community.
Of course, there's the question of money and how it is used (chapter 3).
You might think having a car would
be a time-saving device, but perhaps not. At least that’s a discovery Norvell
made as he began to do ministry from his bike. In his case, he discovered that
he could utilize biking in double-duty ways. Thus, if you're biking, you're probably
getting your daily exercise so that's one thing off the list. You don’t have to
go to the gym. He also reflects on the concept of slow church that Chris Smith
and John Pattison explored in their book Slow Church: Cultivating
Community in the Patient Way of Jesus. Maybe there is value in slowing
down. In thinking about ways in which the church can be present in the
community, he notes that using a local coffee shop as an auxiliary office allows
the pastor to be more available to the larger community.
There is risk in all of this, so
the question concerns whether the church and its leadership is willing to
embrace the risk posed by the solutions offered by Travis in Church on the
Move. Norvell recognizes that what he proposes is risky. He recognizes that
building a parking lot or relocating to the suburbs has been the recommended
means of renewing the church. However, as some of us already know, having a
parking lot in a suburban community on a busy street doesn't guarantee success.
So, are we ready and willing to take risks that might lead to renewal and
ministry in the community?
Church on the Move is a
brief, readable, thought-provoking book that might not solve everyone’s
problems. After all, contexts are different and not everything suggested will
work in every situation. However, even if that's true we can learn from what
Travis Norvell discovered in his ministry in Minneapolis. If nothing else, it
challenges us to examine our context and consider how the church can be present
in the community. Since this is a practical guide that Norvell hopes
congregations might make use of as they consider their future, he includes
discussion questions at the end of each chapter. He also includes a set of
suggested readings that might be useful in extending or deepening the
discussion. Something you might not expect in such a guide, Norvell adds recipes
to each chapter that he believes might help empower the work of the church in
the community. So, if you are involved
in church life and you’re ready to take some risks that enable ministry in the
community, I believe Church on the Move is a book for you to engage with.
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