1
9/13/15 “What’s the Problem?” Acts 2:42-47
By: Jason Mahnke
It almost goes without saying that we all face problems in life on a
regular basis. We have problems at work that we need to solve – technical
issues and people issues. We have problems in our personal lives –
sometimes it’s a difference of opinion with a family member or scheduling
issues or money issues. The same is true here in the church. Each and
every day, one of my jobs is to help folks sort through problems. It’s never
boring.
The interesting thing is – sometimes I’ll be working with a group of
people on a problem – and it quickly become apparent to me that the
problem we’re talking about isn’t the problem. In fact, we’re never going to
solve the problem we’re talking about because the problem is we’re not
talking about the problem that’s the problem. And when we solve the
problem that’s really the problem, the problem we’re talking about won’t
really be a problem anymore. Got it? (Good thing there’s only one service
today so I don’t have to repeat that – otherwise I’d have a problem.)
Let me give you an example. The other day I was talking with Betty
Mennenga and Peg Schmidt about how this building we’ve been in for the
past 10 years came about. That’s the anniversary we’re celebrating today
– 10 years of this congregation being in this location. And we ended up
2
here because this church had a whole slew of positive things going on
which lead to a bunch of problems.
Let’s talk about what was going well.
First, the congregation was led by a fantastic pastor Howard
Hintzman. Howard had a number of tremendous gifts. But one gift that
was huge was his gift for building relationships with people. He could meet
someone who came to church once – and then recognize and remember
who they were and what they talked about no matter where he saw them
next. I know Howard personally – and he has a tremendous heart for
people.
On top of that – there were a group of people here who truly had a
heart for hospitality. Their mission was to be sure that the people who
came here felt welcomed, wanted, and cared for in the deepest sense.
They looked at the building to make sure it felt warm and hospitable. They
worked diligently to make sure people made connections with people in the
congregation. Add on to that a strong children and youth program and a
budding Adult Discipleship program – and this church grew.
And this is where there were problems began. First of all, the
sanctuary was at or over 80% full on a regular basis. That means that it
was so full – no matter how hospitable people were – visitors felt like there
3
was no place for them. Secondly, there were problems with the building
because it was old and landlocked. The building on Main St. couldn’t be
expanded because there were other buildings all around the church. More
than that, the foundation had serious problems.
So – they started the process of looking to build. And that – as you
can imagine – was not free of problems either. A few examples:
 First, the church needed to have an initial capital campaign for seed
money to get things started. However, according to the rules in the
Book of Discipline – they couldn’t call it a building campaign –
because they weren’t approved to build yet.
 Second, it was recommended to the church leaders that they buy a
piece of land as an investment; they found a nice piece of land to buy
– but the committee from the district really struggled in giving them
the approval to actually purchase the property.
 Thirdly, the building committee then needed to find the right place to
build the church. They looked at more than a half dozen properties.
When they finally agreed on this one – they made an offer – which
was accepted by the developer – and then the next day rejected
because he wanted to adjust the terms. This happened a few times.
4
In talking to people about the vision this congregation had at the time
and how we got to 103 N. Alpine Parkway – something became clear to
me. And that is, we are here in this building because the leadership and
most of the members of this church began the process by asking the right
questions when they encountered problems. If we don’t ask the right
questions when we’re faced with problems – then everything becomes
more difficult.
They didn’t ask – should we welcome and be more hospitable to
more people? Can we grow? Should we grow? They asked – how can we
welcome more people?
They didn’t ask – can we expand to welcome more people? They
asked – how can we expand to welcome more people so they can know
they are loved by God?
Do you hear the difference in those questions? When we’re faced
with a problem – and we ask, “Can I do this?”, there’s a sense of doubt
about it . . . it recognizes that it’s not going to be easy . . . and most of the
time, we end up sitting back down and saying – “You know what, this really
isn’t for me.”
But, when we ask, “How can I do this” – it already assumes we’re
going to do it. In terms of building this building and creating space to
5
welcome more people – I don’t know if this was a conscious decision or not
– but it seems to me that there was no question that God was calling you to
reach more people and the true question was – how are we going to do
this, not can we do this – and the leaders who brought us here didn’t stop
until they figured it out and here we are. In fact, I know that momentum
was built and this congregation asked, “how can we” in the face of the
problems they encountered, because when it came to a vote on whether or
not to move forward with the project – there was only one person who
voted against building and moving out here.
That never happens. That never happens in the church or anywhere
there is a vote.
Now, we’re not celebrating this anniversary today and I’m not talking
about how we got here just to talk about how great we are or were or what
have you. I’m talking about all of this because it connects directly to where
we are going as a church over the next 10 to 20 years.
First of all, just like 20 years ago, we have a lot going for us right now.
We have been growing over the past three years. The way things have
been going for mainline Protestant congregations in the United States –
that’s more than unusual – the fact that we’re growing is a contradiction.
More than that – we’re in a growing community (if you don’t believe me, just
6
walk outside and look down the street). So not only are we growing – there
are more people for us to connect to.
In addition, we’ve got the absolute best church staff and lay
leadership of any church in the village. I could not be more proud of the
work that our staff and volunteer leadership does on behalf of this
congregation each and every day.
All of that being said – we have some major challenges that are quite
different than the challenges we faced 20 years ago.
 First of all, the number of people who are making connecting with
God in worship a priority is continually shrinking. Only 12% of
people in the state of Wisconsin worship in any faith community on
any given weekend. Compare that to 94% of households who
watch the Packers play on any given week. Communal worship
isn’t something people place a lot of weight on in our society
anymore.
 Secondly, we can no longer wait for people to come to us to
welcome them and to let them know they are loved by God and
us. Simply being hospitable isn’t enough anymore. People aren’t
seeking out the church anymore . . . in part because 20% of
people have never been in a church nor have a clue as to what we
7
do here. More than that – more and more people are seeing
Christians as hypocritical, judgmental, homophobic, and irrelevant.
And I’m going to be blunt here, this isn’t going to get any better
any time soon – because there are so many self-serving political
leaders who use Christianity as a political weapon – along with a
number of small-minded Christian fundamentalists who keep
reinforcing so many people’s preconceived notions about
Christianity as a whole – even though the Christianity they practice
and the God they worship in no way resembles the God we have
come to know and love and the faith we practice.
 Thirdly, the pace of life is constantly increasing. You and I know
this from personal experience. Our schedules are over-full, the
number of things we want to do – and are expected to do is
always increasing. So people are less likely to commit to or
schedule anything on a regular basis unless it has tangible
benefits and results.
Well, almost a year ago now, our Church Council created a Vision
Team and charged them with the task of figuring out what we are going to
be about in the years to come. The first thing we did was affirm that our
mission was to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the
8
world. In other words – our mission is to help people grow in their
relationship with God through Jesus Christ so they can make a positive
difference in our community and the world.
Our goal is to help you do that
– and to help you invite other people in our community to join us.
And then the question became – how can we can we do this (not can
we – but how can)? And I’m proud of our team – because there was never
really a question if we could – only how – how can we fulfill our mission.
And they came up with three words to describe what we’re going to be
about as a church– Connect, Grow, and Live.
First – we are committed to helping people connect to God and
others. The primary way we will do this is through our worship and
hospitality times. We reaffirmed our commitment to passionate, authentic,
and high quality worship that is relevant to people’s lives, that helps them
grow and live out their faith, and that opens up space for people to connect
with others in the church.
Secondly – we are going to be starting a wide variety of small groups
here with the goal of helping people grow in their faith and relationship with
others. Our small groups will all be different because they will be organized
in a wide variety of ways – by age, hobby or interest, people’s schedules,
9
and so on. But, the goal of each of our small groups is the same – to help
us grow in our relationship with God and one another.
Thirdly, we are going to be emphasizing that the purpose of
connecting and growing in our relationship with God and others is for the
sake of everyone around us. In other words, we should live out our faith
through Christian service in our homes, offices, schools, community, and in
the world. The truth is, what we do here in the church is only practice. We
practice being Christian here so we can live our lives as faithful disciples –
serving, loving, and caring for everyone we encounter. (We’ll be talking
about all of this in more depth over the next month).
So – here at People’s – being a disciple will mean Connecting –
Growing – and Living. And our purpose will be – not only to do that
ourselves – but to invite others to join us as well.
Over the history of this church – all the way back to 1845 – so many
people have heard God’s call to grow in and share his love with others
through both word and deed. Every generation has faced challenges. I
give thanks for all of the people who have come before us and asked, not
can we, but how can we grow in, live, and share God’s all-encompassing
love so the world can be changed for the better.
10
The question has been passed – not just to us – but to you
specifically. Are you going to ask – can I grow in my discipleship in a
meaningful way – or are you going to ask – how can I grow as a disciple so
God can use me each and every day. Amen.