book
review / Barbara Bjelland
Prophetic Words for Congregations
Lynne Baab's book is a must-read for congregations who want to be intentional about their identity and values, and how they reach out in a world exploding with new communication technologies. Baab is an expert who has served in pastoral roles, earned a Ph.D. in communication, and now teaches pastoral theology.
As a result of her wide experience and research, Baab has prophetic words for both the technologically savvy and for those fearful of change. Throughout her book, the author pays special attention to reaching newcomers, which is a blind spot for many congregations.
Her writing is both thoughtful and practical, and is rich with example. She demonstrates clearly how communication can promote or impede the message of God’s love and care. Each chapter also includes questions for reflection, journaling and discussion.
The author begins by telling her personal journey as an editor and associate pastor creating printed material, before the days of websites. This puts those of us who did not grow up with a personal computer at ease. She points out that the persons creating publications not only discover and express the unique identity of a congregation, but also help to shape to it, as people "grab hold of the concrete faith values that lead to spiritual vitality (p. 27)."
Baab goes on to describe major paradigm shifts in communication. Some examples are: the significance of stories as a way to teach values as opposed to lists of principles, the desire for authenticity, and the shift from an emphasis on words to that of words and images. The need for change is applied to pastors creating sermons as well as to designers creating web sites; Baab recounts that in the sermon she remembers best, the pastor threw a watch into the audience.
In chapter three, the author describes how Leonard Sweet’s EPIC acronym applies to worship and ministry in our post-modern age. She writes that in order to be effective, worship and ministry must be experiential, participatory, image-driven and connected. She also offers a brief history of the contested use of images in the church, and tells of the renewed use of the visual arts in both Protestant and Roman Catholic churches.
Websites, blogs, e-mail, and on-line community are described as wonderful opportunities for outreach that should be thoughtfully examined.
What sort of images should appear on websites? Baab points out that featuring the church building on a home page may have the unintentional effect of emphasizing buildings over people.
Next, Baab offers guidelines for the wise use of desktop publishing, mission statements and projection screens during worship. The author questions the use of bulleted lists on PowerPoint slides, which came to the church from the corporate world and can seem like business presentations.
She gives several examples of worship that is more participatory, such as stations for foot-washing and prayer. Her readers are thus reminded that ancient Christian practices can be used effectively along with modern technologies.
I would have liked even more examples and detail on participatory forms of worship, but that may call for another book. (Baab is a prolific author, also having written books on subjects such as Sabbath-keeping, fasting, and personality types.)
The last part of Reaching Out in a Networked World includes steps for a communication audit, creating or re-vamping a website and an annotated bibliography for further reading. This timely book provides tools congregations need. Read it, and learn to better convey the 'life-giving aspects of who [you] are and who God is in [your] midst' (p.128).
Bjelland is a member of Crossview Covenant Church in North Mankato, MN. She has a M.A. in Christian Education from Seattle Pacific University and is a free-lance artist and graphic designer (www.festaldesign.com).
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