http://www.rr.com/news/topic/article/rr/9009/10370005/Florida_family_gives_up_on_small-town_North_Dakota I came across this news story on my home page news, and I had to share it.
It concerns a little town of Hazelton, North Dakota, population 240. It was one of those little rural villages that dot the plains of America, aging and shrinking in the winds of modernity. The town consisted of three churches, a grain elevator, a city hall and a bar. More than that Hazelton was a way of life for those who had spent there entire lives there. Those people could not bear to see it wither and die.
That was when the town council came up with an original idea. The would pay people to move there. An anonymous donor put up the money. They advertized that they would give a free lot and money for a new home to anyone anywhere who would move to their town. They would also work to get them established in the community, with jobs for all. What a deal!
Thousands of people inquired. Hundreds were serious about it. Dozens of families came and visited the town. But in the end only one family, Jeanette and Michael Tristani of Miami took them up on the offer.
The people of Hazelton were overjoyed to see them and their two children. They gave them two lots, not one, and twenty thousand dollars besides. Jeanette got a job working at city hall. Michael opened up a diner. They purchased a third lot beside the first two for fifteen thousand dollars. It seemed like a wonderful thing, for them and the town.
That was in 2006. In 2010, they packed up and moved back to Miami. Hazelton, N.D. became the town that they literally could not pay anyone to inhabit.
What went wrong? Several things. After reading the article, I realized that the town had the same problems of many older, estabilshed churches. many churches, including my own have seen people age and attendance shrink. They love their churches, and the culture they represent. If they could, they would probably pay people to come, so the church would be full again. But in spite of their best efforts, they end up like Hazelton, with empty pews, empty nursuries, and forgotten programs.
The rest of the article tells wha twent wrong. you can look it up at the address above if you wish, but let me just summarize a few of he problems for you.
First, they had a motivation problem. The author of he article, James McPherson, describes Hazelton as "a dwindling town of about 240 that has attempted to attract young families to stay on the map. " Right there is the first problem. There is no such thing as a free gift. The elders of Hazelton were not really giving anything away--they were buying people to preserve the institutions they loved. They were not motivated by the goodness of hteir heart, but by fear of seeing something they had invested their entire lives in disappear.
The Tristani's however, did not come there to preserve their institutions. They came for their own reasons. They had their own customs and culture, and they had no investment in someone else's life work. Nor should they have been expected to.
Most of us want to see our churches survive. The we have to ask, though is why. God had never expressed any interest at all in preserving our personal culture or memories. We all love the things that remind us of our past. That is good and natural. But it is also unreasonable for us to expect strangers to share our sympathy. God is not now nor has He ever been interested in preserving bits of human culture. Preservation of the world's institution is not His desire, but the transformation of those institutions by the power of the Gospel. God has no interest in preserving musical styles, archetectural styles or community organizations. He is only interested in people.
Jesus said "he who saves his life will lose it." That is just as true for an entire church as it is for an individual. When the motivation for outreach is the preservation of a local congregation, it is bound to fail. God will allow a church to succeed only when our love for the lost excedes our love for those who are already here.
The second problem was culture. The Tristanis were not there long before people became suspicious of them. Michael wore a Rolex watch and drove a Lexus. "People thought I was a drug dealer," he said. These North Dakota people had never seen anything like them. The Tristanis found themselves excluded from the community that once welcomed them.
Small towns and small churches put all newcomers through the screen of their own culture. If they do not fit, they reject them. The smaller the church, the smaller the screen. They know that anyone who has any other exprience but their own is a threat to what they have already done, so they reject them before they can change anything.
The third problem is opportunty. The nearest town of any size was Bismark, forty-five minutes away. They had to go there for anything. While those who lived there had become used to the great distances the Tristanis were not. Jeanette tried to get her parents who lived in Miami to join them there, but they refused.there was just nothing there for them. Besides, the cold weather put them off.
The people of Hazelton did not understand the problem. Hazelton was heaven to them. Who wouldn't want to live in heaven in spite of the inconvenience.
Small towns and small churches do not have all the opportunities of larger ones. But they have some things that more than compensate for them in the minds of those who remain--family, friendliness, and intimate involvement in one another's lives. But take those things away and what do you have? Going to them is like going to someone else's family reunion.
Small churches are at a disadvantage, but that doesn't mean they are hopeless. The Hazeltons knew those disadvantages when they first moved there. But they had expected that the warmth and friendliness of the people would more than compensate for it. They expected invitations to people's homes, ball games in the summer sun, and sleigh rides with happy, loving neighbors. That didn't happen. they people invited each other out, but they did not invit the Tristanis. They probably thought the Tristanis ought to invite themselves.
Then there was jealousy. Michael opened up a diner in town. About the same town, someone else did, too--a native. the rivalry between these two places became personal. The owner of the other diner rode by their home, shouting curses at them and their children (of course, everyone said, it had to be Tristani's fault. Our people would never behave that way!) Soon, no one would go to his business, for fear of ostracism by their neighbors. today, both cafes are closed.
Small churches want people to come to their church. they just don't want them to own any of it. They do not want to share leadership with people they hardly know. Sooner or later, this puts them in the position of saying "this church isn't big enough for the two of us!" and the newcomer leaves. Only when the newcomers outnumber th old timers and leadership is shared do the newcomers find a place. Then the old timers usually leave.
What happened in Hazelton has happened in small towns all across America, in small churches in the city and the country. If we are going to be salt and light in the world, as Jesus wanted, we have to love the world we are in more than we love our own culture and tradition We have to realized that if we live in the past, in fading communities, we will die with the past. But if we embrace the lost around us, and show them the true love of Jesus, the essence of what made our community great will be carried on not only in the next generation, but in many generations to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment