From Tabgha to Nazareth

The third day in-country for Campbell University’s tour group (see earlier posts below) began with an early visit to Tabgha, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Tabgha, a shortened Arabic version of “Heptapegon” (Seven Springs), is the traditional site of Jesus’ “feeding of the 5,000.” There is no hard evidence for Tabgha to be the place, of course, just a flat-topped rock where Catholics have long believed Jesus laid out the two fish and five barley loaves before multiplying them.

The church is home to some beautiful mosaics dating from the fifth century. The most famous one depicts the loaves and fishes. Set in front of the altar and well behind a rope, it is one of the most common designs seen on souvenir items, but one of the most difficult to photograph. The mosaics reveal a strong Egyptian influence, as they include wildlife common to Egypt, along with a “Nileometer” used for measuring the annual floods of the Nile.

Just a few hundred yards from the Church of the Heptapegon is another small church, this one called “The Church of Peter’s Primacy.” It commemorates the traditional site of where Jesus met the disciples by the Sea of Galilee following the resurrection, and its altar is also built over a stone outcropping – this one said to be where Jesus laid out the fish he was cooking for breakfast when the disciples came in after a night of fruitless fishing. We remembered these stories by reading them from John 21 and recalling how Jesus challenged Peter to look after his sheep. The church is located right by the shore of the Sea of Galilee, which offered a good place for reflection.

Not much farther along the shore we came to Capernaum, Jesus’ adopted home for the three years of his active ministry. The site still has a small village feel as one walks down a dirt street beside the foundations of excavated houses. A modern Catholic church is built on stilts above an ancient octagonal church that was built over the house that early pilgrims believe belonged to St. Peter’s family, as evidenced by ancient Christian graffitti on the walls.

Capernaum was a fishing village, and a place where Jesus found friends. We remembered that as we sat on ancient building stones beneath a shady tree by the sea shore, as Susan Ulrich, Heather Webb, and Kerrie Clayton led us in worship.
Capernaum is home to a striking 4th century synagogue, indicating the importance of the village in later years. A side view indicates that the white stone of the synagogue was built atop the dark basalt foundation of an earlier building, which many suppose would have been the first century synagogue that Jesus would have frequented. To walk so close to where Jesus must have spent significant time was a meaningful, memorable opportunity.

From a dock just east of Capernaum, we boarded a wooden boat and set sail for Ginosar, where the carefully preserved remains of a first century wooden fishing boat are displayed in a museum next door to the Nof Ginosar Hotel, a lovely spot on the shores of Galilee that has been our home for the past three days.

Whether seated above or below, we experienced a smooth 40-minute ride on the same sea that Jesus and the twelve went fishing, and where Jesus walked on the water. During the ride, the captain raised an American flag and played "The Star Spangled Banner." We enjoyed the breeze from the water, as well as the chance to see sites from the sea that we had earlier visited on land.

The ancient fishing boat, often dubbed "the Jesus boat," was found in the 1980s, during a period of severe drought. The boat was buried in mud and required extensive efforts to remove it without allowing the wood to dry, in which case it would have fallen apart. Nine years of effort and 65,000 thousand pounds of chemicals used during a years-long soak in a special tank were required to leave the boat solid enough to be dried and put on display. Specialists are still studying the boat, as evidenced by the camera and note pads seen beneath it.

After lunch, we drove past the village of Migdal and through the pass below Mt. Arbel called the “Valley of the Doves,” where the old road from Nazareth came to the Sea of Galilee just above the city of Tiberius. From there we drove through the modern village of Cana, near the ancient city where Jesus performed his first recorded miracle, turning water into wine at a wedding.

Behond Cana, we came to Tzipori, site of ancient Sepphoris, a very important city but one rarely visited by tourists. Sepphoris was an important Roman city during the first century, and became the center of Jewish learning and the seat of the Sanhedrin in the second century. Sepphoris is home to Israel’s most intricate and impressive set of mosaic floors. Most of them have pagan themes, including a large mosaic dedicated to Dionysus that once decorated a large villa. The mosaic depicts a boisterous drinking party, but also the enigmatic face of a beautiful woman who is known as “the Mona Lisa of the Galilee.”

Along the cardo (main street) of Sepphoris, one can see many mosaics, including some that comprise dedicatory inscriptions in Greek. Dr. Wakefield and several students enjoyed trying to puzzle out a translation from the inscriptions, most of which were broken in spots or used unfamiliar forms for Greek letters.

Our last stop of the day came in Nazareth, where nothing is left of the village that was Jesus’ home for most of his life. We drove to the top of a high hill called “Mount Precipice” from which we could look back at the main city (the Church of the Anunciation is near the middle, with a cone-shaped dome). Although it is not on the same hill upon which Nazareth was built, there are traditions that the sharp drop from Mount Precipice to the Jezreel Valley below is the place where the citizens of Nazareth attempted to throw Jesus from a cliff before he gave them the slip and went to Capernaum.

While on the mountain, we sang “Higher Ground” and offered thanks for the upward way on which God is leading us during this time of prayer and pilgrimage in Israel.

From Beatitude to a Golden Calf

The sun rose July 8 as it does every other day, but for members participating in a tour of Israel sponsored by Campbell University Divinity School, it rose over the Sea of Galilee, and it was a beautiful sight. I doubt that many of us saw it as participants continue adjusting to being seven time zones from home, but it was worth getting up for.

Our day began on a high hill just above Capernaum, the traditional site of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount.” We walked past lime trees and large fields of bananas on our way to a small outdoor chapel set beneath two large eucalyptus trees. There we read the Beatitudes and heard some reflections from Dr. Wakefield. A small Roman Catholic church there offered time for personal reflections, as well. It also offered multiple opportunities for making contributions, including a box marked "Offering" in the bathrooms.
From the lush setting of the “Mount of Beatitudes” we traveled to nearby Chorazin (or Korazin), one of three cities upon which Jesus pronounced woes because of its sin. Chorazin (we are entering in the photo below) was probably a relatively new village when Jesus knew it. The ruins we saw dated from centuries later, because virtually all Jewish places were destroyed in 70 A.D., following an ill-fated revolt. Remains included an impressive synagogue, unusual in that its carved stone décor included Greco-Roman elements, such as a head of Medusa. Most of the stone used for the buildings there was basalt, a dark and porous stone formed from volcanic lava.
At Hazor, one of the oldest and most important cities in the Upper Galilee, we were able to watch a live dig in progress as volunteers (under appropriate supervision) worked at uncovering a deep layer of Israelite occupation. That layer will eventually be removed so they can continue down to the older Canaanite layer below. Shortly after we arrived, one of the volunteers gave a shout and the others responded with a cheer: he had found a small basin carved from basalt, probably used for grinding small amounts of grain or spices. “I’ve been digging four years,” he said, “and it’s the first one I’ve found!”

Hazor is known in the Old Testament as a Canaanite city ruled by King Jabin. It is said to have been conquered both by Joshua (Joshua 11:10 says Joshua killed Jabin, put the people to the sword, and burned the city), and later by Deborah and Barak (Judges 4, where Hazor still exists and Jabin is still king). Like Megiddo to the south, Hazor held a commanding position on the Via Maris, making it a strategic city. Later, Hazor was said to have been fortified by King Solomon, along with Megiddo and Gezer. The city’s six-chambered gate and casemate walls were quite imposing, as was a huge shaft dug 140 feet down into the tell to obtain water.

We also saw ruins of an older Canaanite palace complex, and an Israelite occupation level that included a winepress to which curators have restored elements that had rotted away. Baskets of olives would be placed on a stone with a round groove cut into its surface. A stone was put atop the baskets, and a pole set into a wall behind was put over that. Stone weights were then hung over the pole, gradually squeezing oil from the olives. A drain cut into the stone ran to a jug set into the ground below.

From Hazor we drove through the Huleh Valley and into the Golan Heights, where we stopped at an overlook near the former Syrian city of Quneitra, destroyed in 1967 during the Six Day War. The area is now part of a U.N.-mandated buffer zone between Israel, which captured the Golan Heights during the war, and Syria, which still calls for the land’s return.

We drove through several villages of Druze people, adherents of a secretive religion that broke away from Islam in the 11th century. In the village of Mas’ade (not to be confused with Masada in the deep south), we stopped at a Druze-owned restaurant for a lunch of delicious falafel sandwiches or a “Druze pita” – a tangy treat made from smearing soft goat cheese and olive oil mixed with hyssop onto a very thin, tortilla-like flat bread, folding it up, then heating it over the flat oven on which the thin bread (I didn’t learn the name) had been baked.

Our afternoon began at Banyas, originally called Panyas, the site of ancient cultic worship to the fertility god Pan, who was often associated with goats. Pan was worshipped in a large natural cave above a spring that is one of three sources of the Jordan River. Nearby is the “Temple of the Sacred Goats,” where goats were sacrificed. Ancient traditions hold that the pagans who worshiped Pan would occasionally through babies from the cliff above the grotto into the water below.

In the first century, Herod Philip (son of Herod the Great who had been given charge of the area) built a city there and called it Caesarea Philippi. It was there that Peter confessed his belief that Jesus was “the Messiah, the son of the living God” (Mark 8:27-30). The area is on the slopes of Mount Hermon, where Mark 9:2-13 says the Transfiguration took place. We paused in a shady spot to read those texts, along with Psalm 133, which speaks of the refreshing dew of Mount Hermon.


Our last stop of the day came at Tel Dan, the ancient Canaanite city of Laish that Judges 18 says was conquered by the tribe of Dan, who were ousted from their homeland by the Philistines, and who went in search of a new home. Dan was traditionally the northernmost point of Israelite territory, as Beersheba was considered the southernmost. Thus, to speak of all Israel, we find the expression “from Dan to Beersheba” (Judg. 20:1, 1 Sam. 3:20, etc.). The Dan River, the primary source of the Jordan River (YarDan in Hebrew) rushes through the area like a fluid freight train.
It is clean, clear, and surprisingly cold. It's also delicious.

When the united kingdom under David and Solomon split in the ninth century, the northern king Jereboam established sanctuaries at Dan and Bethel to rival the Jerusalem temple, so Israelites would not have to go into Judah to worship. We visited a large temple complex in Dan that dates from the Israelite period, and many scholars believe it is the location of that temple, where a golden calf was said to have been installed and worshipped (the metal frame in the picture shows the estimated size of the horned altar).

In the lower picture, our guide (Doron Heiliger) is explaining things to group members who are sitting on the steps leading up from the altar (at right) to the “bema,” or high place, at left. Nothing is left of the temple atop the bema but its foundation. Presumably, it would have been the location of the building that housed the golden calf.
Throughout most of the books of Kings, Israel’s kings are judged entirely on whether they allowed the worship of the golden calves to continue, or whether they tore down the high places. Most of them were judged very harshly.

We reflected, in a gathering time after dinner, that despite the proclamation of the gospel, so many people continue to put their faith in false gods – and Christians are among them. We were challenged to a faith that remembers and worships the one true God alone.

[For earlier travel blogs from Israel, see below.]

From Jaffa to Megiddo

Forty-two students, alumni, faculty, and friends of Campbell University Divinity School embarked on a tour of Israel July 6. For the next several days, I’ll be tracking our course along the coast, through the upper Galilee, down through the rift valley, and all about Jerusalem. Vicarious travelers welcome!

After a smooth flight with Continental’s non-stop service from Newark to Tel Aviv, we arrived at Ben Gurion airport and met Doron Heiliger, our guide, and Hatem, our driver. Doron had arranged for a nice new 53-passenger bus, giving us room to breathe as we rise.

Though it wasn’t on our original itinerary, our early arrival allowed us to drive down to Jaffa, the port city from which Jonah reportedly embarked on his ill-fated voyage, and the town in which Peter was visiting in the home of Simon the Tanner when he received a vision from God indicating that the gospel should be carried to the Gentiles.

We saw the exterior of a house claiming to be that of Simon the Tanner, though no part of it dates to anywhere near the first century. We also enjoyed a beautiful view across the harbor to Tel Aviv, home to about three million.
From Jaffa we drove through Tel Aviv and up the coast, past the new (as in non-biblical) cities of Hertzeliyya (Israel’s high-tech version of Silicon Valley) and Natanya, stopping briefly at a small mall for a lunch of falafel sandwiches or schwarma (felafel is made of ground chickpeas and fried like hush puppies – green on the inside). Both were served in pita bread with hummus and a salad mix.
At Ceasarea Maritima we had a short devotional time and visited the Roman theater built by Herod the Great when he constructed the city between 22 and 9 B.C. It was to Caesarea that Peter was called to visit with Cornelius, and there that the Spirit was poured out on Gentiles as well as Jews (Acts 10).

After his arrest, Paul was held prisoner for two years in Caesarea. While there, he spoke before the governer Felix and the visiting king, Festus (Acts 24-27). It's possible that it could have taken place in the theater.

We also saw the remains of Herod’s palace, now partly underwater, and a hippodrome (track for horse and chariot racing) built along the shore and also partly lost to the water. In the photo, Herod’s palace would be to the left, the hippodrome is to the right, and straight ahead are the remains of a Crusader castle with a modern restaurant built atop it.
Near Caesarea we also stopped to see remnants of an aqueduct, once four miles long, that provided the city with water from the Crocodile River. A similar aqueduct (two large clay pipes were atop the structure) brought water along a six-mile course from the slopes of Mt. Carmel.
Having flown through the night, our travelers were growing weary as we made our final major stop of the day at Megiddo, from which we could see a glorious view of the Jezreel Valley, Israel’s breadbasket for thousands of years.
Megiddo itself is a tel (an artificial mound) built up as 25 cities were built and rebuilt on top of each other. It lay at an important juncture in the Via Maris, an ancient highway leading from Egypt northward. At Megiddo, one could go north to Tyre, or east to Damascus and on to Mesopotamia. Whoever controlled Megiddo controlled the highway. Thus, it has often been the site of conflict, and it's no wonder that John imagined it as the scene of world-ending battle: "Armaggedon" is from Hebrew "Har Meggido," the mountain of Megiddo.

On the impressive tel, Doron led us through a four-chambered Canaanite gate that might date from the 16th century B.C., and up the hill to a six-chambered Israelite gate that is often called Solomonic, but may have been built by Ahab in the ninth century, a few years later than Solomon.
Megiddo also boasts an ancient Canaanite high place, a large round altar made of stones, reached by a set of built-in steps. Many animal bones were found there, indicating that it was used for sacrifices. High places, where gods like the Canaanite El, Baal and Astarte were worshiped, are often condemned in the Old Testament.
Megiddo also has a large granary dug into the ground and lined with stones, dating from the reign of Jeroboam II in the 8th century, B.C. Originally, the structure was covered: two sets of stairs lead down from either side so people could go up and down at the same time.
Megiddo is famous for having “Solomon’s stables.” Though these may also date to a slightly later period, there are a series of stables, each containing a sequence of mangers and hitching posts carved from stone.

One of the most memorable features of Megiddo is its massive water shaft, leading deep beneath the ground to where a 200-foot tunnel was chiseled through the bedrock to a spring outside the city walls. The spring was then covered up and its presence hidden, so residents would have a safe source of water even when under siege.

By the end of the day, my boots had both had blowouts (apparently, old age caught up with them, and the heels disintegrated), and our crew was uniformly exhausted. We settled into a very nice hotel at Nof Ginosaur, about five miles north of Tiberius on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee.

Tomorrow will be another big day: hopefully our intrepid travelers will be more rested, for we have much to see in Galilee.

CBF Houston in review

My earlier posts from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's General Assembly in Houston were mostly news oriented. Here are a few personal reflections on the meeting ...

(1) Attendance was down, as expected, but not as bad as it could have been. I think it's unlikely that CBF planners will set another meeting for the July 4 weekend, and for good reason. Still, more than 1,600 persons participated, which was encouraging, given the circumstances. As the host state and a fairly strong CBF state, it would have been surprising if Texas had not had the most registrants. As usual, North Carolina had the next hightest number present. Look for double the number of participants when the General Assembly comes to Charlotte next June 24-25. North Carolina clearly has the strongest state CBF organization, and will be good hosts. The location will make it easy for CBFers from surrounding states to attend, as well.

(2) Financial support for CBF continues to be disappointing. The Southern Baptist Convention's income is down a few percent for the year, and the North Carolina Baptist State Convention was down more than 15 percent through May, but CBF national's income has been about 20 percent below the approved budget. Participants approved a $16.1 million budget that's $400,000 less than the previous year, but officials noted that they'll continue operating on 80 percent of approved expenditures unless income improves. For CBF supporters, that's depressing.

(3) On a related note, I continue to be troubled by the lack of support for missions through CBF. In the early years, folks really rallied behind the missions program, in part because they saw it as a preferred alternate to the SBC's International Mission Board, which had switched to a less holistic strategy that focused almost entirely on direct evangelism and church planting. In recent years, however, it's been all CBF could do to support missionaries already on the field: almost all new appointees are either self-supporting or raise their own support directly. That was true of all six personnel appointed this year. It would be a great joy to see mission support increase so that other folks who are waiting in the wings can be appointed and get to the work they feel called to do.

(4) Evidently, planners listened to feedback from previous years: worship services (except for the missionary commissioning service) were a more reasonable length than in some past meetings, generally lasting a bit more than an hour. I continue to wish meeting planners would re-incorporate the missionary appointment into the Thursday or Friday night service. Having the service on Wednesday night, often at an alternate location, adds trouble and decreases participation. The service this year was well done and I enjoyed visiting the beautiful sanctuary of South Main Baptist Church, but perhaps twice as many could have participated if the commissioning had been incorporated into the main meeting.

(5) Overall, the meeting was uplifting and the fellowship, as always, was a blessing. Let's hope next year's meeting will be even better, and that CBF churches will commit to a budget that allows the organization to flourish rather than just maintain.

Coming up: I'll be traveling in Israel with a group of students, alumni, and friends of Campbell University Divinity School for the next ten days. During that time I'll be blogging when I can (hopefully daily) from the Holy Land, posting photographs and highlights from our visit. I hope readers back home can vicariously enjoy the trip with us. Those who choose to follow me on Twitter or RSS can get a notice whenever new blogs are posted.

Hummus and falafel, here we come!

Bits and bytes from Houston (updated)...

July 3 -- Moderator Jack Glasgow, pastor of Zebulon Baptist Church in Zebulon, North Carolina, presided over a smooth business meeting Friday morning. The budget report, nominating committee report, and strategic goals were all adopted with no discussion or visible opposition.

Hal Bass, a professor at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark. is moderator for 2010. Christy McMillin-Goodwin, associate minister for education and missions at Oakland Baptist in Rock Hill, SC was elected as moderator-elect, to serve in 2011.

Coordinator Daniel Vestal’s annual address focused on things that he believes hold CBF together. Vestal said Fellowship members share a common vision, common values, a love of freedom, congregational connections, participation in God’s mission to the world, and the providential grace of God.

CBF's budget for 2009-2010, presented in a morning business session July 2, calls for $16.1 million, $400,000 less than the previous year's budget. Due to a 20 percent shortfall in income during the first eight months of the fiscal year, CBF has been operating on a contingency plan of 80 percent of budgeted spending since March. Officials said spending would continue at 80 percent of the newly approved budget through fiscal 2010 unless income improves.

Registration for the 2009 meeting was at 1,637 persons as of Friday evening, compared to a total of 2,050 at last year’s meeting in Memphis. Holding the meeting on a holiday weekend, as predicted, had a negative impact on attendance. Registration should be considerably higher next year, as the meeting will be held in Charlotte, NC, on a more traditional date: June 24-25.

Host state Texas registered 780 participants. North Carolina had the second highest number at 194, and Georgia had 146 persons present (these numbers update and correct a couple of incorrect figures in an earlier post).

In a speech delivered at a dinner for Associated Baptist Press, Baptist historian Bill Leonard noted that the conservative reshaping of the Southern Baptist Convention began 30 years ago in the same city, when Adrian Rogers was elected president of the SBC at the 1979 Houston meeting. Leonard noted changes in Baptist life since that time, including the fragmentation of Baptists and numerical decline even among Southern Baptists, a decline that will become more precipitous in coming years.

As the number of Baptists decreases, and as younger Baptists feel less and less connection with denominational entities, the outlook for Baptists could diminish considerably by 2050. "If Baptist identity to be carried beyond mid-century," Leonard said, "it must be reformulated - immediately."

Baptists must decide if they want to continue the dissenting position of their ancestors, at the risk of being outsiders, or whether they want to be in the cultural mainstream, Leonard said. Baptist pioneers of the 17th century invented religious pluralism, he said, and current Baptists should understand and say what that means: it's not syncretism or tolerance, but a belief that everyone has a voice that grows from their own conscience.

Leonard discussed the challenges of postmodernism and the importance of building connectionalism through new technologies and media. In the end, however, he said Baptists in America are now compelled to learn what Baptists worldwide have known for four centuries – how to live into and out of a minority position, learning to rediscover a witness in society from the minority, even if it does not prevail.

Worship on Thursday evening featured lively music from the Missouri City Baptist Church Mass Choir and was led by younger speakers who offered theme interpretations in support of the annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Offering for Religious Liberty and Human Rights.

Newsblog: Missions entering a new age

HOUSTON – Advocates of Christian missions must recognize that doing missions in the 21st century is a far different enterprise than it was even a few decades ago, Rob Nash told participants in a commissioning service for six new missionaries affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Speaking to a full house at Houston’s historic South Main Baptist Church for the July 1 service, Nash recalled what it was like getting off the boat in the Philippines as the son of a missionary couple in 1964. Once per year, he said, his parents traveled to a phone booth in Manila and placed a short long-distance call to family back home.

The isolated nature of mission work in those days had more in common with the 17th century than with now, said Nash, who is CBF’s global missions coordinator. Noting the multi-functionality of the globally capable cell phone he now uses, Nash said mission strategists need to do the same kind of thinking that brought technology from a rare operator-assisted long-distance call to the multiple capabilities of an Internet-enabled cell phone.

Missions advocates are faced with several realities, Nash said. While the world once had large areas that were completely unevangelized, Christian people can now be found almost everywhere. Mission strategists can no longer rely on old methods alone because Christians in the global church are also standing at the global missions table, he said, and “We need to listen to them.”

Finally, Nash said, the greatest missions resource is found in congregations who are also finding their place at the missions table, and “nothing could be more significant.”

Looking down the road, Nash said, mission strategy will be less centralized, and will involve more self-sustaining networks of passion-driven churches, individuals, and partners, networks that focus on particular areas or ministries and stand on their own. “We’re called to think outside the box,” Nash said. “How far out of the box are we willing to think?”

Four of the six missionaries commissioned during the service will serve in North Carolina.

All of the newly commissioned personnel will serve as “As You Go Affiliates” who either earn or raise their own financial support.

LaCount Anderson will work along with churches in Scotland Neck, NC, where he will develop and support ministries to homeless, near homeless, and other poor residents in northeastern NC.

Cecelia Beck, who previously served as a Global Service Corps missionary in Toronto, Canada, will work in Shelby, NC. In affiliation with “Northeast Shelby Weed and Seed,” she engages in social ministry designed to help communities collaborate to prevent and control crime and improve their overall quality of life.


John and Michele Norman live in Four Oaks, NC, where John is pastor of Four Oaks Baptist Church. The Normans, who have adopted two children from China, will work to develop a network of U.S. individuals and churches to pray for, financially support, and actively participate in the work of CBF in China.

The Sichuan China Ministry Network, which focuses on ministry in the Sichuan Province of China, was also featured during the service. The network of churches and individuals includes South Main Baptist in Houston; First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, TN; Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta; and CBF field personnel Bill and Michelle Cayard, who serve in the Sichuan Province.

Christy Craddock, who recently completed a two-year appointment as a Global Service Corps missionary, will continue to serve through “Touching Miami with Love,” a ministry center in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood, one of the poorest areas in Florida. Craddock said she felt led to continue with the ministry, which local supporters will help to finance.


Gabe Orea, a native of Mexico City, will work in partnership with registered churches in China, focusing on building relationships and ministry with the most neglected and least evangelized people in the city of Xiamen in the Fujian province.

Newsblog: Getting Engaged -- in Church

HOUSTON – Church leaders don’t need to develop new ways of doing church, Albert Winseman told participants in a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-sponsored Leadership Institute July 1: their challenge is in learning how to be the church.

Winseman, who consults with faith-based organizations for the Gallup Organization and is the author of Growing an Engaged Church, said churches tend to use easily measured yardsticks like attendance, membership and giving as indicators of success. It’s more difficult, but more relevant, to measure specific outcomes of spiritual health, he said. Such outcomes include one’s life satisfaction, service to the community, interest in inviting others to church, and the percentage of income contributed.

Church leaders tend to focus on increasing spiritual commitment, Winseman said, following conventional wisdom that increased commitment will lead to increased engagement. Basing its judgment on responses to nine questions relative to spiritual behaviors and attitudes, Gallup found that just five percent of all Americans and 19 percent of church members are “fully spiritually committed.”

Instead of promoting spiritual commitment in hopes of increasing engagement, churches should focus on engagement first, he said. “If you work on increasing engagement, spiritual commitment follows: belonging leads to believing.”

Engagement is not the same thing as involvement, Winseman cautioned. Involvement measures what people do in their congregations, while engagement measures how they feel about it. Thus, it’s possible to be very involved without really being engaged, or emotionally committed, to the church. It’s also possible to highly engaged without being constantly involved.

Winseman described four measures of member engagement. “What do I get?” is not just a selfish question, he said, but a serious one. People have deep spiritual needs and look for a church where those needs are met. “What do I give?” includes more than financial contributions, Winseman said. It concerns whether church members are given regular opportunities to do what they do best, receive appropriate and timely recognition for their efforts, believe church leaders truly care about them, and receive encouragement to continue developing spiritually.

Church members also want a sense of belonging in church, Winseman said. They want to feel that they are part of a family, that their opinion counts, and that church members are mutually committed to each other’s spiritual growth. Having a “best friend” in church contributes to the sense of belonging, he said.

Engaged members want to grow, and engaging churches intentionally promote growth by talking about it, Winseman said. Engaged members believe they have opportunities to learn and grow within their congregation.

Winseman suggested three strategies by which churches can promote increased engagement: clarifying expectations, creating a culture of affirmation, and focusing on followers’ deepest spiritual needs.

People like knowing what is expected of them, Winseman said, but many churches are unfocused in that area. If only 34 percent of a church’s members say they know what’s expected of them, he said, their congregation would be in the top 25 percent.

Expectations should be simple, memorable, and specific, Winseman said, citing a church that promotes five expectations: “worship, grow, serve, give, connect.” The expectations, along with a clarifying sentence for each, are listed in the weekly bulletin.

The struggles that nominating committees have in filling slots is familiar, but Winseman cited another church that emphasized the importance of each position by listing “job postings” and encouraging members to “apply” for up to three positions. In response, the church had more applicants than positions.

A culture of affirmation involves more than just periodic recognition of individuals from the pulpit, Winseman said. Effective affirmation gives regular feedback to participants in a way that is meaningful to them, and that comes from all directions, not just top-down.

Over a three-year period, the Gallup Organization asked 10,000 people to name leaders who had influenced them, and to list three words that describe them. When the descriptive terms were compiled, the four words cited most often were trust, compassion, stability, and hope.

Those words hit at the essence of what church members need from their leaders, Winseman said. People are willing to follow leaders whom they believe to be honest, who care about them, who foster a sense of security, and who give them hope for a brighter future.

Thus, Winseman concluded, church leaders who challenge themselves to grow in those areas will more effective in building congregations of people who are not just involved, but engaged and on the road to deeper spiritual commitment.