Rekindling Vision in an Established Church.
The prophet Joel said old men would dream dreams. What about old congregations?
Dennis Sawyer
January 1, 1984
The warmth of the autumn sun through the bedroom window aided my mellow reflection. Sunday afternoon naps were a luxury of this interval in my life. I had resigned a productive but stressful pastorate ten months before to slow down, do some thinking, and await further direction.
The phone rang. I reached across the bed to answer it.
Eric Pearson introduced himself as an elder of Philadelphia Church in Chicago, two thousand miles away, and then inquired whether I would be interested in candidating for the position of pastor.
I took a deep breath. "Before I answer that, Eric," I replied, "I need to ask two questions. First, are you planning to stay in the inner city or move to the suburbs? Second, if you opt for staying, are you willing to make the necessary changes to reach the community for Christ?"
"I can answer both of those now if you like."
"Actually, I'd prefer an official response from the church leadership," I said. My insistence grew out of what I knew about this particular congregation. It had begun under the name Filadelfia F"rsamlingen in November, 1925, in a storefront building three blocks south of Wrigley Field. A haven for Swedish immigrants, it had named itself after the mother church in Stockholm. For the first fifteen years, almost all its services were in Swedish.
The church had grown steadily, made the transition to English, moved into a large building easily seating seven hundred-and filled every seat. But in more recent times, things had changed. An average Sunday morning was now less than 200. The neighborhood was still called "Andersonville," but as you walked along Clark Street, the few remaining Swedish bakeries were widely separated by Korean, Thai, Mexican, Japanese, and Lebanese restaurants. Senn High ...
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