In an effort to beat the unbearable mid-afternoon heat, lately we have tried to get off as early as possible. This morning 5am rolled around, and we found ourselves getting ready in darkness. Gradually a hint of color appeared in the east, and lit our morning preparations of packing tents, inflating tires, and breakfast.

By 6:30am everything was stowed away, and the bikers were stretching and going over final route planning while avoiding large swarms of gnats that seem to hover in a cloud by the vehicles. The birds over the river also seemed to swarm as they darted in and out feasting on insects.

As a photographer, I love what is called magic hour, that is the hour around sunrise and sunset, because the lighting is always the best. There is something magic and awe inspiring about the sun poking over the horizon, casting streaks of red and radiating a glow as the world around me wakes and comes to life. I’m thoroughly enjoying my role as the trip photographer because it gives me time to notice and enjoy God’s awesome creation as we move across the USA.

For lunch, the group met at American Falls, Idaho. While we didn’t see any falls, we did stop next to a huge reservoir which is the water source for the massive irrigation systems we’ve been riding past. They say that without this water, we would be in desert land. The soil is very fertile, and with consistent watering produces excellent yields.

We arrived at our final destination around 3pm in Aberdeen, Idaho at First Mennonite Church. The church facility was very impressive. Evidently at its peak, they had around 350 regular attendees in the days when Aberdeen had a prominent Mennonite presence of farmers drawn to the massive tracks of irrigated land. In the past few decades, however, the agricultural trend has made it harder for small farms to be profitable and massive farms are taking their place. With no local opportunities, young adults are moving out of the community.

Church attendance has steadily declined, and today they have around 40-70 on a Sunday morning in building that once held 350. This decline seems to be the trend in the rural areas we have visited so far. What is the future for church communities where current farming trends have shrunk local Mennonite populations to the point where it difficult to financially maintain large church buildings and church camps? Is there potential for growth? Two options that were joked about were to haul more Mennonites into the area, or have more kids (who would probably end up moving out anyways).

Perhaps a more viable and Christ-centered solution is to look at the local non-Mennonite community, and ask, how can we create a meaningful environment for them to experience God’s love and welcome them into our congregations? I interviewed interim pastor Dave Stutzman, and he shared that they were asking this question. He said that there is a large Hispanic population in the area, which happens to be one of the fastest growing groups in the Mennonite church. But to engage such an undertaking requires CHANGE. And change is a difficult and long process. How do we maintain tight knit communities and not compromise values such as hard work, pacifism, and other important traditions that we have grown up with?

On our journey, that is one thing we have been challenged to examine. How does tradition work in needed change? What are core values in our Christian faith, and what traditions should we be willing to give up if it can bring more people to Christ?

My home congregation has been looking at church growth, and is studying Dan Southerland work. One of Dan’s central question for churches is, “Why do we do church?” Is church about me? A place where I worship in a way that is comfortable to me, and a social environment that I fit into? Or is church about reaching the unchurched? Creating an environment that is welcoming, and makes a significant effort at reaching out to the spiritually hurting community around us (yes this requires more effort on our part then making our annual contribution to MCC). But I believe this is a critical question we must ask ourselves. Why do we do church? Because if we are serious about reaching young adults or anybody who has left or has never been in a church community, then suddenly our own worship style preference isn’t nearly as important as reaching them.

Again, I want to be clear that I am not talking about compromising core Christ-centered beliefs. Instead the challenge is to figure out what those core beliefs are, and be willing to change or revaluate the current way we do church to share Christ and reach beyond ethnic Mennonites.

Tonight we had a refreshingly different conversation time with First Mennonite. Typically our conversation time has been a gathering as a larger group where we invite the church community into an open conversation. Instead, tonight we split up in pairs (and one group of three), and had a shower and dinner hosted by local families. Personally I very much appreciated the Mennonite tradition of fellowship over a meal (what would happen if we did with our neighbors as well?). Timothy Shenk and I visited the Hege family.

Carl Hege grew up in this congregation which is around a century old, and shared the Mennonite history of the area, and how that has changed, and become predominately Mormon. He also spoke about their current search for a pastor, and how the interview process was complicated by the distance from Mennonite hot spots out east. One excellent idea he presented to me (since I do video work) was that he wanted to do a short video documentary on his church and town of Aberdeen to send out to prospective pastors, and they in turn to send a short video about themselves. Flying several candidates to Idaho is not financially possible, so video would be a practical way to narrow the search process. This idea also highlighted how easily congregations in the remote west can become disconnected from our eastern “Menno-Meccas”.

To close out the day, our group met back at the church. Tonight was “vision statement” night. Each one of us brought our own personal vision for BikeMovement. Common themes were:

• intentional listening
• a safe place for conversation
• personal spiritual grown
• a wider movement/action in the church
• this trip as a model for what it means to live in a community of Christ seekers through the transparent sharing of our own faith journeys, and learning to relate to each other in the face of adversity and conflict

This is a poor summation of the awesome conversation we had about our differing visions and hopes for BikeMovement, but these where common themes that I observed. In the next few days we hope to develop a concise statement that will help focus the group.

~ Denver Steiner

Posted by Denver Steiner

This entry was posted on Friday, July 21st, 2006 at 7:25 pm and is filed under Trip06. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.