Hans Dahl: Church By the Lake?

An amazing thing happened when we decided to take church TO the people, instead of expecting them to come to us.

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By Hans Dahl

On Memorial Day weekend, the congregation I serve, Calvary Lutheran Church in Alexandria, MN, opened for in-person worship for the first time in 14 months. On the Sunday we opened, we welcomed over 1,000 people to worship, which included over 800 people who attended a unique service we call “Calvary at the Lake.” This can only be described as a “holy spirit” thing, because our average summer attendance prior to Covid was 600-650.

We navigated the ups and downs of the last year and closure like all congregations, but in retrospect there is something about our leadership’s approach that was unique: We took an approach to our COVID closure that matched what we want to be known for in our community.

Let me explain. Two questions informed our decision making in relationship to returning to in-person worship: 

1) By opening, are we responsibly keeping the people in our community safe, or are we potentially contributing to the problem in our community? 

2) If we open now, will we be able to create a worship experience that people would be eager and excited to invite their friends, family and neighbors in the community to?

Notice, our decision-making wasn’t based on questions like: Can we gather under recommended guidelines? How will finances suffer if we don’t open? Will members leave if we don’t open? How do we please the most people?

The focus of those two criteria for regathering was: How do we be for our community? This question guided our decision-making during COVID, because it’s a question that has become deeply rooted in our identity at Calvary. And, honestly, it’s a critical question every church leader, council member and congregation member needs to ask. Let me give you an example.

Calvary at the Lake

Alexandria is located in the heart of Minnesota lakes country. During the summer months, people flock to the 351 lakes in our county to escape the city, woop it up, let loose and find some respite from their Monday-Friday grind. The population in Alexandria is officially 13,500, but some have suggested in the summer it swells to 50,000-100,000 on weekends as people enjoy the chain of lakes all around us.

Back in 2012, we asked: How do we be for our community in those summer months? Knowing our community is flooded with people who are unchurched all summer long, how do we be for them? 

We go to them.

In 2012, the Executive Director of Luther Crest Bible Camp, Dave Holtz, and I put our heads together and did a little dreaming. Luther Crest has a prime location on the chain of lakes here in Alexandria. Together, we asked: Where is our community on weekends in the summer? They are at the lake. So what would it look like to take church to our community? We cooked up an idea for an outdoor worship service that was designed specifically for people who are visitors to our community in the summer. It would be an experience for unchurched lake lovers that would never assume people knew the ins and outs of church life. It would be fun and energetic. You’d be able to boat to church. We’d serve brunch. We would create an experience for our community.

We launched “Calvary at the Lake” in 2012. The first year, we raised some eyebrows, averaging just 50-100 people each week, but word got out. Today we gather 550-850 people each Sunday morning on the shores of Lake Carlos for worship. And it’s growing.

This is what happens when the work of the church rests on that critical question: 

How do we be for our community? 

If what we’re doing isn’t for the community, why are we doing it? 

Reality for the Church

It’s generally accepted that 70% of most communities are home in bed on Sunday morning and unengaged with a faith community. Likely, in our post-pandemic world that number is higher. The 70%+ is who we are called to reach. How do we mobilize our entire congregations to be for the 70%?

In an article by Luther Seminary’s Dwight Zscheile titled, “Will the ELCA Be Gone in 30 years,” he suggests that if current trends continue the ELCA will cease to exist within the next generation, declining by 98% in membership and attendance over the next 30 years. Key in that statement are 4 words: if current trends continue. We can change this by clarifying “Who are we for?”

Here are a few questions for you and your leaders to ponder:

  1. Who do you believe your church is for in your community?
  1. What do unchurched people in your community think of your church? Do they know you exist?
  1. Who specifically do you have in mind when your church leadership makes major decisions?
  1. Are you willing to put the faith and needs of those who aren’t in church over the faith and needs of those who are?
  1. What is one concrete decision your leadership could make that would begin to shift your focus—being for your community?

About the Author

Hans Dahl is the lead pastor at Calvary Lutheran Church in Alexandria, MN. He’s passionate about spending time with his wife, Katie and their two boys. And he’s committed to sharing the Gospel in unique ways in order that a next generation might know the love and hope of Christ.

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