Greetings and prayers go out to the McDowell-Burgess family this week as I remember one of the most special women I’ve ever known.
Remembering Janie Mae
From the time I was two weeks old until around 12 years old, our home was graced with the presence of Virginia “Janie Mae” Burgess. She was our nanny.
Janie Mae (or Jannie Mae, as some in the family spell it) has been on my mind lately. Had she lived to see her birthday this past Friday, she would have been 95. She passed away last August. Let me share something I posted on my wife’s Facebook page back then:
On Thursday, August 26, a precious lady departed this life and entered the next. Virginia "Janie Mae" Burgess passed away at the age of 94 after having blessed countless families like mine with cooking, cleaning, and most importantly, childcare. Before I could form conscious memories as an infant, Janie Mae was my nanny. She was with us until I was around 12 years old. She cared for my brother and me while my mother was working to help provide for the family. No amount of salary could have adequately compensated her for the blessing she was to us and many other families throughout the many years she lived and worked in the Turbeville/Puddin Swamp community. Her grandson Gregory ("Peanut") and I were classmates, and we even share a birthday. I am forever linked to his family because of the love and patience of their loved one. I stress "patience" because caring for two rambunctious, mischievous boys required the patience of Job! William Gibbons Road is a great deal poorer today because of her passing, but the lives of all who knew her are richer for having known her.
I never really thought of Janie Mae as my nanny. She was just part of the family. I didn’t see her as a nanny because my feelings toward her and our own domestic situation didn’t seem to match the portrayal of nannies on television. Essentially, you had to be wealthy to have a nanny. Or if your nanny was black and your family was white, then it must be just like the characters and plot in The Help. Neither the experience of wealth nor of seeing Janie Mae as a second-class citizen describes the dynamic in our home.
However, sometimes it’s not just those on the outside who don’t understand. I’m sure I didn’t even understand the value and nature of how Janie Mae blessed our family until years later.
Around 2013, my wife shifted from a vocation in the classroom to in-home childcare (“nannying”). Since then, she has worked primarily for three families. I’ve learned a lot by watching her. I’ve learned by interacting with these families in social situations. And as Mckensie has transitioned from one family to the next as their childcare needs have changed, I’ve especially learned a lot about the attachments that develop between children and nannies. They’re powerful, tender, and special.
Mckensie’s experiences have helped form the lens through which I look back now and see what our family enjoyed—but for many more years than the typical nanny. Janie Mae was with us over a decade! Moreover, her connection to our larger family story spans decades.
Our family was honored that someone in her 60s would cook, clean, and yes, sometimes discipline two stubborn boys. I was honored to have grown up with her grandson. I was honored by her family always welcoming me into her home in recent years as her health failed and they cared for her. I was honored that my dad was asked to give a eulogy at her funeral.
Her unique speech pattern echoes in my mind. The culinary traditions she brought into our home still surface now and again. Her perseverance through her health challenges and the struggles of her own family sticks with me. And an expression she was known for lingers: “If it is the Lord’s will, it will be alright.”
Every childcare arrangement is different, but no arrangement that truly works is without patience, compassion, humility, and affection.
Thank God for nannies.
Is that Revitalization?
Recently I joked with an older friend about his expertise in church revitalization. He had been invited to speak on the subject at an association meeting in my area, and I told him I’d be happy to come and hear him since he had been pastoring a church for more than five minutes. We laughed, but in that kind of knowing way when both parties understand the subtext.
I don’t joke about this cynically. I trust that God is teaching all of us about renewal in various ways. But I do think that Christians aren’t that different from unbelievers in this specific respect: we tend to hop on certain trends without fully understanding them, and we tend to find human mascots for pet causes who we can crown as resident experts.
Naturally for us to identify anyone as an expert on any topic requires we get very specific and clear about the subject at hand. I’ve written a bit on church revitalization elsewhere, so I don’t want to rehash those thoughts entirely. But let me provide a brief excerpt here to clarify how I see this subject:
Church revitalization is an effort to renew and reform a local church. It presupposes that (1) an existing church has previously experienced a recognizable, generally acknowledged period of sustained vitality and growth; and that (2) this church has since experienced a sustained period of decline in spiritual commitment, growth, and/or effectiveness, such that attendance, conversions, and/or membership have decreased. To put it simply, a church has to have once been healthy or “vital” (from the Latin vita for life) in order to say that it needs re-vitalization. A church may not be spiritually healthy or vibrant, but if it never has been, then a more fundamental problem exists….Revitalization, then, is a ministry for churches experiencing a discernible, sustained pattern of spiritual decline, demonstrated numerically, attitudinally, and organizationally. Revitalization attempts not simply to replicate a previous era of the church or to reinvent the church so that it appears vibrant. Church revitalization requires biblical wisdom to assess the actual condition of a church and humble faith that God will use His means to revitalize a church.
Is it possible for churches to become stagnant for a season, but regain their enthusiasm? Absolutely. It is possible for a church to have one distinct weakness that can be gradually improved upon? Of course. Is it possible for an incoming pastor with lots of new ideas, including a new mission statement, to generate excitement? You bet. I don’t think, however, calling any of these three scenarios “church revitalization” is useful in our current ministry environment.
First, a hasty assessment communicates to others in difficult situations that they're merely one or two steps away from being revitalized. Second, premature labeling may ignore more fundamental weaknesses and declines in the ministry that haven’t truly been addressed. Third, we haven’t even considered perhaps the truest measure of the health and stability of the church: how well it fares when the current pastor (“revitalizer-in-chief”) departs. Presumably a truly revitalized church wouldn’t descend into chaos just because of a pastoral transition, especially if leadership development and unity were priorities during his tenure.
I’ll be writing more on this topic in future days, but I simply want to inject some holy, prudential caution into our discussion of revitalization. My aim isn’t to discourage those seeing God move. Rather, I want to encourage us to use our words carefully and be slow to make sweeping claims and assessments. I believe this approach will help us steer clear of a way Satan commonly sabotages ministries, which is when we yield to the temptation to declare victory too soon.
Currently Reading:
The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision by Erika Bachiochi.
Tax season is upon us—a season of dread, yes. But also a season of obedience: “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” (Romans 13:7, ESV).