The Presbyterian Leader

What are we doing right?

A Presbyterian Leader post by Peggy Hinds

What are we doing wrong? Ask this question to any pastor or church member and you will get a long list of reasons for the decline in Christianity in the U.S. People are more than happy to expound on the trials and tribulations, the poor quality of leadership, and the lack of commitment of members.

Yes, we are losing members, we have become less relevant to the rest of society, and yes, there is much room for improvement.

For this post, I want to focus on another question: What are we doing right?

Researchers, like Diana Butler Bass, have studied churches that seem to be doing well. As she reminds us in her newest book, Christianity After Religion, Bass lists three shared characteristics in “successful” congregations: enacting justice, hospitality, and prayer. As I was rereading these attributes, I was reminded of another list of three from another prophet  -- a prophet whose list is much better known than Bass’s, at least by Bible readers.

Micah 6:8 reads, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  Let’s put these two lists side by side:

        Micah                                                                    Bass
        Do justice                                                              enacting justice
        Love kindness                                                        hospitality
        Walk humbly with God                                            prayer

Churches that Bass found to be thriving were churches that are carrying out God’s requirement to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. How they are doing this takes many forms. You can read some of their stories in Bass’s book, Christianity for the Rest of Us.

We have several congregations in Mid-Kentucky Presbytery that are doing this. The one that first came to my mind is Portland Avenue.

PAPC, as we call it because Presbyterians love initials and acronyms, is a small congregation in a poor, urban neighborhood of Louisville. Several years ago, they started an outreach program that included a clothes closet, food pantry, tutoring, and Bible study. They have since added other services, such as affordable counseling. A huge part of this ministry is advocacy for the people of the neighborhood. They work in partnership with the local police, politicians, and other civil services to improve the community. They are enacting justice in tangible and measurable ways.

The worshipping community is open and welcoming to whomever walks in off the street. The Sunday service is traditional except that the liturgy is projected onto a screen and the current worships space is open and “exposed” to passers-by. Since a fire destroyed the old church building, the congregation bought an old grocery store and, with the help of many generous donors, now have “church” in space shared with the outreach ministries, and within easy access for folks in the community. They view their neighbors as an extension of the congregation. Their kindess and hospitality extends beyond the walls of their building.

PAPC is a praying congregation. Most of the members are over 65 years old, but they are youthful in their fervency in prayer and faith, as well as their energy in serving Christ by serving neighbor. The pastor, who is the most often the public face of the church, always lifts up the prayers of the congregation, the many supporters from other congregations, and the community as the reason they have been able to do all the ministry they do. Yes, the financial support enabled the new building and the outreach, but prayer has been the foundation of the vision and actions of the church. They are humbled by the grace of God and the generosity of God's people. As they love to recite, "God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good."

This is just one story. There are many others. As I sit in my hotel room in Pittsburgh where the General Assembly meeting begins tomorrow, I share these thoughts in the hope that as leaders we will spend much more time sharing stories of what we are doing right, and less time complaining about what we are doing wrong.

Contagious Excitement

A Presbyterian Leader blog post by Andrew Taylor-Troutman.

A young couple visited our little church one Sunday, stepping through the vestibule as inconspicuously as possible with their five children in tow...which is to say, everyone immediately noticed them. A member of our choir later remarked, only half-jokingly, that their entrance should have been accompanied with the Hallelujah chorus.

Like many mainline congregations, we want young families. We dream of the days of old when Sunday school classes and Vacation Bible Schools were brimming with children. But I am telling you this story because it is more about the present than the past. This difference is due to the fact that the young family did not so much want to join as they wanted to lead.

She was from a mainline, high church background, while his family tree was heavy with Pentecostal Holiness fire-breathers. Unapologetically, they explained their rationale for attending our church: they wanted a compromise. But while willing to meet in the middle on some doctrinal issues, they were uncompromising in their desire for our church to provide an afterschool program for middle school children. Sitting in my office one afternoon, they became more and more adamant about the need for a safe, nurturing place for youth in our community.

As I listened, the Hallelujahs grew fainter and fainter. I wanted them to join as much as anyone, but was keenly aware that they were talking about a lot of extra work or, as we say around here, being as busy as a stump-tailed cow in fly time! Patiently, I explained that we would need to form a commitee...they suggested we meet the next evening! I recommended a sign-up sheet for volunteers...he pulled one out of his pocket! This young couple was rather bold and insistent to say the least. I thought wearily, What are we getting ourselves into?

Our church hosted middle school students every Wednesday afternoon. The participants included children from our congregation; but at the urging of our newest members, we reached out to several families in our immediate neighborhood that had never been to our church and, without this invitation, probably never would.

The rest of our congregation stepped up to this ministry with their time and resources and ideas. We perfected the art of the grilled cheese sandwich and invented an indoor, rainy day game called “Broom Ball.” When students finished their homework with the help of tutors, other volunteers encouraged them to write and illustrate cards for people recovering from surgery or helping to repair a home damaged by a tornado. I was right about one thing: it was a lot of extra work.

One Wednesday evening, our newest member picked up the youth in her large family. They ran to her, joyfully describing their afternoon at church. But her eldest held back to pitch me his idea about continuing our gatherings through the summer.

“What do you think, Mom,” he said while turning to address the real authority, “Could we have summer camp here at church?”

She made sure I saw her smile: “Well dear, I don't know. But wouldn't that be exciting?”

Hallelujah.

Fix it.

A Presbyterian Leader blogpost by Erika Funk

Today I saw a girl wearing a shirt that said “I have.  I can.  I will.”  The shirt reminded me of an article I read about the impact of Title IV 40 years after its passing.  The good news is the non profit world is flooded with intelligent, well educated and passionate young women who think they can do anything.  Which is all very anti-Disney-princess-empire except that despite what Blue the dog has said you CAN’T do anything you want. 

Last week one of our summer interns was working on something for evening worship that involved some wood and a hammer.  He was working in the empty lot next to our church.  As he was pounding away a young girl about 8 years old walked up to him and asked “do you fix broken things?”  Apparently she assumed a man with a hammer in an abandoned lot in the middle of the city might have a plan and the ability to fix things. 

As Tim was telling me about this encounter I was eagerly awaiting a response that I expected to be along the lines of “I have.  I can.  I will.”  Instead he humbly told her no, he wasn’t very good at fixing things.  Not a very pastoral answer, I thought.  Surely this girl needed some good news, a good word – man, even just a good deed!  Why not encourage her belief that we can help each other?  Why not lead her to believe the church is a place you can come for healing and wholeness? 

But he said truthfully, no. 

Keisha, a name I’m giving her, told Tim that she had walked here with her grandmother so she could pick up her mail.  Our church offers our mailing address to about 400 people who might not otherwise have a place to receive mail.  We see a lot of disability checks, medical bills and occasionally a personal letter (but not very often).  Keisha’s grandmother had been in the hospital recently after being hit by a car.  Her leg was severely injured so Keisha had to push her grandmother in a wheelchair on a hot June day.  I had a lot of questions about Keisha at this point.  Was her grandmother her primary caregiver?  Who took care of Keisha while her grandmother was in the hospital?  How did she manage to push her all this way?  Why did she need our mailing address? Was this little girl now the caregiver for her grandmother?  Who was caring for Keisha?  None of my questions were answered. 

On Thursdays have a lunch for anyone who is hungry.  In addition to a meal people can also receive services such as clothing, personal care items, therapeutic arts and mending.  Our menders come in each week to fix broken zippers, torn jackets, hem pants – any sort of clothing repair.  More than once someone has entered the mending room and asked “Can you mend broken hearts?”  Our lead mender Barb has said “no, but you’re in a good place to start healing.” 

Being a leader means you often have to say “no” when you really want to say “yes”.  As pastoral leaders we know why we too often say “yes”.  We want to feel needed, we want to save, we want to believe that God can fix broken things.  We want the church to be meaningful in people’s lives.  We tell people “come here to be healed, come to be made whole.”  It doesn’t sound much different from “let us fix you.”  And despite all the massive damage that has been done by the church trying to “fix people” there is still a line around the block of people who think we can do it. 

But we can’t, and I admire Barb the mender and Tim the intern for saying “no.”  They did not say “no” out of apathy or hopelessness.  They were simply being humble and honest. 

As leaders we hardly ever want to say “no” especially when we so desperately see the hurt and want to help.  As General Assembly approaches we’ll listen to many leaders who we hope will have a way to fix us.  Get more young people, do more mission, save more money, be more biblically literate, increase membership, increase tithing, generally fix everything. 

I hope some of them will say “no”.  No, I haven’t.  No, I can’t.  No, I won’t. 

When are the right times to say no and how can we still love one another when we can’t fix what’s broken?  

 

In the boat with Jesus

A Presbyterian Leader post by Peggy Hinds

Rev. Wayne Steele was speaking to our presbytery’s Planning and Visioning Team (formerly known as the Council) last night. Referring to the story of Jesus calming the storm, he commented that some of us on the boat feel like we are going through Hurricane Katrina. We worry that we will not survive. The good reverend reminded us that we are on the boat with Jesus. We need not worry.

My husband Mark asked a question on his Facebook page:  “What if the ‘change’ everybody’s experiencing is only anxiety?”

Most of us accept that we experience anxiety on a regular basis. Sometimes we do not recognize the stress our minds, hearts and bodies go through as we live and work in anxious systems. Even when we think everything is fine with us personally, these systems breed anxiety. We wonder why we are tired, why our neck and shoulders feel tight and sore. Anxiety affects us even when we think everything is okay.

Some anxiety is normal and healthy. Our bodies react anxiously for good reasons. Chronic anxiety, however, is not healthy. Could Mark be right? Is all the change we are experiencing these days merely chronic anxiety? Or, is the anxiety a result of the rapid and chaotic change? I think there are many things that contribute to the anxiety of our churches, nation and world. Certainly, the economy has a lot to do with it.

The Good News that Wayne pointed out, is that we are not in the boat alone. Jesus, who commanded the storm, “Peace, be still,” accompanies us through the chaos, the rapid change. Add “with Jesus” to the old saying, “we’re all in this boat together.”

What did Jesus offer the disciples in their time of fear and high anxiety?

• He was a calming presence. Yes, he had the power to calm the storm. However, it was not just the weather that he calmed.
• He had authority in his words and in his presence. The authority came from both who Jesus was, and whose he was.
• He had compassion. As soon as he was awakened, he responded to the need of his disciples.
• He showed faith in his disciples. His question, “Where is your faith?” presumes two things: they have faith, and that through faith they could have discovered how to get through this storm.

As congregational leaders, we have the opportunity to follow Christ’s example.

• In an anxious system, leaders can be, and need to be, a calming presence. Anxious leaders make for anxious followers. Calm leaders bring calm to the system.
• We, like Jesus, have authority, both in who we are and in whose we are. Our authority is to lead, not to lord over. We do well to remember that we are called to be servers of God before we can be leaders of God’s people.
• Compassion is an essential for church leaders. A Ruling Elder once told me, “Your people want to know how much you care before they will care how much you know.”
• Strong leaders believe in those they lead. They believe that their people have faith to sustain them, and the ability to follow the call God has for them. Sometimes leaders may need to name that for their folks.

We are all in this boat together, with Jesus. We have what we need to see our way through the storms of anxiety and rapid change. Where is our faith?

 

Changing Faces of Leadership

A Presbyterian Leader blogpost by Tim Cargal

A recent opinion piece in the Washington Post (William H. Frey, “Baby Boomers Had Better Embrace Change”) helps to quantify why our rising leaders within the Presbyterian Church not only must be but also certainly will be more diverse.

The article drew attention to a Census Bureau report “that white babies are, for the first time, a minority of all births” in the United States. It went on to point out that those who are part of the American Baby Boomer generation may see this change when they look out at their children and grandchildren playing in schoolyards, but they have not truly come to grips with this development because it differs so markedly from their own experience with their peers. As the author put it, “A generation that once expressed distrust for anyone older than 30 is now itself isolated from a younger, far more diverse America.”

Why are Boomers so isolated from their children and grandchildren’s experience of diversity? “Part of the reason is that boomers grew up in an era when immigration was at its nadir. From 1946 to 1964, the share of immigrants was at the lowest level in the 20th century, and most of the immigrants were white Europeans. … Today, immigrants are 13 percent of our population, and they are far more diverse. … Among Americans older than 50, 76 percent are white, and the black population, at 10 percent, is the largest minority.” Contrast that to “those younger than 30, [where] 55 percent are whites. Hispanics, Asians and other nonblack minorities account for 31 percent of that age group.”

Already we are seeing the impact of this change within the church. At the close of 2011 the racial distribution reported by teaching elders (both active and retired) within the PC(USA) was as follows: 68% white male, 20% white female, 6% Asian, 3% black, 2% Hispanic, and 1% other. Compare that to the distribution reported by inquirers and candidates: 36% white male, 44% white female, 9% Asian, 7% black, 3% Hispanic, and 1% other. Strong majorities of both teaching elders and those in preparation for that ministry are over 30 years of age, so it is not surprising that they are not as diverse as the under 30 segment of the population; nevertheless, the trends toward more diversity are unmistakable.

Cross-cultural proficiency will be required of all leaders in a society where there will be no cultural majority. No group will be able to assume that others should acculturate to their way of seeing the world or of ordering life, because everyone will be interacting with multiple cultural worldviews and customs. Would-be leaders who expect uniformity with themselves will have no followers. If their experiences of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s inclined Boomers to see American diversity in “black and white,” those born since the 1980s see the world in a continuum of hues. And let’s face it: that is a much truer vision of God’s creation.

 

"But MY Bible says . . . "

A Presbyterian Leader blog by Byron Wade

 

[image: Savio Sebastian]

There is a great possibility this will happen to you - 

You have just given a great sermon and as you are standing at the church entrance greeting people after service most people say "Great sermon, Rev." However there is a person who has come up to you and has either an issue with what you said in the sermon or didn't agree with your interpretation of the scripture. Or you may be leading a Bible Study class and in the midst of the discussion on a difficult topic a person disagrees with what the scriptures actually mean and say. In both of these cases you may hear the oft-used and time-honored phrase, "But MY Bible says . . . " or some type of variation on this ("But THE Bible says . . . ", "But the Word says . . . ", etc.). When this happens people tend to become tongue-tied and have a hard time keeping the discussion going as we tend to become embroiled in biblical interpretation from various versions of the Bible.

Often when we speak of church leadership the focus tends to be on how to become a better spiritual leader, or how to become better at Robert's Rules of Order, or knowing the ins and outs of denominational polity and its processes.  However my purpose today is to focus on the teaching ministy of Teaching and Ruling Elders whether you are a solo pastor, Commissioned Ruling Elder, or an Ruling Elder who leads a Bible Study group in your congregation. I have leaned a lot from my days working toward obtaining the Master of Arts in Christian Education from the Presbyterian School of Christian Education (now Union Presbyterian Seminary - yes, this is a shameless plug!) in Richmond, VA that I continue to use in daily in ministry.

I am currently leading a weekly class on "Sexuality in the Black Church" in the congregation that I serve. It has been enriching, challenging and most of all a great learning experience for all of us as we seek God's direction in discovering who we are as sexual beings created in God's image. The challenging part is the different biblical interpretations from various versions of the Bible and long-held beliefs that have grown out from that experience. Below I'm offering a few tips of what has worked in my situation that I hope will be of help when you face the question "But MY Bible says . . . " :

Share with them how their Bible came to be - Many people believe the Bible came straight from God's mouth to human ear to written word and that's it in a nutshell (some years ago at a national conference I actually had two male youth tell me that the King James Version was the "original version" of the Bible). Not exactly. The Bible that we have today has been edited and translated many times over from documents, sources and manuscripts over various centuries - of which none of the original documents exist. In addition, each version of the Bible was written by scholars of various theological beliefs with various Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic language sources. I taught the class the difference between Formal Equivalence versions (word-for-word translation) like the King James Version (KJV) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV); the Dynamic Equivalence versions (thought-for-thought translation) like the New International Version (NIV) and the New Living Translation (NLT); and Paraphrase (or Free-Translation) versions like The Message Bible and The Living Bible (LB). One of the ways people can know the origin of their particular Bible version is to read the Preface section. It will tell you who, what, where, why and how their Bibles came into existence. Some were written by scholars who wanted to uphold the inerrancy of God's Word. Other Bibles were composed to be the best in modern biblical scholarship and so on. It's all in the Preface.

Study the history, context and culture of the text - There is nothing worse than people using scripture quotes that are totally out of context to satisfy a particular belief. In order to understand a biblical text, one has to study the history, context and culture of that world. Who are the people involved? Where are they from? Why is the text placed in its particular biblical location in relation to the verses before and after? What is the culture of that day? Commentaries or historical books like Life in Biblical Israel have that information. Or you can read the introduction to any of the Biblical books as well.

Do Word Studies - Every now and then it's good to do a word study for a particular word or phrase to get the full meaning. Remember word studies will not be the panacea to solve textual issues but can give you greater clarity of what it means and how it is used. Lexicons such as Brown, Driver and Briggs or an Exhaustive Concordance with a lexicon can be of great help.

Remember you are all learners - I am a great believer that each of us are lifelong learners. Just because one has a degree or position of importance does not mean that you know it all and are unwilling to listen and learn from others. Make sure that the voices of others are heard. Create space for people to share openly and honestly. Understand that others will have disagreements. Acknowledge that you don't have all the answers. Above all, do not seek to convert people over to your belief or opinion. Present the information truthfully and straightforward and let people see where God is leading them. 

Would I tell an eighty year-old woman that her Red Letter King James Version which has kept her in faith through discrimination, broken relationships, raising a family on her own and hard economic times is no longer relevant? Of course not. Neither would I tell a new person to the faith with the latest and up-to-date Bible version something to devalue their faith either. No matter what version of the Bible we possess, none are perfect or better than the other. But we do know that God reveals God's self through God's Word as we discern scripture in community with others. I hope this helps you lead God's people in teaching God's Word to others!

[image: Brett Jordan]

Changing Habits

A Presbyterian Leader blog by Peggy Hinds

“If organized religion has become less relevant, it’s not because churches have held fast to their creedal beliefs; it’s because they’ve held fast to their conventional rituals, roles, and routines. In other words, the problem with organized religion isn’t the ‘religion’ bit, but the ‘organized’ bit.”

This quote comes from chapter 5 (Becoming an Enemy of Entropy) of Gary Hamel’s book, What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation.” His assertion is that the Church, like other institutions, is stuck in an organizational paradigm that keeps us from moving forward in a time of constant and rapid change. It is not our message that needs work. The message is timeless. Our way of doing “business” is what is holding us back.

 Rev. Watson Blake once said, “Bad habits are like a comfortable bed; easy to get into, but hard to get out of.” For many mainline Christians, our way of “doing” church is habitual. A habit is something that is done repetitively to the point of becoming unconscious. The way we worship, educate, fellowship, and serve has been practiced into habit, one might say a bad habit.

This crazy, wild ride of change in which we now find ourselves invites us – implores us – to evaluate our rituals, roles and routines. In order to be resurrected into the church we are called to be today, we need to let old habits die. Everything we do as an organization is subject to critical examination. No part of the institution is sacred.

This work needs to be done on every level of the Church, from the local congregation to the national denominational structure. Hamel states, “To thrive in turbulent times, organizations must become a bit more disorganized and unmanaged-less structured, less hierarchical, and less routinized.” He offers suggestions for moving from our habitual ways into a more missional and relevant ministry.

1. Be humble. “In a world of discontinuous change, arrogance is a mortal sin.” Can we, on every level of the Church, be self-critical, and gracefully accept the critic of others? Can we put our own jobs on the line for the good of the Kingdom?
2. Be honest. Listen to the dissidents and innovators in our midst. They have something to teach us. Because habits are unconscious, it is sometimes difficult for us to see what needs changing. The dissidents among us, and the critical outside observers offer new perspectives that can help us identify needed changes.
3. Keep the mission paramount. “It is easy, over time, to elevate form over function and confuse programs with purpose.” The purpose of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel, not to maintain itself. Mission means “sent.” We are a people called to be sent into the world to bring good news, give voice to the voiceless, and work for reconciliation and peace. We are not called to be catered to, or programmed to death. We get enough of that from the rest of society.
4. In addition, I suggest that we have as many purposeful conversations as we can, and really listen to one another. As leaders, we want to know what our parishioners’ deepest passions and most profound questions. What matters most to them? Where is God calling them to engage in the world? Along with serving their worship and pastoral care needs, let us keep them in prayerful discernment that leads to action. Create opportunities for dialogues about faith, current events, and mission. I believe these kinds of continual conversations will help us break old habits, and move us from “doing” church to “being” church. 

“As institutions mature, the positive thrust of mission diminishes and the pull of habit strengthens – until one day, the organization can no longer escape the gravitational field of its own legacy,” writes Hamel. “We need to remind ourselves that it’s impossible to build adaptable organizations without adaptable people – individuals who are humble, honest, and inspired. These are the human roots of renewal.” Adaptable people can change their habits.

If one wants to lose weight and become healthier, she changes her eating and exercise habits. It takes a lot of practice and determination. Likewise, if we want to become healthier and more relevant churches, we need to change our habits.

What are the institutional habits that need to change in your ministry setting in order to move from doing to being?

Jeremiah's Ducks

A Presbyterian Leader blog post by Andrew Taylor-Troutman.

I spent last week at the Montreat Youth Conference working with the Jeremiah Project. The “JPs” consist of selected youth from across the country interested in developing leadership skills for ministry. In the past, the program appealed to those with a flair for the dramatic to enliven the morning keynote addresses with skits. This year, there was an intentional shift towards direct involvement in worship. Each and every night, the JPs would lead the liturgy from the opening call to worship all the way through the prayers of the people. The next day, I gathered with them for reflection, Bible study, and prayer.

I thought these teenagers were awesome; literally, I was in awe of what they were doing. When I was their age, speaking in front of 700 people would have been like trying to fly around the rafters of Anderson Auditorium! About half of them were introverts as well; but far from viewing their task as impossible, they truly rose to the occasion. Their growing sense of comfort was markedly noticeable: as the week progressed, I watched their shoulders loosen and heard their voices grow stronger.

This is not to claim, however, that the butterflies ever left their stomachs. One morning during our small group session, I gestured to the ducks swimming around Lake Susan. While they appear calm to us, their webbed feet are kicking like crazy underneath the water! Likewise we try to appear collected and cool during worship but, deep down, our insides are churning. The youth liked this metaphor; they started calling their group, the Ducks, complete with hand gestures and calls.

The official name of the group is derived from the call narrative of the prophet. When God appoints Jeremiah to speak to the nations, he initially protests that he is too young. Ah, but he’s not let off the hook that easily: “Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, ‘Now I have put my words in your mouth’” (Jer 1:9, NRSV).

Leading worship should make anyone nervous. The idea that the God who created the heavens and the earth has decided to use you to proclaim a message to others is not only humbling, but represents an awesome responsibility. Perhaps those of us who write and lead liturgy on a regular basis sometimes lose our sense of awe. With repetition comes familiarity, and I worry if the weekly order of worship comes too easily for me.

Towards the end of the conference, Rev. John L. Bell (of Iona fame) empowered the JP Ducks to write their own prayers of the people. He gave them a prompt, “O God, we pray for a future in which…” and asked them to provide one or two sentence prayers.

How would you complete that sentence? I could rattle off several visions in a hurry. But would such statements speak to the hearts and minds of those gathered for worship? Would they whisper, "Yes, that's what I was thinking and feeling"?

I watched with pride as the “JP Ducks” labored over their prayers. They wrote and re-wrote, debating over each word choice with one another. As a result of hours of work, their one sentence prayers were absolutely stunning, both personal and global in scope. They prayed with an eloquence that touched the bottom of the worshippers' souls and left us…full of awe. And so I prayed, “O God, thank you that the future of your church is now.”

Building a Plane While Flying

A Presbyterian Leader blog post by Theresa Cho.

Growing up, I used to hang out with my dad at the airport. This wasn't the kind of airport that you go to when catching a flight. This was a small airport where airplanes were built and tested. My dad was a mechanical engineer and part of a team that would experiment with new materials and technology when designing an airplane. My favorite days to hang out with my dad were the days they tested airplanes. Most often the plane would take off. The crowd of engineers and their families would ooh and ah. The plane would coast for a while, but eventually something would go wrong and the plane would have to make an emergency landing.

Although a plane crashing is never a good sign, for my dad and his fellow colleagues, it wasn't a sign of failure. These take offs and "landings" provided vital information on what worked and what didn't; and what needed to be tweaked and scrapped. There was genuine enthusiasm watching these planes because for them it was about trying something new and seeing where it would go.

I recently moderated a presbytery meeting where we were taking a vote to approve our new Presbytery Pastor. This was a big deal because we had been without an installed executive presbyter since 2005. Not only that, but this was our third attempt at calling someone for this position. One of the challenges is that the presbytery of San Francisco was in a transitional place: staff restructures, budget revisioning, church dismissals - just to name a few. When searching for a Presbytery Pastor, it became clear that years of experience as an executive presbyter didn't equate to having the ability to move this presbytery forward during this particular time. We were looking for someone with particular skills and a particular point of view.

Our now newly elected Presbytery Pastor recently described this time in the life of the presbytery as "building a plane while flying." Being a daughter of an engineer that image resonated with me. So much of what is happening in the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. denomination is in flux. New denominations are being formed, churches are leaving, and middle governing councils are restructuring - and yet we are still called to move forward, to make changes, to envision, and to adapt in a time that is uncertain. We are called to build this plane while flying.

Where once it was required for our leaders to have a vast amount of experience in certain things, leaders of today need to have the confidence in their ability to go with the flow and adapt accordingly. Where once it was necessary for our leader to be "fearless and strong," leaders of today need to have the temperament to collaborate and work as a team player, sharing the responsibility of the task at hand. Where once it was assuring that our leaders know where we are headed, in these uncertain times, it is more assuring that wherever we are headed, we can trust that our leaders are capable of providing guidance, support, and tools to thrive.

Last week, I was a part of training the 220th General Assembly Committee Moderators, Vice-Moderators, and leadership. I shared my own experience as a committee moderator, where members of my committee would test me to see what kind of a leader I was. Some would make it clear that they were gurus of Robert's Rules of Order. Some made it a point to inform me that they too were moderators of their own presbytery. And some sat back waiting to see what I was made of and all about. What I shared with them is that it's okay if there are those that know Robert's Rules of Order better than you. It's okay that there may be people more experienced than you. What is important to keep in mind is what they really are wanting know is whether you are the type of leader that won't get flustered when things get out of hand, is flexible when the path isn't quite clear, or knows who to go to when things come to an impasse. Can you build a plane while it is flying?

One of the things I learned by watching my dad is that a leader isn't successful by whether the plane can actually fly. A leader is successful if they are able to learn, adapt, and build confidence in others in their ability to journey with them in a process of figuring out the next steps. 

How are you at flying?

 

The New Jim Crow and Leapfrogging the Plank

A Presbyterian Leader blog post by Emily McGinley.

 

I have recently begun reading The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. This is a book that I kept seeing pop up on my Facebook feed. And, if it wasn’t on Facebook, it came up in conversations or other articles. It was one of those books that I knew I should read, like Don Quixote and Guns, Germs and Steel (both on my bookshelves, both unread…sigh). I even knew that I wanted to read it. But, the fact is, I knew it was going to be a hard read; one of those reads that, once you’ve learned what’s there, you can’t unlearn it. So, when my church offered it as an option for a summer small group study, I knew it was time.

So far, I’ve only read the first two chapters (It’s only the beginning of summer!), but I have to say: I already feel a harrowing sense of dismay about the powers and principalities at work behind systemic racism. I mean, I already knew some things about systemic racism, both on a personal level – how it de/formed my immigrant mother’s approach to raising her bi-racial children in the United States – as well as a corporate level – the economic and social disparities along the racial hierarchy. What I didn’t realize was the extent of it. That 1 in 3 young African American men is currently under the control of the criminal justice system – in prison, in jail, on probation, or on parole – is astounding to me! That ninety percent of those admitted to prison for drug offenses are either Black or Latino is almost laughable. Am I the only one who has seen Dazed and Confused?

Ms. Alexander deftly unfolds the history of the circumstances that led to these kinds of numbers, beginning with the Emancipation Proclamation on through the War on Drugs and other modern-day realities. The new Jim Crow, she points out, is the social reality of any Black person who has been incarcerated. “Through a web of laws, regulations, and informal rules, all of which are powerfully reinforced by social stigma, they are confined to the margins of mainstream society and denied access to the mainstream economy.” The social structure that upholds this kind of stratification is what Michelle Alexander calls a racial caste, noting the U.S. cultural bias against any individual who cannot seem to pull their self up by their own proverbial bootstraps. The problem, of course, comes when one is equipped with bootstraps of the flimsiest kind. From lack of opportunity to poor education options to poverty, the cards are already stacked against a large percentage of African Americans in the U.S. Add to that the stigma of incarceration and all of its attending social accoutrements; one begins to think that 24601 had it pretty good.

So, what does this have to do with church leadership anyway? Well, I couldn’t help but wonder aloud to my small group: Why is it that a goodly number of churches are more than willing to commit themselves to the financial and social equity of people from around the world – going to all the trouble of organizing Fair Trade Bazaars or raising funds to help those affected by a natural disaster – but somehow unable to recognize the tragedy and near-genocide of a population that is being lived out right in front of its face? Now, I am not speaking against Fair Trade efforts or helping out those who have suffered a great deal because of natural disaster; those are all very powerful embodiments of the gospel!

However, I am having a hard time seeing why our efforts seem to leapfrog right over a plank that is so clearly obstructing our vision. The only thing I can think of is that we are unwilling to delve into so difficult a conversation. What are we afraid of? That the stone will roll away to reveal a corpse? Who are we, if we are not a people who can face death – even the death of our own privilege (racial, economic, social – you name it) – in light of the promise that an even more astonishing resurrection lay on the other side? Can we, as leaders of the church, look into our hearts and believe that we are really seeking the fullness of being for all of God’s people with so many lives turning to ash? I do not have an answer to these large issues that Michelle Alexander brings forth (she discusses how some are addressing them here), but I do believe that God honors our faithful, humble, and courageous efforts toward a shalom reality.