Wondering about…Community Organizing as Congregational Development

I’m getting ready to teach a DMin seminar at Seabury Western Theological Seminary in a few weeks. The topic is the “churchy” side of Community Organizing and as I review what I will offer the participants, I am struck again by how useful this discipline is when seeking to develop a faith community. In Community Organizing speak, Churches are mediating institutions i.e. groups which pass on values and cultural norms to their members. In the past, the Church was a place to harvest and hone leaders who had a sense of responsibility to a wider world than just their family and friends. Those leaders would join with other leaders from other congregations to form the great organizations which could challenge the inequities of our society.

In this day and age, many churches have not passed on that value of striving for justice in the world, being content to care for a more intimate circle and keep the doors open. But the Gospel message is still being proclaimed, and is still being heard. The potential of members in a congregation to be mobilized to impact the world is still great. The value at the heart of the Gospel and in the midst of the sacraments (that God is with us and acting through us) is still vital. Therefore, the teachings of community organizing, their methods of developing leaders and thinking about how we act most powerfully on the values we hold, can be helpful for a congregation which is trying to grow up in its faith and act on its values. I do wonder, however, if this is the kind of “Congregational Development” church leaders want to learn about, or church members want to be challenged with.

My anxiety comes from personal experience of teaching this kind of class before. The issue seems to be that leaders are fine with learning about Community Organizing as something that happens outside the church, which they or some especially “outreach minded” members might want to be engaged in. What they have difficulty grasping is that for a church to grow in spiritual maturity, the questions Community Organizing asks about power and leadership and the world as it should be, must be engaged by the whole congregation…or at least a critical mass of the membership. There has to be a central movement within the church community, not an isolated and easily ignored sub-group, if it is to have any real impact on the development of the Church as a whole. That, I guess, is my dilemma: I hope the leaders of churches will engage in learning the art form that is Community Organizing because I believe it help the Church evolve into the body of Christ which it is called to be. But I wonder…is that what the participants of my class will be looking for? And if not, will I be able to give them a gift they are not asking for?

Wondering about...friendship as the basis for Mutual Ministry

It is common for Ministry Developers to acknowledge that the restructuring of congregations into a Mutual Ministry church, with more shared responsibility, must be based on relationships. I myself have made much use of this concept in drawing distinctions between hierarchical power (Power Over) and relational power (Power With) from the community organizing model. And many theologians point to the partnership commitment inherent in the Baptismal Covenant and the Trinity as models of this relational component. Yet we rarely, if ever, talk about the relationships which we base Mutual Ministry on as friendship.
It seems to me, however, that “friendship” is the particular relationship that the church (as it should be!) is based on. In John’s gospel, Jesus tells his disciples: “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have from the Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15) To be Jesus’ friend, and so by extension God’s friend and friends with each other, holds the promise of trust and intimacy which is so necessary for the restructuring of the communal lives of our congregations if they are indeed going to be capable of sharing ministry. Why then do we shy away from talking about the relationships we are building as friendships…and why don’t we emphasize the friendship component between Ministry Developer and church members, Bishop and staff people, and all the various hierarchical levels which can be redeemed only by friendship?
Perhaps it’s because, in the context of the Last Supper, friendship is much more than the comforting intimacy which we have come to expect in hymns such as “What a Friend I Have in Jesus”. For those of us who know the end of the story, this invitation to friendship took the disciples through the darkest nights of their souls…through the experience of fear and betraying and onto martyrdom. Their journey into the unconditional love of God, into the very heart of Christ, was not easy. And if Jesus is our model of friend, we must look at him on the bank of the Sea of Tiberius cooking breakfast for those who have denied and betrayed him, and even now have trouble recognizing him. Yet Christ’s friendship does not waiver. He reaches out to them, still inviting them to, “Follow me”.
Perhaps the question for the Church community is: Can we be such friends? The question is twofold: First can we be the kind of friend who, faced with our own weaknesses and imperfections, is willing to swallow our delusion and pride and try again to follow where Christ is leading, (to trust ourselves)? And, can we be the kind of friend who, after disappointment and desertion, can return with unconditional love to befriend a weak and imperfect being, (to commit to trusting others)? The ability to hold each other accountable for sharing ministry in congregations and in dioceses depends on the answers to these questions. I wonder if we are ready to ask them…..

Wondering about endings and beginnings

I like beginnings better than endings. In the past, I have been able to successfully focus more on the new job and community I’m going to than stewing too much on long good-byes. The transition I’m going through now is different though. I left my position as Canon for Ministry and Congregational Development for the Diocese of Wyoming on Friday…but I’m not leaving Wyoming. In fact, I’ll be staying in the same city while trying my hand at writing another book and beginning a consulting business (Companion Way…but more on that later). I’ll also be teaching a week in Seabury-Western’s doctoral program in June and hope to hook up with EDS’s online offerings at some point. In fact, I have a lot to look forward to, a lot to “begin”. But as I sit at my desk in my office loft, surrounded by files and boxes begging to put away, I am aware that this “ending” has been different and is ongoing, needing attention and care.
Usually, an ending for me has meant a leaving behind. So, moving from job to job I’ve left in my wake lots of unresolved relationships. The best advice the Church has to give priests who are moving on to different pastures is to not call, not go back for a visit, and not keep connections which may make it harder for people of your faith community to form a new relationship with the next priest to move in. While I have colleagues who struggle with or even ignore this advice, it’s always made sense to me. After all, my own need to form new connections and relationships took up most of my emotional energy. But staying in place calls for a transformation of relationships, which is much more difficult. Like most retiring priests, I will take a break from exercising sacramental ministries for a while…but that has not been the focus of my work for quite awhile, so I don’t dread this hiatus. What is difficult is to visualize where I do fit in the faith community now.

My hope is that I can find my place as baptized member and as friend. This should have been my identity all along, but after 30 years of being vicar, rector and canon these other titles have overshadowed and even sometimes obliterated the most central and fundamental relationship I’m called to in a community. No faulting is intended here…both I and others probably bear the blame. But the question lies before me, how to reclaim the most fundamental of identities among people who know me in other ways. I wonder…and I look forward to making a new beginning, here in an old familiar place on the foundation of a good and holy ending.