We are exploring how a presbytery might help her churches in remembering who they are as the called people of God. As I talk to different clergy, I’m always amazed at the unique ministries that they often are engaged in. One church I talked to had developed a ministry of collecting old furniture, reconditioning it, and providing it to families caught in disasters. Another very small church, less than 10 at worship, had chosen to respond on a regular basis to a program in their presbytery that fed hungry children in North Korea. A third developed their own version of a hospice ministry in a special building attached to their congregation. The list could go on.
I think there would be an affirming value in a presbytery regularly lifting up the special ministries of the churches in their region and celebrating it as liturgy, the work of the people lifted in praise to God. By asking churches to identify such ministries, it raises to their own consciousness some of the work that they are doing, and by celebrating it together, it binds the churches together as the one Body of Christ.
Another version of that would be to challenge each church to consider one special ministry that they feel called to explore. At different presbytery meetings, several churches could be asked to bring their ideas of a ministry and ask for prayers as they develop it. Having voiced their idea, others might have experiences that could help them. Again you would be building a sense of what makes us a called people of God.
