Technology has provided us with a means of engaging more participants in our conversation about church and in this case about the future of presbytery. Following the presbytery experience described yesterday, what about getting the email addresses of a random sample of clergy and elders who were at that meeting and inviting them to a further conversation via email?
To get good response, the nature of the conversation needs to be manageable in this busy age. It also should be by invitation. Your random sample should be contacted and asked if they would be willing to engage in a brief exchange reflecting on the ministry of the church through the presbytery.
Explain that you are asking them to be part of a larger conversation of how God might be calling churches to minister together in the presbytery. Share with them the list from the presbytery meeting about important work the presbytery can do if it exists in the future. Ask them to simply note which of the activities could strengthen the witness of the church as a whole and which do not seem as important.
Next ask them to write a brief paragraph about how they view the importance of Presbyterian congregations working together in ministry and what might happen if churches lost their sense of connectionalism and all acted as independent churches each doing their own thing.
Finally, ask them to respond in terms of their own understanding of how God would want the churches to relate to each other in ministry.
The conversation will take on power if some type of summary of the responses is compiled and shared with the presbytery as a whole. If diversity of opinions is evident, that should be noted and the question asked of the value of people with different understandings working together.
