THREE BEGINNING STEPS
I think there are three initial steps that you need to think about.
STEP ONE
Does the presbytery leadership have a passion for being proactive in reaching out to the churches of your presbytery and strengthening our connections with each other. If you are the presbytery executive, then you need to answer this for yourself. If you are a pastor active in the presbytery, you need to explore this with those on the staff. Is this worth becoming a priority for the limited energy of an already overworked staff.
step two
Next you need to develop a vision for what you are seeking to accomplish. This should be a vision that is beyond a sociological understanding that it would be nice if churches worked together. We are a church and the theology of our action matters. You are attempting to express a large enough truth about the witness of the church that theologically diverse churches could agree on. I would suggest John 13:35 as a beginning spot for your developing this vision –at least in the abstract.You may well identify other passages that are equally effective.
When you are talking to others, can you say in less than fifty words how you believe your faith is expressed in what you are proposing. Some people call this an “elevator speech.”
STEP THREE
Gather three to five top figures in the leadership of the presbytery and see if you can convey your conviction to them about what you are proposing. Tweak the vision according to their comments so that each of you are able to communicate this proposal without hesitation. What you are seeking is to convey a conviction about the witness of the church that Christians, liberal and conservative, will agree is worth discussing further.
A BASIC OUTLINE
The details will be fleshed out in a future blog but the framework is this. The presbytery staff and leadership are going to reach out personally to small groups of churches that are geographically contiguous. You are not going to propose answers but rather you are going to ask them to help you in developing a strategy to strengthen the positive witness of our Presbyterian churches in our society.
You are proposing that the pastor(s) and about three elders from a church gather with a similar configuration from three to five other churches. By having both pastors and elders, you are beginning to build that community among the churches. The goal is to develop together an understanding of how our churches can develop a witness that respects the theological integrity of each church but demonstrates to the society how strong, faithful people and churches can benefit from their differences but work together as a family of faith.
an invitation
I don’t have this all worked out either. I invite you to respond with questions, concerns, and suggestions that I can draw upon in future blogs. If we can work this out, I can’t think of a stronger statement we could make to both other churches and to society than to have people be able to say of us, they each have their differences but “see how they love each other.”
MAY YOUR ADVENT BE BLESSED
