We Fearlessly Follow the Holy Spirit Into a Changing World: Guidelines
At our September meeting of Presbytery Phil GebbenGreen and Jin S Kim presented the proposed Strategic Plan for PTCA. Thanks to both of them for a spirited presentation. We will be voting on the plan at our meeting on November 9th at First Presbyterian Church of South St. Paul. Over the next two weeks I will write three blogs to offer my thoughts and understanding of the proposed plan. I hope these will be helpful and informative, especially for those who did not attend the September meeting.
The title of this article: We fearlessly follow the Holy Spirit into a changing world, is the new vision cast by our Strategic planning group. This group of a dozen elders and clergy were carefully selected to be representative of our Presbytery. They worked very hard with the help a trained consultant to identify the values and guidelines of our life together, as well as the vision and goals that will direct our actions for the coming year.
I want to speak first to the guidelines. By looking at the things that recently went well in our presbytery and then the things that recently went less than well, we were able to identify the lessons learned and establish guidelines for future action. The guidelines in effect instruct us on how to conduct ourselves in order to be as successful as possible.
The guidelines that the Strategic planning group identified and prioritized as the most important are:
Worship God in Christ
Recognize each other’s humanity
Consistently acknowledge, confess, lament, and celebrate
Nurture relationships
Risk trust
One of the things that has become clear with the increased emphasis on worship at Presbytery meetings is the reinforcement that Presbytery is a part of the Body of Christ, in fact it is church for our clergy members. It is vital for Presbytery to have a meaningful worship life in our gathering. In order to be effective in our work together we need to worship together as the foundation of our relationships. If we are to be effective in anything we do it must always be within the context of Worshipping God in Christ. (What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. sic The Shorter Catechism)
The recent history within PTCA indicates that because of the intense level of discourse over theological differences, personal relationships have suffered. There are a number of people who feel they are not respected or even recognized as children of God because of differing opinions on theological matters. Whatever the true feelings of various people might be, the perception that brothers and sisters in faith do not honor their colleagues is an indication that PTCA needs to be much more intentional about recognizing each other’s humanity. For our presbytery to move forward proclaiming the gospel and performing mission we must know that the persons with whom we work shoulder to shoulder respect us and cherish the gifts we have to offer.
The third guideline put forth by the plan indicates that we must be consistent in acknowledging the good and bad things that take place within our bounds or meetings; confessing when something has not gone well whether within the context of Presbytery, accept responsibility and seek the forgiveness of God and our colleagues; lamenting the causes and/or effects of problems, mistakes, or unfortunate incidents so as to properly identify and avoid them in the future; and to celebrate when good things happen or an important lesson is learned.
We are a connectional church living in an age of increased isolation. If we are to be effective in our mission to the world we need to nurture relationships so that we can lean on one another for support and so enhance the mission of all our congregations and ministries.
Finally, the plan calls on PTCA to risk trust. There is no doubt that we live in a difficult time within Christian history. Our beloved church is in the midst of a great transition that is leading us into unchartered waters. Many of the certainties that have served us in the past are failing us today, it is critical that we risk trusting one another in order to find stability. This is no an easy task given the recent history within our presbytery, yet it seems clear to the planning group that this is vital to our future.
There you have them, the guidelines for our life together as we seek to be the Presbyterian Church of Jesus Christ in this time and place. On the surface they sound elementary, yet they can go along way to strengthening PTCA into a body that can do amazing things for God in our world.
In my next blog I will address our values and the proposed new vision statement.
The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area: We will fearlessly follow the Holy Spirit into a changing world.
Chaz
PDF Category: Chaz Ruark's Blog, Executive Presbyter
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Thanks, for the blog, Chaz!
Keep encouraging us to live into this strategic plan. A lot is at stake in it!
Keep up the good work
Paul Moore
“acknowledging the good and bad things that take place within our bounds or meetings;confessing when something has not gone well whether within the context of Presbytery, accept responsibility and seek the forgiveness of God and our colleagues; lamenting the causes and/or effects of problems, mistakes, or unfortunate incidents so as to properly identify and avoid them in the future; and to celebrate when good things happen.”
When (and where) do we change? see Acknowledge, Confess, Lament and Celebrate. Do we want to change our bad behavior or merely acknowledge it and massage it?
And will we open this forum to general discussion about this? Or will comments that challenge continue to be deleted?
My two cents…
Kristine
I was at the last presbytery meeting and participated in the small group discussion after the vision statement presentation. Thanks, Phil and Jin for the enthusiastic introduction! My frustration: the small group didn’t have enough time! For awhile, I was taken aback at all the push back, and some domination of time by visitor rather than commissioner participant(s). Wondered if some of the negativity came from lack of trust? When there’s negative response, we need time to hear the person out, but also have some way to see if we can find common ground to move ahead. When we can unpack the words, even not having been part of what sounds like a very moving process for those involved, then perhaps we have a chance of buying into it more. Wondering how this can happen in a conversation/debate on the adoption of the statement at the Nov meeting??
Thanks Anita for your comments. I too was angst by the lack of time. First in the small group conversation about the strategic plan. And then during the commissioners reports. I was a commissioner and was last to report. Everyone was exhausted and many had left the meeting. Perhaps the strategic plan might allow us to name priorities for our meetings. And give time to those matters. For full conversations – the challenges and the joy. I hope for more time with both of these agenda items.
One comment about title of the blog “fearlessly follow the Holy Spirit” – I believe we would be wiser to follow the Holy Spirit with a bit of fear – and a lot of grace!
Thanks for all the hard work on the future.
Some of us are no longer “active” in Presbytery by choice. Some of us wish to be active, but are ignored when we volunteer – hence, we too are “inactive.” And some of us have been insulted, offended and are excluded by the “regulars” of the Presbytery. I hope that the new strategic plan has specific tactics and steps (as well as bench marks to measure success) for inviting us back – irrespective of history or past prejudices. I’m with Anita – make certain you provide plenty of time for Presbyters to discuss and learn about your process.
Hello, I was not at the September meeting but wanted to add my slice of pie to the mix. My great concern is that there is no mention of inclusiveness in this over-arching commentary. Perhaps that’s coming…? There was no mention of accessibility of worship services at Presbytery meetings or other events hosted by the presbytery. I am a member at large in this presbytery and one of my self-determined resolutions is to speak my mind with as much candor and love as possible. If, as a member of the presbytery I cannot count on at least a substantial effort by worship leaders to provide accessible formats and other means which make worship inclusive for everyone, I regret this. For many, watching a screen in order to read, respond or reply to questions as we are an aging community of leaders and I do not believe such actions are proper ways of helping to promote community. I thank God that I have NO vision because I need not strain to see what others strain to read. What a waste of energy! Yes! I believe in a greener and more sustainable world so I pray that all of the paper either printed by attendees or by presbytery is duly re-cycled. As a professional woman with a disability, it’s difficult at best, to secure some of the resources I need. Thank you for the blog, for the chance to respond and for the next bold and fearless epistle by our EP. My reply will come in braille and that’s a promise, not a threat…and I celebrate it!
Wondering what the “next step” is for the larger Presbytery? Any actions to anticipate?