Claudio Carvalhaes

Last Wednesday afternoon, I had a wonderful conversation with Claudio Carvalhaes. Claudio is Assistant Professor of Worship and Preaching at Louisville Seminary. I first met him at the Louisville Seminary Lunch at the 218th General Assembly in San Jose. After he was introduced, and as he talked for a bit, he walked around the room, casually discarding his note papers as he walked and talked. He was passionate about preaching... and about worship... and about theological education... and his passion was contagious. I had mentioned a little at that luncheon what I was interested in exploring in terms of a different way of being the Church, and he came up to me afterwards and asked me to keep in touch with him. Needless to say, I knew I wanted to spend some time with him while I was in Louisville.

As we were talking, he said something fascinating to me, with which I wholeheartedly agreed, but which I hadn't heard that succinctly before. He said that, in our culture, the enemy of the church is individualism. It is the old adage of "I can do it myself, thank you very much" that is the antithesis of the Gospel where Jesus calls us into community.

I asked him about the Church in Brazil. He told me that the Church there, as the Church here, as the Church in South Africa, inherited the same model from Europe - 1 congregation, 1 pastor, 1 building, etc., etc. However, Claudio said that where the church is growing in Brazil is among the poor. And it is growing among the poor because the poor know that they NEED the church. They need the church spiritually, to be sure... but they also need the church because the church is where they go to find help with jobs, health care, food, for finding the intersection of their stories with God's stories. He then asked me a key question for the congregation that I serve to consider... for ANY congregation to consider: What are people in need of in our neighborhood, and how can we meet that need?

What do we need to do to help people be passionate about the Church and about faith? What tools are we giving people to live passionately about their faith: songs, prayers, liturgy, etc.?

Young Adult Ministry

At the last meeting of the Quad-Presbytery Consortium (April 16), it was announced that the Nebraska United Ministries in High Education, which funds the ecumenical campus ministries across the state, was getting out of the business of campus ministry. However, many of the agencies that have supported UMHE - including the Synod of Lakes and Prairies - continue a commitment to campus ministry. The announcement was that there might well be a possibility that the Synod would be open to funding congregationally-based campus ministries. Since Central Pres. in Omaha is so close to UNO, that sure seems to me to be something we ought to consider.

I mentioned this to Kris Adler, our DCE, before I left for this mini-sabbatical, and we'll discuss this more thoroughly after we both get back from our respective study leave trips. However, moving her position at Central to part-time in order to expand her ministry to include work with UNO (and possibly UNMC) students, seems to be a logical thing to explore... in terms of her gifts for ministry, in terms of the needs that are there, and in terms of the financial needs at Central.

This is one way in which we ought to explore a new outreach for Young Adult Ministry through our church. Another option came up when I talked with Adrian McMullen at the General Assembly offices this past Tuesday. Adrian is an Associate in the Office of Ministries with Youth at G.A. We had a delightful conversation. One area in which Adrian said is a growing ministry around the country in university settings is housing ministry. That is, congregations provide space for university students to live in an intentional Christian community. This might be particularly important to explore with UNMC students, as Adrian observed that ministry with graduate students is a particularly overlooked area of ministry. Is this something that we could do, perhaps even easily, in our existing space on the 3rd floor of our church building? It's worth considering.

Allan Boesak and Africa - part 2

In reflecting more on my notes during lunch with Cliff Kirkpatrick and Allan Boesak, a few more things come to mind to write...

The Uniting Reformed Church in South Africa (a continuing effort to unite the former Dutch Reformed Church in Africa and the Dutch Reformed Mission Church) struggles, as does the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with how best to provide ministers to serve small, especially rural, congregations. Allan said that fully one-half of the rural URCSA congregations have no pastors, and, in some presbyteries, they only have TWO installed pastors in the entire Presbytery! So, they still are looking for different ways to provide pastoral leadership.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that Cliff had suggested I get in touch with Jon Chapman (I spelled his first name incorrectly earlier). Jon now is our Church's Coordinator for Europe/Central Asia and Ecumenical Councils within the General Assembly Mission Council. I was going to get in touch with Jon after I returned from this part of my sabbatical. However, God had another plan... as God so often does, it seems! The day after lunch with Allan and Cliff, I was sitting in the seminary Chapel with my dear friends, Rick and Amy McClain, waiting for the worship service to begin. Amy leaned over to say "hi" to a person in front of us. They chatted for a moment, and then Amy turned to me and said, "Steve, I'd like you to meet Jon Chapman." I love how God makes "coincidences" happen like that! Jon and I chatted for just a minute, and I told him that Cliff suggested that I contact him about the Church in Kenya and their pattern of encouraging elders in their ministries in and with congregations. Jon said, "Give me your email address, and I'll put you in touch with the Moderator and the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa. I know them, and they'll be glad to help you however they can." Wow!

So... clearly... more to follow.