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.

Seminary interns?

Yesterday I had a delightful conversation with Leah Bradley, who is the Director of Alum and Church Relations for Louisville Seminary. Among other things, she was the primary person responsible for putting on the Festival of Theology and Reunion this week at the Seminary, a truly herculean undertaking!

But the conversation Leah and I had was on a different subject. I had a crazy idea, and I wanted to talk with her about it. What about if we formed what might be called a Learning Community in our Presbytery? This is what I envision at present... A few congregations, a few experienced pastors, and a few seminary students who are willing to spend a year's internship, covenant to be an intentional Learning Community together. The students come to gain hands-on experience in pastoral ministry. The seasoned pastors have opportunities to share their experiences and also to learn from the students. The congregations begin to see themselves as teachers as well, offering their faith community as a learning lab for someone who soon will be ordained as a Presbyterian minister.

Leah reminded me that there is a similar program for students who are finishing seminary and looking for a first call - a program called "For Such a Time as This." (http://www.pcusa.org/vocation/residency.htm) However, the program that I envision would intentionally be for people still in seminary. I did an intern year between my middler and senior years in seminary, and, I discovered in our conversation, so did Leah. What we both found was that that experience made our senior years inestimably richer; we knew questions to ask that we otherwise wouldn't have known, we knew things to concentrate on in our studies, and on and on.

I'm excited about the kinds of things this kind of program could offer the Church. It could do amazing things within the life of our Presbytery. It could even be expanded and done within our Quad-Presbytery Consortium (Missouri River Valley, Prospect Hill, Central Nebraska, and Homestead). There is, of course, this minor practical consideration of funding... but I think this could be addressed in some realistic ways without having to get too "creative."

In any case, I certainly want to pursue this when I get back home, and to continue the dialogue about this with Leah. She also mentioned that she gets together with other Field Education folks at the other Presbyterian seminaries, and that some of them might be open to considering this as well. Who knows? The idea just gets more and more intriguing to me!

And for lunch today, I had...

conversations. Okay, I first have to get this out of the way. I had lunch today with Cliff Kirkpatrick and with Allan Boesak. Just the three of us. Sitting around a table in the dining room at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary. I have known and admired Cliff for a few years, and had the honor of introducing him at the annual COM/CPM Training Event sponsored by the Synod of Lakes and Prairies in January 2007. I have followed the life, teachings, and preaching of Allan Boesak for decades. His outspoken, non-violent opposition to the South African system of apartheid was an inspiration to me. To sit at table with him today... to share ideas as brothers in Christ... to laugh together... to shake his hand... it touched my soul.

I described for both of them the thrust of my sabbatical ponderings: i.e., we simply must find a new way of being and doing church other than the corporate model of each congregation having its own building, running its own programs, overseen by its board of directors (the Session), and implemented by its CEO and mangers (the Pastor and staff). When I asked Allan about possible models that we might draw from in South Africa, he shrugged his shoulders. "We are in the same unstable boat as you, because we inherited the same European model of how to be the church as you all did. And we are struggling to find new ways just as you are outlining." So they struggle with the costs of educating their pastors... how small, and especially rural, congregations can ever afford to hire pastors... the necessity of pastors being tent-makers (bi-vocational is the new term for this old, biblical term referring to someone who has a "regular" job that pays the bills, but also serves as the pastor of a (usually) small congregation).

When I asked Cliff what he knew of the Church in the global south, he immediately thought of the Presbyterian Church in Kenya - which, I believe, is the Presbyterian Church in East Africa. He said he knew of a congregation there of 5,000 members... who had one - yes, one - pastor! The bulk of the ministry of that congregation was carried out by the elders. In addition to preaching and sacramental ministry, the job of the pastor there was to train, equip, and encourage elders in their ministries. On holidays, everyone understood that that was when the elders gathered for a meeting of the College of Elders to study, pray, and worship together. Cliff gave me the name of John Chapman, our denomination's Mission Liaison contact person with the church in Kenya. I'll be getting in touch with John soon to follow up on this.

I've thought of something like a College of Elders - or a Lay Institute of Theology - for a long time. Our Director of Christian Education, Kris Adler, and I have talked about this on and off for a few years. Our Book of Order is clear about the responsibility of elders in ministry, and in developing their gifts and calling for ministry. The proposed new "Form of Government" is even more explicit about this. This may be a model worth exploring more.

Louisville panel discussion

This morning there was a panel discussion among the three lecturers of the Festival of Theology: Allan Boesak, Cliff Kirkpatrick, and Kathryn Johnson. Here are some of the things I gleaned from their discussion.

One of the strengths of the Churches that came through the Reformation is that we realize that the Church is not some ethereal, spiritualized, immaterial thing. The Church is the corporeal, lovable, yucky, holy, broken, tangible community of faith. It is the Body of Christ here.

The thing that helped turn around the situation in the Reformed churches in South Africa when they were struggling in the midst of the battles with and against apartheid was when they opened themselves up to ecumenical conversations. It was when they learned from other churches that they were able to make a peaceful transition away from apartheid.

This is at the very heart of what I am attempting to do during this sabbatical study, discernment, and reflection. What are some things that we can learn from other churches... other churches around the world, other churches in our country, other churches in our denomination, other churches in our Presbytery, other churches in our own communities? I'm not convinced that we will find the answer any other place. But I am absolutely convinced that we will find answers that we need. Why? Because I am a Calvinist! I believe in a sovereign God. I believe that the final answer belongs to God. I believe that God is in the midst of our struggles. I believe that God wills for us to be successful in our efforts to be faithful.

What will this answer - or some sort of answers - look like as we discern what shape the Spirit is calling the Church of Jesus Christ to grow into as we move into the future? I'm beginning to envision some models of what this might be, but I don't know for sure. But I do know that God is with us in the discerning, in the journey, and in the efforts. And that is all I need to know for now.

Cliff Kirkpatrick - part 2

A follow-up to something that Cliff mentioned yesterday...

He talked about his observations from visits to Reformed churches throughout the world, particularly in the global south. He said that the churches that are the most vital are the ones who emphasize mission outside of their walls.

The thing that sparked the initial conversations that led to my sabbatical this year was finances at Central Pres. We still struggle, and, in the long run, finances are the reason that we must do something different. That's the reason that most of our congregations must do something different.

However, I'd like to propose a switch in emphasis.... or at least a switch in how to look at the implications of doing something different in our churches. If - no, when - we find ways to do things differently in our churches, by cooperating in terms of buildings and staff and programs and the like, that will free up financial resources so that it will be possible for us to reach out more beyond our own walls, our own needs, our own facilities, to meet the needs of others in our communities, our nation, and our world.

When I first came to Central Pres. in 1999 to serve as the Pastor, we were giving something like 8.5% or 9% of our budget to mission. That would have amounted to something like $15,000 or $16,000 each year to mission beyond our doors. In 2000, we made a goal that, within 5 years, we would be giving 12.5% of our budget to mission. Last year, in 2009, we gave $0. Unfortunately, I didn't make a typo there. Zero dollars. I'm embarrassed by that. I'm angry about that. I don't think we had a choice at the time, but I don't like that one bit. I am convinced that we have to figure out a way to do things differently at Central, not just because it's irresponsible to continue to pay $35,000-40,000 per year for utilities alone, but because we must return again to an active, financially faithful support of mission causes outside of our own church.

And the challenge for the broader Church? Central Pres. is not alone in this condition.