Archive for month: March, 2014
5 Questions with Tara Spuhler McCabe
/in National GatheringThis series highlights participants at the national gathering in Minneapolis on March 31st – April 2nd, 2014. Presenters, preachers, teachers, and leaders were asked the same five questions and their thoughtful responses may be found here every week. The goal is to introduce you to people you’ll hear from in Minneapolis and prime the pump for our time together. Hopefully, something here will spark an idea, thought, or question for you. We encourage you to reach out and initiate conversations that you can later continue in person.
Tara Spuhler McCabe is co-leading a workshop on Cultivating Race Conversations: How to Be an Ally.
1. Tell us about your ministry context.
I’m a minister member of National Capital Presbytery, offering Pulpit Supply and ministry coaching for pastors and congregational leadership. I also work part-time at a daycare in our neighborhood providing support to teachers and parents.
2. Where have you seen glimpses of “the church that is becoming”?
Abstractly, I see this in our tensions/conflicts and how we hold onto each other as we navigate the tension. The depth and growth is beautiful. Concretely, I see this with 2.5 immigrant generations cultivating their own brand of Presbyterianism to a daycare that serves the community.
3. What are your passions in ministry? (And/or what keeps you up at night?)
Honestly, the passion of faith keeps me up at night. Great Worship! And profound relationships that hem us in as the body of Christ. We get it wrong too often but we are trying so hard to get it right.
4. What is one thing you are looking forward to at the NEXT Gathering?
I am looking forward to new conversations and praciticing a renewed conversation with sticky realities like anti-racism or representation in our organizational models.
5. Describe NEXT Church in seven words or less.
A source of what we are becoming.
From Homesickness to ‘Durable Faith’
/in Theological ReflectionsBy Carol Steele
True confession of a Presbyterian camp and conference center professional: I hated my first experience at a Presbyterian summer camp. I was an only child, a picky eater, and a completed fourth-grader who could not swim.
I lived the first few days in fear that the counselors would leave me behind (I doubted it was possible for anyone to keep track of more than one kid); I may have eaten one part of one hot dog in the course of three days; and I had to do an alternative activity while the rest of my group canoed, because my parents wouldn’t let their non-swimmer near a boat.
Since I was a preacher’s kid and this was the presbytery camp, I knew all the camp staff. So I couldn’t understand why, when I asked to go home, they didn’t just pick up the phone and make that happen. (What a joy I must have been!)
I was homesick, the most desperate emotion I had ever experienced. I remember that feeling, and the tears that accompanied it, more clearly than I remember what happened next. But I am one hundred percent certain that somewhere around the middle of that week, I started to have fun. The plaintive letter that I wrote my parents, promising to repay them the $50 registration fee if they would just come pick me up, went un-mailed.
I am pretty sure this turn-around began when a counselor took the time to acknowledge what I was feeling, tell me she wasn’t going to lose me in the woods, and pray with me.
Years later, I came back to that camp as a summer counselor, and today my work at Montreat Conference Center is driven by the knowledge that camps and conferences still provide moments of illumination for young people at a critical moment in their development as people and as Christians. Many of them recognize this moment immediately, as when they say things about their youth group’s experience such as, “We are not the same people we were just one week ago.” Others, like me, notice the importance of such a moment only in retrospect.
Here’s how Montgomery Smith from Faith Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee, Florida, described her “moment” in a sermon she preached in her home church: “Montreat is also a home for so many because it allows us to be ourselves, surrounded by love and comfort. I don’t know how it is possible to take 1,000 teens, put them together and look past all the stereotypes, and I don’t know how it is possible to take 1,000 different theologies and worship you, but it all comes down to faith, which Montreat brings out in us.”
If we can recall these moments in our own journeys, and if we value them for future generations, it is our duty to create the literal and figurative spaces for them to happen. Obviously, camps and conference centers are not the only places where young people become grounded, but they are uniquely equipped for such transformations.
Glimpses of the person God created you to be are hard to catch at any age. They can be especially hard to see at an age when you are graded by a steady stream of likes, re-tweets and test scores. Moments of illumination, when a young person feels free to be his or her divinely-created self, are as scarce as they are vital. These moments catapult youth into deeper faith, clearer voices, adulthood, and an awareness of call and vocation. These experiences are the fertile ground that cultivates a durable faith, one that is confident in God’s love and unafraid to raise important questions.
When I compare the crucible of today’s adolescence to the youth I experienced, it’s hard not to feel humbled. When I got home from school each day, if I wanted to talk to a classmate, I had to use the corded phone in our kitchen. Communication was one-to-one and private (except for the fact that your parents could hear your conversation). Today’s young people are constantly connected to hundreds if not thousands of peers, in conversations that are – paradoxically — dangerously public and shrouded from a parent’s view.
It stands to reason that youth of today need all the help we can give them to find a place of reflection, a place to be the people God created them to be, a place to use their own voices and hear the voices of others. We know how. Let’s do it!
Carol Steele is an ordained teaching elder and the Director of the Center for Youth and Young Adult Ministry at Montreat Conference Center. She is no longer a picky eater.
5 Questions with Jeff Krehbiel
/in National GatheringThis series highlights participants at the national gathering in Minneapolis on March 31st – April 2nd, 2014. Presenters, preachers, teachers, and leaders were asked the same five questions and their thoughtful responses may be found here every week. The goal is to introduce you to people you’ll hear from in Minneapolis and prime the pump for our time together. Hopefully, something here will spark an idea, thought, or question for you. We encourage you to reach out and initiate conversations that you can later continue in person.
Jeff Krehbiel is one of the Paracletos coaches who will be co-leading a workshop on the learnings thus far in this church revitalization project.
1. Tell us about your ministry context.
Church of the Pilgrims is a small, historic, largely young adult congregation in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC, with a long history of social justice, and a recent history of creative worship.
2. Where have you seen glimpses of “the church that is becoming”?
In Epiphany, we asked four members of our congregation to preach, telling their own journey of faith and vocation. They were beautiful and awe-inspiring. It’s only when pastors get out of the way that liturgy truly becomes the work of the people.
3. What are your passions in ministry? (And/or what keeps you up at night?)
My passion is helping people discover their own agency—as leaders, as citizens, as disciples.
4. What is one thing you are looking forward to at the NEXT Gathering?
Being inspired by great stories of churches doing bold things, and being with beloved colleagues (OK, that’s two things).
5. Describe NEXT Church in seven words or less.
Living into the church that is becoming.
The Road to ‘NEXT Camp’
/in Christian Education
Each month we ask a different person from the NEXT Church community to assemble a series of posts around a particular theme. This month, Carol Steele is curating a conversation around camp and conference ministry for the NEXT Church. Have ideas or reflections to share? Offer your thoughts in comments, on our Facebook page, or contact us here.
By Joel Winchip
What is next for Presbyterian camp and conference ministry? That is a good question.
Let’s start with the facts. The Presbyterian Panel survey tells us again and again that this educational model still has an incredible impact on our children, youth, and adults. So how does this 100+ year-old classic still change lives today? Perhaps it is the experiential learning, the community that is built by the participants, the alternative forms of worship, and/or people just wanting to get away from the outside world (even if some still have a smartphone in their pocket). These never get old, and may even gain value as our culture shifts.
While some elements endure, a rapidly changing church also challenges our camps and conference centers to adapt. Many of us hold fast to the significant faith-building experiences we had at these sites – so will we let them change?
Our camps and conference centers are learning to think outside of the box – or specifically outside of the camp. More and more sites are offering programs like satellite day camps. Outdoor ministries are partnering with congregations to provide day camp or VBS experiences on church property. Some camps and conference centers are teaming up with churches by offering mission work camp experiences. Our sites have lodging, food service, and connections with the local community. Congregations don’t have to leave this country in order to help people in need – they can do that at a Presbyterian camp or conference center.
As you know, the funding model for our denomination is changing. Ministries like our camps and conference centers can no longer be adequately supported by the governing bodies that created them (many children’s homes, seminaries, and retirement communities are in the same “boat”). How can the NEXT church help camps and conference centers navigate these changes? Churches can support their camp and conference centers by attending programs, partnering with the site in new programs, putting this ministry in the church budget, and by understanding that the site’s fees will need to go up as governing body subsidies disappear.
So how can the NEXT church better utilize camps and conference centers? Sometimes when a church is in a financial or staffing crunch, they stop offering a congregational retreat. Yet there are other ways to bring together your members to build community or to offer a faith-building experience away from the outside world. Whether it is for a weekend or just for the day, getting your members out of the church is so important. If your local camp or conference center is too rustic for your needs, support them in their efforts to upgrade their facilities. While you are helping make that happen, use a website like www.bookaretreat.com to find other Presbyterian sites that might better suit the comfort level of your congregation.
As our presbyteries change drastically, what will hold these regions of churches together? Perhaps it will be the significant ministries they built cooperatively over the years. Your camp or conference center has an important history. If it is like most, its ministry has gone through times of drought and abundance. Is it worth keeping? Our camps and conference centers have the capacity to serve the needs of the changing church. This 100+ year-old educational model is still effective because it takes people away so they might focus on what is important. The Presbyterian Panel survey tells us that these experiences are formative in individuals’ faith journeys. We should also keep in mind that this is not a ministry for Presbyterians only – it has a significant outreach to other denominations and to those who don’t go to church.
Now is the time for the church to better utilize our camps and conference centers. We need to keep in mind that the funding model for Presbyterian ministries has changed. Our congregations do not need to support all of the Presbyterian camps and conference centers…we just need to support the ones we want to keep.
Joel Winchip is the Executive Director of the Presbyterian Church Camp and Conference Association, which serves the outdoor ministries of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and The Presbyterian Church in Canada. He is also on the adjunct faculty of Columbia Theological Seminary (Decatur, GA), where he teaches their camp and conference course.
5 Questions with Kara Root
/in National GatheringThis series highlights participants at the national gathering in Minneapolis on March 31st – April 2nd, 2014. Presenters, preachers, teachers, and leaders were asked the same five questions and their thoughtful responses may be found here every week. The goal is to introduce you to people you’ll hear from in Minneapolis and prime the pump for our time together. Hopefully, something here will spark an idea, thought, or question for you. We encourage you to reach out and initiate conversations that you can later continue in person.
Kara Root is offering a testimony on Discerning the Culture and she helped plan worship for the National Gathering!
1. Tell us about your ministry context.
I’m at Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, a vibrant, intergenerational, creative little community that has been around for over 90 years and is currently living into God’s Story through honest worship, abundant hospitality, and intentional Sabbath rest. We alternate our worship schedule, meeting for worship 1st & 3rd Sundays, and 2nd & 4th weeks on Saturdays, to set aside those Sundays as a Day of Rest. On 5th Sundays we gather in the evening for worship alongside the kids at a local Home for Children in their chapel.
2. Where have you seen glimpses of “the church that is becoming”?
Oh my. I glimpse this every single day. When people struggle to be present to each other and listen across perceived (even rigid) barriers, I see the Church that is becoming. When an 83 year old, an 8 year old, and a 3 year old serve meals together and serve together on an usher team, or when a child leads the congregation in prayer, and holds the cup for her neighbor and says, “the blood of Christ, shed for you,” I see the Church that is becoming. When the ministry of the older woman with the keys to all her neighbor’s houses to let out dogs and let in the meter person is honored alongside the ministry of the distinguished teacher, gifted preacher, full-time aid worker or hospice nurse, and when people do the hard work of standing with one another in suffering and genuinely celebrate each other’s joys, I see the church that is becoming. When a funeral is held for one neighborhood baby, and a blessing ceremony held for another – even if those families don’t come to worship – or a trip is taken to repair someone’s parents’ house or help out someone’s sister who is on bedrest in another state, none of whom have been met before, I see the Church.
We meet Jesus, who is with and for us, when we are with and for each other. We are the Church that is becoming, and I glimpse this whenever a group of people go about their ordinary, holy little lives remembering more often than forgetting, that Church isn’t somewhere we go or something we do, Church is who we are, and then reminding each other and the world of that as often, and in as many ways, as possible.
3. What are your passions in ministry? (And/or what keeps you up at night?)
I am passionate about empowering people to join what God is doing in the world in their daily, ordinary lives. I want to help people to be theologically engaged and reflective, and to participate in the life they are given. Practicing Sabbath is a big part of this, as our own instincts and the culture around us push us to a relentless pace and productivity that numbs us to the gifts and callings in our lives.
I’m passionate about the continued work of always asking, What is God doing among us NOW? And NOW? Where might the Spirit be leading us NOW? And never settling for how we’ve always done it, what we think we “ought” to be doing, or what that other congregation over there is doing.
I am kept up at night by the very same things that make me passionate. Our lives matter; being Church matters. I can sleep when I remember that this is God’s thing and we’re just joining in, with all our flaws and bumbles. But sometimes I forget that a little bit. Leading is a vulnerable, important and sacred thing, and I don’t want to mess it up. I get kept up at night when I start thinking that I can avoid that somehow.
4. What is one thing you are looking forward to at the NEXT Gathering?
I love the inspiration that builds in hearing others’ experiences and stories, and the collaborative visions that unfold and carry beyond the moment. I am looking forward to the energy of synergy.
5. Describe NEXT Church in seven words or less.
Noticing together what God is doing now
Changing Worship Space — Notes from the field
/in Leadership, WorshipEditor’s Note: Periodically, we will be sharing “notes from the field” from Plaza and Community Church. We hope their experiences will help inform your own… Perhaps to shape your thinking, spark a new idea, lend some energy to tackle something new, or invite leaders in your community to reflect on a particular guiding question.If this is the first you are hearing of this project, click here for the full introduction to this pilot program. If you missed the introduction to Plaza Church, click here.
By Tom Tate
Five months back in the Sanctuary after our summer experience in a much more intimate and informal setting, we are finding that some of the things we did last summer have stuck.
Our worship is now forty-five minutes in length, (11:00 to 11:45 a.m.) using a modified version of the “Service for the Lord’s Day.” It’s the same order but with parts missing depending on the emphasis of the message. Two hymns instead of three. More expressive readings of the Bible. And we pass the Peace following the Blessing as we move back into the world. We are also singing the Peace, using a version written by Charles Austin, our former Director of Music/Organist. (One reason for the forty-five minute service is so all our members can remain for the entire service. Some who live in retirement communities have had to leave during the final hymn to get home in time for lunch. Now they can stay for the entire service.)
We have moved pews and introduced chairs in an attempt to re-create some of the intimacy we found in the Conference Room. With the Communion Table moved deeper into the congregation we are almost worship-in-the-round.
There is some informality to the service even though I am wearing a robe again and so are our choir members. While our central pulpit and the Baptismal Font remain on the “chancel platform,” most of the service is conducted from the Communion Table with members in front and on both sides, and the choir behind in the choir loft. We have continued the use of different styles of praying sometimes interspersing spoken prayer with sung verses of a hymn, lining-out the prayer for congregation participation, even singing the prayer. There is less formal liturgy. When the choir sings with piano accompaniment, and they are doing that more often, they move from the loft to surround the piano. The piano itself is moved to a more central location on those occasions.
These changes have brought us closer together. We naturally see each other face-to-face as we worship. We are lingering after worship in a time of informal fellowship. And we seem to be more engaged in hearing the Word. Now we are working on doing the Word outside our sanctuary walls.
Tom Tate is the pastor of Plaza Presbyterian Church. He and Jeff Krehbiel will be offering a workshops on some of the learnings from Paracletos at the NEXT Gathering in Minneapolis!
5 Questions with Kellie Anderson-Picallo and Rich Hong
/in National GatheringThis series highlights participants at the national gathering in Minneapolis on March 31st – April 2nd, 2014. Presenters, preachers, teachers, and leaders were asked the same five questions and their thoughtful responses may be found here every week. The goal is to introduce you to people you’ll hear from in Minneapolis and prime the pump for our time together. Hopefully, something here will spark an idea, thought, or question for you. We encourage you to reach out and initiate conversations that you can later continue in person.
Kellie Anderson-Picallo and Rich Hong are the pastors at First Presbyterian Church of Englewood. They will be leading a workshop on the 90 second sermon and other visual, sharable inspiration for social media.
1. Tell us about your ministry context.
Media is a lively tool that we embrace throughout both our traditional and contemporary worship services at First Presbyterian Church of Englewood (www.englewoodpres.org). FPC is medium-size (400+ members), diverse, growing congregation in Northern New Jersey, just a few miles from NYC. Our once-aging congregation is experiencing a significant influx of professional families with young children. In the context of their very hectic lives, creating and maintaining connections to them requires us to be as adaptive and innovative as possible, leveraging technology and media to help them discover and deepen their faith.
2. Where have you seen glimpses of “the church that is becoming”?
We’ll answer this from the local church level and we see this as a movement. Our FPC leadership of Elders and Deacons are some of our greatest champions of new and entrepreneurial thinking to grow the church and respond to the growing community. They recently identified 90 Second Sermon as one of their favorite parts and we’ve seen attendance blossom. The positive attitude and unifying spirit of being and growing the church is swelling within and a real glimpse of “the church that is becoming.”
3. What are your passions in ministry? (And/or what keeps you up at night?)
Both of us are second-career pastors – one a first-career media professional and one a first-career science & technology specialist. Our passions in ministry include taking the best practices of what we learned in our first careers and applying them to ministry. We are passionate about helping people – especially SBNRs – develop a relationship with faith in ways that are natural and familiar to them. We share the commitment that media is a pulpit for helping us build God’s world and reach new people.
4. What is one thing you are looking forward to at the NEXT Gathering?
The shared mindset of a spectacular group of people that the church is growing, lively and full of the talent and leadership that can build a meaningful future. We are looking forward to being with a set of colleagues who are committed to resilient and entrepreneurial ways to liven our tradition, meet people where they are at and take them further with enthusiasm and hope for the future of the Presbyterian Church.
5. Describe NEXT Church in seven words or less.
Leadership and hope are catalysts for change.
Bonhoeffer, Youth Ministry, and the Present and Future Church
/in Christian Education
Each month we ask a different person from the NEXT Church community to assemble a series of posts around a particular theme. This month, Carol Steele is curating a conversation around camp and conference ministry for the NEXT Church. Have ideas or reflections to share? Offer your thoughts in comments, on our Facebook page, or contact us here.
By Bob Tuttle
It was Germany, 1931, and confirmation classes were nothing at all like what we think of today. In the state church in Germany every child went through confirmation, no matter what they cared about. And most did not… care, that is.
Even though he had been warned by the elderly minister as they trudged up three flights of stairs, the growing racket being made by the 50 waiting boys grew quite alarming to Dietrich. Opening the door, the old man tried to introduce them to the new minister who was going to teach them in the future, Pastor Bonhoeffer, but the boys simply increased their volume so that nothing could be heard. The elderly minister fled the scene in despair, leaving Bonhoeffer standing silently against the wall with his hands in his pockets. Minutes passed. His failure to react gradually drew the boys’ attention, and he began speaking quietly so that only the boys in the front row could catch a few words of what he said. Suddenly all were silent. Bonhoeffer merely commented that they had put on a remarkable performance, and then went on to tell them a story. If they listened, he told them, he would share more stories with them next time. And he let them go.
I find it so interesting that one of the greatest theologians in the 20th century, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, repeatedly found himself involved in ministry with youth and young adults. It wasn’t the main focus of his ministry, but he was a teacher at heart, and it was among them that he found students ready to learn. And those students changed him as well: at the end of the school year Bonhoeffer reminisced about those rowdy boys that “the experience of teaching them has been such that I can hardly tear myself away from it.”
Those of us who love camps and conference centers know that feeling. One reason we love working in these settings because it is here that the often messy and chaotic ministry that we have with youth and young adults becomes real.
We, too, are teachers at heart, perhaps because we have the opportunity to tell so many wonderful, challenging stories. We lift up old, old stories from Scripture and youth realize their relevance to life today. We allow young adults to engage and dialogue with folks who they might never meet otherwise. We deliberately place them in situations where they are challenged to strengthen their faith and put it into action.
Camps and conference centers have often been described as “thin places.” Countless youth and young adults have heard God’s call in powerful sermons from the stage, in whispered songs around a campfire, in intense discussions in small groups. For the first time they realize that theology means something, that what one says they believe about God is so important that it should make a different in one’s life. They have returned to their homes and congregations empowered and encouraged to become even more faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
This is the legacy of camps and conference centers and the multitude of volunteers who minister at these sites to God’s people each year.
Camps and conference centers need the support of the NEXT Church. Will its leaders look for camps and conference centers as first choices for their meetings? Will they make certain that their children, youth, and young adults benefit from the life-giving and faith-shaping experiences offered in these thin places? Will they say yes when we ask them to come share with us what they are learning? Will the budgets of their congregations demonstrate as much of an interest in sowing seeds for the future as in surviving and thriving in the present?
Camps and conference centers have demonstrated the strength of our legacy. It is the NEXT Church’s responsibility to pass that legacy along.
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(the story contained in this blog post can be found in Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas)
Bob Tuttle is Vice President of the Center for Youth & Young Adult Ministry at Montreat Conference Center. Having served much of his career as a certified Director of Christian Education, he is now ordained as a teaching elder by the Presbytery of Western North Carolina to validated ministry at Montreat.
Living the Questions… at Camps and Conferences
/in Christian EducationEach month we ask a different person from the NEXT Church community to assemble a series of posts around a particular theme. This month, Carol Steele is curating a conversation around camp and conference ministry for the NEXT Church. Have ideas or reflections to share? Offer your thoughts in comments, on our Facebook page, or contact us here.
By Colleen Toole
When you are the child of church musicians, you do not go on “vacations” growing up. You go to conferences.
I spent my summers, elementary school through high school, attending conferences, usually worship/music focused. I experienced incredible conferences that transformed me, and I sometimes experienced terrible conferences that left me dry. I went to Methodist conferences, I went to Presbyterian conferences—often back-to-back!
I loved conferences for the creative worship I experienced, for the friends I made, for the ways I learned and grew, but, frankly, I didn’t think much about their impact on my life until my second year of undergrad when I was stressed and exhausted, both physically and spiritually. I was having a hard time balancing my spiritual life and my academic life, leaving my soul, as Psalm 42 says, thirsting for the living God. I needed something like a spiritual bootcamp to get myself back into shape, to focus on God, surrounded by a community of faith. So, that summer I started working on summer staff at Montreat Conference Center in North Carolina, running sound, lights, and projections for all of their conferences.
What I discovered upon diving into the conference deep end was that the years I had spent going to conferences had made me hungry to experience different expressions of God. I found my own questions voiced, echoed, and complicated. I realized that, for years, I had regularly met people from different parts of the country—even different parts of the world. I had worshipped with them, I had learned from their points of view, I had shared different visions and experiences of God with them. As I did so, my own conception of God began to expand, giving way to more questions, more ideas, more thirst.
Conferences create the space for us to encounter each other, and in doing so, encounter God. At conferences we get a wider glimpse of the diverse unity of the body of Christ – people truly coming from east and west, from north and south, to sit at the table together. As we come together in the shared love of God, we have the opportunity to live and work and worship together in a spirit of sacred collaboration, sharing ideas and asking questions freely, even disagreeing, challenging and widening our experiences of worship, of Christian community, and of God. The chance we have to get out of our own lives, the release the modus operandi that we are so accustomed to, the fellowship of those we would never have met otherwise—those are temporary, yes, limited to the confines of the conference. But the thirsts that these events inspire are not. They are the thirsts that lead us to where we might find living water. My thirst, multiplied by three summers of working full-time in these environments, led me to seminary. Others might be led to teach, to serve the “least of these”, to go back to their home churches to share the fruits of this transformation, even to bring this thirst into their secular professions. The important thing is the thirst.
This past summer, I found myself once again at Montreat, this time leading a small group of youth in discussion about the how the themes of the conference intersected with their daily lives. What I could not get over was the joyful curiosity of these youth—the questions they asked! Questions about how Scripture became Scripture, about how the Church became the Church. Questions about how we interpret the Bible today, in our own context. Deeply important questions, questions about how we live out our faith in the world, difficult questions, questions that gave me hope for the future of the church. Questions that, perhaps, are easier to ask in the safety of a place removed from our usual stomping grounds. I gave very few answers; there are no easy answers to these questions. My job became affirming, challenging, complicating the questions by bringing voices into conversation that may never have spoken to each other before.
Our job is not to satisfy the thirst. Our job is to cultivate it.
Colleen Toole is pursuing her M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary and works as a sound designer, director, and vocal coach for live theater.
photo credit: __MaRiNa__ via photopin cc