Technology, Faith, and Church

social mediaEach month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. For January and February, MaryAnn McKibben Dana is curating a month of reflections on technology, faith, and church.  Read more

Saints of Diminished Capacity

Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. This December, Anna Pinckney Straight is curating a month of reflections on pastoral care in the 21st century. Join the conversation here or on Facebook

By Milton Brasher-Cuningham

saints of diminished capacity

I only saw the words written,
requiring me to infer tone;
to assume either compassion
or conceit; to decide if the poet
mimed quotation marks when
he said, “diminished capacity,” —
or saints, for that matter —
if he even said the words out loud.

Either way, the phrase is
fragrant with failure, infused
with what might have been,
what came and went,
what once was lost . . .
and now is found faltering,
struggling, stumbling,
still hoping, as saints do,
failure is not the final word.

Forgiveness flows best from
brokenness; the capacity for
love is not diminished by
backs bowed by pain, or
hearts heavy with grief.
Write this down: the substance
of things hoped for fuels
those who walk wounded:
we are not lost; we are loved.

MB-C-Headshot-Version-2Milton Brasher-Cuningham is a writer, chef, teacher, minister, small urban farmer, musician, husband, and keeper of Schnauzers who lives with his wife, Ginger, in Durham, North Carolina. He blogs at www.donteatalone.com, sharing both reflections and recipes.

Worship Leader Spotlight

Introducing Charlene Han Powell and Brian Ellison

NEXT Church is delighted to have some incredible worship leaders lined up for the 2015 National Gathering! We asked some of these folks to share what excites them about worship at NEXT!

Charlene Han Powell of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York writes:

Charlene Han Powell“What do you get when you put hundreds of teaching and ruling elders in one room to worship?  A lot of really strong singing voices.  Aside from the amazing sounding hymns, I love worship at Next Church because it always reminds me that the same Spirit that moves in my church is moving in churches all around the country.  The passion and excitement for what God is doing in the church is contagious. Worship at Next Church never ceases to remind me why I do ministry in the first place and inspires every aspect of my call.” 

Brian Ellison, director of Covenant Network, says that:Brian-Ellison

“Worship is always a highlight at NEXT conferences for me: Amazing leaders from around the country gather around earnest prayer and challenging proclamation. I’m humbled and honored to be preaching this year, and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us. I have always loved the integration of visual art, diverse music and powerful preaching at NEXT worship services. I can’t wait to be part of it in March!”

Want to experience worship at the National Gathering for yourself? Click here to register today!

Read more about Brian, Charlene, and our other Worship Leaders, Joy Douglas Strome and Paul Roberts, over on our National Gathering Leadership page!


 

Other NEXT Church News

roundtable smallOnline Church Leaders’ Roundtable

Topic: Ideas for the Season of Lent

January 6th, 2015

1-2 pm Eastern || 10-11 am Pacific

 

 

regionalRegional Gatherings

Register now for Washington, DC || February 21st, 2015

Save the date for Charlotte, NC || April 24-25th, 2015

Holding Hope: When Waiting is Tinged with Loss

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Each month, we post a series of blogs around a common topic. This December, Anna Pinckney Straight is curating a month of reflections on pastoral care in the 21st century. Join the conversation here or on Facebook. Today we re-visit this excerpt from Holding Hope as a reminder of the complex (and often silent) suffering that goes on in the lives of our congregants.

By Ashley-Anne Masters

The following is an excerpt from the introduction to Ashley-Anne’s Advent devotionals, “Holding Hope: Grieving Pregnancy Loss during Advent.”

Advent, which means “coming,” is the Christian Season of waiting and preparing for the birth of Jesus Christ. In the season of Advent:

we wait…

for Emmanuel, God with us, to be born.

we wait…

for the shepherds to hear the angels singing.

we wait…

for Mary and Joseph to start their journey to Bethlehem.

we wait…

for Mary to give birth.

we wait…

for Jesus to make his entrance into the world.

Waiting for the birth of Jesus is similar to waiting for any other baby’s birth. We hear the announcement from the mother that she is pregnant, and from then on, everything changes. We are able to watch and see physical changes in the mother as the baby grows in her womb. We celebrate milestones of trimesters. We hear updates and see pictures of the baby’s new nursery, crib, clothes, and rocking chair. We plan for how we will take care of the baby. We wait for the mother to give birth and to find out the baby’s name. We wait to see who the baby looks like. We wait to see hope, light, joy, and love in the purest human form wrapped in brushed cotton with the smell of perfection that only babies possess.

But, what if that is not the way things happen? What if the mother begins to have cramping and bleeding before she even hears her baby’s heartbeat? What if the mother’s water breaks when she is only 20 weeks pregnant and there is no choice but to induce labor? What if the baby is born at 38 weeks, looks perfect, smells perfect, but the doctor brings the news that something does not sound right in the baby’s heart? What if we wait and there is no beautiful human gift to hold? What do we do? What do we say? In these situations,

we weep…

with the parents and grandparents.

we weep…

with the aunts, uncles, and godparents.

we weep…

because the night is too silent.

we weep…

because there are no adequate words.

we weep…

because there is no other response.

Yet in the midst of our weeping, we dare to hope that in the pages of this guide you may find hope to hold. While we hold on to our feelings of grief, we also reach out to the hope of Christ in the world in which we live. We hold on to hope in the midst of confusion, grief and loss.

Why Holding Hope?

While infertility, miscarriage and stillbirths are unfortunately common, the details and grief processes surrounding such losses are something we do not often discuss. Too many parents suffer in silence or solitude and feel that there is no appropriate way for them to talk about their grief. Yet these experiences are not uncommon and do not happen in isolation. Therefore, Holding Hope is intended to provide a safe opportunity for us to share our experiences of pregnancy loss. By sharing the stories of our lives with each other, we can help each other through the darkness and carry some of the pain for one another.

Moreover, the grief of losing a baby, like any other grief, is often more intense or resurfaces during the holiday season. Perhaps the most significant reasons are that the Advent and Christmas seasons celebrate the birth of a child, and there is something magical about celebrating the Christmas season with children. Thus, Holding Hope is intentionally designed to speak to our grief in the midst of the hopeful expectance of Advent.

The purpose of Holding Hope is to provide a faith-based resource for all those suffering from pregnancy loss. It is not to serve as medical advice or to replace a counselor, spiritual advisor or support group. Holding Hope is intended to be used by anyone – mother, father, partner, friend, sibling, family member, caregiver, clergy, medical staff, counselor – who is grieving the loss of a child or children due to miscarriage, stillbirth, or other complications of premature births. The hope is that you will find this devotional comforting as you grieve or as you care for someone who is grieving.

How to Use Holding Hope

The four devotionals are written in light of the four Sundays of the Christian Season of Advent: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Each devotional offers a helpful perspective on a reading from scripture and questions for further discussion. We also provide a “prayer template” that helps you write your own prayers, and prayer examples from the perspective of a mother, father, child or sibling, and grandparent.

Depending on your need, there are many different ways to use the devotionals and supplementary materials. Individuals and couples may wish to light a candle each Sunday and read the devotional together at home. Friends and family members may meet weekly and discuss the questions in “Further Thoughts,” or use the prayers as a way of praying for someone who is affected by the loss. Congregational leaders and pastors may use the ideas throughout the guide to plan community worship services during Advent. There is no “correct” way to use Holding Hope, just as there is no “correct” way to respond to the loss of a pregnancy.

Holding Hope is published by The Church Health Center and includes an exhaustive resource list to provide ongoing support for families and caregivers. It is available in printed and Kindle format.

——–

AAM HeadshotAshley-Anne Masters is a freelance writer and pediatric chaplain in Chicago, IL. She is the author of Holding Hope: Grieving Pregnancy Loss During Advent and co-authored Bless Her Heart: Life as a Young Clergywoman with Stacy Smith. She blogs at revaam.org. 

 

Prayers for 2am

Hippo copyIn her piece last week, Anna Pinckney Straight mentioned that her pastoral care visits are always accompanied with a piece of card stock now….stacks of prayer cards and psalm cards that contain helpful/comforting/challenging words. “Good for that 2:00 A.M. blood pressure check that leaves them wondering (aka: not sleeping),” she writes.

Click here for the Prayer cards for pastoral visits.

And here for the Hospital Scriptures, booklet.

 

Thanks, Anna!

What are you going to do about it?

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By Andrew Foster Connors

Well, what are you going to do about it? 

The question continues to stop me in my tracks. Honestly, I can’t remember who asked it or what prompted it. It was probably in response to some comment that I, or another church leader, stated on more than one occasion. Something like:

“Presbytery stinks.”

“My congregation likes to talk about living the Gospel but doesn’t want to live it.”

“I’m tired of rearranging the chairs on the decks of a sinking ship.”

As a pastor, I know that people who critique without investing themselves in community for change are some of the most frustrating people in a church. Even so, I had become one of them. So partly out of guilt, I joined NEXT Church several years ago. I felt guilty that I had all kinds of criticism about the atrophied, distrustful, bureaucratic culture of our Presbyterian Church, but truth be told, I wasn’t doing anything to change it.

Guilt led me to get involved in NEXT, but it’s not what keeps me here.

What keeps me here is rediscovering a culture of connection rooted in real relationships.

What keeps me here is lifting up people all across our church who are reinventing possibilities for church today and are already leading us toward the church of tomorrow.

What keeps me here is the hope that I experience when church folk get together and articulate the new things that God is doing in and through the cracks and fissures of the broken body that is the church:

  • The 1600 people who’ve gathered to be inspired at the last four national gatherings and the 2000 more who’ve watched online,
  • The participants in the sixteen regional gatherings across the country,
  • The creative ideas for the practice of ministry shared each month in the online Church Leaders’ Roundtables,
  • The thoughtful, provocative blog posts that engage me in fresh thinking about ministry, and
  • NEXT’s participation in conversations with theologically diverse leaders across our denomination as we seek ways to be Presbyterian together in a time of denominational fracturing.

 

What are you going to do about it? 

I’ve now answered that question in several ways – serving on the NEXT Strategy team, attending regional and national gatherings, and making a personal contribution toward the incredibly lean budget of NEXT. My medium-sized church has answered it with a multi-year financial commitment toward the difficult organizing work that drawing diverse people together around a common vision entails. Complaint gets transformed into action and leads to new life for everybody involved.

But the truth is that to continue to be a midwife to the church that is becoming, we all have to answer that question in concrete ways that are consistent with our particular callings. I’m not naive to think that NEXT Church is the only community of people doing transformative work in the church. I can only testify to how transformative it has been and continues to be for me and for others I’ve listened to who believe that God is at work in the church.

If you share that conviction and that hope, I hope you will help us to spread the word about what NEXT is doing and partner with us to invest in the church that is becoming. You can make a financial gift online or by sending a check to:

Village Presbyterian Church (memo: NEXT Church)

6641 Mission Road

Prairie Village, KS, 66208

 

Together we can do something about it. Thanks.


 

Andrew Foster Connors is the pastor of Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, MD and the co-chair of the NEXT Church Strategy Team. 

A Lonely Vocation

This month, NEXT Church is highlighting passionate leaders within the Presbyterian Church (USA) who are committed to equipping and supporting new pastors, alongside those up-and-coming leaders with whom they have connected or mentored. 

By Rachel Achtemeier Rhodes

cafeIt is a rare moment to be five feet inside the door of my church without someone saying, “Hi Rachel!” Similarly, it’s a common occurrence to be picking out produce at the grocery store, or going to yoga, or sharing a beer with friends over dinner and hear, “Hi Rachel!” If you’re looking for anonymity, then ministry is not the vocation for you. There are times when it feels like I can’t go anywhere without running into someone from the church. And yet, in a job where the “Cheers” anthem springs easily to mind and it seems that everybody really does know my name, it amazes me what a lonely vocation ministry can be.

Sure, people know my name. They know my husband, my dog, my new baby, and a few stories from my childhood that I’ve shared during youth group or in sermons. But on the whole, the people I serve day in and day out know much less about me than I do about them. They are not the people in my life with whom I let my guard down or share my whole self. Now, I’m not here to start a debate on whether one can or can’t (or perhaps should or shouldn’t) be friends with parishioners. I’ve got both wonderful and painful stories on both sides of that argument. Either way, there are times ministry is still lonely.  It has been abundantly important for my own health and the health of my ministry, to bring friends and colleagues along this journey with me. In this brief space I share a bit of how those relationships formed in my own life, and it is my hope that in the places God has called you to serve, you might find people with whom to share this lonely but joyous journey.

In 2012, I had the privilege of attending the Trent Symposium for Newly Ordained Ministers in Roanoke, VA. It was an invaluable experience and is still the best Continuing Education event I have ever attended. But perhaps what I gleaned most from my time at the Trent Symposium was this understanding that ministry is not a vocation you can (nor should you try to) get through alone. Several members of the leadership spoke fondly of clergy groups they had been a part of for decades; groups that met regularly for the purpose of learning from and supporting one another in ministry. But their groups also gathered for the purpose of knowing and caring for each another through the ebbs and flows of life and ministry: successes, failures, addictions, grief, hardship, joy, triumph, divorce, death, burnout, and more. It was a place to bring your whole self and a place where you could feel known, supported, cared for, and loved. I envied these peer groups they spoke about and found myself desiring to be a part of one.

I connected with two other participants at the Trent Symposium and we shared a desire to start our own unique group of support. Together, the three of us created a dream for what our group could be. Over the next several months, through much prayer and conversation, we decided that each of us would invite one other person to be a part of our group. This was not a time for us to pull in our best friend from seminary, but rather to expand our circle to include people from diverse experiences and backgrounds. Certainly we sought individuals in our stage of life, but we agreed to each invite someone who had attended a different seminary and was serving in ministry in a different location. Our hope was to create a group that could enjoy time with one another, learn from one another, and support one another in life and in ministry. By the grace of God and a leap of faith from six people who barely new each other, we have found just that.

For three years now, the six of us, from six different states and representing five different PC(USA) seminaries, have gathered once each year for a 5-day retreat. The congregations we serve range from small to large and exist in a variety of settings: rural, big city suburbs, small town, college campus, and a new worshipping community. Each year we have invited mentors to share their time and talent with us on a variety of topics as they relate to ministry in the church. And in addition to time spent with mentors, we have also taken time to rest, to worship, and to share the highs and lows of life and ministry. From the outset, we committed to spend a portion of our yearly continuing education budget to make this annual retreat happen. We were also fortunate to receive a grant from the College of Pastoral Leaders at Austin Seminary, which seeks to support and encourage groups just like ours. We will meet together again this January and it is a time I have come to look forward to every year.

I have been abundantly blessed by the energy, intelligence, imagination, and love of these five individuals who have and will continue to journey alongside me in life and ministry. They are people with whom I have cried in the face of tragedy and laughed until my sides hurt. They are people with whom I share a common calling and a common commitment to the Church and its witness. They have challenged, supported, and prayed for me as I have for them. Perhaps most importantly, they have made the journey of this vocation less lonely. It is my deepest prayer that God will continue to strengthen us and empower us for all that lays ahead.

 

rachelAfter receiving a bachelor’s degree from Hope College and a master’s of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, Rachel accepted the position of associate pastor at First Presbyterian in July 2010. Having grown up in the Presbyterian Church, Rachel has always held fast to the conviction that “We love because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Because of God’s unending love for us, we are called to respond in faith, glorifying God and serving His people with energy, compassion, patience, imagination, and love. 

Peer Groups: Disdain or Praise?

This month, NEXT Church is highlighting passionate leaders within the Presbyterian Church (USA) who are committed to equipping and supporting new pastors, alongside those up-and-coming leaders with whom they have connected or mentored. 

george andersonGeorge C. Anderson is the Head of Staff of Second Presbyterian Church in Roanoke, Virginia.  George and the congregation he serves are heavily invested in programs for newly ordained PCUSA ministers.  Thanks to a Lilly study grant, George spent his recent sabbatical studying effective church programs in and outside of various denominations that nurture new pastors.  Through grants from the Kittye Susan Trent Endowment, Second Presbyterian hosts an annual week long symposium for new ministers that is co-sponsored by Union Presbyterian Seminary led primarily by experienced pastors and laypeople as well a colloquy for new ministers within the Presbytery of the Peaks that is spread out over three years.  Planned for April 18 through 21, 2016, a national Conference will be held called Trent@Montreat.  Sponsored by the NEXT Conference, Macedonian Ministries, Union Presbyterian Seminary, Montreat Conference Center, and Second Presbyterian Church, this conference will join large group worship and keynote with small groups focused on specific areas of need and coached by experienced practitioners.

By George Anderson

 

peersPeer Groups receive both disdain and praise from new pastors.   By “Peer Groups,” I do not mean ministers gathering for relaxation and play, but rather peer groups intended for mutual support for the work of ministry.  Some of the best and worst experiences of new ministers have come when they have gathered, or have been gathered, as support groups.

This irony of disdain and praise for peer groups became clear to me while on sabbatical two summers ago to study programs of nurture for new ministers.  I interviewed many newly ordained ministers.  Those who were in groups that had little guidance and content often complained about the experience.  They spoke of “griping,” “bragging,” “sharing ignorance,” and “time shared unequally within the group.”

Based on these anecdotes, it would be a grave mistake to deduce that time with peers is not important.  The truth is quite the opposite. As an extreme example, consider those ministers I interviewed who were in the most highly structured and intentional programs I studied; the two-year Transition in Ministry (TIM) programs.  With the TIM programs in the cities I visited (Atlanta, Dallas, and Indianapolis), the residents are automatically in peer groups.  They meet with other residents in the same congregation or with residents in other churches in the same city.  The residents receive a great deal of supervision, coaching and content.  They are supervised by Heads of Staff, coached by experienced pastors and lay people, receive feedback from church members, are assigned reading, study best practices, and attend larger gatherings for TIM residents around the country.  The residents were grateful for all that was made available to them.

I interviewed at least 20 TIM residents and I asked them what they most valued about the program.  Given the negative feedback from those who complained about agenda-less peer groups, one might guess that they appreciated most the structured guidance and content they received.  However, the answer I heard the most was not the wonderful mentoring, supervision, coaching, content or study.  What they valued most was what they gained from their peers.

Their time together was so significant because they grew, learned, received guidance, and practiced together.  Their peer experience was so meaningful because of the “content” that provided the “context” for their experience.

I received the same feedback from ministers in peer groups with a far less funding and organization than TIM programs but which are intentional when they meet.  Perhaps they do one or more of the following: seek guidance from mentors or teachers, share best practices, study a book, or worship and pray together.  Members of these groups gave the same answer as those TIM residents: peer relationships- not the content of what they learn- are what they most treasure.

What can be learned from this is simple, but often lost in peers groups formed with the goal of ‘supporting one another.’ Deep, sustaining, relationships with peers are best formed through shared disciplines.

I have benefited greatly from two intentional peer groups that have each met annually well over 20 years.  As someone who could not imagine ministry without their support, combined with what I learned on sabbatical, I encourage ministers to seek out peers groups that have some kind of agenda that promotes a journey together.  Peer relationship are key, but mean the most when peers are learning and growing together.

Ten Gray Hairs and a Lot to Learn

This month, NEXT Church is highlighting passionate leaders within the Presbyterian Church (USA) who are committed to equipping and supporting new pastors, alongside those up-and-coming leaders with whom they have connected or mentored. Bob Henderson’s post on being a mentor went up yesterday. Join the conversation on Facebook.

By Petra Wahnefried

photo credit: susanne anette via photopin cc

photo credit: susanne anette via photopin cc

I drove past the gravesite where the crowd was already assembling, parked and pulled down the visor to take one last look at myself in the mirror. Taking a deep breath, I rearranged my hair so that my ten white hairs would show. I normally am appalled that I’ve started going gray at age 27 and I try to pluck the white ones out, but on this day I needed to look as wise as I could get. It was the first time I was officiating a funeral, and as I sat there looking in the mirror, I was aware of the burden that looking young can be.

As a young, female pastor, I am told again and again that “I cannot be a minister” simply because I do not look like the old man who they have come to associate with the title Reverend. Entering hospital rooms to do pastoral care, I am constantly confused for the patient’s grandchild rather than being considered a spiritual leader. When I do premarital counseling, couples wonder what wisdom I could offer them as a young, single female. Day in and day out, I struggle with people telling me that I cannot do a job that I feel called to do not in some distant future, but right now.

It is these voices that tell me that I cannot be a pastor that play though my mind as I prepare for the funeral. It’s intimidating to go to a funeral knowing that you are the youngest one there by 20 years and that it is your responsibility to lead people in celebrating the life of their loved one, grieving their loss, making sense of death, and finally proclaiming a message of the hope of the resurrection – all within a 30 minute service in which you also commit a person’s body into the ground before the rain storm blows in. Maybe they are right – maybe I am too young to be a pastor.   I begin to pray earnestly, “God, I know I am young, but please let me not screw this up. Also, I’ve heard rumor that sometimes pastors slip and fall into graves. I don’t know if that is true, but if that could also not happen, that would be great!”

It’s at this moment where I look down and get the exact reassurance that I need. I see scrawled out on paper the notes that I had taken earlier that day in a meeting with my supervisor. I was not going into this situation alone, but with the advice and knowledge of somebody who had been doing funerals for upwards of twenty years. My supervisor had carved out an hour from his busy schedule to help me prepare for the funeral and walk me through logistics. That’s the difference between many ministers who face the difficult situation of their first funeral as a young pastor and myself. I am not just a pastor but also a pastoral resident. While I perform most of the same things that an associate pastor would do, I have a supervisor to guide me through many of these intimidating firsts. In the same way that a medical resident works beside a more experienced doctor who can help them grow, I work with a great pastor who has a few more gray hairs than my measly ten so that I can succeed far more in my first years of ministry and grow into an even better minister than I am. I have profited so much from working alongside him and gleaning his knowledge. In return, my fresh look at ministry has freshened his view of the church and enabled him to be a better pastor. It is with this assurance and support that I entered my first funeral.

So, to all of those who say I am too young to be a pastor. In many ways you are right. At my first funeral, I ended up forgetting to find where the burial hole was before the service, so when it came time to put the ashes in the ground, I fumbled around to find out where the hole was underneath the astroturf rug. I ended up knocking over a whole vase of flowers that was caught by the daughter of the deceased woman who dove out onto the floor to catch it.   But, the prayers and order of service that I got advice on before that was flawless, and after having debriefed the experience with my supervisor, I will go into my second funeral with a few more gray hairs and more experience to thrive.

Petra Wahnefried is a pastoral resident at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC.