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“Gentle Subversiveness”

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We’ve been asking folks to share a few words about what the National Gathering has meant to them. What would you add?

By Kelly Allen

I am grateful to the leadership of the NEXT Church conference for a wonderful experience of worship, conversation, learning and inspiration. There was, throughout,  an air of “gentle subversiveness,” as the freedom of the gospel was celebrated in surprising ways. Thank you especially for…..silence, art, drums, the preaching of J. Herbert Nelson, worship in the balcony, the encouragement to fail, hearing another’s confession and offering assurance, testimonies of real things that are happening in congregations, for trusting young church leaders, the Lord’s Prayer remixed,  and time to gab in hallways and lounges.

I leave with a commitment to surface and receive more gifts in my congregation and community and to help the leadership welcome (even create) chaos. I am inspired by the work of “The Center” in Baltimore. Therefore I hope to build  on our already strong relationship with a local elementary school in which most of the kids live below the poverty level, bringing together our local community organizer with representatives from church, school and community, to create a process of involving the students in addressing issues they care about in their community.

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Kelly Allen is pastor of University Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, Texas and is a candidate for moderator of the 221st General Assembly this June.

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Image: Wednesday morning worship in the Great Hall of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis

Help Us To Remember… A Prayer of Sending for NEXT Church

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Pastoral Prayer
NEXT Church Closing Worship 2014

Gracious God, as we prepare to go out from this place:
Help us to remember.
That is our prayer as our attention and our calendars start to turn back toward home. Help us to remember
because in remembering, O God, we find your faithfulness to us, and so we find hope. And we are hungry for hope.

Help us to remember
the energy, intelligence, imagination, and love that kindled in this place, the energy, intelligence, imagination, and love that we found in each other and rediscovered in ourselves.

Help us, O God, to remember the stories of the church that persists not because we have all the answers,
but because you simply will not let us go.
Your steadfast love endures forever.

Help us to remember and trust that “the church lives by a thousand resurrections,” and resurrection does some of its best work in the dark.

Help us to remember the calling you have placed upon us all: to shine light into the darkness,
to offer an anchor in the storm,
to bind up the broken and proclaim release to the captives, to seek the welfare of our cities.

Help us to remember our people, our places, where the needs are great and the ache is strong: where chemo treatments continued in our absence, where hungers persisted, where families fell apart, where guns were used, where grief was renewed. As we head home, help us enter into those places but God almighty, you come, too,
for surely they need you more than they need us. Help us all to remember that.

Help us to remember your story, O God,
your story of creating and longing,
your story of building and planting and prompting,
your story of prophets who raged and disciples who didn’t get it, your story of angels stuck on repeat saying, “Do not be afraid,” your story of a brutal cross and a broken son,
your story of a stone rolled back and a brand new day…
which is, of course, your story of reconciliation and redemption and grace and good, good news. It is the story that is saving our lives.

So help us to remember, O God.
Write it on our hearts because the church that is next is about the story that always has been
and the love that always will be.
Help us to remember
today and every day that follows. Amen.

~

written by Jenny McDevitt, Pastor of Pastoral Care, Village Presbyterian Church Prairie Village, Kansas. (Jenny writes: “My theology professor Dawn DeVries assures me that “the church lives by a thousand resurrections” comes from John Calvin.)

Peace Like a River… A Reflection on NEXT from a Graduating Seminarian

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By Molly McGinnis

Being a seminarian in the middle of Texas while high profile churches and presbyteries debate schism means that I hear a lot about church conflict. I’ve been following the NEXT movement for the last few years, and the Minneapolis conference was my second gathering. To me, the spirit of NEXT is to move us out of the malaise of being an institutional church and refocus our hearts on being the connectional church that we claim to be. After months of waiting for and hearing big news out of Dallas and Houston, the NEXT conference offered a welcome reprieve from debating church unity and the future of our denomination.

As a graduating senior, I am growing impatient with theory, and I’m ready to go out into the world and explore what this wild and wonderful calling will look like. When I arrived in Minneapolis, my head was filled with this enthusiasm and curiosity. But when we gathered for worship on that first morning, a hole of fear and anxiety opened up in my heart. Asking the question, “What’s next?” changed from an exciting idea to a crippling uncertainty.

Worship ran longer than expected that morning, and the already packed schedule advanced at a rapid pace. Over those first two days, my excitement and energy returned as we heard about the wonderful things people are doing in ministry across the country. We learned about new worshiping communities, revitalizing congregations, and reimagining mission. We talked about the conversations that are and are not happening, who is at the table and who is not. While these things were inspiring and helpful, the thing that struck me most about this gathering was the level of vulnerability.

On Tuesday, we closed the day with an evening prayer service. The whole assembly gathered in the balcony, which wrapped all the way around the sanctuary. Draped over the center pews below were long sheets of silky fabric in various shades of blue that fanned out like a river. At the beginning of the service, we wrote down the things on our hearts that were erecting barriers between us and God. The cards were collected in bowls and read aloud as we each placed lit candles on stone tiles at the mouth of the silken stream. Hundreds of prayers were offered for various people and things, but amidst our diversity were two consistent themes—fear and anxiety. Suddenly, I wasn’t ashamed of the hole in my own heart because I was reminded that we are all broken. What’s next is not figuring out how to fix the holes but allowing the Holy Spirit to move in and through those fissures in our souls. Prayers were read, candles were lit, and vulnerability was shared. And all the while, God lay still and shimmering like a river—a body big enough to hold all of our broken bodies.

~

IMG_7521Molly McGinnis is a graduating MDiv student at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She grew up in Arkansas, where she developed a love for the PC (USA) and an interest in ordained ministry. She has a mind for liturgy, a heart for worship, and a zeal for progressivism. She seeks to merge the traditions of the Christian faith with the needs of a changing church and culture. She currently serves as the seminary intern at Faith Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX. Molly likes to travel around the world with her camera and her love for food culture. She is also the proud mother of a Corgi named Culpepper.

~

Photo: members of the Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church pause by the “river” prior to Tuesday evening worship

2014 National Gathering Blog Round-Up

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LCDHere are some reflections from bloggers on what they heard and experienced at NEXT 2014! Read more

Watch the 2014 Gathering Live!

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Read more

5 Questions with Tara Spuhler McCabe

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This 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.

5 questions

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.

5 Questions with Kara Root

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This 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!

5 questions1. 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

5 Questions with Kellie Anderson-Picallo and Rich Hong

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This 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.

5 questions1. 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.

5 Questions with Kate Foster Connors

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This 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.

Kate Foster Connors is the Director of The Center. She will be offering a testimony at the National Gathering.

5 questions1. Tell us about your ministry context.

The Center is a mission partnership of the Baltimore Presbytery that equips congregations to get involved in their neighborhoods. We host church groups from all over the country, matching them with local congregations who are engaged in their neighborhoods. The visiting church group gets to plug into an ongoing, sustained ministry led by a local congregation, and the local congregation gains extra hands and feet to accomplish a special initiative.

2. Where have you seen glimpses of “the church that is becoming”?  

In congregations wanting to take a look at how they are using the talents, resources, energy and gifts of their congregation. Are they serving just the congregation and its facilities? Or are they out in the city, working with local leaders to realize justice for all of God’s children? These questions are being asked more and more frequently in the congregations I work with – and out of a deep engagement with what it means to live the gospel as a community of faith.

3. What are your passions in ministry? (And/or what keeps you up at night?)

Helping the church be the church – in other words, what are we, if we aren’t standing with the poor, those living with food insecurity, those without adequate housing, or education, or healthcare?

4. What is one thing you are looking forward to at the NEXT Gathering?

I can’t wait to hear the stories of others who are excited about bringing innovation and creativity to re-creating the church!

5. Describe NEXT Church in seven words or less.

Inspiring innovation in the church

5 Questions with Gary Swaim

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This 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. 

Gary D. Swaim, Ph.D. lives in Irving, TX.  He is a produced playwright in California and Texas (including a drama portraying the last years in the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer) and a widely-published poet and writer of short fiction, in addition to anthologized poetry and fiction.  Currently, Dr. Swaim teaches in the Masters of Liberal Studies Program for S.M.U and serves as Faculty Advisor for Creative Writing.  He was selected as the 2011 Texas Senior Poet Laureate and was awarded the honor of Minnie Stevens Piper Professor of Excellence for the state of Texas. Swaim is a member of the Woodhaven Presbyterian Church of Irving, Texas and a ruling elder. Gary will be leading a workshop, Creating the Poetry of the Spirit.

5 questions1. Tell us about your ministry context.

I grew up in a conservative denomination and served as a minister (pastor) in that denomination (fulltime and supply) for approximately fifteen years.  With that same group, I later served as an elder for thirteen years.  Through it all, I began drifting (deliciously and painfully) from the literalism I had been part to.  Fresh air fell on me when my wife and I associated with the Presbyterian Church.  I continued my spiritual search and have served as a ruling elder (and lay minister) there.  I have, for as long as I can remember, regarded myself a deeply spiritual person who makes essentially no distinction between the world of the spirit and material.  Each of my life acts is, I believe, of the (S)spirit.

2. Where have you seen glimpses of “the church that is becoming”?

I have seen the “church that is becoming” in the specific acts of persons inside as well as outside the nominal church.  I have seen it among those who say they do not believe as well as in those who believe deeply.  I have seen it in the person of advanced age and of youth.  It is most in individuals (and my thoughts go to one so aptly named Gloria) more than in collected gatherings of Christians.  I have seen the church becoming most with the marriage of the arts to the gathered body of persons. . .when individuals become co-creators with God.

3. What are your passions in ministry? (And/or what keeps you up at night?)

The so-called “high church” among most Presbyterians speaks to me most and impassions me.  Perhaps because I am a Professor of Arts and Humanities, symbology/imagery/depth of analysis speak to me most clearly, and I fear for its demise, its being overrun by bubblegum theology and practice.  No, I know.  This meets the needs of many and has every right to its existence.  It is, perhaps, only I whose need cannot be met by what APPEARS to be surface in nature.  And, then, I cry (worshipfully) at the excellence in a performance of “Sing, Sing, Sing” by Benny Goodman’s recording.  I have not said, you will have noticed, that I’m always consistent.

4. What is one thing you are looking forward to at the NEXT Gathering?

I will be enjoying (I know this is so, by faith) my first visit with Next Church.  I have long been involved in a quest for truths of all types and sorts, the very nature of my profession and temperament.  A quest, as concept, automatically involves “quest-ions.” I am rife with questions, short on permanent answers.  I expect that will be so for most attending Next Church.  What other reason than the search for answers would bring into existence a gathering like this?  I look forward to interacting with “questers.”  Nothing gives me greater anticipation.

5. Describe NEXT Church in seven words or less.

Believing, hopeful, questers in search of answers. . . .