Are you ready to fire yourself? Presbytery and synod representatives, gathered in Albuquerque, N.M., Feb. 14-16, seeking ways to salvage their governing bodies. In the process they were asked to risk losing their careers.
“Do we need synods? Do we need executive presbyters?” asked conference facilitator Gilbert R. Rendle. “These [questions] are dangerous because as we ask them, we have to ask whether we are ready to lose our jobs. I don’t take such questions easily. Three times I’ve gone through a process that led to the determination that my job was not needed. I didn’t like it then. I don’t like it now.”
Rendle spoke about more than a corporate restructuring. He pressed those gathered leaders like a revival preacher. “This is a spiritual issue, a Mosaic issue. Are we ready to go out into the wilderness, not knowing where we are going to end up?”
As a consultant, he said during the past five years all the middle governing bodies with which he has worked was going through a process of downsizing. “Two primary motives have driven that: First, economic realities. How do we pare back to be able to do what we want to do? … Second: What is our output? What does our church need from us at the moment?”
Rendle is a senior consultant with the Alban Institute and author of several books, including Leading Change in the Congregation: Spiritual and Organizational Tools for Leaders and Behavioral Covenants in Congregation: A Handbook for Honoring Differences. A minister and former parish pastor in the United Methodist Church, he has provided consulting for many churches and regional governing bodies in his own denomination and others.
This gathering, “Communion and Conversation: Beginning a Dialogue on the Future of Middle Governing Bodies,” was organized by the Task Force on the Vitality and Vision of Middle Governing Bodies. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly Council formed the task force in response to a request from the Synod of the Southwest and the presbyteries of Santa Fe and Sierra Blanca in September. Organizers invited each middle governing body to send a representative. Out of 173 presbyteries and 11 synods, about 170 (including several national staff members) registered for the event.
Snow and ice storms on Feb. 13 and 14 forced a delayed start for the conference. Several registered participants missed the event entirely due to cancelled flights.
Mainline churches are all suffering identity crises as their role in American society has changed over recent years, outlined Rendle. “One of the plagues of the mainline tradition is that it spent a main part of its life being a part of the establishment. When you are part of the establishment culture, you don’t need to have an identity. Our purpose was framed more by our culture than by our call.”
Comparing mainline Protestants to their Jewish counterparts, he noted, “In 1968 The Christian Century ran research on Reform Jews. When asked what it takes to be a Reform Jew, the overwhelming response was ‘to have an observant rabbi.’ We are no longer living in that space, but we don’t know how to live in our present space. We need to be able to explain to people … about what we hold true in our values so those who share those values will want to be with us. … There is still a lot for us to do.”
The discussions generated much anxiety. Some had come looking for a plan to solve a financial crisis being felt in their presbyteries, but neither Rendle nor any of the participants would provide any simple solutions. Graham Hart, executive for Peace River Presbytery in Florida reflected, “This is a wilderness time. We don’t know the solutions or even all the questions. Neither new wineskins nor old wine is going to get us where we need to go. The process is painful, but God is in charge.”
Terry Newland, executive for Synod of Living Waters, and member of the planning task force, said, “Gil (Rendle) said that if we took this seriously, it would cause anxiety. That was evident in our closing session. There are people hurting, and while the visioning process is being implemented, we need to minister to our colleagues’ immediate needs, too. That’s got to be one of our ministries in the immediate future.”
Rendle did push the participants to think through the visioning and approaches of their governing bodies, highlighting the fact that their varying sizes define their mission and structure just as church congregations’ varying sizes dictate their respective mission and structures.
Jack Baca, pastor of Village Church in Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego Presbytery, reflected on these discussions, “Nothing was new or strange. What will be interesting is if the presbyteries can break out of the mold and put more flexible ideas into place. Gil was pressing us to see that we’re in a chaotic time, and you won’t find one simple path through this. It was encouraging to hear some of the people there finally getting it.”
The ideas discussed in the conference could be applied in other denominational entities, according to some of the MGB representatives in attendance. Cathy Ulrich, co-pastor of Central Church in Ft. Smith, Ark., and moderator of the Committee on the General Assembly told the Outlook, “I am looking forward to using some of Gil’s process models and materials to help us [in COGA] look at where we are going and how we are going to get there so we can be clearer on our goals and outcomes.”
According to Newland, this process will continue. The Board of Pensions will sponsor regional events including opportunities to further these discussions. The National Partnership Funds Consultation on April 18-20 in Kansas City will also discuss these issues.
The stakes are high. Hart added, “We are in for deep change or slow death.”
