We won! (Oh, how I know the best way to ingratiate myself when writing for an American publication — not!). Seriously, October 2006 was also a great time for me and many of my colleagues from the Church of Scotland. One hundred forty-four of us (ministers and elders) travelled from the birthplace of John Knox to the Scotland Connections Conference with Covenant, First, Myers Park, and Sardis churches in Charlotte, N.C.
When coming off the plane, heading for the conference welcome table in the airport, I was confronted with an immediate eye-opener. Whilst awaiting arrivals, the reading material that my welcoming host was passing away her time with was the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Book of Order! I immediately assumed this was a lady in training for the full-time, ordained, Ministry of Word and Sacrament cramming in what study time she could in the quiet moments she found. However, on enquiry, I discovered that the reading was being done in preparation for eldership in her local congregation!
Wow! I knew I was in for an enlightening time stateside.
Sure enough, from the gift-packed welcome bags in our hotel rooms to the issue of free CD recordings of all conference seminars at the end of our stay, a “can do” attitude permeated everything. This “can do” attitude made a massive impression upon most of us from the U.K. It stood in stark contrast to the “we’ve never done it that way before” mindset encountered so often back home.
On my return to Perth, a former capital city of Scotland, I tried to implement some of what I’d learnt in North Carolina. I was met with elders whose pupils dilated; then their shoulders slumped; and their lungs breathed out a deep sigh. I was new to this parish after seven years of ministry elsewhere, and my elders were obviously thinking, Oh no! What kind of new minister have we got here?
In the main, though, all I was attempting to develop was my own Scottish version of what I’d learnt from my colleague, Steve Eason, of Myers Park through his officer-training program. In his book on this subject, Steve says, “Officer training is a teachable moment. … Now is the time to set the bar high. You get what you ask for, and we have been asking for too little.”
Well I knew, already, that the Acts of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (the Kirk) had already set the bar high. They state, “No one shall be admitted as a ruling elder if the Kirk Session is not satisfied with his or her qualifications.” So I went for it — prompting our elders to rise to the challenge.
We gave each elder (we have more than 50 on the St. Matthew’s Kirk Session) significant amounts of reading material prior to the summer in order to afford plenty of time for preparation before the autumn course itself.
• Eight chapters were selected from the Constitution and Laws of the Church of Scotland by former principle clerk to the General Assembly, the Very Rev. James L. Weatherhead.
• Four chapters were chosen from Confidence in a Changing Church by the current principle clerk of the General Assembly, the Very Rev. Dr. Finlay McDonald.
• Finally, the only American source were the ten chapters taken from the Rev. Dr. Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Church (which, in hindsight, turned out not to be the best choice of material for our Scottish context.)
Nevertheless, reading all done (by most!) we came to the four weeks of our Kirk Session training. Following the ideas in Eason’s book, we ate together (in the restaurant next door to the church), then worshipped in our sanctuary for 30 minutes, and then began the training meetings in our main hall.
It was amazing! After the initial hesitancy, enthusiasm overflowed from the average of 35 elders who agreed to meet each week. New elders and long-serving elders got to know each other in ways they had not before. Lessons were learnt about the Kirk that opened up many persons’ understanding and thinking in new ways, and a good degree of confidence and motivation developed that helped us all grow as the team that is Kirk Session.
I, myself, got a great deal out of planning and running this training in my congregation. Indeed, with a new neighboring colleague, the Rev. Jim Wallace [formerly of Setauket, Long Island, N.Y., PC(USA)], now arrived back home on Scottish soil very recently, we’re planning to run the course again. This time it will be a shared venture. I certainly hope we can manage that, and I absolutely recommend the concept of serious training time to other congregations anywhere.
Our talented, hard-working, committed elders are one of the Church’s most valuable assets! Isn’t it time we all, on either side of “the pond,” attempted to raise the bar for better results?
Questions for discussion:
What resistance do you find among fellow leaders toward going through leadership training?
With what church(es) might yours join forces in the future to do combined officer training?
What have you read along the way that informs your service to the church?
Scott Burton is the pastor of St. Matthew’s Church of Scotland, in Perth, U.K. www.stmatts.org.uk.
