by Laura Smith Conrad
My church’s session did an exercise a few years ago. It revealed that we were really good at management, but needed to grow in the area of leadership. Our retreat leader, John Wilkerson, commented that we were not at all unusual for a Presbyterian church. We had to address that need and our annual officer training had to be different.
In “Sailboat Church,” Joan Gray writes that the purpose of the church is “to partner with the Holy Trinity in the salvation and re-creation to the world.” Change has to begin with the nominating process. It is a spiritual discernment process. For us this is a “call process,” inviting members who have gifts needed for the congregation to pray about serving in ordered ministry.
Next, we took a different approach with officer training. Because authority has been delegated to our officers to serve as spiritual leaders, we needed to move beyond knowledge-based training. First priority became to nurture relationships with Jesus and one another. Jesus said, “I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who abide in my and I in them bear much fruit” (John 15:5). Our mission can only be accomplished when it is shaped and guided by Scripture, worship and prayer. Now, we begin each session meeting this way. The Scripture grounds us in purpose and mission. It also reminds us that we are not alone in our task.
Another priority is building relationships among the group and with the pastor. We explore our personal faith journey in small group conversations and stories. We ask: Who modeled Christian faith for you? Tell of a time God felt near or felt far away. How do you hope to grow in this process? These relationships are invaluable to build community and communication for serving together.
And finally, a goal of officer training is an understanding of the knowledge of Reformed theology and polity, particularly for those who come from different traditions — but even many of our life-long Presbyterians have not studied our own tradition. For us, the nuts and bolts of how our church runs is on-the-job training. We always pair a new officer with an experienced officer who can mentor and guide him or her. We weave training into our regular meetings as a reminder for all officers. We are continually “equipping the saints for the ministry to which they are called.”
We have found “Making Disciples, Making Leaders: A Manual for Developing Church Leaders” by Steve Eason to be a wonderful framework and have adapted for our own situation. A companion book, “Selected to Serve” by Earl Johnson Jr., provides additional content and covers topics such as roles, ordination vows, the Confessions and the Directory for Worship. “Spiritual Leadership for Church Officers” by Joan Gray is helpful for further leadership development. A new resource that I look forward to using is Theocademy, an online video resource at theocademy.com. Our training emphasis remains the same: equipping leaders and forming disciples who shape God’s church for its mission in the world.
LAURA SMITH CONRAD is pastor of Fort Hill Presbyterian Church in Clemson, South Carolina.
