At the 90-day point in my ministry as Transitional Leader in the Presbytery of Elizabeth, I attended the annual meeting of the Association of Executive Presbyters and the PCUSA polity conference in Detroit, MI.  The timing was good for a brief step-away for net-working, exposure to Presbyterian life on the national level, and opportunity to reflect on implications for our life here in Elizabeth Presbytery.

In the many stories of mission and hope, shared from presbytery and national staff leaders, I noted a strong denominational trend toward conversation, spiritual development, and hands-on mission, with significantly less emphasis on policy and procedure.  We are becoming more relational and less regulatory.   

Our understanding of the nature and purpose of presbyteries is shifting.  The emphasis is now on supporting and resourcing congregations, for the sake of mission to their communities.  Presbyteries are being transformed into learning communities, as congregations require new tools and strategies for effective ministry in the 21st century.   There is no one-size-fits-all model.  Nor is there a road-map for the adaptive challenges before us.  However, as I listened to colleagues talk about the ways they are living into new patterns and practices, I noted the following common themes: 

·      Sabbath and Sabbaticals:  Presbyteries and presbytery entities are finding creative ways to take time off, time away, time out from business and busy-ness in order to devote significant time to Scripture, prayer and other spiritual practices that connect presbyters more deeply to God and each other….the fruits of which is discernment of new ways of doing and being.

·      Permission to let go of old forms and models:  In coherence with the New Form of Government, which allows for much flexibility about how presbyteries carry out the functions assigned to them, presbyteries are feeling free to dispense with elements that are cumbersome or no longer work well.

·      Use of visual images, music, sensory and tactile experiences:  Leaders are designing experiences that engage right brain activity to open new pathways in the minds and hearts of participants. 

·      A spirit of playfulness and experimentation:  There is plenty of trial and error, as presbyters explore the changing nature of their roles and responsibilities.   There is an ethos of freedom to try new tools and strategies and practices, without attachment to a particular outcome without fear of failure

·      Identifying and training new leaders:  In most presbyteries there are leaders (often younger and on the margins) who are excited and want to be a part of discerning and developing new places in the presbytery system for their gifts to resource congregations.  These leaders – both pastors and lay leaders - are often not in formal leadership roles in the life of the presbytery.

·      Use of key Scriptures to give handles that shape identity and mission.  What stories from the Bible describe who we are, how we experience our life with God, and how we relate to the world around us?

·      Focus outside the walls:  Moving beyond our church building(s) and outside the institutional structures of presbytery is essential to our transformation and to the formation of Christian discipleship.

·      Attention on pockets of joy and new life: (what Corey Schlosser-Hall referred to as "creating a culture of aspiration")  Presbyteries are choosing to invest emotional time and energy into offense rather than defense. 

These common themes were especially noted in two workshops I attended.

Trends in Mid-Council Partnerships

As we move through this transitional season together, thinking about questions of structure and staffing, we are not alone.  This workshop gave an over-view of trends emerging in mid-councils, from the perspective of Jill Hudson, PCUSA staff person for mid-councils.

·      Mid-Councils across the denomination are finding creative ways to share services, programs, and/or staff….sometimes forming collaborations, sometimes merging, dissolving some positions and establishing others.

·       Over and over again, I was struck by the importance of laying groundwork, asking the right questions, and keeping the focus of attention on-purpose.  (One presbytery gave itself a sunset date for going out of business, which forced them to get serious about the question of why they exist.)  

New Models for Committees on  Ministry:

The new Form of Government no longer mandates the existence of a Committee on Ministry, but does include some of the traditional COM functions among the responsibilities of a presbytery.  Yes, there are actually presbyteries out there who have done away with COM and in its place mobilized teams of people who are trained and sent to serve as pastor, counselor, and advisor to teaching elders and congregations.  In some cases, this has meant training some specialists who could be deployed in situations of conflict or transition.  In other cases, COMs remain but have radically transformed the way they carry out their functions, in relationship to pastors and congregations. 

Implications for Elizabeth Presbytery

We are in the phase of laying groundwork.  The Presbytery of Elizabeth has aptly named cultivating community and re-building trust as the primary work of Year One of the transitional period.   During this year, it is essential that we deepen our life in God and engage in experiences that build new relationships for the sake of Christ’s mission to the communities we serve.  As we engage this work, the common themes noted above may inform our choices.  Additionally, we may want to experiment with bold new strategies that will break us out of old habits and cultivate new habits of mind and heart.

Ideas I think have merit for our consideration: 

• A season of Sabbatical in which we put most of the work of our committees, units and teams on hold, while we turn to God together in new ways…letting things lie still, dormant without feeling the need to stir things up....spending intentional time in small groups of spiritual practice and/or engaging in acts of mission and witness together.

• Set aside presbytery by-laws for a season, in order to give the system permission and time to try new things without having to go through the work of process of changing by-laws in order to be able to do it.  

• Assess various tools out there to help us get handles on the current health and potential vitality of our congregations,  some we have used:  Natural Church Development and Russell Crabtree’s Holy Cow Organizational Intelligence.  Are there learnings still to be gleaned from these processes?  Others we might look at for the first time:  like the denomination’s New Beginnings program. 

• Learn more about the 1001 New Worshiping Communities movement as a catalyst to get our congregations thinking outside the box about ministering to the nones….the many people in our communities who have no religious affiliation.  And about U-Kirk….a new denominational endeavor to reach young adults.  

• Storyboard presbytery meetings….map out the experience the cabinet would want the presbytery to have at a particular meeting, or the emphasis for the meeting.  You get on the docket if it fits the story.

 I look forward to working with the Cabinet and other key leaders to consider how we might begin living into new ways of doing and being, as a presbytery.  I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Blessings,

Cheryl