“…so we, who are many, are one body in Christ,
and individually we are members one of another.”
There are a lot of pretty cool things on our wonderful new Sanctuary website that say a lot about who we are and what we are becoming. For instance, when you click on the pull down menu for events, it tells you that you can find ‘upcoming awesomeness’ by going to the events board! One of my favorite things on the website (designed and built by Rev. Tom) is this button on the home page that says, “a new kinda church” followed by “sanctuary is all about creating new ways of being and doing church in the world.” When you click on that button, it takes you to the mission statement we developed last year and into which are really beginning to live!
A number of our new kinda ministries have begun to come to fruition. This weekend, eight of our own members are the first installation at The Gallery at Sanctuary and they join hundreds of neighborhood artists for West Medford Open Studios! Next weekend, through a partnership with a local Medford Music teacher, Laura Brereton, we will host our first Music for the Soul Coffeehouse with the second scheduled in June. Our first Faith and Film screening and discussion was really great and the Faith and Film series have been scheduled monthly through December. Our worship life continues to enrich us in new ways, with conversation and collaboration each Sunday and the marvelous Dinner Church once a month. Open Sanctuary seems to be ‘a thing’ with guests coming in for prayer requests, pastoral care, hospitality and a laugh on most days. I fall into bed every night exhausted and brain-dead, yet I am happy and certain that God is doing something new—and She is happy about what we are trying to be and do.
A couple of weeks ago, at our second-to-last Church Council meeting (come June we will no longer have a Church Council and will create a “Leadership Circle”) we considered job descriptions for the church leadership that will be elected by you on June 14 in conjunction with implementing our new bylaws as of June 1, 2015. These job descriptions, borrowed from another UCC church with similar bylaws, truly inspired us with their focus on mission, spiritual formation and leadership development. Seriously! We were looking at church leadership job descriptions and we got excited and moved by the purpose of the positions and the roles being described. We realized that we really are breaking free from the twist-their-arm-to-fill-the committee-nominating-process and the natural instinct to keep ministries the way that they have always been. We realized that we have the chance to offer people a fabulous opportunity—to be spiritual and faithful leaders who are accountable to the church’s mission and vision—a mission and vision that the congregation created and will sustain and update as new things are called forth. We realized that we are in the midst of a new kinda leadership for a new kinda church—and that we are living out God’s will for our congregation! What an inspiration!
The calling of the ‘Nominating Committee’ (whose name we think we would like to change later) is to nurture relationships and help identify and cultivate the distinct gifts and skills of members of our community so that we might raise up the right people to help lead us. In Paul’s language, people who would be great in this role have the gift of ‘exhortation.’ They have eyes to see talents in people and the voice to name these talents. They encourage members to find their holy vocation in the life of our Church so that the individual members may feel gratified in using their God-given gifts and the community may benefit from the sharing of their skills. Serving on the Nominating Committee is a gift to the congregation and the entire Church and is all about encouraging others to find their place in the ministry and empowering them to grow and leaders and servants . Doesn’t that sound like a great job!?
The calling of the Leadership Circle (Board) is to serve on behalf of the entire congregation. All of the members of the Leadership Circle are “at large’ and they are accountable to the mission and purpose developed by the congregation. The Congregation empowers the Leadership Circle to make decisions on our behalf and the Leadership Circle covenants to keep the best interests of the congregation at heart, listening for where the Spirit may be leading us. Serving on the Leadership Circle is also gift to our congregation and the entire Church, as we seek to be a welcoming community dedicated to bringing God’s peace and justice into the world.
The Leadership Circle members will bring a passion and dedication to the mission and vision of Sanctuary as expressed in our mission and welcoming statement. They will pray for the church and her ministries; lead by example by offering gifts of time, talent and treasure for the good of the Church; be trustworthy in overseeing the financial, administrative and overall well being of our community; be able to empower and encourage others to lead ministries and support the staff; build up the church through community; have integrity and respect for every child of God; be able to vision and dream for our future, listen, participate in a group, and work towards consensus, keep confidences; have patience to wait for the movements of the Spirit; an eagerness to spread God’s love; an intention to practice the spiritual disciplines of open communication; cultivate active listening in the midst of conflict; be diplomatic in discussing sensitive topics; committed to speaking the truth; and able to see the broad view of the church’s life and mission!
There’s more, but you get the idea. It is a big, beautiful shift in the way we think about our leadership roles and we’re excited about how if feels to imagine a church with these intentions. We have imagined folk who we think might fit these roles and plan to ask them this week if they would consider serving—but we are limited by our own goggles.
Who do you think would be good in these positions? There is a need to elect leadership for the next six months and then we will elect the leadership team in January 2016 for a full year. On June 14 we will elect:
- A minimum of five members of the Leadership Circle
- A minimum of three members of the Nominating Committee
- A minimum of three members needed for Stewardship and Finance (raising income, managing our resources, and budgeting)
- A minimum of three members of Pastor Parish Relations.
If you have suggestions about candidates, people whose gifts you believe will serve God well, please share your thoughts and be in touch with Rev. Wendy, Paul Roberts or Karen McCune Barca. Let us know why you are nominating the candidate! We would love to tell them why they were nominated!
As we live into this organizational model of ministry we will build skills and understanding, more thorough job descriptions and a nominating process that is ongoing and encouraging for everyone. There will be more formal participation on the part of the congregation and more time for discernment, the discovery of spiritual gifts and the development of leadership skills.
There is a lot into which we can live and a lot for us to celebrate! So ask questions of the council members and pastors, share this with your church friends, ask each other what you think, pray for the process, pray for the leaders to be identified, pray for those who are nominated, pray for your pastors and ministry team members, pray for our church… and lets be that new kinda church with new kinda leadership. We will all be blessed!
With care and prayer,
Rev. Wendy Miller Olapade
