There is fabulous new, Pulitzer Prize winning biography of George Washington titled Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press, 2010). The book includes a brilliant chapter, "Providence", on Washington's devout commitment to the Anglican Church and reflection on his theological perspectives. This one sentence from Washington himself certainly still rings true today:
"Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconciliable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause." (Chernow, page 132).
And here is an insightful description of Washington's personal attitude toward religion:
"Some of Washington's religious style probably reflected an Enlightenment discomfort with religious dogma, but it also reflected his low-key personal style. He was sober and temperate in all things, distrusted zealotry, and would never have talked of hellfire or damnation. He would have shunned anything, such as communion, that might flaunt his religiosity. He never wanted to make a spectacle of his faith or trade on it as a politician. Simply as a matter of personal style, he would have refrained from the emotional language associated with evangelical Christianity. This cooler, more austere religious manner was commonplace among well-heeled Anglicans in eithteenth century Virginia."
It seems to me that a low-key, sober, temperate, austere personal style is not a bad thing. It describes a quiet, persevering faithfulness which reminds me of many Presbyterian saints I have known.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Kaleidoscopic Fragmentation
Do we need another, new denomination?
“If the quest of the church is for unity in Christ, the on-the-ground reality has been kaleidoscopic fragmentation. And the kaleidoscope is spinning with increasing speed. In the past dozen years, formal organizational diversity among Christians has grown by 26 percent, swelling from an estimated 34,100 denominations in the year 2000to a projected 43,000 by mid-2012.”
Quoted from:
Dwight P. Baker
“Unity, Comity, and the Numbers Game”
International bulletin of Missionary Research
Issue 36:1, January 2012
“If the quest of the church is for unity in Christ, the on-the-ground reality has been kaleidoscopic fragmentation. And the kaleidoscope is spinning with increasing speed. In the past dozen years, formal organizational diversity among Christians has grown by 26 percent, swelling from an estimated 34,100 denominations in the year 2000to a projected 43,000 by mid-2012.”
Quoted from:
Dwight P. Baker
“Unity, Comity, and the Numbers Game”
International bulletin of Missionary Research
Issue 36:1, January 2012
Monday, November 14, 2011
Report to the Presbytery Nov. 15, 2011
What is the Question?
What is the question? As I ponder the life and ministry of our Presbytery, I am both grateful and bewildered. As I ponder the life and ministry of our whole Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) I am both grateful and bewildered. As I ponder the next steps of our common life I would like each of you to consider what you belief should be the guiding question for our common life. What is the question that should guide and motivate our future planning and our decisions moving forward? I wonder if we can agree on the question that should be front and center for our discernment as a Presbytery. What is the question?
With that thought in mind, I have been gathering questions from my reading. These are all important questions, but they each take us a different direction.
I highly recommend a new book by Alan Hirsch titled The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church. This book seeks to help the church move into a new future as a sent and sending people. The question that Alan Hirsch asks is this, “How did the early Christians do it? In fact they had none of the things we would ordinarily apply to solve the problems of the church, and yet they grew from 25,000 to 20 million in 200 years! So how did the early church do it?” Is that the proper question for us?
But then I thought that maybe our question needs to be more about our own spiritual lives in Christ. Maybe our guiding question needs to be the question the disciples asked Jesus, “How shall we pray?” Maybe our guiding question is a question about spirituality and prayer. I wonder if Richard J. Foster in his new book titled “Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey into Meditative Prayer” asks the proper question. Richard Foster’s question is this: “How does God speak to us? What should we expect or even hope for? Are there conditions of heart and mind that open us to God’s loving – and terrifying – voice? How can we develop an inward, prayer-filled listening?” Is that the proper question for us?
Or maybe the question is not about prayer and spirituality. Maybe the question is about the way we do things as a Presbytery. On this vein, I found a great question in a great book by Peter Block. The book is titled, Community: the Structure of Belonging. This is Peter Block’s question. Is this correct question for us? “The core question, then, is this: What is the means through which those of us who care about the whole community can create a future for ourselves that is not just an improvement, but one of a different nature from what we now have?”
This is an important question because many of us here, and many of us who will bother to attend Presbytery meetings, serve on committees and spend long evenings at session meetings are people that love this church. We have been blessed, nurtured, formed by this church. It is hard to imagine a new, a different, a future way of being the church because the way we do church now has been so meaningful in our lives. How can we create a future church that is not simply an improvement, but a church of a whole different nature? That is a good question. Is that our question?
Or I wonder if our question needs to be a bit more practical. Gil Rendle has written a new book focusing on the future of the mainline churches in America. The title of his book is, “Journey in the Wilderness: New Life for the Mainline Churches.” Should the question that Gil Rendle asks be our question? Speaking to us in these mainline churches, this is his question, “What have we learned by living in the wilderness for the last forty years that will sustain us in the future?”
I will appreciate any consideration you may have as to what is the proper question now for us as a Presbytery. Amen!
What is the question? As I ponder the life and ministry of our Presbytery, I am both grateful and bewildered. As I ponder the life and ministry of our whole Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) I am both grateful and bewildered. As I ponder the next steps of our common life I would like each of you to consider what you belief should be the guiding question for our common life. What is the question that should guide and motivate our future planning and our decisions moving forward? I wonder if we can agree on the question that should be front and center for our discernment as a Presbytery. What is the question?
With that thought in mind, I have been gathering questions from my reading. These are all important questions, but they each take us a different direction.
I highly recommend a new book by Alan Hirsch titled The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church. This book seeks to help the church move into a new future as a sent and sending people. The question that Alan Hirsch asks is this, “How did the early Christians do it? In fact they had none of the things we would ordinarily apply to solve the problems of the church, and yet they grew from 25,000 to 20 million in 200 years! So how did the early church do it?” Is that the proper question for us?
But then I thought that maybe our question needs to be more about our own spiritual lives in Christ. Maybe our guiding question needs to be the question the disciples asked Jesus, “How shall we pray?” Maybe our guiding question is a question about spirituality and prayer. I wonder if Richard J. Foster in his new book titled “Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey into Meditative Prayer” asks the proper question. Richard Foster’s question is this: “How does God speak to us? What should we expect or even hope for? Are there conditions of heart and mind that open us to God’s loving – and terrifying – voice? How can we develop an inward, prayer-filled listening?” Is that the proper question for us?
Or maybe the question is not about prayer and spirituality. Maybe the question is about the way we do things as a Presbytery. On this vein, I found a great question in a great book by Peter Block. The book is titled, Community: the Structure of Belonging. This is Peter Block’s question. Is this correct question for us? “The core question, then, is this: What is the means through which those of us who care about the whole community can create a future for ourselves that is not just an improvement, but one of a different nature from what we now have?”
This is an important question because many of us here, and many of us who will bother to attend Presbytery meetings, serve on committees and spend long evenings at session meetings are people that love this church. We have been blessed, nurtured, formed by this church. It is hard to imagine a new, a different, a future way of being the church because the way we do church now has been so meaningful in our lives. How can we create a future church that is not simply an improvement, but a church of a whole different nature? That is a good question. Is that our question?
Or I wonder if our question needs to be a bit more practical. Gil Rendle has written a new book focusing on the future of the mainline churches in America. The title of his book is, “Journey in the Wilderness: New Life for the Mainline Churches.” Should the question that Gil Rendle asks be our question? Speaking to us in these mainline churches, this is his question, “What have we learned by living in the wilderness for the last forty years that will sustain us in the future?”
I will appreciate any consideration you may have as to what is the proper question now for us as a Presbytery. Amen!
Letter to the Editor of the Christian Century
This letter is written to the Christian Century in response to their cover story in the November 15, 2011 edition, The Case Against Wall Street by Gary Dorrien.
Dear Christian Century;
Please help me know what to do. Since 2008 I have been trying to educate myself concerning our financial system, the banking industry and what exactly happened in 2008. The cover article in your Nov. 15 edition from Professor Gary Dorrien is the most helpful and clarifying introduction of our financial system that I have read. This article helped me enormously. But this article renewed in me the deepest stirrings of my soul to do something. I must change! I must respond! I must do something in my own life, as a faithful Christian, to respond! Please help me understand what my response may look like.
As much as I appreciate the Occupy Wall Street movement, and have followed their story closely, I cannot camp out in a park for a few weeks or years. I am the Executive Presbyter of a small Presbytery, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in central PA. I have a busy professional life. I have a home, and children and many daily professional and personal expectations. Life is good for my family now. I have a great job which pays me well and is very satisfying. My wife also has a good job in our local medical center. In response to this economic crisis we have been careful about keeping our own finances in order. Both my wife and I contribute significantly to our 403b retirement savings plans. As a Presbyterian, I am a member of a solvent, well established and truly stellar benefits and pension plan. Since 2008 we refinanced our home down to 15 years with a remarkably low interest rate. Wells Fargo Bank, one of the biggest in the nation, has given us excellent service and an excellent rate on our mortgage. Because we are able to maintain a large, monthly balance including direct deposit of our paychecks we receive outstanding service from our local PNC Bank. I never pay any fees for our routine banking. In fact, with their rewards program and interest bearing accounts, I make money from our local bank. We have no credit card debt. In many ways I have benefited from our financial system because I have a good, paying job with excellent benefits and I am in clear command of my personal finances.
But I feel this nagging emptiness and yearning when I ponder these large financial questions. I feel guilty and privileged in my settled, upper middle class life style. We are getting by quite well, and we are well prepared for retirement. But having my own financial house in order seems inadequate when, in fact, I am supporting financial institutions which are allegedly acting so inappropriately. I am participating in this financial system, which seems to be doing so much harm to our social fabric. Deep down I feel a nagging guilt about my own good fortune. What should I do? How should I act as a faithful Presbyterian, as a follower of Jesus, in America today?
Dear Christian Century;
Please help me know what to do. Since 2008 I have been trying to educate myself concerning our financial system, the banking industry and what exactly happened in 2008. The cover article in your Nov. 15 edition from Professor Gary Dorrien is the most helpful and clarifying introduction of our financial system that I have read. This article helped me enormously. But this article renewed in me the deepest stirrings of my soul to do something. I must change! I must respond! I must do something in my own life, as a faithful Christian, to respond! Please help me understand what my response may look like.
As much as I appreciate the Occupy Wall Street movement, and have followed their story closely, I cannot camp out in a park for a few weeks or years. I am the Executive Presbyter of a small Presbytery, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in central PA. I have a busy professional life. I have a home, and children and many daily professional and personal expectations. Life is good for my family now. I have a great job which pays me well and is very satisfying. My wife also has a good job in our local medical center. In response to this economic crisis we have been careful about keeping our own finances in order. Both my wife and I contribute significantly to our 403b retirement savings plans. As a Presbyterian, I am a member of a solvent, well established and truly stellar benefits and pension plan. Since 2008 we refinanced our home down to 15 years with a remarkably low interest rate. Wells Fargo Bank, one of the biggest in the nation, has given us excellent service and an excellent rate on our mortgage. Because we are able to maintain a large, monthly balance including direct deposit of our paychecks we receive outstanding service from our local PNC Bank. I never pay any fees for our routine banking. In fact, with their rewards program and interest bearing accounts, I make money from our local bank. We have no credit card debt. In many ways I have benefited from our financial system because I have a good, paying job with excellent benefits and I am in clear command of my personal finances.
But I feel this nagging emptiness and yearning when I ponder these large financial questions. I feel guilty and privileged in my settled, upper middle class life style. We are getting by quite well, and we are well prepared for retirement. But having my own financial house in order seems inadequate when, in fact, I am supporting financial institutions which are allegedly acting so inappropriately. I am participating in this financial system, which seems to be doing so much harm to our social fabric. Deep down I feel a nagging guilt about my own good fortune. What should I do? How should I act as a faithful Presbyterian, as a follower of Jesus, in America today?
Monday, October 31, 2011
Charge to the Mechanicsburg Church
Give Permission for a Jesus Movement
My charge to the beloved saints of the Mechanicsburg Presbyterian Church is a simple, direct, two words, “Give permission.” Give permission to your newly ordained and newly installed Associate Pastor. Give him permission to dream dreams, see visions and do ministry.
I have been in our Presbyterian Church for a long time, all my life as a believer, and for more than 25 years of professional service. I know this will be hard for you to believe in Mechanicsburg, but I have learned that there are people in our church today who are discouraged. There are people in our church who are kind of weary, whose hands are hanging down, whose heads are kind of drooped, and, believe it or not, there are people in the church today – some of the them are elders and some of them are ministers- who do not feel good about our Presbyterian Church.
Then we come to a day like this. Here we are celebrating that God continues to call, God continues to work in the lives of young people, God continues to call people into service and ministry in our Presbyterian Church. How sweet is that! How can we possibly be discouraged? When these newly called people come into our midst we must stand back in awe and wonder and simply give them permission. Let him go to live into this powerful call from God. Let him go to dream about the ministry which God alone has placed on his heart. Give him permission. Do not hold him back. Do not surround him with constraints and limitations and expectations and demands. Give him permission. Let him go.
I am doing a lot of reading, pondering and discussing these days on the relationship between institutions and movements. What is the difference between an institution and a movement? This fascinates me, and I believe I am on to something important with this question. An institution is structured and organized, it knows how to make transitions and perpetuate itself. A good institution knows how to make decisions as groups, and knows how to share power, manage risk, and implement plans and strategies. A good institution always has a plan for the future. I am an institution guy. The Presbyterian Church is a great institution. I love the institutional church. The institutional church has formed me and nurtured me. I trust the institution. I believe the institution is beautiful. Many of you are just like me. Yes, session members, I know who you are.
But today, for lots of complex, social reasons institutions, including the church, have lost their ability to transform hearts. Transformation happens in movements. Movements are free, fast and flexible. Movements are relational, not structured. Movements are about transformation, not planning for the future, but creating a new future.
This is my thought experiment. I believe institutions and movements need each other. Institutions bring structure and longevity. Movements bring passion, enthusiasm, flexibility and freedom. Without each other, movements and institutions, both will die. We are in a situation today in the church, it is an exciting time, when the institution needs to encourage, needs to give permission for a movement quality in our midst. But an institution can only encourage a movement quality if, and only if, the institution itself is strong, vital, self-confident, proud and trusting. If the institution is discouraged or paranoid then the institution will constantly snuff out any movements that emerge near it.
Give permission for Mark to inspire a movement quality for Jesus in the midst of your church. Give him permission to be free, flexible, spontaneous, creative and imaginative. Give permission.
Mechanicsburg Presbyterian Church, you are on my short list of our top-tier churches who are helping us live into God’s new future. Go for it!
“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3: 20-21).
Mark Englund-Krieger
October 30, 2011
My charge to the beloved saints of the Mechanicsburg Presbyterian Church is a simple, direct, two words, “Give permission.” Give permission to your newly ordained and newly installed Associate Pastor. Give him permission to dream dreams, see visions and do ministry.
I have been in our Presbyterian Church for a long time, all my life as a believer, and for more than 25 years of professional service. I know this will be hard for you to believe in Mechanicsburg, but I have learned that there are people in our church today who are discouraged. There are people in our church who are kind of weary, whose hands are hanging down, whose heads are kind of drooped, and, believe it or not, there are people in the church today – some of the them are elders and some of them are ministers- who do not feel good about our Presbyterian Church.
Then we come to a day like this. Here we are celebrating that God continues to call, God continues to work in the lives of young people, God continues to call people into service and ministry in our Presbyterian Church. How sweet is that! How can we possibly be discouraged? When these newly called people come into our midst we must stand back in awe and wonder and simply give them permission. Let him go to live into this powerful call from God. Let him go to dream about the ministry which God alone has placed on his heart. Give him permission. Do not hold him back. Do not surround him with constraints and limitations and expectations and demands. Give him permission. Let him go.
I am doing a lot of reading, pondering and discussing these days on the relationship between institutions and movements. What is the difference between an institution and a movement? This fascinates me, and I believe I am on to something important with this question. An institution is structured and organized, it knows how to make transitions and perpetuate itself. A good institution knows how to make decisions as groups, and knows how to share power, manage risk, and implement plans and strategies. A good institution always has a plan for the future. I am an institution guy. The Presbyterian Church is a great institution. I love the institutional church. The institutional church has formed me and nurtured me. I trust the institution. I believe the institution is beautiful. Many of you are just like me. Yes, session members, I know who you are.
But today, for lots of complex, social reasons institutions, including the church, have lost their ability to transform hearts. Transformation happens in movements. Movements are free, fast and flexible. Movements are relational, not structured. Movements are about transformation, not planning for the future, but creating a new future.
This is my thought experiment. I believe institutions and movements need each other. Institutions bring structure and longevity. Movements bring passion, enthusiasm, flexibility and freedom. Without each other, movements and institutions, both will die. We are in a situation today in the church, it is an exciting time, when the institution needs to encourage, needs to give permission for a movement quality in our midst. But an institution can only encourage a movement quality if, and only if, the institution itself is strong, vital, self-confident, proud and trusting. If the institution is discouraged or paranoid then the institution will constantly snuff out any movements that emerge near it.
Give permission for Mark to inspire a movement quality for Jesus in the midst of your church. Give him permission to be free, flexible, spontaneous, creative and imaginative. Give permission.
Mechanicsburg Presbyterian Church, you are on my short list of our top-tier churches who are helping us live into God’s new future. Go for it!
“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3: 20-21).
Mark Englund-Krieger
October 30, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Report to the Synod of the Trinity Oct. 10, 2011
Lend a Hand
Lend a Hand is the disaster response ministry of the Presbytery of Carlisle. Lend a Hand became associated with the Presbytery of Carlisle in response to Hurricane Katrina. We expected Lend a Hand to last about six months, and then we would be finished. Thus Lend a Hand since its first days in cooperation with our Presbytery has this sort of temporary, free form, flexible, close to the ground feeling about it. We do not have to worry about sustaining and continuing the work of Lend a Hand because we have no expectation that it will be sustained and continued. Lend a Hand operates day to day, disaster by disaster. Through these years, Lend a Hand has sent teams to Mississippi, Iowa, New York, Missouri, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia. Now our own Presbytery is a disaster response site.
The purpose of Lend a Hand is simple. There are victims of disasters. There are many people in the church who immediately want to reach out to, care for, respond to those victims. Lend a Hand has been successful because it has been focused like a laser beam on this one task: connecting disaster response volunteers with victims of disasters.
There is huge benefit in having such a singular, focused task. This focus allows a very fast response. The rain stopped and the rivers and creeks crested on Friday; Lend a Hand had teams in homes on Saturday.
Lend a Hand only works with homeowners. The ministry of Lend a Hand is comprehensive. We will work with homeowners from beginning to end. We will rebuild homes, in addition to simply cleaning them out. We have a database of skilled construction people, and we keep detailed skills inventory of our volunteers. For our response within our Presbytery now we have already a database of almost 200 homes that we are serving. We will track each home individually. We trust that volunteers will keep coming. We expect to continue this response within our Presbytery until next June.
What can we learn from Lend a Hand? I ponder this question often.
Lend a Hand has not been highly organized. We refuse to institutionalize Lend a Hand. So legally there is no such thing as Lend a Hand. It is not its own non-profit corporation; it does not own anything; it is fully owned and operated by the Presbytery of Carlisle. The Presbytery donates the time from our office support staff, office space and I am responsible for all financial management. But our Presbytery does not give Lend a Hand any money. There is no Lend a Hand board of directors; there are no by-laws or operating manuals; people are not elected; there are no long term plans, goals and objectives. Lend a Hand is a movement.
It is this movement quality that I want to highlight. It is this movement quality that may be something we can learn. We should ponder together the difference between a movement and an institution. Now there is no doubt that I am an institution guy. I was called, formed, blessed, and nurtured by the institutional Church. Many of us who would bother to attend a Synod meeting or a Presbytery meeting are the same way. The institution has formed us. A good friend of mine likes to say that I am so loyal to the Presbyterian Church that he is convinced that I have the Presbyterian symbol tattooed on my but. I also now believe that people like me – institution people – are obsolete and increasingly extinct. People today do not come to Jesus through the institutional church. People come to Jesus through much more free form, loose, flexible, relational, spiritual movements. We need much more of this movement quality in our common life.
This leads me to a difficult question, “Can institutions create movements?” How can we institution people create more of a movement quality in our common life? How do we do that? My conclusion is very clear for me. We cannot. Institutions cannot create movements. All we can do is get out of the way. This is very difficult for us. This is difficult for me. I am an institution guy. Institutions cannot create movements.
We may use Lend a Hand as a case study of this. Here is a tiny example where we have allowed a movement to flourish in harmony with the institution. My role in many ways is to serve as the offensive line for Lend a Hand. Lend a Hand is the quarterback. Too often, most of the time, we allow the institution to blitz and bury all the movements that rise up in our midst. My job has been not to allow our obsession with institutionalization to take control of Lend a Hand. Lend a Hand is a movement. This is very difficult for Presbyterians today. We want to institutionalize everything. A pastor walked into my office, closed the door, and said, “Suzie spends a lot of time doing Lend a Hand work. Don’t you think we should keep track of her Lend a Hand hours, and then Lend a Hand can reimburse the Presbytery for her time?” The institution is blitzing again. My response, “NO, we are not doing that.” Of course, afterwards I asked Suzie that question. Her response, “That’s dumb.”
Obviously, Lend a Hand is small and rather peripheral. It has been easy to allow its movement quality, its freeform, close to the ground way of running to blossom. But what if we begin asking the big questions? In the life of the Synod, in the life of our presbyteries, for the future of the church can we get out of the way and allow this kind of movement quality to emerge? And when such movements do emerge with energy, innovation and leadership in our midst are we going to blitz and bury them over and over again? Institutions cannot create movements. But we can give permission and encouragement. We can get out of the way. All over the world and throughout our society today there is a profound Jesus movement emerging. Can we institutional people get out of the way and allow that movement to bless and transform us.
Lend a Hand is the disaster response ministry of the Presbytery of Carlisle. Lend a Hand became associated with the Presbytery of Carlisle in response to Hurricane Katrina. We expected Lend a Hand to last about six months, and then we would be finished. Thus Lend a Hand since its first days in cooperation with our Presbytery has this sort of temporary, free form, flexible, close to the ground feeling about it. We do not have to worry about sustaining and continuing the work of Lend a Hand because we have no expectation that it will be sustained and continued. Lend a Hand operates day to day, disaster by disaster. Through these years, Lend a Hand has sent teams to Mississippi, Iowa, New York, Missouri, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia. Now our own Presbytery is a disaster response site.
The purpose of Lend a Hand is simple. There are victims of disasters. There are many people in the church who immediately want to reach out to, care for, respond to those victims. Lend a Hand has been successful because it has been focused like a laser beam on this one task: connecting disaster response volunteers with victims of disasters.
There is huge benefit in having such a singular, focused task. This focus allows a very fast response. The rain stopped and the rivers and creeks crested on Friday; Lend a Hand had teams in homes on Saturday.
Lend a Hand only works with homeowners. The ministry of Lend a Hand is comprehensive. We will work with homeowners from beginning to end. We will rebuild homes, in addition to simply cleaning them out. We have a database of skilled construction people, and we keep detailed skills inventory of our volunteers. For our response within our Presbytery now we have already a database of almost 200 homes that we are serving. We will track each home individually. We trust that volunteers will keep coming. We expect to continue this response within our Presbytery until next June.
What can we learn from Lend a Hand? I ponder this question often.
Lend a Hand has not been highly organized. We refuse to institutionalize Lend a Hand. So legally there is no such thing as Lend a Hand. It is not its own non-profit corporation; it does not own anything; it is fully owned and operated by the Presbytery of Carlisle. The Presbytery donates the time from our office support staff, office space and I am responsible for all financial management. But our Presbytery does not give Lend a Hand any money. There is no Lend a Hand board of directors; there are no by-laws or operating manuals; people are not elected; there are no long term plans, goals and objectives. Lend a Hand is a movement.
It is this movement quality that I want to highlight. It is this movement quality that may be something we can learn. We should ponder together the difference between a movement and an institution. Now there is no doubt that I am an institution guy. I was called, formed, blessed, and nurtured by the institutional Church. Many of us who would bother to attend a Synod meeting or a Presbytery meeting are the same way. The institution has formed us. A good friend of mine likes to say that I am so loyal to the Presbyterian Church that he is convinced that I have the Presbyterian symbol tattooed on my but. I also now believe that people like me – institution people – are obsolete and increasingly extinct. People today do not come to Jesus through the institutional church. People come to Jesus through much more free form, loose, flexible, relational, spiritual movements. We need much more of this movement quality in our common life.
This leads me to a difficult question, “Can institutions create movements?” How can we institution people create more of a movement quality in our common life? How do we do that? My conclusion is very clear for me. We cannot. Institutions cannot create movements. All we can do is get out of the way. This is very difficult for us. This is difficult for me. I am an institution guy. Institutions cannot create movements.
We may use Lend a Hand as a case study of this. Here is a tiny example where we have allowed a movement to flourish in harmony with the institution. My role in many ways is to serve as the offensive line for Lend a Hand. Lend a Hand is the quarterback. Too often, most of the time, we allow the institution to blitz and bury all the movements that rise up in our midst. My job has been not to allow our obsession with institutionalization to take control of Lend a Hand. Lend a Hand is a movement. This is very difficult for Presbyterians today. We want to institutionalize everything. A pastor walked into my office, closed the door, and said, “Suzie spends a lot of time doing Lend a Hand work. Don’t you think we should keep track of her Lend a Hand hours, and then Lend a Hand can reimburse the Presbytery for her time?” The institution is blitzing again. My response, “NO, we are not doing that.” Of course, afterwards I asked Suzie that question. Her response, “That’s dumb.”
Obviously, Lend a Hand is small and rather peripheral. It has been easy to allow its movement quality, its freeform, close to the ground way of running to blossom. But what if we begin asking the big questions? In the life of the Synod, in the life of our presbyteries, for the future of the church can we get out of the way and allow this kind of movement quality to emerge? And when such movements do emerge with energy, innovation and leadership in our midst are we going to blitz and bury them over and over again? Institutions cannot create movements. But we can give permission and encouragement. We can get out of the way. All over the world and throughout our society today there is a profound Jesus movement emerging. Can we institutional people get out of the way and allow that movement to bless and transform us.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Report to the Presbytery September 27, 2011
A Spiritual Commitment to Camp Krislund
I must tell you that I have fallen in love with Camp Krislund. And over these years I have poured blood, sweat and tears into Krislund, and, of course, I am not the only one. My friend and colleague, Joy, the General Presbyter of Huntingdon Presbytery, likes to tell the story about me from about October 2005. We were both at a monthly Board meeting at the Camp. I had started this position in July, and this was, if I remember correctly, only the second time I attended a Board meeting. I remember taking Joy aside after the meeting. Joy had only started her position with Huntingdon some months before I started here. I said to Joy, “There is a lot of work to do here. I think I need to spend some more time here; what do you think?” She smiled and agreed, saying, “I think we both do.” Indeed, many of us have poured blood, sweat and tears into Camp Krislund for these years. Look at the reports you have in your packet on both summer camp and our financial situation. I am very proud of what we have accomplished at Camp Krislund.
I want you to know that I struggle with this deeply. I pray a lot about whether this really should be the way I spend so much time and energy. I wonder and pray if it was a good decision for our Presbytery to make such a massive commitment to this Camp. Joy and I have had this conversation with our other colleagues around the state. On several occasions when all the Executives gather for our support group together, I have brought up this topic of Camps. Indeed, I have brought up this topic in conversations I have had with Presbytery colleagues all across the church. What we are doing here is increasingly rare. Many, many presbyteries are abandoning their camping ministry, and selling their camps. Many Presbyteries are pulling back from putting energy, leadership and time into their camps. So I struggle with the fact that we are doing something different; and in my position, I am doing something very different than many peers.
I want to be very clear: I am all in for Camp Krislund. I believe it is an essential piece of our ministry together as a Presbytery. I believe Krislund is one of the vital connective links in our Presbytery. I believe that Krislund is one of the reasons why our Presbytery is a high trust, highly functioning, healthy system. I have a dream that Krislund may be a sacred space and blessing for church leaders throughout our congregations.
I have in my hand now a letter that is truly one of the most wonderful letters. It is from the Centre County Planning Commission telling us that we have permission to commence construction on our Krislund cabins. Indeed construction will begin on October 3. My mind is boggled at how difficult it has been to satisfy all the government regulations for this project. Now it is ready to go.
I hope you know what this means. We will be building at Krislund twenty cabins to provide adults a comfortable place to stay at camp; no bunk beds, no shared bedrooms. These cabins are beautiful. We have had one proto-type built and delivered to Krislund already. It is sitting in the parking lot at camp. We are ready to go with the site development which will include a new sewer system to service these cabins, the electrical plan to provide power to each cabin, the specifications on all the plumbing to hook up the water and sewerage, and we have a taskforce working to identify and create a budget for all the little things we need in each cabin like shower curtains, towel bars, bath mats, two Adirondack chairs for the front porch, a small writing table and some wall decorations. Each cabin is one room, with two double beds, a full bathroom with a shower stall, a fabulous front porch, air conditioning and heating. The cabins will be connected by asphalt walking paths to the retreat center where we will have all meal service and meeting space. It will be a great facility.
What am I asking for today? Today I am asking for a financial commitment to Krislund. You can see that we are proposing continuing our support for Krislund in our Presbytery budget for 2012. We will soon be asking our congregations that have not done so yet and who are able to make a financial commitment to this project. As soon as we payoff the construction loan that we will have for this project the sooner we will put Krislund on a solid, sustainable financial path.
More important today I am asking for a spiritual commitment to Camp Krislund. We want Krislund to be a spiritual retreat center. Our children and youth summer camp at Krislund, which is a stellar program, is secondary and supplemental. I believe that our rental services, which are growing, are supplemental. First of all, most of all, we want Krislund to be a sacred space where we can go to relax and breathe deep of the presence of the Holy Spirit. We want Krislund to be a place that is truly a source of blessing, renewal and peace for all our Church leaders. We want Krislund to be a spiritual retreat center for us.
Joy and I are working on the concept of a 24 hour retreat. When our cabins are available we expect to schedule a 24 hour Presbyterian leadership retreat at Krislund every quarter, thus four times a year. A 24 hour retreat starts with lunch. This means that even for our folks in McConnellsburg, Chambersburg and Gettysburg you do not need to leave very early in the morning to get to Krislund by lunch. Our 24 hour retreat will have lunch together, all afternoon to program and gather, dinner together, evening time together, a night sleep in the cabins, possibly some very early morning time together for those who like me enjoy the morning, breakfast, program and gathering time through the morning and ending with lunch. Then everyone can be back home by 4:00 in the afternoon; 24 hours at Krislund. We hope to create these 24 hour retreats to renew, enrich and bless our spiritual lives together.
A 24 hour retreat for pastors or elders or deacons or clerks or women or men or couples or youth leaders or any variety of church leadership. A 24 hour retreat which may be a Bible study retreat or a spiritual retreat, or a sermon writing retreat, or an educational retreat or a support group retreat or a planning and visioning retreat or a book reading retreat or a silent retreat.
I am asking you to make a spiritual commitment to the future of Krislund. Starting with our pastors, I am asking you, over the next three years, to participate in at least one church leadership retreat at Krislund. Give Krislund one chance to be a blessing and support for your ministry. I know that most of our pastors have never been to Krislund. If it does not work for you, I understand. Krislund is not for everyone. But please, every pastor, give Krislund one chance to make a difference in your ministry.
What we are doing at Camp Krislund is beautiful. Thank you for your abundant support.
I must tell you that I have fallen in love with Camp Krislund. And over these years I have poured blood, sweat and tears into Krislund, and, of course, I am not the only one. My friend and colleague, Joy, the General Presbyter of Huntingdon Presbytery, likes to tell the story about me from about October 2005. We were both at a monthly Board meeting at the Camp. I had started this position in July, and this was, if I remember correctly, only the second time I attended a Board meeting. I remember taking Joy aside after the meeting. Joy had only started her position with Huntingdon some months before I started here. I said to Joy, “There is a lot of work to do here. I think I need to spend some more time here; what do you think?” She smiled and agreed, saying, “I think we both do.” Indeed, many of us have poured blood, sweat and tears into Camp Krislund for these years. Look at the reports you have in your packet on both summer camp and our financial situation. I am very proud of what we have accomplished at Camp Krislund.
I want you to know that I struggle with this deeply. I pray a lot about whether this really should be the way I spend so much time and energy. I wonder and pray if it was a good decision for our Presbytery to make such a massive commitment to this Camp. Joy and I have had this conversation with our other colleagues around the state. On several occasions when all the Executives gather for our support group together, I have brought up this topic of Camps. Indeed, I have brought up this topic in conversations I have had with Presbytery colleagues all across the church. What we are doing here is increasingly rare. Many, many presbyteries are abandoning their camping ministry, and selling their camps. Many Presbyteries are pulling back from putting energy, leadership and time into their camps. So I struggle with the fact that we are doing something different; and in my position, I am doing something very different than many peers.
I want to be very clear: I am all in for Camp Krislund. I believe it is an essential piece of our ministry together as a Presbytery. I believe Krislund is one of the vital connective links in our Presbytery. I believe that Krislund is one of the reasons why our Presbytery is a high trust, highly functioning, healthy system. I have a dream that Krislund may be a sacred space and blessing for church leaders throughout our congregations.
I have in my hand now a letter that is truly one of the most wonderful letters. It is from the Centre County Planning Commission telling us that we have permission to commence construction on our Krislund cabins. Indeed construction will begin on October 3. My mind is boggled at how difficult it has been to satisfy all the government regulations for this project. Now it is ready to go.
I hope you know what this means. We will be building at Krislund twenty cabins to provide adults a comfortable place to stay at camp; no bunk beds, no shared bedrooms. These cabins are beautiful. We have had one proto-type built and delivered to Krislund already. It is sitting in the parking lot at camp. We are ready to go with the site development which will include a new sewer system to service these cabins, the electrical plan to provide power to each cabin, the specifications on all the plumbing to hook up the water and sewerage, and we have a taskforce working to identify and create a budget for all the little things we need in each cabin like shower curtains, towel bars, bath mats, two Adirondack chairs for the front porch, a small writing table and some wall decorations. Each cabin is one room, with two double beds, a full bathroom with a shower stall, a fabulous front porch, air conditioning and heating. The cabins will be connected by asphalt walking paths to the retreat center where we will have all meal service and meeting space. It will be a great facility.
What am I asking for today? Today I am asking for a financial commitment to Krislund. You can see that we are proposing continuing our support for Krislund in our Presbytery budget for 2012. We will soon be asking our congregations that have not done so yet and who are able to make a financial commitment to this project. As soon as we payoff the construction loan that we will have for this project the sooner we will put Krislund on a solid, sustainable financial path.
More important today I am asking for a spiritual commitment to Camp Krislund. We want Krislund to be a spiritual retreat center. Our children and youth summer camp at Krislund, which is a stellar program, is secondary and supplemental. I believe that our rental services, which are growing, are supplemental. First of all, most of all, we want Krislund to be a sacred space where we can go to relax and breathe deep of the presence of the Holy Spirit. We want Krislund to be a place that is truly a source of blessing, renewal and peace for all our Church leaders. We want Krislund to be a spiritual retreat center for us.
Joy and I are working on the concept of a 24 hour retreat. When our cabins are available we expect to schedule a 24 hour Presbyterian leadership retreat at Krislund every quarter, thus four times a year. A 24 hour retreat starts with lunch. This means that even for our folks in McConnellsburg, Chambersburg and Gettysburg you do not need to leave very early in the morning to get to Krislund by lunch. Our 24 hour retreat will have lunch together, all afternoon to program and gather, dinner together, evening time together, a night sleep in the cabins, possibly some very early morning time together for those who like me enjoy the morning, breakfast, program and gathering time through the morning and ending with lunch. Then everyone can be back home by 4:00 in the afternoon; 24 hours at Krislund. We hope to create these 24 hour retreats to renew, enrich and bless our spiritual lives together.
A 24 hour retreat for pastors or elders or deacons or clerks or women or men or couples or youth leaders or any variety of church leadership. A 24 hour retreat which may be a Bible study retreat or a spiritual retreat, or a sermon writing retreat, or an educational retreat or a support group retreat or a planning and visioning retreat or a book reading retreat or a silent retreat.
I am asking you to make a spiritual commitment to the future of Krislund. Starting with our pastors, I am asking you, over the next three years, to participate in at least one church leadership retreat at Krislund. Give Krislund one chance to be a blessing and support for your ministry. I know that most of our pastors have never been to Krislund. If it does not work for you, I understand. Krislund is not for everyone. But please, every pastor, give Krislund one chance to make a difference in your ministry.
What we are doing at Camp Krislund is beautiful. Thank you for your abundant support.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)