Striving for Excellence: Clarifying Roles

In my inaugural sermon this program year, I said this: "I'd like to encourage all of us to strive to make this an excellent year. Make it an excellent year for the church. Make it an excellent year for you. And above all . . . make it an excellent year for God." To strive for excellence, we need to make steady improvements in a number of key areas, both in our personal lives and together as a community of faith. To that end, I am beginning a new series of newsletter articles that are intended to promote excellence in our common life together. Our first topic: clarifying roles . . . because, in an excellent church, people know and understand the various roles that different people play, and support and encourage one another as they seek to do the tasks that God is calling them to do. Please read this even if you think you know all this already. you might not know or understand as much as you think you do, and there have been some changes this summer with the adoption of the new Form of Government in the Presbyterian Book of Order.

Members: Everybody who is a member of Christ's church is called to ministry within Christ's church. That is a given. Once an individual has made a decision to respond to God's grace in Jesus Christ and joins the church of their own volition, that individual now has a call from God to engage in some form of service within the church in the name of Jesus Christ. We follow here the example of Christ, who came "not to be served but to serve" (Matt. 20:28). This is why we say that the ministers of the church are all the members, because in the church of Jesus Christ, membership is ministry; they go hand in hand. "Membership in the Church of Jesus Christ is a joy and a privilege. It is also a commitment to participate in Christ's mission. A faithful member bears witness to God's love and grace and promises to be involved responsibly in the ministry of Christ's Church" (Book of Order, G-1.0304). The church exists to promote God's mission in the world, and the instant one joins the church, one becomes a partner in ministry with God and with one's fellow congregants. This congregation does not have just one minister. We have over two hundred - and you're one of them!

Ordered ministries: While every member is called to some form of ministry in the life of the church, God calls some individuals within the church to certain forms of ministry that are "gifts to the church to order its life so that the ministry of the whole people of God may flourish" (Book of Order, G-2.0102). "The existence of these ordered ministries in no way diminishes the importance of the commitment of all members to the total ministry of the church." "The basic form of ministry is the ministry of the whole people of God, from whose midst some are called to ordered ministries, to fulfill particular functions." (G-2.0101) There are three ordered ministries in the life of the church: Deacons, Ruling Elders, and Teaching Elders. Wait - did I say that right? Yes, I did. Some terms have changed! We used to talk about Deacons, Elders, and Ministers of Word and Sacrament. Now, we are reverting back to more traditional language: Deacons, Ruling Elders, and Teaching Elders.

Deacons (the ministry of compassion and service): "The ministry of Deacon as set forth in Scripture is one of compassion, witness, and service, sharing in the redeeming love of Jesus Christ for the poor, the hungry, the sick, the lost, the friendless, the oppressed, those burdened by unjust policies or structures, or anyone in distress." (G-2.0201) In two words - Deacons are called to ministries of compassion and service. "Persons of spiritual character, honest repute, exemplary lives, brotherly and sisterly love, sincere compassion, and sound judgment should be chosen for this ministry." As the Nominating Committee seeks to find individuals who are called to this ministry, and as the congregation prepares to elect such individuals, we should bear these defining characteristics and responsibilities in mind. Go back and read that description again. Truly excellent congregations always strive to find the absolute best people for this vitally important responsibility in the life of the congregation - those people who have these characteristics in abundance, those people who are truly called by God to this office. Not everyone has these particular gifts; not everyone should "take a turn" being a Deacon - because that philosophy is completely at odds with the concept of spiritual gifts, as it is described in the pages of the New Testament. Who do you think has the right set of gifts to be a highly effective Deacon? Let the Nominating Committee know!

Ruling Elders (the ministry of discernment and governance): "As there were in Old Testament times elders for the government of the people, so the New testament church provided persons with particular gifts to share in discernment of God's Spirit and governance of God's people. Accordingly, congregations should elect persons of wisdom and maturity of faith, having demonstrated skills in leadership and being compassionate in spirit." (G-2.0301) Every community - no matter how large or small - needs some people who possess leadership gifts and who can use those gifts for the good of the community as a whole. Effective leaders understand and constantly strive to promote the primary mission of the community, they help keep the community from going off track (because we are human and we do that a lot!), they establish a vision for the future of the community and promote changes in the life of the community that will help the community stretch towards that vision, they safeguard the community from outside threats, they address issues that need to be addressed for the good of the community as a whole, they make decisions regarding internal matters where there is disagreement or debate, and they discipline members of the community as needed to promote order, harmony, and peace. These matters are not easy (at all!) and need to be handled with diligence, grace, maturity, wisdom, and faithfulness. "Ruling Elders are so named not because they 'lord it over' the congregation (Matt. 20:25), but because they are chosen by the congregation to discern and measure its fidelity to the Word of God, and to strengthen and nurture its faith and life. Ruling Elders, together with Teaching Elders, exercise leadership, government, spiritual discernment, and discipline and have responsibilities for the life of a congregation as well as the whole church." (G-2.0301) What I said about the Deacons is also true for the Ruling Elders: not everybody is called to this ministry; God does not give everybody the right set of gifts to be truly effective as a Ruling Elder. Truly excellent congregations always strive to elect the best Ruling Elders possible. The entire future of the church always rests on the decision that the congregation makes as it elects its Ruling Elders every year! Who do you think has the right set of gifts to be a highly effective Ruling Elder? Let the Nominating Committee know!

Teaching Elders (the ministry of the Word and Sacrament): I have a certificate hanging in my office saying that, a number of years ago, I was ordained to "the ministry of the Word and Sacrament." I am still called to that ministry, but I now have a new title - one that is going to take me some time to get used to! I and all my colleagues in ministry - those serving as Pastors or Associate Pastors of various congregations, as well as those serving as Chaplains in hospitals, institutions of higher learning, camps and conference centers, and other specialized forms of ordained ministry - are now collectively called "Teaching Elders." What does a Teaching Elder do? "Teaching Elders shall in all things be committed to teaching the faith and equipping the saints for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:12). They may serve in a variety of ministries, as authorized by the presbytery. When they serve as preachers and teachers of the Word, they shall preach and teach the faith of the church, so that the people are shaped by the pattern of the gospel and strengthened for witness and service. When they serve at font and table, they shall interpret the mysteries of grace and lift the people's vision toward the hope of God's new creation. When they serve as pastors, they shall support the people in the disciplines of the faith amid the struggles of daily life. When they serve as presbyters, they shall participate in the responsibilities of governance, seeking always to discern the mind of Christ and to build up Christ's body through devotion, debate, and decision." (G-2.0501) Pastors are a subset of the larger group of Teaching Elders, and have particular responsibilities unique to their calling: "They are to be responsible for a quality of life and relationships that commends the gospel to all persons and that communicates its joy and justice. They are responsible for studying, teaching, and preaching the Word, for celebrating Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and for praying with and for the congregation. With the Ruling Elders, they are to encourage people in the worship and service of God; to equip and enable them for their tasks with the church and their mission in the world; to exercise pastoral care, devoting special attention to the poor, the sick, the troubled, and the dying; to participate in governing responsibilities, including leadership of the congregation in implementing the principles of participation and inclusiveness in the decision-making life of the congregation, and its task of reaching out in concern and service to the life of the human community as a whole. With the Deacons they are to share in the ministries of compassion, witness, and service. In addition to these pastoral duties, they are responsible for sharing in the ministry of the church in councils higher than the Session and in ecumenical relationships." That is quite a long list of responsibilities - and in a congregation of our size and complexity, with all the varied ministries we are trying to undertake, the tremendous amount of equipping that needs to be done to help the ministers of this congregation (that's you!) become more knowledgeable and more effective, the complicated issues that arise in the life of the congregation as we seek to carry out our ministry faithfully (many of which are routine, some of which are not, and many of which you probably don't know about because the elected Elders and I generally strive to handle the difficult stuff diligently and responsibly behind-the-scenes, without a lot of fanfare), and the massively long list of people within our community who have been experiencing various forms of pain, grief, and loss in recent years (some of whom you know about and some of whom you don't, because not everybody wants their personal pain to become a matter of public knowledge), I thank God that all this weight does not fall on my shoulders alone (go read Exodus 18:13-27!), and that we have Fred Graham on board as our Parish Associate. To put this another way, our congregation has not one but two Teaching Elders in our midst, one of whom serves as Pastor and one of whom serves as Parish Associate. (Eastminster Presbyterian Church in East Lansing - which has only about 20 more members than we do - has not one, not two, but three retired Pastors serving in their midst.) Fred provides a tremendous amount of assistance in the realm of pastoral care and he also preaches routinely when I am away; you and I are truly blessed to have Fred in our midst.

And many others! There are, of course, a multitude of other people serving in important roles here in this congregation - not the least of which are the numerous gifted people who are members of our superb staff. Each of them has a particular set of responsibilities as well. Sometimes there has been a lack of clarity about what responsibilities belong to a staff person and what responsibilities belong to a committee, and we are continuing to work to bring clarity where there is confusion. The clearer an understanding everybody has about what responsibilities belong to whom, the less amount of frustration will be experienced by all parties, and the more effective we will all be at our varied ministries. Some highly effective churches I know also utilize brief written ministry descriptions for key volunteers as well, making sure every key volunteer understands what their responsibilities are (and are not!), who they should talk to when they run into difficulties, and who might check up on them if a problem arises. The more every individual - and every committee - understands what their role is within the overall web of ministry that we are creating here, the happier we will all be, and the more effective will be the ministry that we are trying to carry out in the name of Jesus Christ.

To become a truly excellent congregation, we need an excellent degree of clarity about the roles different people play here. Excellence is possible. Let's strive for it!

Peace and blessings,

Bill