Yesterday, the
congregation I serve in the PCUSA held its annual congregational meeting.
We did most of the
usual things one might expect in an annual meeting—we reviewed written reports
from the previous year, we looked at financial statements and budget plans, we
approved the pastor’s terms of call and changed our ecclesiastical bylaws to reduce
the number of active ruling elders on our session from 12 to 9. It was as routine a meeting as anyone could
have hoped (I think).
But “routine” is
not necessarily the way the Bible teaches us to think about God, Jesus, the
Holy Spirit or the Kingdom of God.
No. In most every way, the Bible
would teach us that God is extraordinary, Jesus is extraordinary, the Holy
Spirit is extraordinary, we are extraordinary and that the Church is (or should
be) extraordinary. Though I can
appreciate a routine meeting, it sometimes fails to offer a glimpse of the
extraordinary nature of our relationship with God.
In the last few
years one of the meaningful changes in our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
constitution has been a return to the language of Ruling Elder to describe
those elected by the congregation to serve on the Session (our congregation’s
governing council). The “ruling” part of
Ruling Elder has been expressed as a job of measuring (like a ruler measures)
the congregation’s fidelity to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In other words, the task of Ruling Elders and
the Session is to help determine the congregation’s faithfulness to the work
set before us by scripture and in particular, Jesus Christ.
In some ways,
those written reports and financial statements and plans all demonstrate some
fidelity to the gospel. In some ways,
that’s the congregation’s willingness to own the ministry to which it’s
called. But I left the meeting wondering
if we were more caught up in the routineness or the extraordinariness of our
ministry.
What would a
congregational meeting look like and feel like if we were caught up in the
extraordinariness of our response to the gospel? Who should speak to that? And how do we make it more of a church party
rather than a reading of reports from the previous year? How can annual meetings, too, be about the work
of the gospel—and really feel like it?
I get that this is
part of the work that Teaching Elders (who used to be referenced as Ministers
of Word and Sacrament, and who are often referenced by congregants as Pastors)
and Ruling Elders do together. But it’s
a real shift away from the “decent and in order”-ness that Presbyterians are
often best known for. And then, there’s
the relationship to the annual meeting and the rules of incorporation that must
be adhered to in relationship to the state.
Over the years I’ve
worked with Sessions and congregational leaders to think in new ways about
congregational meetings. A few years ago
we organized our meeting as a Sunday morning worship service; we’ve been
intentional about trying “worshipful work,” we’ve moved the meeting from the
sanctuary to sitting around tables.
Still, it feels more like business and less like ministry; it feels more
like process and less like Jesus.
I’m grateful for
all the opportunities we take to measure our ministry. How many children came to Sunday School? How many meals we prepared in response to
homelessness? How mission dollars were
allocated? Whether or not we met the budget
with a surplus or a deficit? I just wish
we all had a chance to walk away with a better feeling of our personal stake in
it; and the place and reminder of Jesus’ call.
If we could help
congregations accomplish this…, it might resolve a lot of other things,
too.
© Rev. David Stipp-Bethune; Teaching Elder and
Pastor, The Presbyterian Church of Llanerch, Havertown, Pennsylvania
