The Second Sunday in Lent
Listen to the Sermon for March 1, 2015
Read the Sermon for March 1, 2015
Tag: Mission
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Together in the Journey of Transition
Gay and I are grateful for the extraordinary ways in which we are being enfolded in the embrace of St. John’s! The generous welcome and hospitality you have extended is helping us to get acquainted with the parish and get started in the work of transition. Permit me to mention several things that will be central to the fruitfulness of this season of transition.
Momentum in Mission ~ As I meet with key leaders and ministry groups, I am finding a healthy and vibrant momentum in your pursuit of Christ's mission. We will look for ways to encourage that forward movement. In some cases, that will mean doing exactly what you are already doing. In other cases, we will be looking at next steps, which will involve expansion or refocus. In still other instances, we will be looking at new initiatives.
Search Process ~ The process of searching for and calling a rector is a process of mutual discernment. In the past few years, this process has changed in positive and important ways throughout The Episcopal Church. Each Diocesan Bishop, with the support of the Office of Transition Ministries, directs a process tailored to the diocese and congregation. Our parish leadership will work closely with the diocesan transition officer, Canon Tristan English, as the process unfolds. In the early stages of the process, members of the parish will be asked to provide information that will allow development of a contemporary and accurate profile of the parish. At each stage of the process, the parish will be provided with as much information as possible.
Focus Areas of Transition ~ You will hear frequent references to “Focus Areas of Transition.” They are:
Heritage: Understanding and celebrating the history of this congregation and its relationship to previous clergy, the community, and the diocese.
Mission: Discovering the congregation’s unique identity, what it is called by God to be and to do, in accordance with and apart from previous clergy leadership.
Leadership: Encouraging and facilitating naturally evolving shifts in leadership roles which occur in times of transition and allowing new leaders to come to the forefront in creative and constructive ways.
Connections: Assisting the congregation in discovering how they can bless one another, the larger community, and their present and future clergy. Continuing relationships with the diocese, so that each may support the mission and work of the church.
Future: Building commitment to the leadership of the new Rector in order to move into the future with openness to new possibilities. These five tasks are the work of the congregation and are ongoing, not sequential, in nature. They represent the key ways in which the parish takes an honest look at itself. As we make decisions, we will ask lots of questions and have lots of conversations.
My Priorities ~ In addition to the usual duties of a rector, I will facilitate the five focus areas. I will also devote particular energies to several areas of parish life that the Vestry and I will identify together as opportunities for special attention of the parish and focus of my vocational experience and gifts.
Congregational Health ~ St. John’s is already a very healthy congregation! So, as we journey together during this transition, we will be mindful of the overall health of the congregation and its missionary activity. Four of the most important elements of congregational health are good communication, trust, mutual accountability, and healthy interpersonal behaviors.
In all things, we want to prepare every aspect of the life and ministry of the parish to receive your new rector and ensure that your ministry with your new rector is positive and fruitful in every possible way.
I'll see you in church!
The Rev’d Ron Pogue Interim Rector
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Sermon at The Episcopal Church in Parker County ~ January 25, 2015
The Third Sunday After the Epiphany
Listen to the Sermon for January 25, 2015
Read the Sermon for January 25, 2015
Today's icon: Call of Simon and Andew by Duccio di Buoninsegna
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The Dynamic Relationship Between Mission and Transition
I was recently asked this question: What has been the most valuable learning experience in your ministry and why? Here's my response.
Mission and transition are dynamically related.
When a faith community is intentional about discerning the mission entrusted to it and committed to engagement in that mission, it is also willing to be intentional about the transitions that are necessary. The dots have to be connected.
While considering leaving the parish I had served as rector for almost a decade, I was intrigued by the work being accomplished by colleagues who were intentional interim rectors. In conversations with them, I was encouraged to explore service to the wider Church through transitional ministry instead of as a settled rector in one parish. That discernment led to training in intentional interim ministry, during which I suddenly realized that all churches are in some sort of transition most of the time, although often unconscious of it.
Transition training should be core seminary curriculum. Transitions between settled rectors provide a unique opportunity to explore transition – remembering where we’ve been, clarifying where we are, discerning where God is calling us, making changes that are needed, connecting with the wider church, and embracing a new era of mission with a new spiritual leader. But that is not the end of transition!
During this epiphany, I recalled some words of Titus Presler: “Mission is not fundamentally something we do as Christians but a quality of God’s own being. It is not a program of ours but the path of God’s action in the world. The mission of the church, therefore, derives from the mission of God, and it has meaning only in relation to what God is up to in the universe. Already engaged in mission, God simply invites us to participate in what God is doing.”
The Church doesn’t have a mission. The mission has a Church. Everything we do as followers of Christ in community is related to and in the service of that mission. And God’s mission is constantly in transition. It became clear to me that when a church continues to function as if nothing has changed, the mission suffers. It also became clear to me that the mission suffers when changes are needed but are avoided or resisted.
So, intentional transition work in the Church, whether between rectors or at any time, must involve discernment about mission, participation in what God is doing for the sake of the world at our doorstep. Transition work matters only in relation to mission.
This insight guides my leadership so that after our interim time together, consciousness of the dynamic relationship between ongoing mission and ongoing transition will continue. Churches that are engaged in mission are healthier, happier, and more attractive to those who are seeking what Christ offers through them. In such places, transition evokes transformation.
I would like to leave a legacy of healthy, mission-focused, transformative congregations in my service to the wider Church.
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
(The Book of Common Prayer, Collect for Proper 10)
Blessings,