Conference on Change

I attended the annual conference that Scioto Valley Presbytery sponsors for pastors and other church "professionals" each year. It was at a hotel in one of the beautiful Ohio state parks. We started with supper on Sunday evening and finished with lunch on Tuesday. The speaker was David Sawyer, who teaches at Louisville Theological Seminary and also free lances at church events.

David Sawyer, it turns out, was assistant pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Athens, Ohio, from 1972 t o1975. He worked at the church while he was enrolled in a graduate program at Ohio University. His memories of the church were happy ones. The skills he gained in organizational dynamics are ones he has honed and deepened over the years.

The theme of the conference was change. David spoke of the transitions in human communication from oral to print, then broadcast (i.e., television) to peer-to-peer (email, texting). Most Presbyterian churches are still focused primarily on print communication. We have bulletins, Bibles, and hymnbooks. This creates distance between us and the younger generations.

I have been working hard, especially in the last year, to move more of my communication onto the computer -- websites, blogs, Facebook, etc. I carry a cell phone around with me, but I do not text, and I do not share my mobile phone number with many people. It is more for personal or urgent use. I like being able to "drop out" for an hour or two when I choose.

I believe that the future of the church will include helping people do self-directed learning. This will be based on lively group life; that is where the electronic communication comes in. People will probably always enjoy the celebratory tone of large events like congregational worship, but the music will evolve and the communication include more media.

This means change, and change demands effort. It also means overcoming our fears so that we are ready to face the new patterns and possibilities that God is bringing our way.

Stewardship Season

First Presbyterian Church is in the middle of stewardship season. This is a time of year when we are invited to review the types of commitments we have made to God and to evaluate the depths of those commitments. We usually talk about time, talent, and money. I like to believe that we think about stewardship of life -- or discipleship -- steadily throughout the year. The focus this month is actually upon the financial pledges made to the church for the coming year. Over the next six weeks the Finance Committee and Session will evaluate the pledges that are made and the programs we want to support for the 2009 year.

Our stewardship theme this year comes from the title of a hymn, "Called as Partners in Christ's Service." During the last couple weeks we reviewed the web of relationships -- global, regional, and local -- in which we live and serve. The focus next Sunday will be upon the local partnerships which have shaped the life of our congregation. It is an impressive list.

All of this is happening in the midst of a major financial crisis in our country, now having global impact as well. It is pretty clear that many people whom we trusted were unworthy of that trust. Greed and selfishness, on many levels, motivated people to feather their own nest and ignore the well-being of the society as a whole. Jesus call to "love your neighbor as yourself" was ignored and forgotten by many.

Jesus calls his followers to be salt and light in the world. The selfless gifts of money and time that we see in faith-based groups gives us all hope that things can be better. Because of the hard economic times we expect it to be harder to gather funds for ministries like our church, but the influence of Christ is needed now more than ever.

One Great Family

September has just ended and we are beginning October. This is a favorite time of year for me. The first Sunday in October is World Communion Sunday. For me that means a celebration of the worldwide international nature of the church and of life. Some scientists who are studying human genetics are saying that all of humanity can be trace back to less than a hundred people who lived fifty to sixty thousand years ago. We really are of one blood and of one origin.

One of the happy surprises of my years in Africa was the profound oneness and "peopleness" of all humankind. I remember one occasion when we were entering a portion of the rain forest for the first time. We were challenged by African warriors with spears whose heads were mostly covered with monkey skins. They were intimidating. Within a few hours we had eaten together and were seated around the evening fire, discussing the issues of life. Education of kids, medical care, and family financial plans were the concerns of us all.

On several occasions I met National Geographic and other film teams who were making documentaries about Africa. Without the ability to converse with local people they could be made to appear "primitive" and backward. When there was time to eat and talk we quickly learned how much we have in common. The great hope of the gospel is that God is guiding us toward a shared destiny and a world that will be healed and reunited.

Progress and Prisons

It's been a busy week. I was determined last week to put in place some of the communication pieces that have been disorganized or non-existent. Last week I was working to get the church website in order so that new students would get the latest info when they visited. I have created a new email account for work at church, and I have the old email accounts forwarding mail to the new one. I created this new church-related blog and have also resumed posting on another blog that I do for our family. My Facebook account is up to date and I am using it to communicate with some of my friends. Yesterday I was contacted by an old high school friend that I have not talked with for decades.

All in all -- a productive week. Tonight I am finishing work on the sermon for the morning. We have a retired prof coming in to talk about his involvement with prison ministries. He will talk about the whole range of possibilities of ministry with prisoners -- from baking cookies to making visits. At one time I made regular visits with a church group in a maximum security prison. Now I visit in the prisons from time to time when family members phone (sometimes from out of state) and ask me to visit someone. Jesus, in his teaching, speaks about caring for prisoners and other neglected persons in society. I am hoping that someone will hear our speaker and decide that they want to be involved.

September 2008

For the past year I have been tinking more and more about how communication will happen in coming years. Web, internet, email, Web 2.0, podcasts, blogs, Facebook -- all of this will be a big part of how we live and work together, and how we care for one another.

I have felt the traditional newsletters and bulletins at FPC to be a bit limited for all I would like to write. I would like to write about hopes and ideas, things I think and wonder about, and I would like to do it in a way that some conversations might emerge.

So here it is. I promise to post on a regular basis and to listen hard when I get responses through the blog, by email, by phone, or face-to-face settings. Let me know what you think.