August 2008
This month
SPECIAL!
● Our Presiding Bishop and member mission
STORIES
● Help for parents
● Second graders and seniors share written works
● Ray tells Maureen of his last part
● Member Mission travels to Romania and Hungary
● Work with the United Methodists
● "How I've found the holy in my work place."
FOR MEDITATION
● A caring child
SPECIAL!
Our Presiding Bishop and member mission
With a teammate, Peyton Craighill, I met with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori in her New York office for over an hour June 25. The purpose: at the suggestion of her Canon Chuck Robertson, to share the current resources of member mission for her comments. When she opened with already knowing of our work, we outlined briefly how Member mission is a wholly new way for a congregation and its members to be on mission. It emphasizes the daily living of each member as a Christian in each area of daily life – home, work, the local community, the wider world, and leisure as well as church; and the organizing of church life around supporting the daily living of the members as its primary purpose – or one of its primary purposes.
We had come to see Bp. Jefferts Schori with these questions: As you see it, is member mission new? What do you think of it? What should we do to next? Her answers were clear. You are doing some new things. I like what I see. And, here are some things you might do.
She began asking that we begin with writing a paper for her to use with at the September meeting of the House of Bishops which will review the state of theological education. The paper is to center on a needed new direction for theological education and how member mission might support and enable it. In brief, clergy will be trained to support the daily living of the members rather than “to run the church.” The paper, thus, combines Wayne’s work with member mission and Peyton’s 20+ years teaching seminary in Taiwan and many more years training candidates for the diaconate in the Diocese of Pennsylvania.
Another heartening outcome of the visit was to meet many of the staff besides the Presiding Bishop and find that all of them are on the same page. The Presiding is Bishop is moving the whole church center staff beyond building up the church to the church building up the world. Alleluia!
STORIES
Help for parents
[To aid parenting, adapt this plan from Trinity Church, Milford, MA.]
“Have you ever judged yourself and decided you were not doing a good enough job? Is parenting harder than you thought it was going to be? You are invited to join us on Wednesday, July 31st at 7pm to hear Cathy and Suzanne share how parenting has been more than they expected, and how they met the challenges. Come and hear their success stories. We will meet in Lane chapel at 7pm, with light refreshments being served.”
Contact: www.trinitychurchmilford.org or 506-473-8464
Second graders and seniors share written works
Second graders at Deep Creek Elementary School in Essex, MD welcomed seniors from the Oak Crest Village Creative Writing Group in Parkville, MD recently. The second-graders shared verses from their poetry collection. Their favorite topics ranged from frogs to Band-Aids. Then in small groups, the seniors shared their written works and copies of their articles from Reflections, the Oak Creek Village magazine. They concluded with a snack social.
Ray tells Maureen of his last part
[Maureen played Ray’s mother some time ago. Earlier, she directed him in many shows for the Plattsburgh Little Theater. In this picture, he talks with her about is part as Sir Edward in The King and I presented by the Chazy Music Theater.]
What do you see God doing to make life better through this theater group?
“God is bringing cheer and joy into people’s lives.”
How do you believe God is helping you on your acting?
“God has given me gifts to sing; and I am able to develop a character and stay with it awhile; and I am comfortable on stage. The part of Sir Edward took a lot of coaching in an English accent and people told me afterward they felt I was British. I have given concerts at my mother’s senior residence, and it looks like they will become monthly events. When I recall how God has cared for my parents, I’ve learned God answers some prayers quickly while other prayers take longer. In all, bringing joy to others gives me comfort and peace.”
Member Mission travels to Romania and Hungary
Ron Davis will take member mission to the pastors of the Romanian Baptist Convention and the leaders of the Hungarian Baptist Convention from 9/26 - 10/11/08. His Member Missionary Training resources have been renamed Intentional Missionary Training by his Romanian colleagues for their use in 2009 . As the Director of Mission for the 114 congregations of the Greenville Baptist Association, Ron has been one of the four DOMs of the South Carolina Baptist Convention who have been adapting the member mission resources for their regional associations during the past year.
Work with the United Methodists
Taylor Burton-Edwards of the United Methodist Church has posted news of the Member Mission Leadership Institute in two places: on the emergingumc blog (http://emergingumc.blogspot.com); and as a link on the home page of the General Board of Discipleship web site (http://www.gbod.org/worship) which gets about 3 million hits per month. It will stay on the Emerging Worship pages of the worship web site for a while as a more permanent home, since that is an audience of their denomination most likely to be interested in member mission. It will also probably appear on the laity web pages of the UMC. Taylor adds, “Thanks for the opportunity to be part of sharing your work with so many others.”
FOR MEDITATION – A caring child
[Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The following won.]
A four-year-old child’s next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy just said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”
God is most interested in how we live from Monday to Saturday.
Sunday – all of church life – helps us to do it better.
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