I labor until Christ is formed in you. GALATIANS 4:19

The Apostle Paul's entreaty to the Galatians calls us to be attentive to the formation of Christ within us.  As we know, birthing is messy and takes place in kairos time.  While we have trained up to do things "decently and in order," we need to be attentive to a process that will result in a healthy birth, lest we suffocate the new life that is emerging.

As Presbyterians, we need an iterative, non-linear journey to hold us to the process of exploration that Christ might be formed in us.  While linear thinking is about sequences, the formational journey is about connectionsto God, to one another, to our communities. It is about connections that allow new life to be formed and to grow up in maturity in Christ (II Corinthians 3:17-18). The journey of heeding God's call begins with receiving "an invitation to wholeness, a spiritual prompting to complete the work of love we are here to do."[1]

We have a tendency to tackle problems, wrestling them to the ground in an attempt to solve them.  Karl Jung's wisdom is helpful here: "The greatest and most important problems in life can never be solved, only outgrown."  In this season, not only is a new metaphor needed, but also a non-linear approach that honors the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the formation of Christ within us as the means by which we live into God's missional call.  Please note that this is not to encourage disorganized or undisciplined thought-healthy births are neither disorganized nor undisciplined-rather it is to hold us in a process of birth that honors God's time. 

Tim Brown in Change by Design quotes Henry Ford: "If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said 'a faster horse.'" This is why traditional techniques such as focus groups and surveys, which in most cases simply ask people what they want, rarely yield important insights."[2]  The same is true for traditional strategic process.  To be sure, we need to clarify vision.  But let us do so using an intentional change process that is grounded in relationship-with God and one another-and helps us bridge the gap between the ideal and the real through learning and experimentation.

Our tendency is to take a series of inputs, analyze them and then converge upon "the answer." Our trained instinct is to press toward a single outcome.  As Brown notes: "Convergent thinking is a practical way of deciding among existing alternatives.  What convergent thinking is not so good at, however, is probing the future and creating new possibilities."[3]  We need to be very careful not to recreate the past. Part of the role of "divergent thinking is to multiply options to create choices."[4] 

Chip and Dan Heath in their recent book Decisive call us to beware of four "villains" to decision-making:

1. Narrow framing-the tendency to define our choices too narrowly, to see them in binary (either/or) terms;

2. Confirmation bias-the selecting of information that supports our preexisting attitudes, beliefs and actions (Note: As Presbyterians, we have very set attitudes with regard to how we structure.);

3. Short-Term Emotion-that is allowing our feelings (be it about relationships, the past, the nature of change) to direct our decisions;

4. Overconfidence-thinking we know more about how the future will unfold than we do.[5]

A sobering reality is that 66% of all change efforts fail.   A push toward convergence of thought as driven by the "four villains of decision-making" is a large reason for why two thirds of all change efforts fail.

Before reflecting on the emerging role of presbytery in this season, it is helpful to remember the ways in which presbyteries have defined themselves over the last fifty years:

     Judicatory-a court of the church; an assembly to reach conclusions on significant matters; a place where judgment is rendered;

     Governing Body-to direct, regulate, and manage the institution of the church; to legislate and create policy;

     Agent of Mission-to initiate, send out, fund, and otherwise support mission;

     Council-an assembly for deciding matters of doctrine.

Sadly, all of these titles refer to matters of institutional maintenance, the making of decisions, debating of issues, managing of policy, creating of legislation, and starting of programs.   In order to accomplish these functions, we have had staff, programs, budgets, buildings, manuals, policies, and bylaws.  Yet, they have not resulted in either renewal or transformation.  Furthermore, our pastors, leaders and congregations are asking for nurture, education, fellowship, worship, witness and community. 

We need one another as together we study God's Word with open hearts and minds (Philip, 8:26-40).  God will give some innovators and early adaptors Damascus road callings (9:1-10), and we will need to listen and act on their callings.  As Jesus showed Peter, God shows no partiality (10:34).  We confess that no denomination, not even our beloved PCUSA, can give us our identity since our identity comes from the Triune God.  But the PCUSA can be a resource for some of our mission.  Form always needs to follow function.  New functions require different forms.  Pushbacks and uproars will happen (chapter 11, Thessalonica).  Councils will be needed to deliberate (chapter 15).  Times of encouragement, farewells, and new journeys will be happening (chapter 20, Macedonia).  There will be storms and shipwrecks and times of failure (chapter 27).  Through it all, God will provide Safe Havens (27:8) as the Innovators get ahead of even early adaptors, and the rest of us need time to get on board.

Observe & Go      Stand Strong, Praise God

Now many signs and wonders were being performed by the apostles. ACTS 5:12

We have already acknowledged the powerful reality of the emerging spiritual community that we call Muskingum Valley Presbytery.  This reality has strong implications for our understanding of who we are (our shared identity) and what we do (our shared vision).  While transformation is an act of God, we are responsible for creating the context in which that formation can take place.  To that end, in response to your input, we seek to nurture community in our gatherings, be together in worship and prayer, continue to learn and grow, and encourage partnership in mission (a detailed calendar can be found at the end of this letter).  It is our hope that the intentionality of our time together in community will then allow us to attend to our structural needs from a formational perspective.

As we reflect on our "Geneva Consistory", it behooves us to remember: "Mission determines the forms and structures for the church to do its work" (G-3.106).  No longer is the Committee on Ministry or the Committee on Preparation mandated by the Book of Order.  Rather, we are instructed to order ourselves in such a way as "to give effective witness in the world to God's new creation in Jesus Christ" (Ibid).  Form follows function.  Structure must be in support of vision and relationship.  We will need to be ever vigilant in resisting our tendency to over-structure. 

Step Outside   the Conventional Ministry Box

Who was I to think that I could stand in God's way? Peter, ACTS 11:17

We believe change begins with shared vision born of God's call.  In response to God's call, relationships are formed and ministry is shaped.  Stepping outside the conventional ministry box involves developing a learning plan and practice; it is an iterative process.  As indicated by the center box, all that we do will be born out of our shared life together. 

As with Calvin's Company of Pastors, the spiritual community born of our Company of Elders stands at the center of who we are in Christ.  Spiritual community and incarnational relationships in Christinform the iterative process outlined below:

Empower & Release

Choose from among you those who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.  ACTS 6:3

In the words of Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKee and Frances Johnston:  "Leadership is a sacred act.  (For us)... to engage people's passions and dreams in service of people and the planet is to be connected to humanity's collective past, present, and future" as we make a kingdom difference in the name of Jesus.[6] 

We are called to testify to the kingdom of God (28:23), without knowing the outcome.    Just as Paul did not know the outcome ahead of the journey, so we are called to make the journey our home.  Our prayer is that God will continue to open hearts and minds with a gospel message for people we haven't even met yet.  May we see Jesus clearly and embrace the mystery of how he uses each one of us in marvelous ways.  Amen and amen!

Relentlessly Focus on God

So the churches were strengthened in faith and grew daily in number.  ACTS 16:5