| CHARLOTTE, NC
— Openness to the guidance, direction and power of the
Holy Spirit is the first key to transforming struggling congregations,
a pair of veteran urban pastors said during a recent gathering
of more than 850 Presbyterian leaders here last weekend.
And creating authentically Biblical communities is the second
key, the Rev. Judy Lee Hay and the Rev. Reginald Tuggle said during
the annual Churchwide Transformation Conference here on Jan. 24.
“Transformation is about embracing and trusting God’s
vision,” said Hay, the pastor of Calvary St. Andrew’s
Presbyterian Parish in Rochester, NY, “because it’s
God’s vision, and we’re God’s church.”
Tuggle, one of Hay’s fellow keynote speakers at the conference,
backed her up, saying, “The overwhelmingly essential element
for church growth is the Holy Spirit, which leads and guides,
and which gives direction and power.”
Tuggle was speaking from experience. He has led Memorial Presbyterian
Church in Roosevelt, NY, from near-death in 1973 to preeminence
in Long Island Presbytery today.
Hay, who has led the revitalization of her church and the neighborhood
around it, said God demands — and Jesus’s life embodies
— healing and transformation.
“Jesus was in the midst of lots of communities,”
she said, “and those he healed were sent back to their communities
to spread the Good News and transform them with that same healing
power.”
The world, she said, “is not seeking our opinion —
but people are looking for authentic, intimate community ... where
they can sift out issues and confusion, and be healed from life’s
bruises and oppressions.”
And the Biblical mandate in creating such communities of faith,
Hay said, is to promote the common good. Citing Jesus’s
teaching in Matthew 25:40 (“Truly I tell you, just as you
did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,
you did it to me”), she told a sellout audience, “We
do these things because God demands it.”
For pastors and sessions, that means empowering church members
to serve, Tuggle said.
“The pastor doesn’t have a monopoly on good ideas,
and the session must not be a roadblock,” he said. “Anybody
can say, ‘No.’ But it takes people of faith and courage
to convert ideas into ministry.”
Memorial Church’s flourishing prison ministry, for instance,
was started by a former prostitute who had converted to Christianity
under the congregation’s tutelage.
“She died of AIDS 14 months later, but not before she
converted others who have picked up the ministry,” Tuggle
said, “and no one else at Memorial could do this ministry,
because no one else can talk the talk and walk the walk except
those who have been there.”
Hay’s and Tuttle’s congregations both have fueled
revitalization efforts in their tough urban neighborhoods, spearheading
housing programs and attracting commercial development. Memorial
church has spun off two community development corporations, one
that addresses housing needs and one that ministers to young people.
Those efforts have led to bonds with a variety of other groups
in the community. “The only way to address all the needs
of the community, because there’s so many of them,”
Tuggle said, “is to partner with others.”
“Community collaboration is essential,” Hay agreed.
“Don’t do anything alone if you can do it with someone
else.”
That kind of common purpose and devotion to the common good
produce reconciliation, Hay said. “For us, it starts at
the communion table,” she said. “There, God calls
us to be reconciled, to come together in a culture that loves
to fight, to work together when the world wants us to choose up
sides. When we practice forgiveness and respect, we are teaching
people how to be better citizens.”
Worship and service are the twin pillars of authentic Christian
community, Tuggle said, noting that both of those expressions
of faith “are about God, not us.”
“Too often we give the impression that we love the Lord
— but not anyone else,” he said. |
