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Statement of Vision for the Region

 

When I open my heart to sacred imagination, I envision working alongside our pastors in Region 4 to ascertain the spiritual needs and desires of the people whom they serve and would like to serve.  My first nine to twelve months would be spent listening deeply and getting to know our present congregations and sharing in the dreams, frustrations, and challenges to ministry and the hopes which define their congregations and their visions.

 

I am coming to believe that MCC’s limited success in building churches on the European and African continents is due – at least in part – to limited conceptual models of spiritual community and communal life of worship and service.  Just what are the unmet needs of GLBTQ people and others we would seek to reach?  What are the interests and desires in regard to a life of faith:  interest in intellectual inquiry, longing for spiritual experience, hope for worship which inspires and is relevant to the rest of life, culturally connected conversation and spiritual exploration?  And just how can those longings be addressed in each culture of Region 4?

 

These questions inhabit my vision.

 

When I look through the strategy and excitement which will ensue when these questions are addressed, I can see our present congregations growing and creating new models which can be culturally adapted for other parts of the region.  Results will come:  Churches in the UK will more clearly speak in their own voice.  The German churches will lead the way on the European continent, offering guidance and council in the discerning of cultural distinctives and how to structure worship and community in appropriate and inventive ways.  Our South African congregations will continue to grow and find their own voices and will build a coalition of service and growth into neighboring cities.  The potential is boundless and the possibilities only limited by the stifling of our imaginations.

 

As Elder, I would bring my experience in creating new ministries and developing new strategies and join my gifts with the experience and giftedness of pastors and lay leaders, bringing my energy and enthusiasm to the unique challenges of Region 4. I believe that together we can find applicable resources and create our own where we can’t find workable models to build healthy, functioning congregations. 

 

I would advocate for increasing places at the table for the expression of global insights and the presentation of global needs which could be addressed denomination-wide.  I would encourage increasing multi-cultural, multi-language availability of resources and a consideration of all the cultures of Region 4 in the development of protocols for clergy and congregational participation in our denomination. 

 

Our entire denomination would benefit from the insights and perspective of the leaders and members of our Region 4 churches.  The voices from South Africa and Nigeria, from Germany and Scotland will further our understanding of the gospel’s liberating and life-changing power and increase our belief that together we can bring hope to the world.

 

As Elder for Region 4, I would work to build strong local congregations.  I don’t yet know what this means in each context.  But I do believe that a few vital congregations can inspire and instruct, can pave the way for much ministry in those places where MCC is yet to be established.

 

In my prayers for Region 4 and in my discernment regarding service as Region 4 Elder, I find particular resonance with the new Statement of Direction contained in our Strategic Plan.  I want to take this phrase by phrase and apply it to creating a plan to strengthen and build spiritually alive congregations in Region 4.  I especially hear the call and find vision in these phrases:            As one of the world’s emerging churches

we are proclaiming a spirituality that is liberating and sufficiently profound to

            address the issues of our chaotic and complicated world.

We live out our belief that in the margins we are blessed

we are offering multiple ways for people to access our message

we will expand our reach substantially over the next few years. 

 

I will call us to work toward a culturally relevant plan for each congregation:

            a plan of visibility and outreach

            a plan for spiritual growth

            a plan for works of service and social action

            a plan of articulating each congregation’s distinct population and message

            a plan which is hopeful and optimistic.

 

I will work with pastors and lay leaders – equipping and mentoring, listening and strategizing.

I will call others to pray, to discern their own gifts and call, to work with me and each other to

            develop visions and plans for ministry which will challenge and excite.

 

I love our denomination – our hearing of the gospel as GLBTQ people, our role of prophet in the larger Christian church, and our opportunity to call the people of God to lives of spiritual and theological honesty and faithfulness.