#ccdoc

A Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) parish in Hookerton, NC.

Very quaint, chaste, and Protestant interior. Very first-class.

In my denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), we celebrated a special, powerful moment in the life of our church recently - the election of Rev. Terri Hord Owens as our new General Minister & President. Rev. Owens is the first African American woman ever elected to lead a mainline denomination. It’s an incredible opportunity as a collection of diverse congregations across North America to proclaim our witness, who we are, and who God is shaping us to be. I’m excited about the future.

I had a small part to play in this. Rev. Yvonne Gilmore and I co-led anti-racism training for the search committee that did the difficult, prayerful work selecting Rev. Owens. We offer these trainings more regularly now through Reconciliation Ministry for search teams because they challenge the process to be fully open to God’s moving - to discover the gifts available in the diversity of all people, to look at all potential candidates with as much openness as possible, and to be transparent about the process. I left that short training with a sense of optimism about the committee that was called together to do that difficult work - they appeared ready to have hard conversations and stay grounded in God’s presence.

The challenging reality of the GMP position in the life of the Disciples of Christ is that there is a lot demanded of it - and yet it does not have a ton of the authority that other denominations may instill in their bishops. Rev. Owens can’t fire pastors or move pastors around or tell churches what to do. She won’t be able to necessarily help local churches grow - that’s up to the local church. But she will be looked to for inspiration, guidance, encouragement, and clarity. She will be asked time and time again to bring a prophetic and pastoral word in the midst of division, pain, and opportunity.

My prayer is that the church structure as a whole will be open to her leadership without dismissing or discounting who she is and who God has called her to be.

My prayer is that congregations will support her in the new directions she will aim to lead our movement for wholeness in a fragmented world - even if we are uncertain about the direction.

My prayer is that we will do the tough work of unity - not safe unity - but hard unity in these interesting times in which we live.

Tweet of the Week: Wait… What?

https://twitter.com/mattrindge/status/566135231086747648

  I know that a lot of people do not like the President’s policies or whatever, but this type of criticism is a new one for me.  I have heard people in passing joke about the fact that they think the President is the “Anti-Christ” (a word not even used in the book of Revelation but that is topic for another day) but never anything like this.