Last week, Amy and I spent three days in the Bay Area at a conference called Gathering of Leaders, then followed it up with some time at our sister Cathedral, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.
Gathering of Leaders (GOL) was started by former Texas Bishop Claude Payne to "assist in the empowerment, support and development of transformational leaders for the Episcopal Church to grow the Church in spiritual depth and numbers." The Gatherings are opportunities for "mutual encouragement, deepening skills, establishing networks to aid ministry and clarify understanding of God's emerging vision for the renewed Episcopal Church."
In other words, it's a gathering of people who are trying to lead the church in a faithful response to a rapidly changing world.
As we sat at the airport on the way back, Amy asked me "What is your takeaway from the conference? What will you bring back to the Cathedral?" I struggled to find an answer because what we find when we try to faithfully respond to a rapidly changing world is that there are no easy answers anymore. And maybe there never were.
The Rev. Daniel Simons, associate for pilgrimage at Trinity Church, Wall Street (and also a member of my colleague group) quoted leadership guru Hugh O'Doherty in saying "there are no 'best practices 'anymore, only 'next practices.'" While I think that's overstating it (I still think having two signers on a check, for example, qualifies as a "best practice."), that stayed with me.
There is a tendency to want to find the expert who has all the answers or the person with the right bag of tricks to make everything all right. But we're really living in a post-expert era. One presenter likened it to the people of Israel's trek through the desert to the promised land. We can make golden calfs of technique and quick-fix programs, but what really is called for is looking for God's leadership. Where is that pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. How can we depend fully on God?
Maybe it's a lot less about having the right trick or program ... and a lot more about how ways of being -- together.
Part of my GOL experience was that I was asked to give one of the keynote presentations. It was the "practical application" piece that followed the "theological reflection" on the theme "Hope-full, Fear-less Leadership for a Missionary Church."
Frankly, in addition to spending time with wonderfully creative people, my main takeaway from GOL was in preparing my time with the larger group, I had to reflect on what I have been learning from our time together here at Christ Church Cathedral. And because I think my old liturgy professor at seminary was right when he said "you preach most what you most need to hear," I think my biggest takeaway was the four ideas I tossed out for the group to play with.
*Fear-less, hope-full leadership involves creating a trusted environment where we can play creatively together .
*We gather people around the presence of Christ – around the hope – and we reject the pressures of hubris and fear as priests to define exactly what it looks like. That’s for the whole community to discover together.
*Have less, be more. Embrace stewardship, reject ownership.
*Embrace the horror. The moments of deep loss are painful and the pain is real, but all loss is an opportunity to embrace more deeply what we can never lose -- the love of God in Jesus Christ.
So what did I take away for Christ Church Cathedral? That our life and the future of Christ Church Cathedral is much more art than science.
That our best future will emerge when we play creatively with a sense of joyful adventure.
When we share the process of vision casting together not look to one leader (me) to provide it.
When we look at all we have not as things to be owned and defended but as blessings to be shared and given away.
And when we don't hide from change but say "Bring. It. On." knowing that it is in the times of greatest challenge, when we feel most over our head, that we are most aware of and invited to depend on the providence of God.
None of these things are new. They all have their roots deep in our scripture and tradition ... and in fact my biggest learnings of them have been from the time we have spent together. That we have been our best as a Cathedral community when we have run away from fear and toward this hope.
It makes me feel good about where we are headed.
What does this have to do with Christ Church Cathedral?
Well, everything, I think. One thing I learned is that every church or seminary or institution represented there was united in agreeing that there was no "business as usual" to go back to and that there are no magic tricks or silver bullets. And we were all pretty united in saying "Alleluia" to that (even if it is Lent!) ... that this invites us into a time of great creativity and dependence on God, which is the church's bread and butter. So maybe the biggest thing this has to do with Christ Church Cathedral is that we're not alone. Lots of places are going through the same explorations and transitions we are. And many of us are really, really hope-full in the midst of it.
What do you think?
I'd love any of your thoughts on any of this. Given that I condensed 45 minutes of presentation into a few sentences, there's not a lot of meat on these bones that I've laid out ... but I'd love your thoughts about what's out here. Over the next week, I'm going to write a little more about each one, but I'd love your initial thoughts. Where does it resonate and where does it rub you wrong? Where is your hope and where is your fear? Discuss!
Gathering of Leaders (GOL) was started by former Texas Bishop Claude Payne to "assist in the empowerment, support and development of transformational leaders for the Episcopal Church to grow the Church in spiritual depth and numbers." The Gatherings are opportunities for "mutual encouragement, deepening skills, establishing networks to aid ministry and clarify understanding of God's emerging vision for the renewed Episcopal Church."
In other words, it's a gathering of people who are trying to lead the church in a faithful response to a rapidly changing world.
As we sat at the airport on the way back, Amy asked me "What is your takeaway from the conference? What will you bring back to the Cathedral?" I struggled to find an answer because what we find when we try to faithfully respond to a rapidly changing world is that there are no easy answers anymore. And maybe there never were.
The Rev. Daniel Simons, associate for pilgrimage at Trinity Church, Wall Street (and also a member of my colleague group) quoted leadership guru Hugh O'Doherty in saying "there are no 'best practices 'anymore, only 'next practices.'" While I think that's overstating it (I still think having two signers on a check, for example, qualifies as a "best practice."), that stayed with me.
There is a tendency to want to find the expert who has all the answers or the person with the right bag of tricks to make everything all right. But we're really living in a post-expert era. One presenter likened it to the people of Israel's trek through the desert to the promised land. We can make golden calfs of technique and quick-fix programs, but what really is called for is looking for God's leadership. Where is that pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. How can we depend fully on God?
Maybe it's a lot less about having the right trick or program ... and a lot more about how ways of being -- together.
Part of my GOL experience was that I was asked to give one of the keynote presentations. It was the "practical application" piece that followed the "theological reflection" on the theme "Hope-full, Fear-less Leadership for a Missionary Church."
Frankly, in addition to spending time with wonderfully creative people, my main takeaway from GOL was in preparing my time with the larger group, I had to reflect on what I have been learning from our time together here at Christ Church Cathedral. And because I think my old liturgy professor at seminary was right when he said "you preach most what you most need to hear," I think my biggest takeaway was the four ideas I tossed out for the group to play with.
*Fear-less, hope-full leadership involves creating a trusted environment where we can play creatively together .
*We gather people around the presence of Christ – around the hope – and we reject the pressures of hubris and fear as priests to define exactly what it looks like. That’s for the whole community to discover together.
*Have less, be more. Embrace stewardship, reject ownership.
*Embrace the horror. The moments of deep loss are painful and the pain is real, but all loss is an opportunity to embrace more deeply what we can never lose -- the love of God in Jesus Christ.
So what did I take away for Christ Church Cathedral? That our life and the future of Christ Church Cathedral is much more art than science.
That our best future will emerge when we play creatively with a sense of joyful adventure.
When we share the process of vision casting together not look to one leader (me) to provide it.
When we look at all we have not as things to be owned and defended but as blessings to be shared and given away.
And when we don't hide from change but say "Bring. It. On." knowing that it is in the times of greatest challenge, when we feel most over our head, that we are most aware of and invited to depend on the providence of God.
None of these things are new. They all have their roots deep in our scripture and tradition ... and in fact my biggest learnings of them have been from the time we have spent together. That we have been our best as a Cathedral community when we have run away from fear and toward this hope.
It makes me feel good about where we are headed.
What does this have to do with Christ Church Cathedral?
Well, everything, I think. One thing I learned is that every church or seminary or institution represented there was united in agreeing that there was no "business as usual" to go back to and that there are no magic tricks or silver bullets. And we were all pretty united in saying "Alleluia" to that (even if it is Lent!) ... that this invites us into a time of great creativity and dependence on God, which is the church's bread and butter. So maybe the biggest thing this has to do with Christ Church Cathedral is that we're not alone. Lots of places are going through the same explorations and transitions we are. And many of us are really, really hope-full in the midst of it.
What do you think?
I'd love any of your thoughts on any of this. Given that I condensed 45 minutes of presentation into a few sentences, there's not a lot of meat on these bones that I've laid out ... but I'd love your thoughts about what's out here. Over the next week, I'm going to write a little more about each one, but I'd love your initial thoughts. Where does it resonate and where does it rub you wrong? Where is your hope and where is your fear? Discuss!
1 comment:
As our cathedral family moves forward (from wherever we are), there's a paradigm shift available in leadership toward facilitation, and thus group awareness and group thinking, which can make greater room to allow the Holy Spirit to interplay more actively if we are willing to move/ participate in such a way.
As we learn to synthesize our talents/efforts through group projects/participation, we bring the spiritual kingdom to earth and anchor it...Blessings.
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