Julie writes that, “Serene Jones (president of Union Theological Seminary in New York) provided helpful calm in the turmoil of the changes in our denomination. Her ‘social theory of just breathe’ was a welcome balm. ‘Just breathe’ is a reminder for us to stay awake, cast off from our shoulders the ridiculous burden that it is all up to me/us. Just breathe and recognize that the person standing in front of us is a child of God.”

On our denomination’s website, I found the address that Serene Jones shared at The Big Tent. Jones reminds us that “Calvin’s Geneva at the dawn of the Renaissance was a hub of radical social change that transformed Europe and the world forever. The printing press had just been invented, providing unprecedented access to knowledge. Feudalism was giving way to capitalism, and the borders of nations were just being established. Fully 25 percent of Europe’s population had perished from the plague, creating waves of immigration and dense pockets of poverty throughout the continent.”

“The most important thing Calvin did was stay awake,” Jones said. “He … refused to close his eyes. He kept going to Scripture to keep his eyes open and described what he saw. “

Jones concludes her address with these words: “It’s going to happen with or without us ― our task is not to force it forward but to stay awake … with our eyes on Scripture and the world … God is leading us where we finally realize that we’re all children of God.”

What’s Next?? Let’s cross our bridges, link arms with our brothers and sisters, and help each other “to just breathe, keep our eyes on Scripture and the world,” and go where God is leading us.

PLEASE make an effort to attend one of these gatherings. If you are not able to attend the meeting in your region with your session, you are warmly invited to attend any of the other gatherings. You will find these posted on the Regional Conversation Page to the right of this post or click here: Appreciation Conversation Groups

If you are interested, we are also offering a Pre-Presbytery Appreciation Conversation on November 22nd at 2 pm at Carroll University.

We strongly urge you to take the opportunity to complete an online survey. The survey may take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour depending on your circumstances. Ideally, we’d love to hear from you by November 28th.

No one needs to tell you that the world we are living in is VERY different than it was even 10 or 20 years ago. As we attempt to embrace this rapid change and even try to look to the future, we want to start by reflecting on where we have been, leadership models we admire, times when we experienced excitement and trust in church communities. We want to hear from you…and to hear from a diverse group of lay leaders, pastors and congregation members so that we can make recommendations that will truly impact the broadest possible group of Presbyterians.

To respond to the survey, please click here: Presbytery Survey. Please be as honest and thorough as possible about your experience. Your responses will help us create recommendations for a stronger and more vibrant Presbytery!

Thank you for taking the time to respond, and for completing this by Nov. 28th. We look forward to reading your reflections and ideas!

(The first four questions are based on the Core Values of the Presbytery of Milwaukee that were adopted by the Presbytery in May 2011)

1.     Leadership:  Calling, Equipping, and sustaining leaders who will serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love

Leadership in the church can mean many things, from sharing an amazing vision for the future to running a good committee meeting to giving an inspirational sermon to being a wise steward of resources. 

In your experience, in this Presbytery or elsewhere, what would you point to as an example of gifted leadership?  What made it so remarkable?  Who was this person or group and what was this person or group doing?  How did people respond?  What, if anything, was accomplished?  How do you think this person (or these people) learned to do what they were doing?  What did you learn?  What role did God play in this person’s or group’s leadership?

What leadership development experiences have you had, through the Presbytery or elsewhere, that significantly improved your leadership capacity?

2.     Congregations:  Nurturing healthy congregations and fostering connections among congregations to share God’s love in the world and live the gospel of Jesus Christ

Some congregations seem to always be healthy while others seem to struggle. 

Talk about a healthy congregation that you have known.  What did it look like?  How did it embody Jesus Christ?  How did its members behave toward each other?  Toward strangers?  Toward other congregations?   From your perspective, what contributed to its health?  What made it feel so good?  What did you learn as a result of being touched by it in some way?    Where was God at work in this congregation?

Talk about a less than healthy congregation that you have known.  What were the challenges that it faced?  How did its members behave?  What did you learn from it?  Where was God at work in this congregation?

3.     Trust:  Entrusting ourselves to one another so that we reflect who God calls us to be

Trust, whether in the church, the home, or the workplace, is in some ways an unexpected gift and in some ways the product of hard work and persistence.

Describe a person or group whom you have come to trust.   What brought you together?  How did you nurture your trust for each other?  What hurdles did you have to overcome in order to trust each other?  What, if anything, happened as a result of your trust for each other?  What lessons did you learn as you came to trust each other?  What happened when you disagreed with this person or group?  Where did you see God in this relationship?

4.     Risk:  Creating an atmosphere that encourages risk-taking for the sake of the Gospel in this time and place

Taking a risk is always difficult, even when it’s for the sake of the Gospel, because we never know what might have to change, either within ourselves or in our relationships with others. 

Talk about a time in your life, in your current congregation or elsewhere, when you’ve taken a risk.  What did you do?  How did it feel?  Who else was there with you?  What helped to support you?  Did you have to change?  How?  Did others have to change?  How?  What were the consequences of your willingness to risk?

What risks has your current congregation taken or is it taking now?  How does it feel to be a part of a group that is willing to risk its identity or its ministry in new and challenging ways?  What helps to support the group?  Who has to change?

5.  Tell us something new

Every congregation is in a constant process of change as it adapts to the culture around it, although some congregations adapt more easily than others.

In what ways is your congregation noticeably different than it was 10-20 years ago?  How has it adapted to being a larger or smaller congregation?  How has communication to members changed?  How has worship changed?  What do you do differently than you did 10-20 years ago?

6.     Wishes for the Presbytery

The world is changing around us, both as individuals and as the church.  What we needed 25 years ago, five years ago, five months ago, is different than what we need today. 

Knowing everything that you know—about your family, about your work, about your world, about yourself—what are the three most important things a Presbytery (a group of Presbyterian congregations working together) needs to do in order to be faithful to God in this place and time?

Mary Schigoda and Ben Johnston-Krase, co-moderators of the What Next? Committee, on behalf of the committee presented their report. They introduced the committee members and spoke of their task of establishing core values for the Presbytery of Milwaukee.

Core Value Talking Points

Relationships with Congregations and Leaders

Leadership: Calling, Equipping, and sustaining leaders who will serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love.

• Affirms current efforts to call and equip leaders
• What’s new – sustaining leaders – investing in people for the long term (continuing education, not just
• initial training)
• Focus of presbytery primarily on those in ordained positions (pastors, elders, and deacons) who provide leadership to congregations expressed through reference to ordination vows
• Equipping the saints (Ephesians 4:7-16)

Congregations: Nurturing healthy congregations and fostering connections among congregations to share God’s love in the world and live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• Presbytery priority would be to nurture healthy congregations
• Connecting congregations to develop relationships as well as to create new mission opportunities and
• initiatives
• Reminder that the purpose of congregations is to share God’s love and live the gospel and fostering that is presbytery’s ultimate goal in working with congregations
• Nurturing congregations is also about connecting them to resources
• Connections may extend beyond denominational boundaries

Relationships within Presbytery

Trust: Entrusting ourselves to one another so that we reflect who God calls us to be.

• This is more than “building trust” – we are describing the nature of relationships within the presbytery – where we can be comfortable entrusting ourselves to each other, not just trusting the other
• Part of who God calls us to be is a people (presbytery) who can have that kind of mutuality and care in their relationship with one another
• The “quality” of our corporate character – how we behave together
• We bring our best selves to the table, a generosity of spirit, welcoming and inclusive, where presbytery is “we” and not “them”

Risk: Creating an atmosphere that encourages risk-taking for the sake of the Gospel in this time and place.

• Acknowledges that this is a time when “the way we’ve always done things before” no longer serves us
• Risk taking doesn’t mean wantonness, but a willingness to try new things, even make sacrifices for the sake of the gospel and the health of the church
• What is risky now may become the norm in another time
• An atmosphere that encourages risk-taking would be discerning, patient, tolerant, forgiving,
• courageous but still focused and accountable
• Openness to new opportunities, partnerships, collaborations at every level

Motion: The What Next committee moves the presbytery change the date of the final recommendations to be received by the Presbytery to the February 2012 Presbytery meeting.

Rationale

Hopefully the Presbytery will approve the Presbytery Council’s request for us to hire a consultant. We will need some time to hire a consultant, bring that person or organization “up to speed,” and continue our work together as summer vacation season approaches.

Motion approved.

The presbytery was then formed into 8 small groups, each led by a member of the What Next? committee and a member of Council/Personnel.            After the small group work, the group gathered as a whole and closed the What Next report with a bidding prayer.

Organizational Chart

the church reformed and always reforming.

The Presbytery of Milwaukee is changing… with or without us! In fact, over the last three years all four Wisconsin Presbyteries have experienced significant events that have caused a change to the staffing pattern; the geographical location of the presbytery office; a steady decline in membership and at best a flat financial picture.

In an article titled, The Travail Of The Presbytery,  Joseph D. Small (Office of Theology and Worship,) shares these thoughts:

“All presbyteries are changing, but while some are simply adjusting to the reality of diminished resources by reorganizing and streamlining the same old system, others are engaged in discerning searches for new ways of being.”

 “The leadership in the reformation of presbytery life will come from presbyteries, not from a General Assembly task force. Real change will be initiated by those presbyteries that say “No” to the reality given to them, hope in a different and better way of being the church, and thereby enable others to hope as well.”

 Here in the Presbytery of Milwaukee we’ve begun a process of active learning as we seek to discover what the Holy Spirit is calling us to do in a new time. This Blog site is an example of the active learning which we, the Presbytery of Milwaukee, are about. There’s no manual for this process, no master plan. It involves a lot of conversation, a lot of listening and discerning, a lot that may never be very clear to us. That’s part of the process. It’s natural.

It’s an adventure we’re on together!