Dear Saints in Santa Fe, and other far-off places,

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, who rose again this year.

One mother of a junior high student made an appointment with me not long after I arrived at my first church in 1984, walked in, sat down, and asked if I was serious.  No, it was probably more like whether I was out of my mind.

I had just mailed a design for youth ministry to all the church families.  I was determined to be organized, as the Presbyterian Church is organized, and the many pages of my youth ministry manual had outlines, schedules, roles, responsibilities, elections of officers, and weekly meals prepared by parents, all neatly typed up on a typewriter I had lugged back from seminary.

This mother was not only unimpressed by my hard work but a bit offended.  This isn’t church, she told me, and she and her child would not be part of it.  She left, I never saw her again, and I was left with a profound feeling that I had over-reached, and underestimated why people came to church.  They were looking for an experience of God not a business model, a community not a flowchart, a place to become fully alive and not one that saps their energy.

When I arrived in Santa Fe over twelve years ago, I brought this understanding with me, as I had done previously in Ohio, and worked with a session task force to come up with a plan to address the needs of this congregation.  Communication channels needed to be better, and burnout needed to be tackled.  People were declining to serve on session (there were 21 elders when I arrived) because they also had to chair a committee.

Many months of planning led to the concept of Ministry Circles which divided the congregation’s ministry into four areas:  Worship and education, mission, congregational life, and stewardship (finance, personnel, facilities, etc.).  Instead of being chair of a committee, elders would be assigned to one of the circles and become liaisons and navigators for all the groups in that circle.  Issues could be better discussed and lines of communicated strengthened.  It felt good, it looked promising, but Ministry Circles never quite got off the ground.

But they are now.  Session is currently revamping and revising Ministry Circles with great hope and anticipation.  We will be lifting up the Congregational Life Circle in church on Sunday, with other circles to follow suit in later months. Stay tuned!

As we envision how we give expression to the church in these challenging times, might these Ministry Circles promote compassionate living, challenge powers and principalities, address horrendous situations like we see in Gaza and Ukraine, deal with human suffering, and stay close to the ways of Jesus.   If we do that, no matter how we organize, we will be faithful.

I wish, instead of a manual, I had a plan like this when that mother a junior high student sat in my office years ago, telling me I was out of my mind.  I wonder if she would have stayed if I would have been better able to express the mind of Christ.

As Jenny and I leave this Wednesday for two months in Australia, Spain, and Germany, we express to you our deep thanks, with grace and peace.

Harry