Nancy said:
That's a good way to look at it revjohn.
Thank you.
My experience of Presbytery/Conference/General Council continues to grow. And as a result there are layers of naivete that get stripped away bit by bit.
As a youth delegate to Hamilton Conference in 1988 I stepped into the river of Church governance when the water was deep and fast. It was a fascinating experience but fell far short of being fun. I remember being asked to go and I remember being reminded several times that I was representing the youth and our agenda (more youth present and voting) would hinge on how maturely I was able to navigate through the AGM.
Yes. I was selected to be mature.
Probably the only time in my life that will happen without a lot of snickering and off-colour commentary.
In 1989 I was youth delegate to Hamilton Conference AGM one more time and I brought forward a motion that would require all Presbyteries to have a youth member and those youth members would automatically become delegates to Conference AGMs. The motion passed in what had to have been one of the most boring gatherings of all time. I guess we all still stung from how bad GC went the year before. And by bad I'm not passing judgment on any particular decision unless it be the decision to disrespect and disregard one another that made 1988 a very bitter year in our denominational history.
Since then I have serve on the Official Board of a congregation, served as a Presbyter, Presbytery Committee Chair, Presbytery Chair, Conference Executive member, Conference Committee Chair and Commissioner to General Council. Every step up the concilliar level opens the door to seeing and understanding new things. Serving on the Executive gives you a more detailed view of the Church in action when things have gone horribly wrong.
Thankfully it doesn't happen more often than it does. That it does at all is bad enough.
It isn't that such times are hopelessly political. It is that they can be and there are definite desires to go that way simply because it shifts the focus from the actual problem.
Not only do I get to see the church in ways I would wish never to have seen it I am forced, by virtue of my office to go with the church in places I would ordinarily not ever choose to go.
It is a necessity and as I go I bring everything I have to the discussion to ensure that decisions made are made fairly, that we love mercy especially when called to do justly and that we walk as humbly as possible. Anybody who thinks that can happen quickly probably doesn't understand either mercy, justice or humility.
And some of the times we are doing that we are making decisions which will have tremendous impacts on congregations we know and love and colleagues we have a fair amount of respect for. We don't deal with life or death no matter how much any decision might feel like either.
And at the end of the day no matter how much time was invested in trying to see all sides, understanding all consequences, fervent prayer and being as fair as possible to all involved you still get dumped on. Most often by folk who have no idea on what really happened.
So these big meetings might not be as much fun as they could be (I take responsibility for my own fun and I usually find something that I can have a good long laugh at without distracting myself or others from the work at hand) the decisions we make at them will have an impact upon some other meeting somewhere along the way in very profound ways.
Nancy said:
I inadvertently got mixed up in church politics this year. I thought I would be able to maintain my sanity; after all I'm not working any more, so I should be calmer, less stressed out. Well, my sanity is frayed.
I hear you.
The problem is not the politics (strictly speaking any group of people talking about community values can not be anything other than political) it is the brinksmanship which pushes situations to the critical edge rather than dealing with molehills before they become mountains.
Nancy said:
And I genuinely love all of the people I've met in the church hierarchy....until I see them at Presbytery.
I can empathize with that. A lot of my fellow Presbyters in Erie were very manageable one on one. As soon as they clustered they would be hell on wheels. Generally try to keep such out of any position from which they can wield any kind of authority.
The interest factions within Presbytery or Conference can make things miserable.
It hurts that nobody has agreed that there are times when screaming shut up and sit down can be an appropriate response. Especially when the same clown is going to the same mic on almost every issue. I can say, honestly, that there are times when I have thought the most merciful thing would be for individual A to get mugged in a bathroom on break.
Still, if I am not bleeding and bruised by the end of the meeting I think it counts as a goodish one.
