Questions About Structure and People

We recently met at Seattle Tilth. We sat outside in a circle in the August sunshine surrounded by refugee recent immigrants who were working together to farm some 5 acres in the Rainier Beach area.

Our conversation ranged back and forth between two major poles: structure and people. I left that meeting wondering if our structures still make sense. R.C. pointed out that structures have inherent limitations. That promoted me to wonder if our existing structures help the diocese select and support the best people to both proclaim the Gospel and to implement it. Or in terms of Pauline biology, does our body need to evolve to thrive in our changed cultural environment?

We broadly agreed on the need to encourage "entrepreneurial" leadership (with the caveat that many of us disliked the term because the church is not a business). Our existing structures move slowly. For example, it takes a minimum of 18 months for discernment for Postulancy, followed by 3 years of seminary in order to become a priest. That's close to 5 years at a minimum; a substantial percentage of one's life, depending on one's age. Everyone agrees that we should select people deliberately, but is the current structure the best way to do that? Will an entrepreneurial, risk-taking person with new ideas want to sit still for 5 years before getting started or will he or she seek out a more nimble organization? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

As church membership has declined, our governing bodies have remained the same. Should our vestries, conventions, and councils shrink proportionately?

How should we best use our land and buildings to implement the Kingdom of God?

Most importantly, can lay people articulate what the Kingdom of God even is? This seems to me to be the greatest challenge we face. What exactly is the Good News and what is the relevance of the mythology we all take for granted to people unfamiliar with it?

I don't know what the answers are, but I think we should consider these and other questions about the intersection of people, structure, and faith.


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The Great Unplugged Blackout is over. Once I submit this article, I'm going to log onto my social media. I have missed connections with friends, really more of "seeing them on the radar" than anything else. Apparently, I also missed something about Ice Buckets (?) that everyone in the world knows about but me. I don't think I'm going back to using social media with the same frequency I did before, though. Social media to me also leads to a lot of frantic spinning of wheels to keep up with things that aren't that important. I do agree with Bishop Greg, that what is a problem for one person can be a lifeline for someone else.


Brad