A Vision for Presbyteries
04/02/15 
Marianne O. Rhebergen
Introduction
In 1987, at ceremonies dedicating the new PC(USA) denominational headquarters in Louisville, biblical scholar and theologian Walter Brueggemann challenged those assembled with a vision of the late twentieth century church in exile, living in the midst of a hostile and pagan culture, searching for its way. He reminded the audience that the IsraelitesЎ experience of exile in Babylon was ultimately a constructive one, and challenged his listeners to practice disciplines of readiness even as they opened themselves to the possibility of a long period of waiting for a fresh word from God.[1]
In the years since, the PC(USA) --in its local, regional, and national forms -- undergone (and continues to undergo) change and contraction. Believing with Bruggemann that engagement with the disciplines of readiness alerts us to new possibilities, we write this as an open letter to the church to suggest a vision for a new way of being together as the church in one of its gathered forms, the presbytery.
The Context
Presbyteries as they are commonly known today are considerably different than they were over the first 150 years of organized Presbyterianism in America.[2] Most have highly developed organizational structures and paid staff; and they largely focus on matters of program, finance, and administration. By contrast, the minutes of the meetings of presbyteries in the late 1700s demonstrate that disciplinary matters, filling pulpits, settling disputes over paying pastors, and planting new churches were their highest priorities.
The church of the early 21st century can draw strength from memories that stretch from the experience of the Israelites to the twentieth century. We remember that after the Israelites had fled Egypt through the Red Sea, Moses was confronted with the task of building a people---a community of faith---out of the former slaves. It was his father-in-law, Jethro, who confronted Moses in Exodus 18, and challenged him to organize ministry in a new way among the people of Israel.
In American Presbyterianism, the first field staff were "colporteurs" (who sold Sunday School libraries and Bibles) and then Sabbath school missionaries. Their direction was to gather people together for education and worship. The field staff were literally in the field, not in offices somewhere. As presbyteries formed, it was expected that all field staff would report and be accountable to the leadership in the presbyteries. Slowly but surely levels of jurisdiction developed, and presbyteries often organized themselves to mirror emerging denominational structures.
Through the first third of the 20th century, most staff was deployed from national offices to serve in the field. But by the 1950s, the corporate model was emulated throughout the system, as presbyteries and mission areas began to hire staff. When membership began to decline in the last third of the century, organizational structures became even more complex, with frequent attempts to re-organize and restructure. Presbytery staff persons became Ўexecutives,Ў efficiently moving massive pieces of information (paper) across desks and managing people, projects, and processes. In the context of growing and widespread disillusionment with institutions; massive programmatic efforts requiring extensive interpretation; and numerous property, personnel, and liability issues to address, the staff of presbyteries had little time to be out in the field.[3]
We look back with appreciation on the dedicated work of the executive leaders in the presbyteries we have served, at the powerful ministries that have taken place when they have rolled up their sleeves and become involved in the ministry of congregations. Yes, their work included assisting in the call of many pastors; but there were also new mission partnerships, creative urban ministry initiatives, new congregations, and powerful sermons and teaching moments. Today we long for staff who will come out of their offices and again be servant leaders laboring in the vineyard, aiding congregations as they worship and grow in faithfulness.
We are concerned both with developing new means for connecting congregations and supporting specialized ministries within presbyteries, and with the re-visioning of the very purpose of presbyteries in a time of exilic waiting and listening. But we suggest that the latter must precede the former.
It is not enough to recapture memories, we must also engage the discipline of criticism. Presbyteries have traditionally been seen as having three functions: ecclesiastical, judicial, and missional. If, during the twentieth century, the image (and often the practical role) of the pastor underwent several transitions (from preacher to pastoral counselor to social justice advocate to administrator/manager), so has that of the presbytery (from missionary and ecclesiastical body to corporation and administrative board). Meetings of the presbytery today often resemble those of a corporate board of directors reporting to their shareholders, with little discussion and a pervasive sense of disenfranchisement and boredom among those assembled.
We believe gatherings of ministers and elders as presbyteries need not be this way, and propose that both this time of exile and the practice of disciplines of readiness open to us promises, including the possibility---even demanding it---of reclaiming an historic role, the teaching office of the church.[4] In CalvinЎs Geneva Ўthe company of pastorsЎ met regularly for study and reflection together. Minutes of the meetings of the earliest presbyteries in this country always make reference to the sermon preached at the meeting---its topic, length, and author. It was out of those times of spiritual nurture and biblical reflection together that decisions were made by the gathered presbyters.
Scripture also provides us a model. In the Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the story of the return of the exiles from Babylon and the rebuilding of Jerusalem is told. It was a challenging and disruptive time, for the core practices of the faith had to be rebuilt. In Ezra 9, we read that Ezra fasted and mourned before God over the sins of the people, praying for forgiveness. In verse 8 his prayer continues with these timely words:
ЎBut now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, who has left us a remnant, and given us a stake in his holy place, in order that he may brighten our eyes and grant us a little sustenance in our slavery. For we are slaves; yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to give us new life...Ў (NRSV)
Are there not structures and patterns to which our church, like the Israelites of long ago, has become enslaved?
In Nehemiah 8, after the walls and gates of the holy city had been rebuilt, the elders gathered all the people and asked the scribe Ezra to read to them from the Torah, the book of the law of Moses. This he did from morning until midday, and then (we find in verses 7 and 8) the elders Ўhelped the people to understand the law...They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.Ў When Nehemiah and the elders saw that the people wept on hearing the law, they told them not to mourn or weep, for Ўthis day is holy to the Lord your God,Ў and sent them off to feast and rejoice, Ўfor the joy of the Lord is your strength.Ў The passage closes with these words (verse 13):
ЎAnd all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send potions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.Ў (NRSV)
Whatever future God has in mind for our denomination, we believe that GodЎs steadfast love is extended to us even now, to Ўbrighten our eyes and grant usЎsustenanceЎ (Ezra 9:8) in the midst of this time of transition and searching. We have this song to sing, a new song made up of the old, old story.
A Vision for the Future: A New Way of
Being Together as Presbyteries
We propose that presbyteries conceive their life together in light of a revisioning of their essential purposes and core values. We suggest that presbyteries consider their underlying purpose to be that of so nurturing the spiritual life of ministers and elders that they go on their way from these gatherings feasting, rejoicing, and singing in the strength of the Lord, because they had dwelt in the Word of God.
Bread---not Ўjunk foodЎ---is to be found when presbyteries live by values such as these:
Ў a teachable spirit;
Ў theological and biblical grounding;
Ў radical trust;
Ў system thinking;
Ў creativity, risk-taking, and an attitude of expectancy;
Ў mutual support and accountability;
Ў a posture of life-long learning;
Ў and form that follows function.
We see the presbyteries of the future living out these core values in five arenas, ones that both describe aspects of our life together and shape the ways and times in which we gather: worship; relational life; mission, service, and advocacy; institutional life; and decision-making and discernment.
Worship is both our highest duty and the primary occasion through which we hear GodЎs Word proclaimed. Time and again, clergy and laity report that the high point of their gathering as presbytery is its worship. We suggest that specific times be allotted for presbyteries to gather only for worship, nurture, fellowship, and the celebration of new ministries and rites of passage. There let the Word be proclaimed so that the people go on their way rejoicing in the strength of the Lord and empowered for their ministries in the world!
The relational life of presbyteries occurs in and through a wide variety of settings: times of fellowship, times devoted to spiritual formation, times of intentional mentoring for leadership and professional ministry, times of supporting each other in the effort to build vibrant communities of faith and specialized ministries. Yet often even those moments are characterized by a climate of suspicion. We suggest that members of presbyteries once again adopt as our own what Barbara Wheeler has described so beautifully as the Ўradical [old] approach to church leadership proposed by Paul and CalvinЎ: ЎTrust GodЎs goodness in others; fear and grieve your own sins.Ў Individuals, ministries, congregations, and yes, even presbyteries thrive when Ўchurch leadersЎroutinely look for, learn from, even expect the best from each otherЎЎ[5]
In the same spirit, we suggest that each year members of presbyteries gather in ЎadjournedЎ sessions to engage directly in the ministries of service and advocacy. Many presbyteries already offer opportunities for youth and adults to participate in mission work trips, or to write letters (for example) on behalf of a piece of hunger legislation. Those who do so often experience these activities as greatly nourishing to them spiritually. What might be the impact on the spiritual life of clergy and laity when given the opportunity---even the requirement---to roll up their sleeves and get to work, to Ўrebuild the wallsЎ as did the Israelites in Jerusalem? What if they took the time, in the midst of such acts of service, to reflect with each other on how the Word of God was being proclaimed through those efforts?
Institutional maintenance and the decision-making life of presbyteries dominated all other forms of gathering in the second half of the 20th century. Recognizing that administration and management is always a means to an end (not an end in itself), we believe the approach to these aspects of a presbyteryЎs life can and should be greatly reshaped. Part of what is involved here is the relaxing of organizational structures. Over nearly 400 years of mission and ministry in North America, Presbyterians have seen the power of God at work and learned many lessons. In the twentieth century, many of those lessons were translated into organizational structures and administrative procedures adopted from the business world.
We suggest that presbyteries intentionally examine the various cultures of decision-making available to them.[6] It may not always be appropriate to use the strict parliamentarian model outlined in RobertЎs Rules of Order[7]; each major decision may warrant a different ЎcultureЎ of decision-making. For example, when spiritual discernment is the model for decision-making, attention is paid to different sorts of questions, and to both process and people in a different way. In his book, Transforming Church Boards into Communities of Faith, Chuck Olson provides a framework within which to understand these times of gathering as presbyteries: that of Ўworshipful work.Ў [8] Sessions across the country are already reorganizing their life around this concept and method of discernment. We believe clergy and elders gathered as presbyteries can sometimes use this model and that if they do so, they will experience decision-making as a time of dwelling in and listening for GodЎs presence and direction.
Finally, we suggest that presbyteries reduce the number of times they gather formally each year for reports on ecclesiastical, judicial, and fiduciary matters. Already nearly all of this work is done in committees, usually more effectively than it could possibly be done by a committee of the whole. Rather than report on the presbyteryЎs financial condition at six or eight meetings per year, leave the bulk of this work to the Trustees (and its oversight to the Mission Council), making interpretive reports for approval at a limited number of business meetings per year. Similarly, judicial proceedings in most presbyteries are largely delegated to a Commission and the Stated Clerk. The people elected to those roles are usually among the wisest of all presbyters. Reduce those reports to a few ЎbusinessЎ meetings of the presbytery per year. The Committee on the Ministry is usually empowered to act on the presbyteryЎs behalf through the summer months; let it be so in the times between the business meetings. In the same way, overtures concerning changes in the Constitution could be handled once per year.
Instead of asking presbyters to gather for meetings in which they all too often sit passively through the presentation of reports (with little to say), let our energies during this time of faithful waiting be put into calling presbyters together in worshipful celebration of new and concluding ministries, in acts of service and advocacy, of fellowship and nurture, and into moments of listening to and dwelling in the Word.
Implementation and implications
The term ЎexecutiveЎ presbyter is a relatively new one, and in parts of our church still is not used. Like much else in twentieth century American Presbyterianism, it was adopted from the business world. Although the men and women who have faithfully served our presbyteries can and have offered much more of themselves, recently the role of the Ўchief executive officerЎ has dominated their work, to the point that persons who serve presbyteries in that capacity have become functionaries, exercising little of the spiritual and theological leadership of which they are often capable.
Over the past twenty years, a growing number of presbyteries have redefined this position and called general presbyters to serve as Ўpastor to pastors.Ў We affirm these efforts to recapture one aspect of the historic role of the supervising minister of the early church, but would also reclaim a second element: the general presbyter as Ўteaching presbyter.Ў More than anything else, the congregations, minister members, elders, and specialized ministries that live under the oversight of our presbyteries yearn for someone to understand and walk with them, helping them to become more faithful and effective in their ministries. This requires story-telling and mentoring, in the model of Elijah and Elisha, Paul and Silas, Priscilla and Aquilla. Isaiah 50:4 reads:
ЎThe Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens--- wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.Ў NRSV
ЎGeneralЎ or ЎteachingЎ presbyters must be freed of the heavy load of administrative responsibilities in order to Ўsustain the weary with a word.Ў Guided by ears attuned to GodЎs word---words that instruct and call them, also, to live lives transparent to the world---they can engage congregations, clergy, and laity in practicing the disciplines through which GodЎs desire for us may become clear: the disciplines of remembering the story and the promises, mourning that which must be let go and celebrating in song the new, breaking bread together in remembrance and fellowship, loving and mutual criticism, and departing on journeys towards the unknown land God has in store for us.
The Mission or General Councils of our presbyteries have a significant role to play in leading the church into a new way of being together. We suggest that mission councils find ways to implement the pattern described above for meetings and gatherings over a period of at least twelve months. Yes, enabling motions would need to be passed by the presbytery to set aside certain Standing Rules for a period of experimentation, and/or change others to empower the work of the Trustees, the Committee on the Ministry, the Permanent Judicial Commission. Standing committees of the presbytery will need to determine whether and how to continue their work; whether and how they, too, can join in a year of sabbath rest. But all of this can be done. There is nothing standing in the way, we believe, except lack of imagination and trust in GodЎs faithfulness to us.
Change is always stressful, and communities of faith are no exception. No one can know precisely what the future holds for our church. But all of us can trust the promises. We call on the church to focus neither on the risks involved nor the past left behind, but to walk humbly---and confidently---into the future with our gracious God.
Joyce M. Emery and Marianne O. Rhebergen /2001, revised 2015
Rev. Dr. Marianne Rhebergen currently serves as the Transitional Leader of the Presbytery of the Palisades (PCUSA) in northern New Jersey. Previously, she served fifteen years as a pastor and twelve years in the Presbyteries of Chicago, New Brunswick, Lehigh, and Cayuga-Syracuse. Dr. Rhebergen received her M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in New York, and her Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in NJ.
Rev. Dr. Joyce Emery currently serves as Senior Pastor of the Salmon Creek United Methodist Church in Vancouver, Washington. Previously, she served pastorates in Colorado and California, and sixteen years in Executive service in the Presbytery of New Brunswick in central New Jersey. Dr. Emery received her M.Div. from San Francisco Theological Seminary, and her D.Min. from Princeton Theological Seminary.