The Courage to Commit

Over a month has passed since our team of pastors and interns returned from the South Africa trip.  The intern cohort has been very busy helping with construction on the south wall of our church, attending a conference on poverty at Woodland Hills Church, participating in the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches/Church World Service, and leading a worship service at First Presbyterian Church in Spirit Lake, Iowa.  It may seem like these events and projects have very little to do with each other, but they have deeply impacted me in ways that I continue to process.

Our South Africa team with anti-apartheid activist, politician and pastor, Dr. Allan Boesak.

In South Africa we had the privilege of meeting with and hearing stories from politicians, theologians, pastors and ordinary people.  They were a diverse people from different racial-ethnic, socio-economic, and vocational backgrounds, but they had one thing in common: they risked their personal well being—even their lives—for the sake of fighting the injustices of the oppressive apartheid system that they lived within.  What was truly remarkable, however, was that they did not consider themselves victims or heroes, and they never asked to be recognized for the brave sacrifices they made to bring apartheid to an end.  I am convinced that this is one of the primary reasons these leaders were able to make a difference in their country.

Prior to the General Assembly of the National Council of Churches of Christ (USA), the interns participated in the pre-conference young adult ecumenists gathering called “New Fire.”  Church of All Nations was the host church.  We extended hospitality to the attendees by providing transportation to and from the airport, and welcoming the group to our Sunday morning worship service.  Following the service we dialogued with them in our adult Sunday school forum “CrossTalk,” sharing our journey as an intentional multicultural community that was organically led into the ecumenical conversation, and listening as they talked about their own interests in the movement.  Participating in New Fire and hosting the participants provided a great opportunity to get to know other young leaders from various Christian traditions and learn through our interactions what it means for us to participate in ecumenism.

An evening worship service at New Fire 2009.

While I learned a lot from the New Fire experience, however, the conversation did seem somewhat shortsighted.  The strength of the younger generation is clearly their relational nature, but one of the primary weaknesses is that they are not as tied down to their respective denominations as their predecessors.  This seems like a good thing at first, but as I participated in the conversation I realized that an ecumenical movement rooted in this younger generation’s way of building relationships would also be rooted in their struggle to commit and take responsibility.  So while there were good conversations about how to network and work together better locally and nationally on social justice issues, there was also a lack of conversation about reconciliation and the pursuit of true visible unity.

The conversation at the General Assembly level was similar.  It was clear that the primary attempts at unity have been through pulling together resources and collaborating on social justice issues.  Noticeably absent were the hard conversations about why we are divided in the first place.  The assembly was marked more with distrust and historical division than the theme of the conference, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.”  Are the younger ecumenists bound to repeat the same fate of the more “seasoned ecumenists,” who have lost the passion for reconciling denominational sectarianism and instead taken the easier road of unity through common mission?  The hope of young adult ecumenists, myself included, is that our generation is naturally equipped to take ecumenism to a new level through our relational capacity.  But the new generation will undoubtedly approach ecumenism in the same way as the generation before us if we believe this naively.

The more conferences and gatherings I attend as an intern, the more I am reminded of the urgent need for bold and faithful pastoral leadership in the Church.  We realized through our encounters in South Africa that leaders with character and integrity have the capacity to change the world—leaders who will risk their personal well being for the sake of others.  This takes courage.  And this is what is needed in the ecumenical conversation.  The older generation needs to acknowledge and confess that they failed to truly work through their differences with one another, because they have lacked the courage and humility to lay down their swords and do the hard work of reconciliation.  On the other hand, our new generation too must have the courage to understand the depth of who we are and the history that we inherit.  In this way we will be able to bring our unique gifts to reshape these institutions and systems for the future.  There is a lot we have to offer—for example, our ability to engage deep relationships in a multicultural context, our innovation and creativity, and a vision for the future undergirded by hope.  My prayer is that we will learn humility, faithfulness and commitment from the generation before us so that we are able to bring forth our own gifts and make a difference in the world.

Our team meeting with leaders from the Diakonia Council of Churches in Durban, South Africa.

These experiences and realizations compel me to press on and take seriously the discipleship training that Church of All Nations graciously offers me.  I am a young person that has been influenced by the propensity of this generation to flee commitment, and have left systems and institutions that I felt were irrelevant and ineffective.  I have desired to leave traditional denominations and instead begin faith communities that care more about spirituality and faith than preserving institutions.  I know and confess this sin.  Even if my desires were for better theology and practice, I would have caused further division in the process.  Is this not the Gnostic heresy—dividing over theological disagreement rather than pursuing Christian unity and love, even through tough conflict?  Instead, I now feel the need to invest more deeply in the particular location that God has called me to, so that I can take responsibility for the divisions of denominationalism.  It is my hope that through ecumenism each part in the body of Christ will have the humility to set aside any sense of denominational triumphalism, creating the space for each to offer the gifts of their unique epistemological perspectives on faith and worship.  Perhaps through this we may experience the whole body of Christ in genuine unity.

My time in South Africa and at New Fire and the general assembly have renewed a sense of desire in me to serve and love the Church of All Nations congregation more, invest in the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, and understand our denominational polity and structure.  Through this I hope that I can bring these experiences as gifts to the table of ecumenism in order to truly work towards a genuine unity among all the parts of the body of Christ.  I would rather do my best to be humble and faithful in the particular location of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and encourage others from their various denominational affiliations to be just as faithful in their particular location.  Our love for God and one another should be the basis of our unity.

I am reminded again of how much the CAN community supports this intern program and the training of future pastors for the greater church.  I feel so grateful and privileged to be able to participate in this internship because of this.  Thank you, Church of All Nations, for your continued sacrifice, along with the encouragement and love that you lavish on us.