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Home : The Voice : October 2002
First Call Summit Stirs Up
Excitement and Possibilities
by Jane Hines
“The smart money may be betting that this Synod
of Living Waters First Call Summit meeting may turn out like a hundred
other meetings all of us have endured, survived and forgotten.” Lewis
Wilkins, a member of the Entry into Ministry Task Force of Churchwide
Personnel Services (PCUSA), was talking to a tough audience as he introduced
his paper: “Is Presbyterian Ministry Good Work? Can We Make it Better?”
Seated at tables scattered around the fellowship hall of Historic Franklin
Presbyterian Church were a group of thirty executives and committee
chairs from presbyteries in the Synod of Living Waters, people who didn’t
need another meeting to go to anyway.
Wilkins’ job was to suggest a different way of
looking at problems in the Presbyterian ministry system. He invited
them to look at the system and think about the real world challenges
they face in their work. “Maybe a few baby steps in a good direction
can come out in the end. If they don’t, we’ll be no worse off than we’ve
been since 1934 or so,” he said.
On the third and final day of the meeting, there
could be no doubt that much had happened that may not have been expected.
The feeling around the room was positive and upbeat. Good plans had
been made and good suggestions had been taken seriously. More than just
a few steps had been taken toward addressing problems in the Presbyterian
ministry system. People were volunteering to take on responsibilities.
They were even agreeing to schedule more meetings.
There will be training for members of Committees
on Preparation for Ministry in the presbyteries. Mentors for first call
pastors will be trained. Conflict management in congregations will be
addressed. Information will be shared. Seminary curriculum may be revised.
Racial ethnic first call issues will be addressed. A steering committee
was named.
“We may just drop some old tired things we’ve been
doing and concentrate on this,” said Betty Meadows, Mid-Kentucky General
Presbyter. Wilkins and Jim Reese will continue to be liaisons between
the Synod of Living Waters and the General Assembly Task Force. Louisville
Seminary will be a partner in the efforts to make this a good Synod
for first call pastors.
Wilkins said he would pursue an innovative idea
that came from Carol Knight, co-chair of the Committee on Ministry in
Middle Tennessee Presbytery. She suggested that designated pastorates
might serve as a time of apprenticeship for first call pastors.
What Bill McAtee, representing the Louisville Seminary
board, call a culture of silence that has surrounded the problems for
years, may be changing. The group at the First Call Summit on September
18-20 was anything but silent.
The good work and planning done previously by the
General Assembly Task Force and Churchwide Personnel Services, by Louisville
Seminary, by the Presbyterian Board of Pensions, and by the First Call
Design Team appear to be paying off. The first summit meeting in this
process in the denomination has happened. The first steps have been
taken and it appears that people in this Synod are going to walk the
walk.
 
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