DIMENSIONS OF MINISTRY
Community Life
Building Connections
Central though Sunday morning worship is to the life of a congregation, our relationship to the community is strengthened and deepened by the more intimate connections we make in countless other ways--committees, social events, small groups. Throughout my ministry and co-ministry, I've worked to support the people who create and sustain programs and activities, helping to build the vibrant centers of community where something good is always going on.
Over the years I've led or helped to lead a Men's Group and Men's Retreat, small groups like Covenant Groups, classes for newcomers and for more seasoned members looking to deepen their connections, Wednesday evening dinners, a weekly daytime meditative service, "Soulful Sundown" music-and-poetry-based gatherings, a young adult group, campus ministry groups, two groups creating outdoor labyrinths on church grounds, and more. Sharing in hosting and cooking the turkeys and dressing for an annual potluck Thanksgiving Dinner at the church, for anywhere from 30 to nearly 100 participants, has been a family tradition since my internship.
A particular highlight for me, in two congregations, has been the opportunity to lead a twice-monthly midweek daytime conversation circle for elders in the congregation. "Elder Journey" (or "Active Minds," as it was called in Charlottesville) has become an important center of connection for people who don't feel as closely linked to the congregation now that they're no longer participating in leadership or volunteering as actively as they did once. On a personal level, it has also developed into an amazing opportunity to spend time with some very remarkable people, keeping up with how they're doing week to week, and learning from them as they share a lifetime's experiences around a conversation topic chosen to allow them to reflect on the whole stories of their lives.
Pastoral Care
As a minister, the immense privilege of walking with individuals and families in their most challenging times has heightened my sense of what our faith has to offer when life takes those inevitable turns away from the bright, sunlit paths of the best of days.
To offer a listening ear and an affirming presence in those times is often far more valuable than any words of guidance or analysis. The chance to "hear someone into their truth" is a gift for the minister as well as the person seeking help or companionship in their search for meaning, comfort, or healing.
Yet the minister's hospital and home visits, personal counseling, or other direct support are only part of the congregation's pastoral care. I have learned through my own experience that the care and support of a loving congregation can be a life-changing, even life-saving event. Indeed, my own call to ministry came as an outgrowth of receiving such care from my home congregation. Such networks of care are often present for members of a spiritual community who are well-connected and actively involved, yet it's important that the web is woven for everyone in the community.
As a community grows, it can be helpful to create intentional systems for helping assure that the congregation's care extends to all its members. In the two congregations I've served as minister and co-minister, we have built neighborhood-based networks of care to provide practical assistance like food, transportation, or errands in times of crisis. Following a model developed at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond, Virginia, where co-minister Rev. Leslie Takahashi served her internship, we have also created a Pastoral Visitors program, in which skilled and empathetic members, working closely with the ministers, extend spiritual support and companionship to people with ongoing needs during life transitions. Pastoral Visitors also serve to "bring the church" to members whose age or health keeps them from coming out for services or events. Fostering the deepening of a sense of the congregation as caring community that was already present, this kind of program can help to strengthen the community of love that nurtures and supports all its members.