Rev Paige's Corner: We are Not Alone!
There are several different styles of church government (polity). We are proudly congregational both in polity and in historic identity. In our form of government, each setting of the church (local church, association, conference, and national setting) has authority to make its own decisions. None can require the others to make decisions in a particular way. We are free.
Now when we speak of freedom, we often think in terms of being "free from" things. (Free from outside interference, for instance.) But in our Congregational Heritage, freedom was more strongy about being "free for" - free for worshiping, free for serving, free for acting.
And in our congregational polity, there is another dimension that balances freedom and that is covenant. We are free for ministry in whatever way we discern that God has called us. But we are also in holy relationships with others. We have covenanted with other congregations to be an assocation - a conference - the United Church of Christ. We have done this because we believe that in many ways we are stronger working together than trying to go it alone.
For example, we work together with other churches in NH to run Horton Center - a wonderful resource that we can all enjoy. We can work together to speak up on justice issues in the public square. And we can work together to help pastors and local congregations find one another. The local church selects its pastor, but it gets a lot of support from other settings of the church to make that possible.
As a pastor, it is hard to explain all of the ways that I rely on the fullness of the United Church of Christ in carrying out my ministry. Everything from training opportunities, theological conversations, support groups, resources for youth ministry, worship materials, and more. These resources often benefit the churches I am serving, though they may be invisible to church members.
So while we are free to discern for ourselves where God is calling our congregation - what our budget should look like, who our pastor should be, how we worship, and how we organize ourselves, we are also in covenant. What I believe that means is that we are committed to listen to our ministry partners, to respect their perspectives and to consider them in our own decision making. And in the same way, the Association, Conference and National setting of the church are covenanted to consider our needs and to listen to our perspectives. We may have differing perspectives, but we assume good intentions.
Many congregations are finding these to be challenging times. The culture has changed around us and we are all working hard to discover how best to live out the gospel in these days and how to thrive in our ministries.
I am so incredibly thankful we are not doing it alone!
Blessings!
Rev Paige Besse-Rankin
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