wfn.org | Detterick Is Determined to Bridge Gap

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13-June-1998 
GA98012 
 
              Detterick Is Determined to Bridge Gap  
            Between Congregations and National Church 
 
                       by Jerry Van Marter 
                                  
CHARLOTTE--As a fairly active elder at First Presbyterian Church of Lake 
Forest, Ill., John Detterick says "I thought I was a pretty good 
Presbyterian when I went to work for the Board of Pensions" more than five 
years ago. 
   Two years later, Detterick told the Presbyterian News Service in a June 
12 interview, he returned for a visit to the Lake Forest Church and struck 
up a conversation with an old friend in the congregation.  "I was talking 
on about my work at the Board and with other General Assembly entities, and 
it suddenly occurred to me that this friend had no idea what I was talking 
about -- that we were living in two different worlds." 
   Now, as Detterick prepares to embark on a new adventure as executive 
director of the General Assembly Council -- pending confirmation June 18 by 
the 210th General Assembly -- he is determined to try and bridge that "huge 
gap between congregations and the national church." 
   "I want to be part of the transition from one era to the next," 
Detterick said.  "We all know that the old ways of relating to each other 
as congregations, presbyteries, synods and the General Assembly are not 
working, but we haven't quite figured out yet what the new ways are." 
   Detterick said he is intrigued by the challenge "of finding new ways to 
proclaim the gospel and feed the poor that are relevant to this new era 
we're entering." 
   The explosion of communication technology exemplified by the Internet is 
one model of how "communicating and relating to each other has changed 
exponentially."  Similarly, he added, "People are more focused on causes 
they care about and about engaging those causes locally."  Such local focus 
can revitalize congregations and the national church "if we don't resist 
these changes but embrace them in the service of congregations." 
   His key task starting out, Detterick said, is listening.  "Building 
understanding, building trust is a matter of building relationships all 
across the church," he said.   We'll have to focus on listening or we will 
never know what people want and expect from us, and if we don't know what 
they want and expect then we will never be able to adequately serve them." 

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