wfn.org | Tentmakers pitch a blend of business and ministry

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Note #6258 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

9-November-2000
00399

Tentmakers pitch a blend of business and ministry

Conference-goers say ‘tents' are solution to twin 
shortages of pastors and money

by Evan Silverstein

MUNDELEIN, IL -- Tentmaking pastors who split their time between the pulpit
and their "day jobs" are under-appreciated leaders of the church who
represent an emerging model of ministry in the new millennium.

	That was the message a group of about 40 Presbyterian and Episcopalian
tentmakers heard during the Nov. 3-5 annual conference of the Association of
Presbyterian Tentmakers (APT), whose members serve in church positions but
derive all or most of their income from outside employment.

	The Rev. William Persell, Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Chicago, a
guest panelist during the conference, said the tentmaking ministry is "very
largely hidden, and not understood by most people within the context of the
church."

	"I think the church as a whole does not recognize ordained ministry that
happens outside the context of a parish, or possibly a chaplaincy," Persell
told participants in the conference, which was co-sponsored by the National
Association for the Self-Supporting Active Ministry (NASSAM) of the
Episcopal Church. "I think we have a long way to go to get a real
understanding of what some of you are about, and have been for many years."

	The conference, whose theme was Tentmaking 2000: The Outer Fringe or the
Cutting Edge?, featured perspectives from those on the front lines of
ministry in the Presbyterian and Episcopal churches. It included panel
discussions with seminary, presbytery and diocesan leaders of the tentmaking
role and the possible impact of an expansion of tentmaking ministries.

	Tentmakers said Presbyterians and Episcopalians must "wake up" to the
reality of tentmaking as a cutting-edge solution to the shortage of
full-time clergy and the declining number of congregations able to afford
full-time pastors.

	"Sure, there are dark days and deep questions, but I think it's very
promising," said tentmaker Russ Jolly, an elder and a Presbyterian
commissioned lay pastor from Freeport, KN. Jolly is a combat veteran of
World War II who has played a clarinet for 63 years, performed in several
bands, worked in radio and television for WGN in Chicago and other stations,
and served as a Presbyterian Church staff member. "I think it's going to be
a major part of the answer to ‘Where does the mainstream church go from
here?'"

	 Although its roots date to the Old Testament, tentmakers are often
dismissed as pastoral flunkies forced into two-vocation careers because they
can't nab a permanent calling. The Rev. Ron Simpson, of Cincinnati, OH, a
Presbyterian tentmaker, blamed some of his colleagues for doing too little
to broaden the faith community's perspective on the importance of
tentmakers.

	"Tentmakers sort of see themselves as second-class citizens," said Simpson,
67, a tentmaker for 25 years and an employee of General Electric before his
retirement in 1997. "I like to see tentmaking as providing a full ministry
on a part-time schedule. You're providing a full ministry in every sense of
the word, you're just not there all the time. Without tentmakers, I think a
lot of smaller churches would go under sooner."

	Simpson said congregants need to help tentmakers with duties from visiting
hospitalized parishioners to maintaining the grounds.

	"That's how the lay and the tentmaking clergy can work together," said
Simpson, who sometimes leads worship at little (30- to 35-member) Springdale
Presbyterian Church. "And that strengthens the church. It gets the members
working so they don't feel like they're paying a full-time minister."

	Tentmakers, whose name is a reference to leather working, a trade of the
apostle Paul, exchanged stories about their own "tents" and discussed the
polity of the two denominations during the gathering at the University of
St. Mary of the Lake, a sprawling Catholic seminary about 40 miles north of
Chicago.

	Participants urged seminaries to step up their efforts in preparing
tentmakers and commissioned lay leaders to fill the growing number of empty
pulpits in  both denominations.

	"The need will grow and it is growing for (pastoral leadership)," said the
Rev. John P. Jewell, a panelist and director of Seminary Technological
Services at the Presbyterian-related University of Dubuque Theological
Seminary in Dubuque, IA. "I think that is under that part of tentmaking as
the ministry of the 'gap.'"

	The conference also provided "quality time" for bonding among the 22
Presbyterian clergy and 16 Episcopalians, who are also bankers, teachers,
farmers, writers and parents.

	"Tentmaking is also for the large churches who need a part-time assistant,
or the medium-size churches who are just thinking they're moving into
needing an associate pastor but can't afford to call one," said Amy Isbell
Hanschen, of Austin, TX, who as an ordination candidate seeking a call is
working for a national corporation that places chaplains in businesses to
counsel employees.

	"Tentmaking is ideally suited for new-church development and church
re-development. It crosses all of the boundaries," said Isbell Hanschen,
whose primary "tent" consists of her husband and four children. "I can be a
mom and I can provide ministry."

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