wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Reflect, refresh, retool, reach: An experiment at work in Yellowstone Presbytery

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This story available online:

www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09135<http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09135

Reflect, refresh, retool, reach: An experiment at work in
Yellowstone Presbytery

>By Erin Dunigan
>Special to Presbyterian News Service

Editor's note: This is the third in a series of stories
about congregations engaged in significant outreach and
evangelism ministries, reflecting the General Assembly's
commitment to "Grow Christ's Church Deep and Wide."
[www.pcusa.org/deepandwide] ― Jerry L. Van Marter

Yellowstone Presbytery is the perfect place for
experimenting with new ways of doing, or, more accurately,
new ways of being.

"The old ways aren't working here," said Kathy Goodrich,
co-executive presbyter. "We don't live in a place where
people just show up to church because it's the thing to do."

Goodrich, along with her husband and co-executive
presbyter, the Rev. George Goodrich, has been experimenting
with some exciting new ways to look at church leadership.
The first step is to invest in the presbytery's pastors and
lay leaders.

It is with this intent that the first Vital Pastors event
was kicked off in January, offering pastors and lay leaders
more than just another workshop or seminar, but an
intentional process of spiritual formation that is hoped to
grow over two years.

At its widest, the presbytery of Yellowstone, based in
Bozeman, MT, spans 600 miles. Even though it is far more
rural than urban, it faces many of the questions facing
urban or suburban presbyteries: How can we engage young
people? How do we help people struggling in our current
economic situation? What does it mean to be the church in
today's world?

Yellowstone also experiences the challenges that confront
rural America - the flight of professionals to the cities,
a globalized economy with serious consequences for a local
farming economy and a lack of easy access to adequate
resources.

"In many of the small towns in our presbytery, the pastor
is often the last professional left in a community,"
Goodrich said.

Lawyers, doctors and other professionals have left many of
those towns for the cities. This means that it is not
unusual to drive three hours for anything other than the
most basic medical appointment or legal consultation. This
distance, combined with the recent rise in gas prices,
makes even simple aspects of life financially challenging.

"People are often land rich but cash poor," Goodrich said,
adding that the local paper reported that the cost of
producing milk is twice what a regional dairy farmer can
earn from selling it, leaving farmers to wonder how much
longer they can continue operating at a deficit.

"When you look at the values that end up being a part of
living a rural life - trust, flexibility, community,
reliance on your neighbors - these are the healthy things
that we are actually craving in America, and yet we are
killing off places that actually have what we need,"
Goodrich said.

It is within this context that the Goodriches have begun to
address the challenge of equipping and supporting the
pastoral presence in these small towns.

"We see this as a pivotal time because we still have some
pastors remaining in these small places, living on not
much, sharing two churches or pastoring a combined
congregation," Goodrich said. "But if we can find ways to
provide what in most places is a small amount of money to
allow that person's time, energy and presence to be a
missional impulse, then the possibilities for these
churches is very exciting."

The Vital Pastors program is a partnership between
Yellowstone and the presbyteries of Central Washington,
Glacier and Inland Northwest. It's a two-year commitment to
nurture and prepare leaders. Participants will meet four
times to experience times of laughter and silence as well
as seminars and workshops.

January's workshop focused on becoming a healthier, more
vital person, pastor and leader. Participants were
encouraged to work on spiritual formation and disciplines,
including times of lectio divina, prayer, solitude, silence
and self-examination.

In between face-to-face meetings during those two years,
participants are also gathering in smaller groups, mainly
via e-mail and phone because of the large distances between
them.

"We realized that you can't just be pushing pastors and
leaders beyond what you are equipping and preparing them
for," Goodrich said. "We also realized that so many people
who are in leadership in the church today have not
personally experienced what it means to be a disciple, so
how can you teach what you have never experienced?"

Goodrich explained that this is why they've started with
'going deep,' hoping that like a ripple in the water, the
experience will carry its impact from the pastors and lay
leaders out into the churches and then into wider
communities.

Most important, Goodrich said, is the way in which the
sessions will be conducted - holistically.

Goodrich, who reads about neurobiology and brain science
for fun, believes that we learn, grow and are able to
change when the whole person - not just the intellect - is
involved in the process.

"Nothing will imprint as learning unless it has an
affective component," she said. "I can be 100 percent in
agreement with something and act in opposition to it."

Jesus and his use of storytelling, irony and humor in the
formation of the disciples is an example of this 'whole
person' approach Goodrich seeks.

So far, the response from participants has been positive.

"Every speaker gets me fired up and tells me it is
important, but when I learn this way, it shows me how to
actually live it," one of the pastors responded on a course
evaluation.

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