I was just thinking about this, what if seminaries taught us how to meet the next culture…what if we could (maybe not get a ahead) but get onboard with those who are growing up now….”We don’t need anymore classically trained pastors who have no idea how to navigate a culture change in their congregations.”
Author: katyandtheword
Pastor Katy has enjoyed ministry at New Covenant since 2010, where the church has solidified its community focus. She now works at Capital CFO plus as the Non Profit Director. All opinions expressed on this blog are her own and do not reflect those of Capital CFO plus. Prior to that she studied both Theology and Christian Formation at Princeton Theological Seminary. She also served as an Assistant Chaplain at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and as the Christian Educational Coordinator at Bethany Presbyterian at Bloomfield, NJ.
She is an writer and is published in Enfleshed, Sermonsuite, Presbyterian's today and Outlook. She writes prayers, liturgy, poems and public theology and is pursuing her doctorate in ministry in Creative Write and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
She enjoys working within and connecting to the community, is known to laugh a lot during service, and tells as many stories as possible. Pastor Katy loves reading Science Fiction and Fantasy, theater, arts and crafts, music, playing with children and sunshine, and continues to try to be as (w)holistically Christian as possible.
"Publisher after publisher turned down A Wrinkle in Time," L'Engle wrote, "because it deals overtly with the problem of evil, and it was too difficult for children, and was it a children's or an adult's book, anyhow?" The next year it won the prestigious John Newbery Medal.
Tolkien states in the foreword to The Lord of the Rings that he disliked allegories and that the story was not one.[66] Instead he preferred what he termed "applicability", the freedom of the reader to interpret the work in the light of his or her own life and times.
Messy Church – 18 months report
Yay for new things!
When I arrived here into my first pastoral charge one of the projects my predecessors had begun was an experiment with Messy Church. In one of the two churches this had had very limited success but in the other some real progress had been made, not least in the enthusiastic participation and leadership of two members of the congregation. These two women, but with children in the target age range, were planning and leading the sessions very competently. In the circumstances it made good sense to continue with the experiment.
The main respect in which this differed from the classic Messy Church format, as described in Lucy Moore’s excellent books was that it was not monthly. Monthly sessions felt like too much of a burden for the two busy mothers who were the mainstay of our programme. Instead we had an ad-hoc schedule at more or less six weekly intervals. Numbers weren’t…
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Ash Weds: Narrative Lectionary Here’s what we’re doin’ tonight!
Ash Wednesday March 5, 2014
Psalm 23: King James Version
Call to Worship
23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Repentance: Confession and Creation of the Ashes (writing and burning of our sins)
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Silent Contemplation
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Communion:
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
The Lord be with You
And Also with you
Lift Up Your Hearts
We Lift Our Hearts to the Lord
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
It is right to give our thanks and praise
Epliclesis Prayer (Jesus you are the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. You laid down your life, to take it up again of your own accord. So you taught long ago, and now the ears to hear and the hearts to understand. Send your Holy Spirit upon these elements so we might be further shepherded into your flock we pray in your most Almighty name. Amen)
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the glory and the power forever.
Bread & Cup:
(Friends, Christ has set the feast for us, we are invited to come and eat. For on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he supped with friends and he took the most common of foods he gave thanks and broken it and said this is my body broken for you, do this in remembrance of me. And after they were done and were fellowshipping with one another in the same way he took the cup and said this is the blood of my new covenant spilled out for you–for Jesus was shepherd and the lamb, we still don’t know how–and Jesus promises whenever we eat this bread and drink this cup with renew this covenant and remember his death until he comes again. Come let us celebrate this communion with one another.)
Ashes
Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Benediction
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Prayers and Liturgy by Pastor Katy Stenta who is the solo pastor at a bigger on the inside church in Albany, NY and enjoys reading fantasy, soaking up sunshine, playing with her three sons and visiting her husband at his work, the library.
Millennial Pastorin’
During a clergy luncheon a pastor related a story where her confirmation mentor was part of a women’s fellowship, so she spent much of her adolescent spiritual life with a group of post-menopausal women……the clergy women laughed and then reflected on how this was probably the perfect experience a young pastor needs to lead a church.
Besides the inevitable “How are you at leading people of differing generations?” transl. “Can you motivate and be respectful of and as yet still relate to people who are 10, 20 and mostly 30 years or more older than you?”There is, of course, a real generational gap…..
I love worship, I ENJOY God, and I think that church can be/should be and is (in its essence) a joyful and open place for people to do “Real Things” To change the world
I also understand that 90% of the congregation won’t ever see much less understand basic things like “what’s our online presence” are we “really actually, accessible to families (daycare? changing rooms? non-judgmental worship? meeting times convenient to non-retirees?)” and that the world understanding of a generation who is underemployed and over-indebted is probably Really, really hard for those who are comfortably off to understand (ex: I was once explaining how my generation feels both unfulfilled by our work and worthless due to our debts, and a fellow pastor noted that her daughter was in the same state of working a random job that didn’t actually help with college debt, but she “didn’t understand what I was getting at” when I explained the predominance and importance of these feelings–talk about a generation gap)
Here’s the hard part of millennial pastoring
1. I am a different generation from those I lead, and I want to honor and understand those experiences
2. Other generations may have trouble understanding the millennial perspective, and (I’d go far to say in some cases) not even understand why these differences are even important
3. Something like only %7 of Mainline Protestants are under 40
4. It is hard to value a “young person” for who they are, oft. times being “young” is the most important quality–one that I’m well aware I and other millennials will lose, and the actual “person” part of the young person is lost
5. This is why some churches can’t do “real” things, because they can’t understand the “real” issues facing these “young people” (note how labels begin to play a large role here.
6. I can’t just walk up to a millennial and have a conversation with them about the “Real Things” Church, Ministry, My Profession, My Struggles and Successes in my Profession, because church is not (yet) important to them, and they don’t see it as a “vehicle to do real things that are important and good” and so the cycle begins again. Plus I’m socially bereft when it comes to who I am and what it is I do….
Here’s the thing, church is the only place I know where many different people from all different walks of life can get together and do almost any kind of “good” that they want. Heck they don’t even have to be members of the congregation, if you have a great idea for a neighborhood, the church is a good vehicle to get it done. All you have to be is respectful and nice, and willing to work and play well with others and the possibilities are endless…I think that’s what God wants us to do…(church should function more like TEDtalks and less like exclusive clubs)
So the question is, why do churches have so much trouble doing it? I’m ready…who is with me!
Moving On to Something New
I Feel Pretty
Enjoy early genderbending 🙂
Children! Yay!
It is a gift to love children.
I know this, because as a child, I never wanted to forget what it was to have an adult who talked to you like real human being…there were these grown-ups who “got it” and I read books by authors who seemed to still get it. L. Frank Baum, C. S. Lewis, J. M. Barrie, Raold Dahl, Maurice Sendek, Dr. Suess and a million others.
My husband tells me that I treat everyone like children.
I prefer to think of it as “I treat everyone the same” (including myself…I think that means I still consider myself a child)–Besides we are all children of God, right 😉
I have been gifted with continuous exposure to children, my youngest sibling is 10yrs younger than me, and I have two more! Let’s just say I’ve gone to Disney movies most of my life (either by acculturation or pure survival I still love them!). This means she was only 11 when I graduated college (yep. I was so totally in the know about Blue Clues, Pokemon and what KIDS actually thought about Harry Potter). During College, I worked at Headstart, reading to children. Why? do you ask? Because these children are usually a. not read to at home b. don’t have role models who went to college c. need adults who are around just to talk/listen to them without extra demands. Also, Headstart is underfunded and can always use an extra pair of hands. So, I was around preschoolers 2-3 times a week!
I also dabbled in summer jobs that included a Montessori School, fulltime babysitting and being the children’s director (read: all the Munchkins) of Wizard of Oz
Then I worked at Bethany Presbyterian while I was in seminary where I was the Christan Ed. Director for over 50 kids, with an amazing full out PTA and volunteer staff of Sunday School Teachers.
Then, I also had 2 children at seminary (because, hey, I hate being bored) and babysat part time.
Literally, I have NEVER had a TIME WITHOUT CHILDREN in my life.
So, yes I don’t remember EVERYTHING of being a child, but I didn’t forget everything either 🙂
You know what I’ve learned? You forget! There are lots of adults my age–I’m only 30–who don’t have a clue as to what to do with kids–either they have never been around them, or they’ve completely forgotten.
And, some people are able to rediscover it with parenting or by connecting with a child in their lives 🙂
To love children, to stay engaged with them, to truly value who they are (not just who they have potential to be) is a gift. I’m so lucky to have that gift.
This is why I think that families should be included (w)holistically in church, that real space and time should be given to children to be a part of everything that is going on, and their contributions should be valued…This is why I didn’t become a Christian Educator, because I think Children Should be INCLUDED in church, not just a special category of ministry (altho they are that too) I want to be in the “main church” fighting for and with them!
after all, their contributions have always been a meaningful part of MY life!!!
“If preachers d…
“If preachers decide to preach about hope, let them preach out of what they themselves hope for.”
Fred_Buechner
My God, Your God, let’s call the whole thing off
Ok, recently there was an article in The Atlantic about the state of religion in America. Some salient quotes include
“They found that young non-Christians have profoundly negative views of Christians. For instance, among 16- to 29-year-old non-Christians, Christians were viewed as “anti-gay” (91 percent), judgmental (87 percent), hypocritical (85 percent), sheltered (78 percent) and—surprise—”too political” (75 percent). In 2010, respected academics David Campbell and Robert Putnam’s landmark book, American Grace, concluded that partisan politics was directly to blame for the rise of religiously unaffiliated Americans. “The growth of the nones,” Campbell argued, “is a direct reaction to the intermingling of religion and politics in the United States.”http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/02/the-changing-face-of-christian-politics/283859/?utm_content=bufferd0f38&utm_source=twitter.com
and the one that is about where I am “the sudden need to make clear that they were “not that kind of Christian.” Pastors increasingly found that a partisan politics was pushing people away from faith and causing tension among those in their churches. ”
Recently I posted something about Christianity on “The Facebook”. It was an article by someone who said they wanted to be Christian, because most of the world is Christian and it is high-handed to assume the world is wrong. (It sounded a little….um….condescending in tone)
Anyway, I posted it on FB because, it was interesting/good food for thought (despite the tone). I did that usual pull a quote from the article to highlight it thing.
Unfortunately, some people (who granted I hadn’t talked to in a while) thought I was the one who was being condescending…I got some comments basically amounting to “I know your religious, but I think this whole God thing is ridiculous–and this article shows why” subtext: I can’t believe how crazy you are.
It made me sad. I mean, granted that the quote looked like it was from me, but still, they THOUGHT I WAS THAT WAY TOO!
I’m religious, I love God, I have three children, I’m only 30….
Yet I am also an intelligent, fantasy-loving feminist, who believes in LGBTQ rights.
I think I can do all of it at once, and I dream of the day when I find other people who feel the same way I do.
So far, not so much….
Haven’t really found them…
I have found a lot of “you can’t be a real pastor because you are a. a woman b. don’t condemn people to hell”
and a lot of “Oh your religious, right, can’t take that seriously so….moving on”
To “Fantasy isn’t religious, your crazy”
don’t forget “church is boring”
and finally “Religious people are the cause of all wars, and if your religious it MUST be because your a bigot”
The thing is, my God isn’t really the same as most people’s God
and it makes people uncomfortable.
Here’s how I feel about religious beliefs
1. Every relationship with God is different, maybe yours doesn’t look like mine, but thats ok…
2. Atheism is ok. In reality I don’t “get it” so its hard for me to be more than “ok” with it, but I think “ok” is pretty good, and more importantly, pretty honest, and I try not to get worried about it, because its up to that person/God to work it out, not me.
3. If your peddling hate and call it Gospel, that is where I draw the line. It hurts me, I mean actually physically gives me a stomach ache, when people purvey hate and call it Christ’s way. How can anyone even think this is beyond me…Jesus Christ hung out with the NONRELIGIOUS and AMORAL people of the time, because Jesus loves everyone, if you can’t get that, I don’t think we can really converse about beliefs
4. I’m not sure I can believe in a God that would send Gandhi to hell……seriously, that is how it is for me
5. And finally, If/When I face God I would MUCH rather get in trouble for Leaving the door way too wide open than too closed. I’d rather be in trouble for letting the wrong people into God’s house than keeping the right ones out.
So that’s my God, it might different than yours…but I don’t see how denigrating each other can help……
besides, think of all the good we could do if we could band together against those things that all humans agree are wrong….
And if it happens in church, that would be awesome, because that happens to be where I like to go….
Ch 7: Angst
Its just a cookbook, I take a deep breath and exhale–careful not to growl this time.
Think about good things…don’t angst out….seriously….is this what living alone for too long means? That everything causes angst?
Good things, Good things.
1) She reads
b) She talks to herself, so she’s crazy, hopefully crazy like me, like in a good way
3…wait was I counting or going a, b, c….
hmm……seems to be I’m getting more and more confused….
Wait, did she just say her name was Pri?
katyandtheword 