| The PMC JSP Click here to return to the Church Innovations web site. This article is a continuation of the newsletter series on the Partnership for Missional Church (PMC). We began with a “50 000 feet” overview in the March 2007 newsletter, followed by an article on “What is Missional Church” in June of 2007 and a brief overview of the first year of PMC in the September 2007 newsletter. The series continued with a brief overview of the second year of PMC in the December 2007 newsletter, Risking Failure...Experimenting Explained in September 2008 and Bridge Communities Built Through Real Relationships and Partnerships with Community Members in the December 2008 issue of PII. The Judicatory Support Person may easily be the key person in the Partnership for Missional Church® process. The JSP stands at the center of the PMC cluster and functions in varied roles throughout its life. At once circus master, secretary, book-keeper, mentor and friend- the JSP wears many hats while maintaining an essential relationship with the Steering Team leaders of each local church. Many imagine that the primary tasks of the JSP are managing the logistics of the cluster weekends and riding herd on the local church teams to make sure they get everything done in a timely manner. There is no doubt that these tasks need to be done and done well. However cultivating transparent and empowering relationships with the Steering Team leaders and pastors is critical. Like so much in PMC, the essential skill is listening- not telling. The JSP learns to “listen others into action”. The last thing pastors and congregational leaders need is someone else telling them all that needs to be done and chastising them for not doing it. What they do need is a friend who comes alongside them and helps sort through the many goods that require doing in order to recognize the few that are most important. They need a companion who helps them recognize the grace of God at work in the midst of what looks like failure and then helps them respond by continuing forward because they trust the promise Christ has given them and the Church. When JSPs have done their job well, PMC churches experience a sense of accomplishment because they have managed to navigate their voyage with the guidance of a skilled pilot. More importantly they have come to embrace their missional vocation and the partnerships God has fashioned through PMC. In particular the partnership of the local church with the judicatory has been transformed. We are living in an era of hyper-individualism and increasing congregationalism. This climate undermines the relationship of congregational leaders with their denominational judicatories. Yet when there is trust between them, both flourish. Trust is fostered, according to the Hartford Institute study Organizing Religious Work, when the judicatory partners with churches in spiritually discerning their local vision and walking beside them as they work it out. Trust is not developed when the judicatory merely brokers programs and serves as a resource house for congregations. That builds a consumer relationship. Through the PMC process the JSP provides a radically different experience of the judicatory. It is embodied by a person who comes alongside the local church and helps it discover its own missional vocation and learn to exercise its spiritual gifts in and for the world. This is not regulatory or fiscal. It is a relationship of trust and empowerment. In the end both the local churches and the judicatory become more vital and resilient through the work of the JSP and the Partnership for Missional Church®. Bob Armstrong is director of Partnership for Missional Church in North America. |
|