Today in the Mission Yearbook - Like Samson did with the donkey’s jawbone, we can put down tools that are no longer needed

The Rev. Brady Radford discusses transitional ministry on ‘Leading Theologically’

November 22, 2024

The Rev. Brady Radford is a guest on “Leading 

Theologically.”

Pastors receiving training from the PC(USA)’s Transitional Ministry Education Consortium learn one thing from the get-go: All ministry is transitional ministry.

“Those people who join us for transitional ministry training are not only navigating churches who are between pastoral leaders, but also called pastoral leaders who might consider having a week to think about the varied implications for navigating congregations through seasons of transition,” the Rev. Brady Radford, a pastor, counselor, coach and consultant from Atlanta, said during a recent edition of “Leading Theologically.”

“We’re really inviting participants and faculty leaders to a deep and fulfilling conversation about serving the church in times of transition,” Radford told the host of “Leading Theologically,” the Rev. Bill Davis, senior director for Theological Education Funds Development at the Presbyterian Foundation. “We help leaders hold non-anxious space in the midst of transitional seasons.”

“In as much as all ministry is transitional ministry, it’s important for us to know we are beyond the days of ‘set it and forget it,’” Radford said. “Carbon copy or cookie cutter plans and programs are not as likely to be effective today. … Our congregations and our members have access to so much information that it’s far bigger than having a singular vision or a singular program to invite people to plug into. It really becomes somewhat of a balancing act that requires quite a bit of tending, and the language of ‘tending’ looks at how we are paying attention to the contours of what’s changing.”

Among the changes are around people dynamics and resources, including church properties. “Buildings are going to become a huge conversation for most of our ministries in major cities over the next five to 10 years, and maybe sooner than that,” Radford said.

Before coming to the Presbyterian Foundation, Davis was an intentional transitional pastor of two Denver-area congregations that were merging. “Part of what I want to name is there are definite intentional times where we as pastors can invite congregations to think intently about the things that they need to let go of in order to move forward faithfully, whether that’s through a merger or through redefining ministry,” Davis said. “I know our denomination has plenty of great programs that invite us to consider how to do that faithfully.”

Radford said many churches are “answering the question of who we are and how do we faithfully live into the call to be new and to be different in this day and age.” At the heart of that faithfulness is the tradition to be “the church Reformed, always reforming.”

“We say that, but how do we live it into existence?” Radford asked. “Even if it means praising God and thanking God for what has been in this location and time, as we follow God faithfully into the next iteration of ministry that comes forth — whether it be through merger or the ending of a congregation and the seeding of a new worshiping community or congregation — I think there are many ways to be faithful during ministries of transition.”

Davis concluded the conversation by asking Radford about the best thing he’s heard recently. Radford cited a clip of the late Myles Munroe, a Bahamian minister and preacher. During this brief clip, Munroe discusses the jawbone of the donkey Samson used to kill a thousand Philistines. “At some point,” Radford said, quoting Munroe, “Samson put the tool down. He discarded the thing that had worked so well,” an act that gives us “fresh insight into what can become a hindrance for some of us in ministry. We love to set it and forget it. We love to find good tools, and if it’s worked, we assume it will always work.”

“After the season is up, it may be time for us to set some of those tools aside. It’s a level of maturity and dexterity,” Radford said. “There are ways of ministry that have worked well for us, but there might also be some forms of ministry — some resources for ministry — that it’s time to say, ‘Thank you, Lord, for this gift, this tool,’ and to put it down as we open our hands and allow what’s meant to come next to emerge.”

 Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Daily Readings

• Morning Psalms 88; 148
• First Reading Malachi 3:1-12
• Second Reading James 5:7-12
• Gospel Reading Luke 18:1-8
• Evening Psalms 6; 20

Today’s Focus: Rev. Brady Radford discusses transitional ministry on ‘Leading Theologically’

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Angielee Acevedo, Lead Housekeeper, Stony Point Center, Presbyterian Mission Agency 
Mark Adams and Miriam Maldonado, Mission co-workers serving on the Mexico/US Border, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency 

Let us pray

Lord, we give you thanks for ideas shared, ministries birthed, and communities developed by which we may participate in your kingdom’s work and experience bearing fruit and growling in our knowledge of you. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - ‘Leading Theologically,’ a PC(USA) broadcast, explores the joys of serving a pastoral residency

A handful of Presbyterian churches are set to open their application process

February 2, 2023

Photo by Ben White via Unsplash

Pastoral residencies — post-seminary experiences designed to enhance and broaden ministry capabilities of fledgling pastors — recently received a fond gaze back from some of the people who best know the programs, which are scattered around the country.

On his broadcast “Leading Theologically,” the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty of the Presbyterian Foundation drew from the experience of two pastors who in recent years completed pastoral residencies and one who administers a residency program:

• The Rev. Savannah Demuynck is the associate pastor at Lake Murray Presbyterian Churchin Chapin, South Carolina. She completed a two-year pastoral residency at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
• The Rev. Angela Ryo also completed a two-year residency, at First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is transitional pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Churchin Munster, Indiana.
• The Rev. Christopher Henry is head of staff and director of the Lake Fellow Residency Programat Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis.

The Rev. Christopher Henry

Watch their 43-minute conversation with Hinson-Hasty, senior director for Theological Education Funds Development for the PC(USA)’s Committee on Theological Education, by going here or here.

“It was helpful to be given permission to explore different areas of ministry without consequences,” Ryo said of her residency experience. “You could explore any aspect of ministry without committing to it. The congregation understood their role was to love those in resident ministry.”

“The best thing about the residency is that the congregation loves being a church that hosts the residency,” Henry said. “They really embrace their identity as a teaching congregation.” For residents, “it’s the opportunity to be fully recognized as a pastor on the pastoral team. This is not an internship, and they are not students. It is a laboratory for them. There is space to experiment.”

“For us,” Henry added, “this is about sustainability of leadership for the PC(USA). We want to give gifted pastors the tools they need to have a sustainable longtime ministry that serves Christ and the church well.” A bonus: “It does provide a community of friendship and support long beyond those two years.”

The Rev. Savannah Demuynck

A handful of PC(USA) churches offer pastoral residencies and are now or will soon begin considering those who will begin their residency in 2023. Among them: Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, Myers Park Presbyterian Church, First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor, White Memorial Presbyterian Church in Raleigh and Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas. “I’m just a huge fan of these residencies,” Hinson-Hasty told his three guests.

The Rev. Angela Ryo

“I think seminary prepares you for so many things,” Demuynck said. “But there are so many things about being a pastor nothing can prepare you for until you experience it.” A residency can offer “a time to fully experience the administrative side of being a pastor, doing so with a lot of support and a lot of grace.”

“I think residencies open doors to future calls that might not have been open to someone two years out of seminary without them,” Henry said. “I tell pastor nominating committees that the quality of your candidate’s experience matters more than the quantity of their experience.” Even as they’re completing their residency, residents are sometimes called to churches that had been seeking someone with up to 10 years’ experience. “If you’ve done the residency,” Henry said, “you’re probably ready for this.”

At Hinson-Hasty’s request, Ryo offered this blessing to viewers at the close of the broadcast: “May the blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ go with you as you discern, listen and prepare your hearts for the Christ child. I pray you will really hear the voice of God calling you to be curious about others and about God, to be curious about ministry and the calling upon your life. Be blessed.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Martha Reisner, Church Consultant, Washington, DC, Board of Pensions
Catherine Reuning, Mission Specialist, Theology & Worship, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Gracious God, so often you take and bless our mere desires to help others in your name. When the results are so far beyond what we expected, there can be no doubting your blessings. We give you praise and thanks in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.