(Nashville, Tenn. – 7/12/2011) – Fred Craddock and several Disciples ministers encouraged a denomination to rise up, overcome anxiety and silence, and truly “Tell It!” to their communities and the world. The theme for the 2011 General Assembly reached a crescendo Tuesday night in Plenary Hall’s evening worship service.
“Our theme is asking us to take a word and toss it against the clear glass of silence, and shatter that silence,” Craddock said to a packed hall.
Craddock is professor emeritus of preaching and New Testament at Candler Theological Seminary in Atlanta and a long-time preacher and storyteller across the country. Throughout the evening, he acted as a preacher, emcee and moderator as the Cherry Log Christian Church chancel choir provided a musical thread through four compelling testimonies.
The service began on a reflective note, as the video screens displayed all of the Pension Fund members who had died since the Indianapolis General Assembly. But reflection and remembrance quickly moved to celebration, familiar hymns, sharing and testimony.
Three of the testimonies were provided via pre-recorded video in documentary style, while one – Joan Dennehy from Findlay Street Christian in Seattle, Wash. – was shared from the stage. Each of the testimonies – Mark Pumphrey from Denver, Colo.; Dennehy; Don Gillett from Lexington, Ky.; and Jorge Cotto from Coral Gables, Fla. – focused on transformation of individual congregations, and in the process, their respective ministries.
Craddock provided context before the stories were shared, illustrating how difficult it is in modern American culture to express ourselves through speaking, and citing examples such as the educational system’s move from oral recitation to a “premium on silence.”
The first story, from Mark Pumphrey at South Broadway Christian in Denver, Colo., focused on recovering transformation. Pumphrey described his church’s neighborhood as one in which many of the surrounding churches had packed up and moved away. A singular observation from a visiting consultant haunted them and later sparked their renewal – “What are you doing to connect with the surrounding arts community?”
Since that time, South Broadway has become a “hub” for the vibrant music and visual arts scene in urban Denver. Pumphrey said he sees a big difference between revitalization (a “20th century word”) and true transformation.
After Dennehy took the stage, she said she found a risk-taking congregation in the Pacific Northwest several years ago. According to Dennehy, Findlay Street Christian was the first Disciple church to become open and affirming 24 years ago despite the fact that “in the church world it is not cool to be gay and in the gay world it is not cool to be Christian.” She noted that they took the next step by hiring her, a gay senior minister, 12 years later.
Since then, the church has been stepping beyond the bounds of the safe and comfortable, selling its long-time building and moving – complete with a ceremonial walk with ashes of the church ancestors in a beaded gourd — into a nearby Presbyterian church.
“We will go for broke for the good news and God will never leave us alone,” Dennehy said. Despite the fact that they have land and plans, “the purse is light.” The church will continue to look for the “doors in the wall” that are “sometimes hard to see.”
Gillett wanted to take a sabbatical several years ago from East 2nd Street Christian in Lexington. His congregation – which predates the U.S. Civil War – questioned why he would want this break from ministry, this vacation. Gillett decided to show them why.
He and leaders in the church began to make tweaks, Gillett said. “Worship began to evolve and we started tinkering.” Those “tinkerings” began to mushroom and blossom a spirit that he could only describe as freedom.
“People can now exhibit freedom as given by God through Jesus Christ,” Gillett said. “They have a thirst for God.”
The freedom that congregants feel is palpable and has manifested itself in everything from baptisms to church meetings.
As the choir helped move the setting to the last story of the evening, Cotto came on the screen and recalled his first meeting with Central Christian Church of Dade County. The meeting included about 25 people and no families or young people.
After many meetings to discern the next steps, the question came up: “If we were to start all over again, how would we do it?”
The key for Cotto was to take it in three stages: build a team, figure out who your neighbors are,and rely on trial and error – especially when creating new programs. Today, they have more than 200 people every Sunday, and are focused on building a healthy church. They also focus on individual lives, especially when it comes to youth.
After Craddock encouraged the audience to go out and tell the gospel story with confidence, Sharon Watkins and the choir led the congregation in “This Little Light of Mine,” a call to lay and clergy alike, and for churches big and small, young and old.
By: Richmond Williams
