Firbush Retreats Firbush retreats are organized and led by Robert T. Walker. Firbush retreats are designed to make the best theology accessible to as many people as possible and especially those not trained in theology and often not familiar with routine technical terms. They combine times of worship and prayer with reflection on a theme related to Torrance theology. For more information see https://tftorrance.org/firbush. ----------- Firbush Retreat Summer 2015 Richard Begg, "Leadership and Rural Ministry" https://tftorrance.org/firbushS2015 The audio recording for this presentation is available on the Firbush Retreat section of the website for the Thomas F. Torrance Theological Fellowship. The following AI transcript is too rough to rely upon, but perhaps useful for word searches and time-stamps. It is unretouched; if anyone wishes to listen to it and clean it up we will be happy to post an improved version (contact the webmasters). We invite speakers to send us slides for their talks, which we will post alongside the audios and transcripts. If any speaker wishes to have their talk removed from the website, just let us know and we'll take down both the audio and the transcript. ------------ 00:00-00:07 I want to speak about this afternoon about leadership and the rural church and Bruce 00:07-00:11 has said theologically we'll see what comes of that as we go through. 00:11-00:19 But some thoughts over the past six and a half years of ordained ministry but also I 00:19-00:27 can speak with a bit of authority on one part of the Torrance Brothers life because in 1979 00:27-00:33 I arrived in Imbergourie aged three and I moved into a very different village from that of 00:33-00:41 which James Torrance had left in 1961 when he was there as minister from 1954. 00:41-00:49 When I arrived in Imbergourie as a three year old boy the mills were no longer working and 00:49-00:53 they'd become very derelict in a place where we tried to play hide and seek until we boarded 00:53-00:56 up windows. 00:56-01:02 The village had grown in that period as well from James's departure with Greystein Road 01:02-01:04 appearing in a new housing estate there. 01:04-01:09 Further developments in the 1980s with a sheltered housing complex right in the centre of the 01:09-01:16 village and building down beside the railway line where a tremendous disaster had happened 01:16-01:23 in the early 1980s as a local train crashed into the express train and ended up in Imbergourie 01:23-01:24 Bay. 01:24-01:31 A village with a lot of mixed dimensions even in that time between James leaving and us 01:31-01:34 arriving as a family in 1979. 01:34-01:40 A village until the early 80s that you had to go through to get to Dundee until it was 01:40-01:47 bypassed and the technology park grew up and so it now becomes a village that is no longer 01:47-01:53 part of Dundee but part of a different local authority even in Perth and Coon Ross. 01:53-01:59 A village that serves through housing those who work in Nine Wells in the technology park 01:59-02:00 into Dundee. 02:00-02:02 A village bypassed. 02:02-02:08 A village where once the young folk in the summer holidays would go up to the crop research 02:08-02:10 and pick the berries. 02:10-02:14 Strawberries that used to grow on the ground and not on tables in polytunnels as they do 02:14-02:15 now. 02:15-02:21 It's one of the guys in my class at school whose father invented the berry picking machine 02:21-02:27 and it would shake the bushes as it went along and the berries would fall into a hopper. 02:27-02:32 October holidays used to be spent tarry hiking but again machinery has done that rather than 02:32-02:38 cruel tractor drivers that would plough down the hill to make you pick down the hill and 02:38-02:43 you can imagine what that did for my back at my height. 02:43-02:51 But even as a village before James arrived there in 1954 up until 1886 it was deemed 02:51-02:57 to be too small a place to have its own parish ministry and it was served if you know the 02:57-03:04 car of Guyley et al it was served from Lough Forgan which was deemed to be a bigger settlement 03:04-03:11 until 1886 when it in its own right had a church established. 03:11-03:14 The Iron Church as it was known in those days. 03:14-03:22 Into becoming St. Columbus and then in 1945 the parish church. 03:22-03:27 And Umbergowrie in many ways though it's so close to Dundee has so many characteristics 03:27-03:30 that shape the rural church today. 03:30-03:37 That migration pattern that we've seen from the rural into the urban through the clearances, 03:37-03:42 through the changing shape of industry. 03:42-03:47 That movement though that we're seeing today being very different and very opposite where 03:47-03:52 the urban is moving back out into the rural either into holiday homes or wanting that 03:52-03:58 escape from the town and therefore acquiring their piece of life and therefore bringing 03:58-04:05 some of the urban anonymity into a rural settlement. 04:05-04:10 And so a bit of background a bit of reflection for me on Umbergowrie. 04:10-04:14 When I grew up a lot of the village had young folk in school. 04:14-04:22 Our parents are still in the village but the children have altered as well. 04:22-04:27 And so we see that in a lot of rural settlement as well where folk move and they move when 04:27-04:33 they have family but enjoy it so much that they stay and therefore population changes 04:33-04:35 dynamic as well. 04:35-04:41 And certainly in Strathblaine where I am now that's very much part of the pattern. 04:41-04:48 I need to watch what I say about Strathblaine because I've got four folk ready to lynch me. 04:48-04:52 But as we reflect on the rural and it's the rural that I know and as Bruce said I spent 04:52-04:54 my first charge in Mallee. 04:54-05:01 I am five mainland settlements and four islands in a rural peninsula only accessible by boat. 05:01-05:06 And so I understand the importance of change and the necessity of it. 05:06-05:12 But I wonder so often whether the changes that we face are simply just fads or trends 05:12-05:18 rather than anything that is of substance and of continuity. 05:18-05:23 And at times the rural church can be caught up in that because historically they have 05:23-05:24 been small churches. 05:24-05:29 They have been churches that are easily linked or united to make them seem more viable. 05:29-05:34 And it's interesting even just looking at the history of Imbergourie. 05:34-05:39 At one point there were two churches on the main street in addition to the Episcopal Church. 05:39-05:45 But even at one point the village was deemed too small to even have its own church and 05:45-05:48 be serviced that way. 05:48-05:53 One of the things I've been looking at over the last two years through the Arthur Ranks 05:53-05:59 Centre down in Coventry is that big topic of church leadership but particularly church 05:59-06:03 leadership in the rural context. 06:03-06:04 What does it look like? 06:04-06:07 What shape should it have today? 06:07-06:14 How do we become entrepreneurs for Christ in the rural church is one of the big things 06:14-06:19 that the Arthur Ranks Centre is looking at at the moment. 06:19-06:26 How can we search for a model of leadership that is both authentic to Christ and to the 06:26-06:34 scriptures but also is relevant today for the dynamics of much of the rural church not 06:34-06:39 only in England where the course was based but throughout the United Kingdom and beyond. 06:39-06:45 And what's been challenging for me is that as I've been drawn into that discussion and 06:45-06:51 that debate of leadership you get drawn closer and closer into the character of Christ and 06:51-06:56 his example and his leadership. 06:56-07:00 It was Henry Blackaby the American who said as the churches look to the boardroom for 07:00-07:09 models of leadership the boardroom is looking to the Beatitudes for their models. 07:09-07:13 And so what are the characteristics of leadership in terms of Christ? 07:13-07:17 And I simply have some raw thoughts today I don't have anything nice and finished and 07:17-07:18 polished. 07:18-07:23 What I'm sharing with you is where my thinking is at the moment. 07:23-07:30 And secondly within the rural context is there a particular understanding of leadership? 07:30-07:35 Is it a different leadership and a different dynamic to that of the urban? 07:35-07:40 So often we learn the rural from the urban but I wonder what we can learn from the rural 07:40-07:46 into the urban and change that conversation around and there's some nods from other rural 07:46-07:47 places. 07:47-07:54 And all those thoughts were put into stark contrast on Friday night as I was driven up 07:54-08:02 to Blairgowrie for 24 hours of pain as I walked the Catarang Yompe with a few others from 08:02-08:03 the parish. 08:03-08:08 And if you drove up that road from Perth to Blairgowrie on a Friday night in the summer 08:08-08:16 months inevitably you had a car full of folk by the time you reached the boundary of Perth. 08:16-08:20 Berry pickers that were hitching their way back to the farms having had an afternoon 08:20-08:23 off we didn't pass one. 08:23-08:32 And the berries are there and they're being harvested but even that movement of population 08:32-08:34 is no longer there. 08:34-08:41 As I said earlier it's easy to see that we need to do things differently to cope with 08:41-08:44 the changes that are around about us. 08:44-08:52 But I wonder if we are being called to something new or rather something old. 08:52-08:59 For when we reflect on leadership in the church the leadership is so often just simply focused 08:59-09:05 on the parish minister and in many ways we are the leader. 09:05-09:12 We are the one in which others are laid and are guided. 09:12-09:15 But we all know the facts of those going into the ministry. 09:15-09:22 We all know the facts and the figures of decline and we know the population of the rural and 09:22-09:25 the dynamics there. 09:25-09:34 But I wonder if we separate out for a moment leadership from ministry. 09:34-09:39 Because so often when we join those two together we get the comments don't we of not what the 09:39-09:46 minister does but what the minister doesn't do in those leadership roles don't we. 09:46-09:52 They don't visit, they don't preach to our expectations, they don't do this or they don't 09:52-09:57 do that, they work too hard or they don't work enough depending on who sees you and 09:57-10:01 how they see you. 10:01-10:07 And so they also shape our comments and our understanding of leadership. 10:07-10:12 They shape our expectations of what should be in a parish and what shouldn't. 10:12-10:21 But I want to take you this afternoon back to Christ's expectations, to what I believe 10:21-10:25 he's defining as the leadership in the church today. 10:25-10:35 As I said earlier yes the minister is a leader but what happens in that period of vacancy 10:35-10:41 or in that place where there's multiple parishes linked together and the minister cannot be 10:41-10:45 in all villages at the same time and you get into that horrible situation where you feel 10:45-10:50 that you need to offer the same to every village and there's just not enough hours in the day 10:50-10:55 or the week to do so. 10:55-11:02 We go back to Mark chapter 6 we see Jesus sending out the disciples, sending them out 11:02-11:06 very early on in that model of discipleship. 11:06-11:10 They're not polished, they're not rounded individuals but they were being sent out in 11:10-11:16 his name with authority over evil spirits Mark tells us. 11:16-11:24 And we're told that they go out and they preach and there's a response, a response that calls 11:24-11:30 people and turns people towards the gospel. 11:30-11:34 Turns them through the preaching and through the anointing of the sick that the disciples 11:34-11:38 do there. 11:38-11:45 We turn not to the minister but when we turn to the son as he has turned to the father. 11:45-11:53 I wonder if how much that changes our understanding and our perception of leadership and particularly 11:53-11:58 of that role of the minister because it no longer becomes the personality of the minister 11:58-12:05 or the leadership of the minister but rather the minister enabling others into that leadership 12:05-12:10 of Christ that we're all called into. 12:10-12:17 So often the worshipping and the preaching and the mission and outreach is all revolving 12:17-12:22 around the parish minister. 12:22-12:32 But what might happen when we actually think about worship not being ours but about Christ's? 12:32-12:36 Does that liberate us and does that free us up from solely it being the responsibility 12:36-12:39 of the minister? 12:39-12:44 When we understand the pasturing, the thought not as the minister simply going around and 12:44-12:49 visiting but as participating in the ministry of the good shepherd. 12:49-12:54 How does that change who engages in that and how that is then done? 12:54-13:01 And when we look at mission and we understand it as us all sharing in the mission of Christ, 13:01-13:09 that mission that we see when our relationship is restored to him and that the outpouring 13:09-13:15 of that relationship is to go and to share that good news with others. 13:15-13:22 How does that change our understanding of mission and of our roles within that? 13:22-13:28 Certainly one thing in the rural church that is very loud and very clear and it spoke and 13:28-13:37 it hit you in the face strongly in Malik was that you're an incomer, you're an outsider. 13:37-13:42 And that bed in just before Jesus sends out the twelve when it talks about the prophet 13:42-13:46 having no honour in your own town, it's not because you grew up there. 13:46-13:51 Well it's for the very fact that you didn't grow up there and you grew into a community 13:51-13:57 role and a community facing role that so often you're felt as that incomer. 13:57-14:07 But what if some of those roles were not held by the incomer but by the local with the incomer 14:07-14:08 support? 14:08-14:14 How would that shape the rural church and how would that engage us differently in reaching 14:14-14:28 out with the good news so that others may see and taste and turn also? 14:28-14:37 So what I want us to do is to draw our thoughts to the fivefold ministry that Jesus talks 14:37-14:42 of through Paul in Ephesians 4 of the apostles and the prophets and the evangelists and the 14:42-14:46 pastors and the teachers. 14:46-14:55 And we acknowledge that these five ministries are held together in Christ in his person 14:55-14:58 and in his divinity. 14:58-15:06 And we understand that they're held together in him alone but throughout scripture it says 15:06-15:08 'Are you an apostle? 15:08-15:10 Are we all called to be a teacher? 15:10-15:14 Are we all called to be a pastor?' 15:14-15:21 And nowhere does it say that in human form alone as we all are do they all still need 15:21-15:26 to be held together in one person. 15:26-15:32 They're held together in the head but Paul talks in 1 Corinthians about each part of 15:32-15:38 the body being different and what use is it if we're all hands or we're all feet? 15:38-15:41 What use is it if we all try to be all five? 15:41-15:45 Or we try and let one person be all five? 15:45-15:52 And it'd be a lot more if they were shared out. 15:52-16:00 There's a paper that I read as part of the leadership programme through the Arthur Wright 16:00-16:07 Centre which was written by Harvard Business School and it was simply entitled 'In Praise 16:07-16:12 of the Incomplete Leader'. 16:12-16:18 A lovely title, 'In Praise of the Incomplete Leader'. 16:18-16:27 I'm seeing some of the best leaders are quite content to forte in on their strengths and 16:27-16:33 to allow others to hone their skills where they don't have the abilities. 16:33-16:40 I wonder if that's something we need to look at in terms of not only the five fold ministry 16:40-16:47 but also how we understand each of those roles. 16:47-16:52 Because what I want to challenge is that we haven't really done any of them well and when 16:52-16:57 Bob was speaking this morning that we are weaker when we fail to engage with all the 16:57-16:59 doctrines. 16:59-17:06 I want to challenge us that I think we've failed in understanding the five fold ministries 17:06-17:12 of Christ because we haven't taken that five fold ministry to where I think we need to 17:12-17:15 put it. 17:15-17:19 We've taken it in some places simply to the cross and we've left it there and we're trying 17:19-17:25 to understand the apostle and the evangelist and the teacher and the preacher and the pastor 17:25-17:29 from the cross. 17:29-17:36 For others we've taken it simply to the resurrection and we're trying to express those five fold 17:36-17:39 from that place. 17:39-17:45 But I wonder what that five fold ministry would look like if we actually looked at it 17:45-17:52 in the context of the ascension and the three offices that our ascended Lord holds as our 17:52-17:54 ascended Lord. 17:54-18:02 What would those five fold ministries look like when we place them under the kingship 18:02-18:05 of the ascended Lord? 18:05-18:12 We're then proclaiming a kingdom because we understand where the king is seated. 18:12-18:21 We're teaching of that kingdom value because we understand who is sitting in the throne. 18:21-18:27 What I haven't done is unpack them all because it's very much still floating around my head. 18:27-18:35 But I put it out there and say actually are we really being the church that Christ wants 18:35-18:45 us to be when we don't place those five fold in the offices of the ascension but also when 18:45-18:50 we share them out fully amongst others and we don't try and make one person carry them 18:50-18:57 all because it's never worked and it never will work because none of us are Christ. 18:57-19:05 What would it look like when we place those five fold into the high priestly role of Christ? 19:05-19:23 It shifts it from being our worship to his worship to his teaching to his prophetic voice 19:23-19:30 to the apostolic voice that comes through when we place them there also. 19:30-19:37 And so what I'm saying before you are very raw thoughts they're not nicely polished they're 19:37-19:45 not a finished work by any means but just opening up that conversation to see is there 19:45-19:53 a link between those five folds that we see in Ephesians and the offices of the ascended 19:53-19:54 Christ? 19:54-20:03 Maybe there is but there's not but I hope that comes out in conversation later on. 20:03-20:07 But the other thing that I've been wrestling with in amongst all of this as well is what 20:07-20:14 was initiative 12 years ago in the Church of England that's now a movement certainly 20:14-20:20 that hearing Phil Potter yesterday in Derby when he was talking about the whole fresh 20:20-20:26 expressions movement of church. 20:26-20:29 One of the challenges is it actually fresh? 20:29-20:31 Is this something new? 20:31-20:38 And I said it to his face yesterday over coffee so I can justifiably say the same thing here 20:38-20:46 today but on hearing where Phil was coming from yesterday what I think we're seeing now 20:46-20:54 in the fresh expression stuff is a recognition that one person can't hold those five different 20:54-20:56 roles of ministry together. 20:56-21:04 And secondly what we're seeing is as Baxter was saying this morning or possibly yesterday 21:04-21:13 certainly said on Sunday that it's as we turn to the Son as the Son has turned to the Father 21:13-21:18 that we then understand the relationship we're in and we understand the participation that 21:18-21:19 we are in. 21:19-21:25 And I wonder if fresh expressions is actually talking about that now. 21:25-21:34 That relational model of the people of God where those roles of ministry are shared amongst 21:34-21:42 one another as they're enabled to allow relationship to build once again and not just any relationship 21:42-21:48 but relationship and participation with the Son to the Father enabled and empowered by 21:48-21:49 the Holy Spirit. 21:49-21:58 So I'll leave you with those thoughts and they are simply thoughts that we'll see where 21:58-22:04 questions go but thoughts about the fivefold ministry. 22:04-22:12 Thoughts about the offices of the Ascension and for those of us in parishes I do read 22:12-22:18 wrestle with something that's being built as something new but actually I think it's taking 22:18-22:26 us back to Acts 2 and to the church that Christ has called us to be and we allow him to be 22:26-22:35 the head, the king, the priest and the prophet of our ascended Lord. 22:35-22:40 So my conclusions aren't fancy statements they're simply questions. 22:40-22:43 Is there a link between the fivefold ministry and the offices of the ascended Lord? 22:43-22:49 How do we understand community from this connection of the two if there is? 22:49-22:54 And what might this look like in the church today? 22:54-23:00 What is Christ doing in terms of leadership and the pattern of ministry? 23:00-23:05 And for me I'm particularly concerned about the rural because that's where I'm currently 23:05-23:14 called to but it could equally apply to the urban. 23:14-23:16 I think there's one last question. 23:16-23:25 How do we alter that start-stop ministry when a minister leaves a parish and translates 23:25-23:30 to somewhere else and everything seems to stop until the next one comes? 23:30-23:38 Maybe there's an answer in the fivefold ministry and us looking to the ascended Lord so that 23:38-23:44 people in those parishes continue on because Christ's ministry doesn't stop when the minister 23:44-23:49 translates and don't worry I'm not going anywhere. 23:49-23:51 But I leave those thoughts with you. 23:51-23:52 Thank you Bruce. 23:52-23:55 Thank you very much indeed Richard. 23:55-23:56 Thank you. 23:56-23:56 [Applause] 23:56-23:58 [APPLAUSE]