PURPOSE AND PASSION

My overarching purpose and passion are to assist congregations in becoming centers for spiritual transformation that are healthy, financially strong, effective in mission, aware of themselves as the body of Christ, growing spiritually and numerically, and making an innovative difference in their localities.

Titles and positions are not important to me. I have never been motivated to climb the ecclesiastical “ladder of success.” Instead, I believe that the risen Lord Jesus Christ is depending upon those of us who are congregation developers to perform this specialized ordained ministry in order to advance the purposes and promises of the incarnate God through the congregations that manifest the divine presence in their communities and throughout the world.

SEEDS IN FAMILY OF ORIGIN

My family of origin planted the seeds of my vocation. My father was a priest of the Episcopal Church, serving a medium sized congregation in a small city in Pennsylvania.

Descriptions of his daily ministry and discussions between my parents about urgent issues in the life of the congregation dominated dinner table conversation. There were frequent guests at that table: newly ordained clergy serving congregations in nearby small towns, experienced priests from major congregations in the diocese visiting as guest preachers for week day Lenten services, our own bishop and his wife, and bishops from third-world nations traveling through the United States to garner financial support for their struggling dioceses. I was exposed to great deal of congregational and ecclesiastical “shop talk.”

LAY MINISTRY

My parents trained my sisters and me in a comprehensive understanding of Christian stewardship, which resulted in the clear conviction when I went to college that whatever my career it would be my ministry as a disciple and apostle of Jesus Christ. At the time, I believed my ministry would be that of a layperson.

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ACTIVISM

College and graduate courses in Biblical and religious studies fertilized the seeds from my childhood. Events of the 1960’s shaped my ministry in political and social activism, as a communications, public relations, and public policy specialist in Washington who was also very involved with a congregation and diocesan programs.

CALL TO ORDINATION

In the early 1980’s, other events intervened, prompting me to consider in an entirely new light whether God’s spirit was guiding me toward ordination. The church and I concluded that to be the case, with the purpose of helping members of congregations understand their daily activities at work, with family, at routine tasks, in neighborhoods, as citizens, as well as in communities of faith to be ministries for which they were commissioned by baptism, based on my own life experience.

SEMINARY EXPERIENCES

While a student in seminary, I experienced new stirrings that would later expand my understanding of my mission as an ordained leader.

During my middle year, the recently elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Virginia, The Right Reverend Peter James Lee, invited those of us in the ordination process of the Diocese who were studying at Virginia Theological Seminary to a catered dinner. During a question and answer time after the meal, one of us asked the Bishop if he had developed any vision for specialized ordained ministries for the Diocese. He described a congregation developer who functioned in ways similar to turnaround mangers in the business world. I felt my energy level rise at the prospect of being such a specialist in part because of its similarity to my earlier work as a change agent. I said silently: “That is who I am!”

At this same time, I became fully acquainted with the congregation development theories of Arlin J. Rothauge, the emotional systems theory of Edwin H. Freidman, and the publications, research, and consulting services of The Alban Institute. I also became reacquainted with the community organizing strategies of Saul Alinsky. They provided a most welcome and exciting means for integrating and comprehending my varied experiences of congregational ministry that began at my family’s dinner table.

INTERIM SPECIALIST

A few years passed, however, until all the dots connected. Several colleagues at a clergy gathering listened to my difficulties and frustrations serving as rector of a small rural congregation with potential for significant spiritual and numerical growth but controlled by the local gentry committed to maintaining the status quo. My recent predecessors had short tenures and it appeared I would also. One colleague suggested that I consider being an interim specialist. It resonated with Bishop Lee’s vision and with my fascination for congregations and for what makes them healthy and effective.

I promptly enrolled in the basic training program for interim pastors and soon had my first interim assignment. I have viewed that and subsequent assignments as laboratories in which I learn as much as possible about congregation dynamics and functioning. I have supplemented that experiential learning with extensive studies in congregation development.

As my experience and knowledge grew, God’s spirit brought me assignments with congregations facing intense, difficult, and complex issues. I also began offering my congregation development expertise as a consultant and coach for congregations not in an interim period between installed rectors.

BIBLICAL PARADIGMS

I see Biblical paradigms for my specialized ministry. In the Hebrew Scriptures, Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, can be regarded as the first congregation developer. The prophets repeatedly urged God’s people to turnaround their religious practices, doing spiritual work similar to the developmental tasks of the interim period. In the Gospels, John the Baptist prepared the way for one who would follow him and Jesus confronted the business-as-usual practices of the Jerusalem temple that prevented it from being a house of prayer. Paul sought to help congregations understand what it means to be the body of Christ and to live into that understanding.

Because of this spirit-led journey, I am very intentional about being an interim specialist and highly committed to leading congregations in transition through a deliberate process of congregation development, using the period as a “prime-time for renewal.”

Copyright © 2008 by Theodore W. Johnson

2/28/2008

www.interimpriest.com