Monday, December 18, 2017

Mission Partners Sunday

When I first became a part of Young Adults in Global Mission and Time for God, the idea of working at an unknown church made me really nervous. I had no idea what working at a church meant. Luckily, I'm finding it fairly interesting and challenging. My role at St. Columba's focuses on building our community as a church, learning from my the other congregants about what they want to do and helping make it happen, and supporting the Minister and Church Secretary. 


Part of what made me less nervous and more excited about the prospect of working at a church was this very idea of social engagement - churches theoretically are built on the foundation of serving the world around them. I wanted this as part of my service year and was very clear to YAGM/TFG about this. Lots of outward lookingness, rather than inward focused ministry; that's my calling.  


One of the things tasked to me was building a relationship with our Mission Partners. St. Columba's is home to three charities that use space onsite, all of which I've written about before: the Besom, The Island, and the Street Angels. They are our Mission Partners. I spend about 1/4 of my time serving with these organizations as part of linking them to the church activities.

These groups were mentioned on the initial job description and I did a ton of research before my interview about them because their work naturally interests me. The Island is a youth mentoring organization. The Besom connects families in poverty to donations and other resources. And the Street Angels provides night-time support to vulnerable and homeless people on the streets. Learning about these charities made me believe I could definitely enjoy working at this church and they are one of the reasons I wanted and accepted the role. 

The Island's office off the Main Hall

The Besom Van

It's interesting looking back, because at the time I thought it would be a rich opportunity to work with the Mission Partners, but it's totally exceeded my expectations. 

This is partly because of the congregation's relationship with the Mission Partners; it's one of the most complex things I've encountered in my job so far. These groups exist onsite at the church, using rooms as office space. The groups were invited to do so ten years when the St. Columba's Community Foundation was begun. This Foundation was started so that the congregation would become more outward looking and have a way to support charities that were doing work in their local communities. The charities get space in the church; theoretically, congregants would spend time and resources to make these groups a part of the ministry of the church. 

This hasn't happened. Basically, the Mission Partners have office space. The congregants also have space that they use for their activities. The four disparate groups are like little bubbles with very little overlap. No one seems to be doing anything overtly wrong but some church folks get snippy about the Mission Partners and everyone just seems to get upset about a bunch of really little things. I REALLY HATE THIS.

Buckingham Palace lawn (from my Sep. visit to London with my cousin!)

The more British (aka round-about and less aggressive) way of saying this: This baffles me. To me as an outside, having been here now 3.5 months, I see everyone involved (snippy-comment-making church folk included) is really basically a good person and doing good things. I do not understand why there exists such a tense attitude except that people are being inflexible with each other. It's all because of very minor infractions over things like space (which we have plenty of IMHO as the person in charge of church bookings, thank you very much) and who takes out the recycling. I see SO much potential for positive things to happen if we could be more positive with each other. 

And if we can fix the relationship problems, could more be done? Could the Mission Partners, as once believed long ago in the mists of time, actually be supported by the congregants in their ministry? And could the congregants be given a bridge to their local community by the Mission Partners? 

A yellow rose - the symbol of friendship!

When I began, one of my first actions was to propose a Mission Partners Sunday, which would be a day where the groups could worship together and also learn about each other's work. This took shape into basically a series of presentations by each group and myself (with me representing the church side of things) about the activities and goals of each organization. I planned most of the service order it with some help from the Minister; 

After sending a boatload of emails to everyone and going back-and-forth a million times with the participating groups to get their readings and hymns in order, I then focused on planning my portion, which was a Welcome Speech and then a presentation about the service work of the church as well as my own hopes for the Mission  Partners relationship.


I frantically tried to finish my speech before Shantonu came to visit at the end of November (which was the best thing ever and will be the subject of another blog post). The worship wasn't until December 10th but I didn't want it hanging over my head. I finished my speech, printed it out, and spent a lovely few days forgetting about it while enjoying my time with him. 

Then of course mid-week I had some inspiration and had to make changes, which happens with all my big and best writing experiences. Shantonu said some inspiring, thoughtful, and wise things to me about the congregation and the Mission Partners and life in general. I reflected on it more. Then I made him sit around for about four hours while I wrote and edited and talked out loud and wrote more and practiced it for him. 

Finally, the day came and the Mission Partners and the congregants were in one room. I was a hot mess of nerves. One by one the presenters went up to share about their work. It was such a lovely service. I felt rejuvenated all over again for the work I'm doing with the Mission Partners because their missions are just so good. They just really want to sustainably make the world a better place for all to have good lives. It was really beautiful and uplifting. 


I came last. I wanted my presentation to feel like a reflection of my time at the church thus far but also a reflection of the feelings of the congregation towards each other. So I tried to make it genuine, hopeful, complimentary, uplifting, positive, and praise-filled - but also CHALLENGING. 

Basically my thoughts while writing it: Everyone is inherently good and doing good work. I want to celebrate that and also celebrate my love for all the groups there, church and Mission Partners alike.

But also I wanted to challenge people. Whatever you think of as your Divine Guide (if you choose to have one), I'll bet he/she/they don't really care about the small infractions in life so much as the big ways that groups and people are working together to bring peace/joy/love to the world. Yeah, the small things add up, I get it. But if you're forgiving and accepting of each other, that adds up even more. That adds up to a positive outcome rather than a series of tit-for-tats that damages peoples' ability to practice their spirituality effectively and also to serve the world. 

Me speaking at Mission Partners Sunday (photocred to Shantonu) 

And so I told them this. I told the groups that God wants us to work in TANDEM with one another. We should build a home together here in this church so that we can better serve our community and make the lives of people who suffer - all around us in York - better. 

Personally, I think I did a good job of my speech. It went kind of long (a fact not missed by anyone but whatevs). It helped to be able to look out at Shantonu's face and see him sitting there in the congregation while I spoke. He empowered me to be bolder. He was like an amulet for helping me feel protected and strong. I feel that way a lot about my family and friends. I feel so lucky because I feel like when I feel alone/attacked/isolated here, I have an imaginary circle of radiant people who are there for me from afar. Luckily, I got to have one of those radiant people there in person with me and it was magical. 

I've attached my speech here if you feel like you're just dying to read something completely irrelevant to your life. I edited it while I was talking and I think it was far better read aloud than on paper. 

All in all, I have hope that the day was successful in a small way. One of the people who I hear most often offering bits of negativity about the Mission Partners' space usage brought in a table to donate to the Besom the following week AND donated some food for Besom families in need at  Christmas; I think that's an extremely positive and hopeful sign. 

Shantonu and me in front of St. Columba's


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