Leading Congregations in Mission - Community of Christ

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3. All things are sacred, for use with thanksgiving,
Boundless resources for each to employ;
Strength for the body and soul’s fuller living;
Spirit and element bonded in joy.
5. Now let the saints hail so rich a foundation,
Forged in our heritage, living today;
God who persists in the promised salvation
Goes on before us and shows us the way.
It should be noted that the context of one of the concepts
Spencer mentions might have been somewhat
perplexing to members in earlier years. The hymn
uses the term “restoration” to refer to renewal in a
more general sense, rather than to the Divinely revealed
restoration of the organization, authority, and
beliefs of the New Testament church, as it commonly
meant in the early church.
Another of Spencer’s hymns is yet a further expansion
of the previously mentioned concept of Zion.
In these verses, Zion is characterized as a cause
for which to labor, rather than as a finite goal to be
completed. The hymn is matched with the tune, ST.
MATTHEW.
The cause of Zion summons us
To claim a distant dream;
The love of God in every place,
The will of God supreme.
The vision calls us to our task,
Forsaking self and pride,
We love and reconcile with Christ
The world for which he died.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The cause of Zion prophesies
The future yet to be,
When men and women everywhere
Shall walk in dignity.
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High Priests Newsletter
4
Hymnal Launch
October 18–20,
2013
Plan to join us
beginning Friday morning,
October 18, as the
next hymnal is released
to attendees of the
2013 Peace Colloquy in Independence, Missouri. The
Community of Christ International Peace Award and
the Peace Colloquy will focus on song as a way of
justice and peacemaking. The weekend will conclude
October 20 with worship in the Temple Sanctuary.
We now anticipate the day
When pain and tears shall cease,
When humankind shall live as one
In righteousness and peace.
[extract from article quoted with permission]
These texts provided articulation of concepts that were
emerging with new definition and direction. Spencer was
truly a Minister of Vision. He will continue to have an important
presence in the next hymnal because his “vision” continues
to be relevant and applicable in the 21 st -century church.
Throughout the years, many high priests have been
involved in the hymnody of the church (See 150 Years of
Song: Hymnody in the Reorganization, 1860–2010, by Richard
Clothier, published by Herald Publishing House).
Finally, this connection between vision and the songs
of the church is important—so critical that I hope you will
plan to be present at the launch of the next hymnal during
the 2013 Peace Colloquy, October 18–20, 2013. The event
promises to be energizing and educational. More importantly,
we will experience together the vision of what yet may be.
Leading Congregations
in Mission
By Ron Harmon,
Council of Twelve Apostles
If you would truly become Community of Christ,
then embody and live the concerns and passion of
Christ.
—Doctrine and Covenants 164:9d
President Stephen M. Veazey
challenged the church in his April
2009 address:
The most important question for
a missional church is not about
long-term survival. It is about
how we “passionately pursue
Christ’s mission in a suffering
world that groans for the
liberating truths of the gospel”
(Doctrine and Covenants 155:7).
What does it mean to be a missional church? When
congregations are missional they increasingly embody and live
the concerns and passion of Christ (Doctrine and Covenants
164:9d) in all aspects of congregational life and ministry. Mission
becomes more than a program. It shapes everything we
do as sacred communities.
Leading Congregations in Mission (LCM) has been made
possible by the generous gift of an anonymous donor. LCM
will equip the pastor’s leadership team to cultivate a congregational
culture that:
• Is shaped by an ongoing encounter with the Living Christ
in community.
• Is grounded in the witness of scripture.
• Is radically relational.
• Shares the joys and challenges of leadership in sustaining
mission.
July 2012 NEWSLETTER
• Is safe to explore and experiment.
• Discerns and connects individual gifts and sense of call
with opportunities to live Christ’s mission in all its forms.
• Embodies and lives the concerns and passion of Christ.
LCM will equip leaders to cultivate an adaptive congregational
culture that continually is shaped and sent by Christ’s
mission (i.e., the Mission Initiatives) as it unfolds in multiple
ministry contexts.
Formation Retreats began in April for congregation
support ministers and mission center presidents. They will
support 80 pilot congregations across the USA, Canada, and
Australia. Beginning in the fall, the support ministers, mission
center presidents, and pastors’ leadership teams will engage
in a three-year process of regional formational retreats. They
will explore discerning and leading mission in a changing
world.
In addition, congregational support
ministers will help pastors’ leadership
teams apply missional principles,
processes, and practices to
congregational life and ministry.
In addition, congregational support ministers will help
pastors’ leadership teams apply missional principles, processes,
and practices to congregational life and ministry.
We are experimenting with t ime-tested and new ways
of discerning and living our mission. As we move through the
pilot we will learn together, adapt, and refi ne a process that
will support future pastors’ leadership teams in discerning and
leading mission in their local contexts.
We are blessed with the ministry of many high priests
and evangelists who are serving as primary and secondary
congregation support ministers. We look forward to the opportunity
to engage more high priests and evangelists as we
expand this process to include additional congregations in the
future.