Our heritage as a UCC church is one that affirms the faith and ministry of all Christians, not just the ordained pastors. In recent years, we have tried in several ways to affirm and encourage lay leadership. Some examples include offering LIFT groups, Unwrapping Our Gifts, restructuring our church Ministries to provide more opportunities for service, and updating our Time, Talent and Interest survey to be more useful. We are currently searching for an Associate Pastor/Director of Congregational Ministries that will focus on the development of lay leadership and building small communities of action and faith building. Our Next Generation discussions have surfaced the desire for more and diverse programs. Our Next Generation process also reaffirmed our threefold commitment to Spirituality, Community, and Justice.
As we move into the Next Generation of our life together, it is clear that we have two emerging needs that could be met by a unique and experimental program. We are proposing to call this Laikos Ministry. LAIKOS is a Greek word meaning “of the people” and is the root word for “laity” or worshippers who are not clergy.
The two emerging needs:
- A need for more structured support and encouragement of members who want to give more time and energy to their personal faith and ministry; especially those who want to offer their skills and talents and faith on behalf of the church’s ministry.
- The need to be creative and experimental in the leadership of our many emerging ministry programs. With limited staff budgets and busy lifestyles, we are seeing a need for a new model of leadership to supplement our important Leadership Team, Ministry and Mission Team models.
Components of the Laikos Ministry
Spiritual Formation
- Individuals will attend one of two introductory Laikos retreats in the winter/spring 2009: These ½ day retreats will provide an opportunity for prayer, reflection and mutual discernment for lay members with pastoral staff to see if this commitment of time, energy and leadership fits with their own lives at this time and the needs of the church for expanded lay ministry.
- Individuals will commit to a personal spiritual practice – prayer, meditation, bible reading or journaling. Ideas and guidance will be offered by the pastors on a personal basis, as needed.
- Individuals will commit to corporate spiritual practice: In addition to regular attendance at worship on Sundays, Laikos ministers will participate in regular small group spiritual practice – meditation, prayer, bible study and retreats. We plan on a regular opportunity to be offered on the 1st/3rd Tuesday evening. The time and format will be mutually decided. While these prayer/meditation/worship times will be geared for the Laikos team, they will be open to any in the congregation or community that would like to participate.
Service to God and the community of Orchard Ridge UCC
- Individuals will provide personal leadership and staff work to develop 1-2 programs throughout the year. These programs will be rooted in the faith and passion of Laikos ministers and will match the program needs of the church. Laikos ministers would serve as facilitators/leaders as well as program developers. This work will be done in conjunction with church Ministries and mission teams, as well as ordained pastors.
Accountability in Community
- Individuals will participate in 1-2 Laikos spiritual retreats throughout the year in which we explore individual and collective call and revitalize our ministry. Individuals will commit to participation in the process for increments of one year, to be reviewed and evaluated annual with pastors.
- Support and Guidance of Pastoral Staff
- Pastors/staff will encourage and recruit individuals in the congregation to consider this opportunity. They will also support individuals as they discern whether to participate in Laikos ministry and in the selection of specific programs individuals will develop.
- Pastors/staff will provide leadership on the two “sample” retreats and work with lay volunteers on the leadership for spiritual retreats.
- Pastors/staff will provide support and guidance and regular communication with Laikos ministers as they carry out their programs.
- Pastors/Staff will provide leadership and facilitation of Discernment retreats with the use of outside resources and people for the mutual encouragement of both Laikos team and pastoral staff.
Expectations of Laikos participants
- Individuals have developed regular spiritual practices in their own life of faith
- Individuals have been a part of the ORUCC community for at least two years.
- Individuals have identified a skill set they would like to share or develop more fully in the context of the church’s ministry.
- Individuals will be accountable within the Laikos team and with pastoral guidance for mutually discerned program offerings. Program offerings will be agreed-upon to meet the congregation’s needs and hopes expressed in our ongoing life together, consultation with the ministries and leadership team, and consideration of Next Generation Initiative priorities.
Examples of where a Laikos minister might provide leadership
Design and lead or facilitate Faith in Action adventures and mission oriented experiences for people of all ages, quarterly seasonal retreats, environmental action teams operating in a faith-based context, musical leadership for broader participatory programming, or expanded -ministry with children or youth or families …and others discerned with the Laikos team and pastors as described above.
Personal Note from Winton Boyd
Our Next Generation process has reaffirmed the deep faith and commitment of so many in this congregation. While our lifestyle needs vary, I am increasingly aware that we are not very good at supporting those who are ready and willing to give more time and energy to the ministry of this church. We often take for granted that when one wants to serve, they know how or where to do that. This proposal takes seriously the “priesthood of all believers”. It may also provide some creative leadership in a congregation that has aspirations that are often larger than its budget for professional staff. I anticipate that there may be a core of people who would like to explore this approach with the pastors and with one another.
It is not meant to create an exclusive club; it is not intended to replace our vital Ministry structure. It is also not a “stopgap” approach to hiring paid staff. It is an open door attempt to explore new ways of being the church. In some ways, the approach is ancient, as it shared a good deal in common with the monastic tradition of “oblates”. As one of your pastors, I would also find it exciting and encouraging to develop a team of leaders who have the time and energy and passion to develop ministries for our collective growth in faith.
Finally, it is important that the leadership be mutually discerned. It is important that the programs developed emerge from both an individual sense of need and from identified hopes and dreams of the congregation. There will be mutual accountability throughout, so that all levels of our leadership are communicating and supporting one another.
