Followership An Update from Rev. Dr. John Yu from the Vision Construction Team

팔로월쉽

“나를 따라오라 내가 너희를 사람을 낚는 어부가 되게 하리라”(마 4:19). 예수님께서 부르셨습니다. 베드로와 안드레가 먼저, 그리고 야고보와 요한, 그 외에 여러 사람들이 예수님을 따랐습니다. 그리고 이 세상은 완전히 변했습니다.

리더쉽은 중요한 덕목입니다. 그리고 많은 사람들은 리더가 되고자 노력합니다. 단체들은 리더쉽이 강한 사람들을 찾습니다. 나라는 좋은 리더가 있어야 번창할 수 있습니다. 스포츠 팀이 우승을 하려면 선수들을 하나로 묶고 인도 할 리더가 필요합니다. 교회도 열매 맺고 부흥을 하려면 좋은 리더가 필요합니다. 성공을 하려면 좋은 리더가 반드시 필요합니다.

기독교 리더쉽은 팔로월쉽이 먼저여야 합니다. 잘 따라야 좋은 리더가 될 수 있습니다. 우리의 참된 리더이신 예수 그리스도를 잘 따를 수 있어야 좋은 기독교 리더가 될 수 있습니다. 예수님께서 가시는 곳을 따라 가야합니다. 예수님께서 보시는 것을 보고, 예수님께서 들으시는 것을 들을 수 있어야 합니다. 예수님의 마음을 아프게 하는 것이 우리의 마음을 아프게 해야 합니다. 예수님을 따르는 것이 기독교인의 삶의 근본적인 모습입니다.

우리 비전팀은 덴버 노회가 앞으로 나아갈 방향이 예수님께서 원하시는 방향이 될 수 있도록 분별하며 나아가고 있습니다. 매주 토요일마다 모여서 어떻게 하면 우리의 리더이신 예수님을 잘 따를 수 있을까 고민하고 있습니다. 팀원들은 다 각자의 생각을 가지고 팀에 들어왔습니다. 교회를 사랑하고 덴버 노회를 위해 헌신하는 마음으로 주인의식을 가지고 들어왔습니다. 하지만 우리는 주인이 아니라 청지기입니다. 교회도 노회도 다 예수님께서 주인이십니다. 그렇다면 우리가 가져야 하는 비전은 바로 예수님의 비전이어야 합니다.

많은 생각과 아이디어를 가지고 이제 노회의 비전과 미션, 그리고 가치를 정리하는 일을 비전팀이 이제 하고 있습니다. 여러분들이 나눠 주었던 이야기들을 듣고 함께 예수님의 비전을 같이 품을 수 있기를 소망합니다. 지금까지 나눠 주셨던 것처럼 앞으로도 많이 나누고 기도해 주시기를 부탁드립니다. 그래서 함께 분멸하고 예수님을 따를 수 있기를 소망합니다.

계속해서 비전팀을 위해 기도해 주시기 바랍니다. 그래서 우리 비전팀이 예수님께서 보시는 것을 보시고 들으시는 것을 들을 수 있기를 소망합니다. 그리고 예수님께서 가시는 곳을 갈 수 있는 덴버 노회가 되기를 소망합니다. 우리 모두 우리의 참된 리더이신 예수님을 따라갑시다.

여러분의 기도의 빚진 자
유지훈 목사
참빛교회
덴버 노회 비전팀

Followership

“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people” (Matthew 4:19, NRSV). Jesus called. Peter and Andrew first, and then James and John, and several others later followed Jesus. The world would never be the same again.

Leadership is a valued characteristic. Many people desire to be leaders. Organizations seek after candidates with leadership qualities. Nations need quality leaders to lead the country through the good and the bad. Sport teams need a leadership bring home the trophy. Churches need leaders to take them down the right path – path that leads to fruitful and vital ministries. Many of us desire to be that leader to bring “success” to our communities.

But Christian leadership begins with followership. It begins with following our one true leader – our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever Jesus goes, we need to follow. Whatever Jesus sees, we need to see. Whatever Jesus hears, we need to hear. Whatever breaks Jesus’ heart, those things need to be break our hearts. Following Jesus is what our lives should be all about.

As Vision Construction Team continues its work, we are discerning where it is that Jesus wants to take the Denver Presbytery next. As mentioned in previous updates, the team has been meeting every Saturday to discern together how we may follow our leader. Some of us had our own ideas about how to make Denver Presbytery better or where we would like to see Denver Presbytery go. We made commitment to this process, because this our Presbytery and we want to take ownership of it. But ultimately it is Jesus’ church. It is Jesus’ presbytery, and we are but stewards. We need to follow Jesus’ vision.

The VCT is starting to put our ideas and thoughts concerning the vision, mission, and values into words. We want to thank you all for your prayers and your input through Bright Spotting exercise and other means. We will continue to listen to your ideas and input as we move forward. This is all part of discerning together how we may best follow our leader.

Please continue to pray for the Vision Construction Team to be able to see and hear what Jesus is seeing and hearing, and go wherever Jesus is going. Let us follow our great leader together.

Indebted in your prayers,

Rev. Dr. John Yu
Pastor – True Light Community Church
Vision Construction Team

Faithful Thursdays goes Virtual!

Faithful Thursdays like everyone else during the COVID pandemic, has gone virtual this year. Their focus to advance a moral economy, equity, and the eradication of racism through social witness to our Colorado legislators is well underway. To comply with the need for social distancing, they have been posting weekly videos outlining faith based social witness positions on their website.

You can view these calls for faithful justice effort from their web site click here or directly on their YouTube channel, click here. You’ll find our past moderator, Jean Demmler, providing the March 25th video highlighting issues surrounding equity for refugees and immigration.

We believe threatening a person for their immigration status is racism," explains Nursen Konuk of the Mosaic Multicultural Foundation in this week's Faithful Thursdays video. "If the system injures individuals doing the right thing, then the system is broken. People should feel safe to report a crime without the fear of deportation." Check out this week’s  video to learn more about advocating for immigrant rights in our community. 

Listen! An Update from Ruling Elder Rob Habiger of the Vision Construction Team

Listen!
When Jesus wanted to teach his followers a truth, he often preceded his teaching with an imperative to listen. For example, in Matthew’s account of the parable of the sower (13:3), Jesus starts by saying “Listen!” He finishes his teaching by challenging them, saying (13:9) “Let anyone with ears, listen!”.

Reverend Russ Kane challenged us to “see” in our last report. In this report, I want to challenge us to “hear”, and not just hear in a passive way, but to hear by listening.

Bright Spotting at the March Assembly
The Vision Construction Team was overwhelmed and energized by the way attendees in the March Assembly embraced the bright spotting exercise. We compiled your input and are now into the analysis of this rich data. This was a great opportunity for the Vision Construction Team to listen to people in the Denver Presbytery. This was also an opportunity for members of the Presbytery to listen to each other in the 17 different breakout groups. Thank you to the facilitators, scribes, and most of all to you who highlighted so many bright spots.

The Vision Construction Team
I believe we are really coming together as a Vision Construction Team. This cannot happen without listening to each other. The love each member of the team has for our Presbytery, the passion about completing our work, the respect we have for each other, and our desire to unite in a common purpose becomes clearer each week as we meet every Saturday morning and listen to each other. We are in the Curate and Generate stage, which requires a lot of data collecting and a whole bunch of listening.

Listening to the Holy Spirit
Please pray for your Vision Construction Team to listen to the Holy Spirit so that the vision for the Denver Presbytery will become clear. Please also pray for all people in the Denver Presbytery, that we might unite in ideas we share, and respond with love and listening when we disagree. Jesus promised in Matthew 18:20 that “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Consider the wisdom and power that can be unleashed as together we listen to the Holy Spirit and to each other.

Together in service to Christ,

Ruling Elder Rob Habiger
Vision Construction Team

Prayer for Ending Violence Against Asian Americans and for Interracial Peace

Creator God, who blessed all plants, animals, humans, and all created world and allow them to coexist together, thank you for your mercy and grace. We pray for all races and ethnicities to live in peace with one another.

Lord, hear our prayers.

God, you “give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Luke 1:79), as well as freedom and redemption. But because of our arrogance and pride, we discriminate and hate those of other races, and we commit atrocities that take away their lives.

Lord, as we confess our sins, be merciful unto us.

Several days ago, we lost eight of our neighbors, six of whom are of Asian descent, due to violence against Asian Americans in Atlanta. We also have witnessed ten lives lost due to senseless violence in Boulder. Be gracious unto the lives lost and please comfort those who have lost their loved ones.

Lord, our eternal comfort, receive them as we commit their spirits to you.

As we have witnessed increase in violence against Asians in the United States, many Asians residing in the United States, especially women, are living in fear and anxiety.

Lord, our everlasting shield, protect us from danger.

God, who tears down the walls of discriminations and calls us to be one, remind us that every single person is created in your image. Help us to display the beauty of your creation by respecting our differences and celebrating diversity.

Holy Spirit, who unites us, lead us to unity.

God, who gives strength to the weak and exalts the humble, may we not remain silent in the face of injustice. Lead us to be your workers for human rights, freedom, and peace.

Holy Spirit, who gives breathe to a new life, strengthen us for the work of reconciliation and peace.

From the shores of the Pacific to the Atlantic, from the peaks of the Rockies to the beaches of Key West, and in every street where people roam, may your peace and reconciliation ring through love and reconciliation between all races.

Lord of the new heavens and the new earth, may we build up your kingdom step by step.

We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Peace. Amen. 

Adopted and modified from the Korean Sanctuary Church Network Translated by Rev. Dr. John Yu

Vision Construction Team Update | What do you see?

"What do you see?”
That’s the question Jesus asked the man in Mark 8. He had been healed of blindness, but the process wasn’t complete. The question was part of the healing.

"What do you see?”

The Vision Construction Team in particular, and the Presbytery of Denver in general, are being asked the same question. Vision is about learning to see. It’s a process as well as a practice.

The Bible is full of stories of people learning to see, and I’ve found myself going back to them. One person had great vision, but it was incomplete. He accurately saw the armies against him but needed prayer to see what he was missing (2 Kings 6). I get that. I’m aware of the problems and perils surrounding our Presbytery; I’m not blind. But Vision is more than seeing accurately what is apparent, it’s also learning to see what isn’t. It takes prayer- and practice.

Elijah’s servant was told to go up the hill and report what he saw- and keep going up. There was a drought, and he was to watch for God’s deliverance (1 Kings 18). After the seventh trip, he finally reported seeing one small cloud on the horizon. He was told to tell others it was time to invest in heavy rain gear, and good luck trying to outrun what was coming. The practice of persistent looking helped his capacity to see- and respond.

We are practicing persistent watching, too. I’m reminded that Vision it is less about what we create and more about sharpening our capacities to perceive. We don’t create our vision any more than we create our mission. Christ has a mission and that mission creates us.*(1) Our task is not so much to construct a vision for ourselves as be constructed by Christ’s vision for us.

"What do you see?”

Vision is a corporate practice. On the Vision Construction Team, I’m surrounded by creative people, faithful to what God has done, and anticipating what God might yet do. What is true for one group, is true for the whole Denver Presbytery. At our March 23 Assembly, we will practice sharpening our vision, together. Have you heard of “Bright-Spotting?” (2) It’s a practice that will expand our capacity to see, and attune us for what may be coming. It’s helped me in the process and practice of Vision. Perhaps it will help all of us do the same.

Sometimes vision is about catching a glimpse of what God is yet to do. Sometimes it is correcting our capacity to perceive what is right in front of us.

What do YOU see?

With Gratitude,

Rev. Russ Kane
Vision Construction Team

_________________________________

1. Jurgen Moltmann, The Spirit and the Kingdom

2. This is a practice described in Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

Check out the latest information from the Vision Construction Team (VCT). Click here to read our report to the March Assembly on some things we see so far. A link to that report along with the “Two Loops Life Cycle” and bright spotting chapter from Switch (2010) are here.

Meet Rev. Paula Steinbacher, Vice Moderator, Member of Council and the Vision Construction Team

Dear Beloved Community,

Over the past couple of months, you've been receiving updates on our vision process from Council members. Today I'm excited to share with you as a Council member and as the Vice Moderator of Denver Presbytery, but perhaps most importantly as a member of our recently formed Vision Construction Team (VCT). Our hope is that you will recognize that Council, Presbytery Leadership, and the VCT are openly communicating about the process and sharing details about how to become part of the conversation. Our updates from this point on will be written by members of the VCT so that we can keep you posted of the progress.

Our consultant, Corey Schlosser-Hall, leads excellent meetings during which we learn much about one another and have begun to get a grasp of the momentous work ahead of us.  We have chosen to embrace Corey’s definition of vision as, “the capacity to ‘taste and see’ what God is doing at the intersections between God’s people and the world God loves so that other can ‘taste and see’ it, participate in it, pray for it, be transformed by it.” 

Corey has helped us establish a timeline, and Council has approved it. Our goal is to move ever forward, checking in with the goals for each “Chapter” of our work. Currently we are in the “Curate and Generate” chapter which will help us cull the best of what our previous team learned; review the input the body of our Presbytery has offered; listen to the thoughts and questions being offered now; and begin to generate dialogue to help us into the next chapter of “Tangibilitate.” We tangibilitate when we put words and language to the ideas and thoughts that are taking shape.

My teammates highlight what they would like for you to know about our work together: 

• We will be meeting weekly to keep our momentum going and to hold one another accountable for the reading and tasks we are to do outside of meeting time.

• We recognize together that vision is not driven by one person, but best discerned in a group (this is the Presbyterian way of doing most discernment); this means we need your input as well to say we are doing the work of Presbytery. Please pay attention to the ways you can make your voice heard and be assured that the VCT would love to hear from you via email or a call.

• Following through with a new vision leads us to recognize we need to become a Presbytery that is constantly seeking God’s vision, always listening and responding, and remembering that we are participating in God’s vision – not our own.

I have already been touched by the breadth of experience and wisdom that is exhibited by my fellow Vision Construction Team. One member offered us a reminder that Vision typically does not come like a lightening strike or a mountain top moment; vision comes often through small discussions, attentive listening, and paying attention to how God has already begun that work in and among us.  

I pray you have the same hope I hold: we can move together into these unknown times holding the most important thing in focus: our God has made an invitation to “taste and see” – will you come? You can share with us in this process by praying a simple, "May your vision for the DP be clear and may we be faithful to taste and see."  You can also email the VCT at VCT@denpres.org.  I promise you that we are engaging with all input that our DP family share, and that we want to be truly open to how God is moving here and now. 

Thankful to serve you,

Rev. Paula M. Daniel Steinbacher
Vice Moderator
Denver Presbytery Council
Vision Construction Team