Thursday, October 6, 2011 | Last Updated Friday, April 20, 2012 18:59 Pacific/Honolulu

Beasley's Blog

March 2012 - Reflections on Shared Ministry in the Diocese of Hawai'i

September 28, 2011 – The Clergy Leaders We Need

The Diocese of Hawai'i, like most dioceses, has found that particular qualities and habits in its clergy are beneficial for serving the congregations here. Below are qualities and habits of life and of mind that we who work in transition ministry in the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'i have found to be helpful.

Leadership. What "leadership" means here is the dual ability both to be with the people and also to set a vision and motivate and encourage people to work toward that vision. For some years in North America, clergy have been taught to take the attitude of "This church is yours, not mine. You decide which direction you want to go, what you want to do, and I'll help you get there." Clergy who have this approach to ministry do not last here. We need clergy who can be with the people, discern who they are and the type of ministry to which God calls them, and then call on people to go in that direction.
The ability to be an authority figure. This goes along with the first requirement that clergy be leaders. Congregations in Hawai'i will grant clergy more authority than many are used to in congregations in North America -- and they expect clergy to take the authority and live up to it. While we do not need authoritarian clergy, we do need clergy who are not afraid of being a person in authority.
Tithers. We need clergy who tithe to the church and are able and willing to talk about this. In other words, we need clergy who will set an example for their congregations and who are not afraid to talk about money. This is not just because congregations need money. It is primarily a spiritual issue: that we want and need people, lay and clergy, who are willing to make the commitment to God to tithe, as a spiritual commitment.
People whose approach to ministry is not focused on promoting a "cause." This mindset does not work in Hawai'i. It comes off here as pushy. People might even agree with a person about whatever cause he or she seeks to promote, but they don't want it rammed down their throats. What matters first here is relationship.
Multicultural experience: specifically, the ability to be immersed in cultures other than one's own, and to enjoy it. Race and power work differently here than in North America. In Hawai'i, no ethnicity is in the majority. Yet one also has to be aware that there is a "host culture" here -- namely, the Hawaiian culture. The people who do the best here are those who have had either international experience or some type of experience of being immersed in a culture not their own, and who know how to be respectful of another culture.
People who are able to cooperate with others. The Diocese of Hawai'i is increasingly looking at various forms of shared ministry among churches, such as one priest serving more than one congregation, or churches in a region having one youth group or sharing a church administrator, or other forms of cooperation. As the Bishop says, we need to move beyond the model of "one church, one priest, one congregation." We need clergy able to be flexible and experimental in such matters, as we are still "building this plane as we fly it."
People able to live in a remote area, surrounded by an ocean. This may mean, practically speaking, that clergy don't have heavy family obligations somewhere on the North American continent that will be absorbing their attention and forcing them to travel back and forth frequently. It also means they don't need to be surrounded by "high culture" and the latest fashions. It also might mean that they love water sports. If there is a single factor that determines whether people "make it" here, it is how they feel about the ocean. If you can glory in the sight of being surrounded by ocean, you're far more likely to enjoy being here over the long haul. If you cannot, or you see the ocean as a barrier, you're likely to get "rock fever" and be itching to leave the place.
Clergy able to "talk story." While we need to get things done, a person here also can't be solely task-oriented. Life here is based on relationships. We need clergy who are able just to sit and talk with people -- what in other parts of the United States might be called "chewing the fat" or "shooting the breeze". Here it's called "talk story."
Clergy who are content with a simpler life and a lower standard of living. If a large house and a big yard are important to you, don't come here. Houses are smaller and simpler, and land is at a premium. Housing is very expensive. If you are trying to advance up the career ladder of the Church (which should be an oxymoron), don't come here. Unless you make an incredible effort to be noticed nationally, and are willing to spend long hours on airplanes, you are likely to be forgotten once you are here. In either case, you may well end up frustrated and angry.
People who are creative and entrepreneurial toward the future and respectful toward the past. We need people who are willing to try new ways of doing things, but who also recognize that the ways of the past often have merit -- whether "the past" is the Anglican tradition or the culture of Hawai'i.

July 16, 2011

Well, I obviously quit writing my blog once I returned home from my travels on May 6. I thought that you really didn't need to hear about my time at home in Ka'a'awa, where I continued to do some reading, writing, and thinking about the topics I went to Ireland to learn about. I also spent time cooking, walking on the beach, and attempting to clear vines out of the jungle behind my back fence, so that I could see the coconut palms and the bright-red heliconia that were hiding back there.

I've been back at work for two weeks. As much as I enjoyed my time on sabbatical, it is also good to be back at work. I do love what I do. I have long recognized that not everyone is able to do work they love, so I am grateful that God led me to something that I enjoy and that I get to do it.

I have written a report on my sabbatical, as clergy are expected to do, and given it to the Bishop first and then, at his request, to others in leadership in the Diocese.

I can sum up "what I learned on my sabbatical" in a list of several things:

It is possible for congregations to share clergy leadership. This doesn't mean the typical one priest serving two congregations. There are other, more creative ways to share leadership, which I saw in Ireland.

It is possible to train priests locally (in other words, we don't have to send them off to seminary on the mainland), and even train them on a part-time basis. However, it means working hard to put a good program in place.

Our training for Worship Leaders (lay people who lead Morning Prayer) needs to be "beefed up": It needs to include more information and more practice in leading worship.

And then two, more general things that I learned:

It is better to have a broader outlook than a narrow one. In other words, it does not help our churches or even our own spiritual lives if we each focus just on "my church," "my ministry," or "my priest." Our focus and outlook needs to be on all of us together as a Diocese.

The final thing is personal. Without the occupations and distractions of work and everyday life, and being in the middle of new situations, I was able to see myself more clearly, perhaps as God sees me. This meant in part that I saw my shortcomings and the traps I fall into that are not good spiritually. I was able to make some changes - or let God change me - so that by the end I felt renewed and refreshed.