Play. Tell. Be. Progress Report

Play. Tell. Be. This is the working title of the the book I am currently writing.

A couple of years ago, I reached the 10 year anniversary of my ordination. Ordination is entry into the order/s of Ministers of the Word and Deacons who are set apart into particular relationship with the Church, to be present with the Church in various ways and roles, helping us all in our faithful and courageous enacting of the Way of God. At this moment in time, the 10 year mark, I chose to reflect on who I am as a member of this order, a leader in our Church in this way.

For there is a dominant model of leadership promoted in the church, one shaped by mega churches, in turn shaped by leadership in business arenas. Seeking growth in numbers, seeking the success of programs, privileging a charismatic, usually male, lead minister who may or may not be ordained. There is a risk in such a model of leadership. That it twists the priority of the congregation from being a local embodiment of the Body – which in reality is larger than a particular congregation or denomination – to such a privileging of itself as to forget the place of a congregation as a member of the Body of Christ with responsibilities to other members and the whole.

Leaders, then, are grown in local congregations who then want to own, hold, keep back those leaders from being sent into the wider Body, where they may be needed. Resources are hoarded locally, not shared with the Body to support areas of need and opportunity where they arise.

Further, doing becomes a priority for leaders, or for the members of their leaders, than being. And Ministers and Deacons are called for who they are (that’s the verb to be) among us, more than for what we do.

So who are we?

Well, that varies, of course, but generally we will be:

committed to the Way of God, the Sacred Story, the Body of Christ; committed to justice, love, compassion

deeply reflective on who God is and who we are as created by God, and what that means

seeking to faithfully follow Jesus in his example and teaching

caring, with empathy for others

articulate, able to see how things are and name them, to find meaning in the stories we live, and speak truth and honesty and hope

present: understanding ritual and able to preside in gatherings of the people in ways that hold people safe and invited them into meaningful encounter with God, each other, their deep self and story

self-aware, confident in our competencies and the competencies of others; we are not all things to all people, we are equippers, empowerers, and encouragers of others as they fulfil their part as members of the Body where we are

We are a lot of other things, too. Some are artistic; some scientific; some campaigners; some administrators.

And we do things, of course. But it is who we are for which we are called, into which we are formed, as whom we are ordained.

So I think it is important for me to reflect on who I am as a minister, whose vocation I understand to be as Storyteller, Poet, Minister. To understand how I have been growing into my becoming. To reflect on what I have learned about how to live well, be well, and thus, lead well.

My ways of leading have been through play, storytelling, and being.

Play: experimentation. Exploration. Trying and failing and trying new things again.

Tell: telling story. Hearing story. Equipping people to enter, embody, live, and tell story Sacred and human, for our wellbeing as individuals and communities.

Be: Being. Presence. Contemplative, centred, still, aware. Paying attention, to God, creation, others, my self.

I have a first draft of these reflections, shaped under those three headings. At the end of last year, I sent the first draft out to a small number of readers. What I heard back was a naming of the missing element I knew about but had not named. Alongside the personal reflections of my living and leading, the book needs some theoretical foundations for play, story, and presence, as demonstrated ways humans live well and lead well.

So I am (re) reading books by Brené Brown, Julia Baird, Rachel Held Evans, and Wendy Farley, and Diana Butler Bass’s chapter on Testimony; Ken Evers-Hood’s reflections on the poetic leadership of David (in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament); biographies and memoirs of people as diverse as Ash Barty, Joel McKerrow, and Hildegard of Bingen. I am seeking to glean wisdom to enhance my reflections on what I have lived and learned, with what others have lived and learned, what researchers have observed and come to understand. (links will take you to places I have engaged with these writers before, like this post)