Sunday, a member of Council (which is our only standing board) decided to resign to focus attention on other good works he is doing. I was really proud of him for doing that.
I've been in organizations in which anger or despair is the automatic response to resigning from a board. The underlying sense is scarcity: there aren't enough people to do the work so anyone who leaves is a traitor.
We're really trying to become a community in which people listen to God's nudges, try new things, make and keep commitments, and renegotiate their commitments when they discover that God really is nudging a different direction (or has in fact provided different gifts). It takes a lot of courage to try things, be open to course correction, and to try new things. It takes courage to be accountable to your community. And we find new life, become new, when we heed the movement of the Spirit.
Anyway, I was really proud.
After that, the meeting went to talking about an adult baptism coming up at the end of the month. The candidate wants to be baptized by immersion (which I wholeheartedly support), but being a certain stream of Christians we have no baptismal pool. The same fellow who withdrew from Council heard a nudge, and started talking specs.
Now he's leading the baptismal pool build. And two Christians will be (re)born: one through baptism, one through the touch of the Spirit.
Oh! And another man, who is officially a member of another church, but leads a shared ministry and comes to our Bible study, will stand with the baptismal candidate. Her choice.
Big grins all around.
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