[Magdalen] This saying No is tough

[Lynn Ronkainen]

A former deacon at one of the churches I attended long term in Houston, upon 
being called as rector for the second time/second church, created a 3 tiered 
program, using clever names I've now forgotten but they were additionally 
numbered 101, 201 and 301  as part of their name.  The main concept being, 
find the gifts you have and *are willing* to share with your parish. His 
observation had been that too often we plug people into existing vacancies 
because they have skills and talents, but what we might do instead is to 
help people find out what they think they can contribute to a parish and 
with the main goal being - where are your skills, talents calling you and 
how can you use them here, and it might be something brand new to bring to 
the parish.

I had the opportunity to participate in a modified version of his 101 class 
as part of a guided retreat in connection with an EFM class I was mentoring 
that he led.  It was and remains a great concept... OTOH, the concept alone 
is a big sea change in some places, and the allure of plugging in 'new 
blood' into the 'way we've always done it' has strong gravitational pull... 
LOL

Lynn

website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a 
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me." 
attributed to Erma Bombeck

Thomas Merton writes, “People may spend their whole lives climbing the 
ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is 
leaning against the wrong wall.”

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From: "Roger Stokes" <roger.stokes65 at btinternet.com>
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 6:23 PM
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] This saying No is tough

> On 22/09/2014 20:44, Scott Knitter wrote:
>> I think what's dysfunctional is the "tradition" that people who start 
>> doing a job in the parish continue doing that job for all time and 
>> eternity. So no one new steps up.
>
> That is certainly dysfunctional - but all too common in the Church. Nobody 
> wants to volunteer to do X for fear of upsetting A who has been doing it 
> since the days of Noah.  As I prepare to leave my present charge I have 
> reminded people of the need to cover the routine tasks I have undertaken - 
> but with under a month to go they are still unclear as to the detail of 
> what needs doing.
>
> Succession planning is necessary, but there seems to be an unwillingness 
> to engage in its implementation in the Church.
>
> Roger