PASTOR'S PEN
The Search for a Director of Ministries for Families and Youth
Do you believe in epiphany? That God reveals Godself to us?"Look! I'm doing a new thing; now it sprouts up; don't you recognize it? I'm making a way in the desert, paths in the wilderness." Isaiah 43:19
The word epiphany originally means 'manifestation', usually of the divine. The Christian church celebrates Epiphany (January 6) as the day that God was revealed to the 'Gentiles' (the non-Jews) - through the magi that sought the Christ child in Bethlehem. Throughout the season of Epiphany (the days from Epiphany to the season of Lent), our church shared 'Epiphany Moments' where they saw God being revealed in their lives. Below, I wanted to share with you an "Epiphany Moment" that some of our church members and I experienced recently on behalf of the church (excerpt taken from my sermon on 1/27/13) ...
More than three years ago, in late 2009, CUPC had just lost its third youth director in two years. Of course, all three of the youth directors had good reasons to leave us - but as the pastor of CUPC, I felt as if there was something that was not quite right, and didn't feel comfortable immediately launching into another search process. So, instead of looking for someone right away, I convened a task group to really sit down and reflect upon our situation, assess the youth ministry, and do discernment in a major way - to really seek God what we should do next, where we are heading. Thus, the Youth Ministry Discernment Task Group was formed and was comprised of representatives from the Christian Ed, Fellowship, Summer Camp Committees with some additional people who had an interest in the issue.
In a spirit of discernment, our task group began our journey together with open hearts and open spirits. To tell you frankly, I didn't think the process would take that long. And the outcome was not something that I would have been able to see at the beginning. But it was also the most rewarding, spirit-filled experience that I have had in working with a group of people at CUPC. Talk about a Epiphany moment! I saw glimpses of God everywhere in this process.
Our Youth Ministry Discernment Task Group met every 4-6 weeks. For the first few times, we clarified what we were set to do, studied the Bible to understand how we were going to go about doing things in this task group. I stressed that our discernment needs first needs to start with the openness to vision and dream - to be one that is open to any possibility, with no restrictions - whether they are financial resources, human resources, and otherwise. (Those are important things - but it was something that would be addressed at a later time.)
In addition, everyone was invited to equally engage in conversation - whether or not we agreed with each other. But we listened intentionally, regardless, and took the time needed to know where each of us was coming from. Then in between meetings, we would reflect further upon what was brought up at the group setting, and allow God to affect our own thoughts and positions too. Then as we would come together again, we would share with each other again. As we repeated this process over the months, what we thought were our individual discernments - began to come together as a cohesive, group discernment.
Now, I mentioned that this process took much longer than I had anticipated - and it was in part because as we discerned together, there were some things that were hindering us from moving forward that needed to be attended to. There were changes that needed to be made in some of our existing ministries to our youth as well as Summer Camp. And so, the group spent a pretty significant time attending to those hindrances - implementing changes, developing or refocusing programs. We also wanted to get feedback and input from the congregation to assist our discernment - so we held townhalls, focus groups and asked individuals for their thoughts and visions. We also spoke to other youth ministry persons in the area, and asked for their input and thoughts.
As time passed, our discernment in terms of the future of ministries toward youth became quite clear - it was not enough to have a part-time 'youth director' who would target a certain age group, for a certain length of time, and expect ministry to be effective in our particular context. Rather, we felt that God was calling us develop a position in the church that would enable a fuller commitment from that person, and be able to see the spiritual growth of an individual throughout a longer period of time. So, finally after a period of 2 years since we initially began, in late-2011, a draft job description was born for the Director of Ministries for Families and Youth.
For the next months, the job description was tweaked to really reflect our discernment. Then it was shown to some individuals and families who would be most affected by this position. It was also brought to particular committees in the session to ask for feedback. One of the concerns regarding this kind of position, from the beginning, was the funding. But God revealed Godself in unexpected ways and our fund needs were attended to. And so formally, in June of 2012, the session approved the position for the Director of Ministries for Families and Youth. And the search began.
All throughout this time of discernment, there had been a couple of names that had been brought forth again and again - people that we felt might be the perfect fit for this position. And so, as we began the search for the Family/Youth Minister (my nickname for the position) formally, we began to talk to one of them intentionally. And going through his own discernment process, Arman Hirose-Afshari has recently accepted the position, and will begin his ministry here at CUPC as the Director of Ministries for Families and Youth on March 18.
As in the above, when God says, "I'm doing a new thing - don't you recognize it?" we want the new thing to happen now and quickly. But if anything, the discernment process that took place for the Youth Ministry Discernment Task Group showed us that God doing a new thing was anything but quick. Sure, God provided for us in the end, but it was months of preparing, talking, praying, planning...it took a lot of intention on our part to really discern God's will, and see the outcome of our process to fully develop.
However, if we had not taken the time we took to truly discern the future of ministries for our families and youth at CUPC, not only would we might not have come to the conclusion we came to, we would not have been able to attend to the 'issues' that needed to be taken care of - things that had been lurking around for so long. We also would not have the kind of funding support, nor the right person. So, seeing this now, we see how God's timing was impeccable. God was indeed patient in our impatience!
And looking back, we can see the epiphanies - God being revealed - in every step of the way. Of course, some were pretty obvious, but even in the midst of our disagreements and frustrations, God was being revealed the whole time. Our frustration over God's timeline was actually God making sure that we had the proper resources in place. The places that we didn't see eye to eye - was God's way of helping us come together despite our differences and teaching us what it means to truly listen and be affected by the other, knowing that God was working in that person in the same way God was working in us.
Like the work of Youth Ministry Discernment Task Group, God reveals Godself to us through us - our humanness, differences, imperfections and all. So let us, be open to epiphanies, God's revealing - to God's timing, God's creativity, God's guidance. And you might be surprised to see glimpses of God - epiphanies - all around you!
Thanking God's revealing in us and among us,
Pastor Grace
