What Good is Sitting Alone in your Church?

by Judy Pilat

One of the questions posed for this week’s blog discussion is “What part should a Unity minister play in the larger Christian community?”

For starters, I don’t think the role of a Unity minister is or should be different from that of any other minister, rabbi, imam or priest.  Spiritual leaders in local communities come together for a variety of reasons including professional collegiality, community service, and community concerns.  Theology should not be pre-requisite for community

In my hometown, the Minister’s Conference hosts a monthly luncheon.  Spiritual leaders take turns hosting the group at their church or spiritual center.  It is a time of fellowship, learning about the host congregation, and a forum for exchanging ideas and best practices.  This group has an outreach program for new ministers in town and also serves as an informal clearinghouse for how to get church things done in the local community.

We also have a group that is dedicated to working on issues that affect the people in the community.  It is called ISAAC and that stands for Interfaith Strategies for Action and Advocacy in the Community.  It operates under the guidelines of the Gamaliel Foundation, a network of grassroots, interfaith, interracial, multi-issue organizations working together to create a more just and more democratic society.  Local congregations pay a membership fee to join ISAAC and typically have 2-3 of their members who attend the meetings and serve as liaisons. 

ISAAC conducts a listening campaign in which congregations “survey” their members to determine what issues or conditions in the community are of greatest concern, and ISAAC volunteers also “survey” the community at large to determine what is on the minds of the citizens and local officials.

 ISAAC then sponsors an issues convention during which the results of the listening campaigns are shared and the delegates begin a process of refining the list of issues and concerns on which they will focus.

The final step is to host a public meeting attended by local officials and representatives of city, county and state government, including state legislators.   The ISAAC representatives present a slate of recommend programs or actions and call upon the government officials to lend their support to the implementation of the proposed solutions.

Through ISAAC’s efforts, our community now has a mobile dental unit that goes from school to school and provides free emergency dental care to children who would not otherwise be treated, and we have a Nurse Family Practitioner program in place to provide free pre- natal care and consultation to pregnant teens who would otherwise receive no care at all if their families could not afford it.

Our congregation was a charter member of ISAAC and our minister was instrumental in the implementation of the Nurse Family Practitioner program.  With appropriate levels of delegation and true discipleship within the congregation itself, ministers can and should be visible and active in the community at large.

http://www.gamaliel.org/