a Lesson from DHM - don't snitch

It was announced that Jane Lawrence would be retiring on the DHM website a couple of weeks ago. Now that DisciplesWorld has published an article on her retirement, effective immediately, the article about her retirement on DHM's site was taken down. It makes one wonder if they really meant those nice things they said about her. This latest episode teaches all associate staff at any level of the Church an important lesson.


I was in a conversation where someone asked, "When did the church decide to stop telling the truth?" My first thought was, "What does truth mean?" But, I had two answers. The Church, meaning Christendom, probably stopped telling the truth about its' indebtedness and ties to cultural and political control five to ten years after Constantine converted and helped shape the dominant Christian theology and practice. The church, meaning Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), probably slowed the truth a third time somewhere in the late 1970's as a new generation of denominational leaders began to shape the corporate structure of the general manifestation of the church. Which brings me to DHM.

The article on the DisciplesWorld website is sure to ruffle feathers, grind teeth, and upset the patriarchy in Discipledom. DHM has accepted the corporate model so well that it has treated the employees of late, ordained and lay alike, as if DHM was a corporation on Wall Street. Some were allowed to politely walk away and thank the academy while others received pink slips via registered mail or invited to retire on the spot. And if the back story is even close to the truth, though I am not sure we will ever know the truth given the anger of the patriarchy at the messenger as well as the message, it speaks volumes to those of us who serve in associate roles across the church. "Don't speak up to anyone to question or hold the boss accountable or it is your job." To borrow the rap phrase, “stop snitchin.”

Does a snitch, whistle blower, tattle tale ever report the whole truth?

Part of the truth is what I shared with our General Minister and President when she met with the regional staffs from SERF.(1) Much of her work, it seems to me, has to do with building trust, insisting on and living in trust relationships with the College of Regional Ministers, between College, University, and Seminary Presidents, between the Executives of General Units and the boards of the General Units. Those persons who recreated Discipledom after restructure trusted even those with whom they disagreed. They had a common goal, a grand dream, some might say delusion that ours (Disciples) was a task to call Christians around the table to be the gospel we so readily preach. And as naive as it may sound I think they trusted that people where thinking about what was good for the whole church, and not just their little corner of it. Now ecumenism is focused on a reconciliation of ministry rather than a call to serve the world whether they convert or not. There is no way Disciples are a denomination for a time such as ours if the General Units and Regions continue to operate and relate in dysfunction.

There is no way Disciples are a denomination for a time such as ours when we are watering down a theology of a priesthood of all believers as a marketing scheme to attract more people and keep them busy in the faith.(2)

There is no way Disciples are a church for a time such as ours when we are hoping to blend into the Christian landscape in the name of unity rather than challenging the Apostolic successionists to check their dogma at the chancel so Christians can gather at the table, do the work of Jesus, and be the example of inclusion rather than exclusion.(3)

DisciplesWorld reported a response to their original article as the board chair defends and the interim interim seeks input via a survey for the ministries that DHM should offer. Is a blind taste test the best way to plot a course into the next interim?

Relationships, even institutional relationships, need accountability to be productive, aware participants in society. The same can be said of the Church. That can’t happen if the first thought is, ‘stop snitchin.’

Note
1. SERF - Southeast Regional Fellowship. A yearly gathering of those persons who serve on regional staff in Regions in the southeast in either a full-time or part-time, licensed or ordained ministry.
2. This is a reason I think there is no ‘brand loyalty’ for mainline denominations anymore. Maybe it is just my little Gen Xer. If everything is a ministry and important nothing matters most.
3. If one believes that Jesus died for all then, then the adoption or anonymous Christian theologies, as troublesome as they are for me, cover those who believe that Christianity is the only way to God for believer and non-believer.

Filed Tue - October 2, 2007, 08:48 PM in

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