tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306378782640780675.post1312215221748514461..comments2023-11-28T12:21:53.986-08:00Comments on Kevin on Congregations: There is a Deep Flaw in How We Select Future ClergyDean Kevinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306378782640780675.post-21382863097085580262015-10-29T17:43:11.331-07:002015-10-29T17:43:11.331-07:00What "should" make them desperate enough...What "should" make them desperate enough is closing all those churches and losing all those members. Dean Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306378782640780675.post-78431801274020223002015-10-29T17:42:08.166-07:002015-10-29T17:42:08.166-07:00I know many young leaders who were discouraged fro...I know many young leaders who were discouraged from even trying<br />Dean Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10900463973040820047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306378782640780675.post-83764464768218679812015-10-29T17:14:36.946-07:002015-10-29T17:14:36.946-07:00Kevin:
The best models I found in my experience...Kevin: <br /><br />The best models I found in my experience was mentoring clergy and engaged bishops. In my first setting, I had both. My clergy mentor followed up weekly in a re-invisioned curacy. My bishop called every two weeks and prayerfully supported me. <br /><br /> I had no adversarial COM, but when I served on COM, we were constantly told that we were raising the next generation of rectors....wrong! We raise missional leaders ifvwe wish to survive, not people who fit into the old mold. COM just perpetuates a broken system. I would love to see a recovery of the examining chaplain.<br /><br />I was once told that COMs were filters to make sure the church did not steal candidates from the draft. Second career clergy were past draft age, hence the shift to older clergy. I at least had the conviction to go move to a different diocese where the bishop actually wanted younger clergy. I had previously been told by a bishop to "go out and get some resl life experience and we could talk about seminary in five years." (I was 25) I fear too many would just can the whole idea.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15634237587409999234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306378782640780675.post-804101816630957112015-10-29T16:08:32.984-07:002015-10-29T16:08:32.984-07:00In my more cynical moments I refer to COM as the &...In my more cynical moments I refer to COM as the "Commission for the Prevention of Ministry" and note that these committees are very good at that job. My encounter with the COM in my process was in the mid 1970s and it seemed the group then didn't entirely know why they existed. Having served on a COM in the early 1990s I don't see any real hope of reform within. I also doubt that any reform that made it through the GC would be anything other than the proverbial rearranging of the deck chairs. So what would make a bishop desperate enough to expend the political capital in pulling COMs out of the ordination process?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com