Shared Leadership

Worship at Austin College —a Presbyterian Church (USA)-related college in Sherman Texas—includes the explicit assumption that all who attend are capable of participating in the leadership of worship.  For this reason, after particular students and the College Chaplain plan a given service, a program is prepared that contains every word that anyone will say during the service (with the exception of the Proclamation of the Word and the Words of Institution).  Worshipers always sit in a circle around the Communion Table.  The portions spoken or sung by the congregation as a whole are printed in bold type.  The portions to be read by an individual voice are printed in standard type.   The single-voice sections are printed with a line skipped between each sentence or section.  Whenever a line is skipped, the next person around the circle reads the next line.  In this way, the leadership of the service moves around the circle.

No participant is required to do this.  At the beginning of each service, this “Shared Leadership” model is explained and students who do not wish to read are encouraged to inform the persons on either side of them.  Then they are simply skipped over as the leadership passes from participant.

This model has proven to be very engaging and liberating for 18-22 year olds who often have little or no experience participating in worship leadership.  Over a span of weeks, these services develop a rhythm that is inclusive of all participants, regardless of their particular denominational backgrounds.

Although some students initially express impatience with what they perceive to be the lack of spontaneity in this model, most of them eventually come to appreciate the exposure to the language and rhythms of worship that such a model entails.  The fact that the services are planned by students and the Chaplain together helps to ensure that the language employed is authentic and accessible for the whole worshiping community.

Comments

[RonRienstra]

John, There is a lot about this I really like. You say that undergirding this practice is an assumption that all attending worship are capable of worship leadership. Can you say a little more about the theological justification for that assumption?

Curiously, Ron

[johndwilliams]

Ron,

My assumption that all who attend worship are capable of worship leadership is very much influenced by Leonardo Boff, and particularly his book, Ecclesiogenesis (Maryknoll. NY: Orbis Books, 1986). That book is a theological reflection on the Brazilian “Basic Communities” that arose in the 1970s and 1980s. I believe Boff articulates some significant insights about the nature of the church that are relevant for a faith community that has arisen out of the life of a church-related college.

Of particular interest in this context are two statements from the book. On page 4, Boff asserts that “Christian life in the basic communities is characterized by the absence of alienating structures…” In the context of the life of a faith community on a college campus, this statement suggests that “alienating structures” should be avoided if at all possible. We should try not to create situations in which we tell any students that they are not qualified to participate in worship leadership. One way to do that is to maintain a distinction between liturgists (those who plan worship) and worship leaders. Care should be taken to ensure that worship services are carefully planned, authentic to the community, and self-consciously and appropriately reflective of the tradition of the Church. And I argue that part of that care, authenticity, and responsibility to the tradition is the implicit assumption that all members of the community bring gifts to worship.

On page 27, Boff states that “Charism…may be understood as each person’s own function in the community as a form of manifestation of the Spirit within the community for the community.” Although such spiritual gifts are by no means limited to worship leadership, the careful structuring of worship services so that all participants may play a role in leadership reinforces the notion that all members of the community have been given gifts by God to be used to “serve on another” (I Peter 4:10).

Three more quotes from Boff that are interesting in this context:
“A community in which the routes of participation are cut off…cannot pretend to the name of community” (36).

“As the basic communities grow, they themselves provide more and more of the services that meet their needs” (62).

“By baptism an entire people becomes priestly” (69).

At Pentecost, it didn’t sound like one or a few people talking. There were as many voices as there were people present. Services in our communities should include a similar variety of voices.

JDW

[RonRienstra]

John,

This is quite helpful. I completely affirm:
a) that all members bring gifts to the community for the upbuilding of the body
b) that all members should participate fully (actively, consciously) in worship.
c) that worship services should be planned to remove "alienating structures" as much as possible.

What I'm puzzling over is the notion that people are not participating in worship unless they are leading. Do you mean that part of your planning process is to be certain that the gifts of everyone present are tapped in one way or another in the worship service? How do you parse that out as a congregation?

Let me pose a hypothetical to sharpen the point: Suppose I am part of a congregation where in our worship services all the words articulated by both leaders and people are sung. In such a service, even those few among the body of Christ who are legitimately tone-deaf can participate along with others. But clearly such persons are not gifted to lead the congregation (at least, not in this sort of service). There are other ways such people serve the church and the world through their gifts, and there may be other ways in which such people bring those gifts to the liturgy as well. But to ask them to lead by singing would not empower them, but in fact, dishonor them.

A further question: do all members of the congregation have a part in the leadership tasks of preaching or presiding? If the position you've articulated commits you to this, how would a church share those tasks among all members?

[JohnDWilliams]

Ron,
I don't mean that the planning process needs to be certain that the particular gifts of everyone present need to tapped in one way or another in every worship service. I believe, rather, that the ongoing process of planning worship services for a particular congregation should include intentional effort to tap the particular gifts of as many members as possible in the worship life of the congregation. Further, since the community with whom I regularly work is an academic community made up of students who are engaged in the process of learning how to participate responsibly in communities and traditions, I believe there is value in encouraging and enabling them to see themselves as leaders who bear some responsibility for the life of the worshiping community in which they participate. Although I don't mean to suggest that all members of a congregation are equally qualified to lead any aspect of the congregation's worship, I do think it is important to communicate by our practices that the services belong to the whole community and not just to the individuals who design or lead them. And I think multiple voices reading spoken parts of a service is a good way to enact that truth.

With regard to your example about a congregation where all words articulated both by the leaders and the congregation are sung, I agree that leadership in such a service requires a particular set of gifts and that it is appropriate for decisions made about leadership in such a service to take into account the particular gifts of leaders. I would worry, however, that a congregation that worshipped in that entirely appropriate way might eventually communicate subtly to its members that gifts for worship leadership are somehow limited to gifts for music leadership. It seems to me that it would be good stwardship for such a congregation to work hard to identify ways to evoke and celebrate other gifts of other members and to celebrate and incorporate them into worship. I have a vague theological concern about the church member who prefers worship services that she or he would never be qualified or interested to help lead.

Your last question was "Do all members of the congregation have a part in the leadership tasks of preaching and presiding?
No. While the "Shared Leadership" approach involves a commitment to invite the entire worshiping community to take part in the leadership of worship, that commitment must be balanced by a commitment faithfully to represent and uphold the tradition of the Church. The "Shared Leadership" approach does suggest working to employ forms of proclamation that engage the entire community. Similarly, the Eucharistic liturgy should be constructed and enacted in a way that invites active participation by the entire congregation. But the Church's concern that the Sacraments be administered with utmost care (which is essentially the reason for the requirement that they be administered by ordained clergy) is to be respected.

The point of all this "Shared Leadership" stuff is not simply to blur the lines between leaders and participants in a given worship service. It is rather to try to develop and maintain a culture in which all worship is something that WE (the whole community) do--not something that a couple gifted people do while the rest of us watch.

[BrianPaulson]

John and Ron,

I enjoyed the conversation and hope that Boff's book (perhaps with references to the most valuable chapters) might make it on our book list here.

The subject matter is something I've been working on in a very different context than base communities or college campuses. I'm working to apply it in a large suburban mainline church.

In this context, shared leadership relies on a permission giving and mentoring stance by those of us in the role of trained leadership. Specifically, this requires the development of welcoming and "easy entry" structures.

Much of what I mean is possible through the work that Ron has been doing in helping churches map out their worship planning process. We are working our way toward establishing patterns of collaboration on a seasonal basis.

At this point, we are in the baby-steps stage. That means that I am having to train myself and my colleagues that are in the trained leadership role on staff. As we develop a more genuine collaborative structure for creative development of worship, we are learning how we can invite others into such planning.

This process of discovery is not easy because we have inherited a the self-reliant confidence that comes from years of leadership and training - the "we are the professionals" model. In this model, it feels easier just to do it ourselves and rely upon our existing structured patterns for leadership. In addition, the pace of our lives does not easily afford adequate reflective time for group development. Yet I think that churches are ultimately better off when they are filled with many confident "professor"s.

I'll keep you posted on our development!