ministry : mackenzian

Substrate (noun): a substance or layer that underlies something, or on which some process occurs, in particular. * the surface or material on or from which an organism lives, grows, or obtains its nourishment. * the substance on which an enzyme acts. — Image via Google.

So much of life is invisible: the roots that nourish plants below the soil surface, the nonverbal communication that conveys our thoughts and attitudes, the years of training that go into a 10-second Olympic sprint.

It’s so easy to be dazzled by whatever appears, and to miss the substrate that props it up.
But the world below the surface matters, and to resolve problems, we have to work that substrate.

Working the substrate might mean not reacting to others immediately, but first reviewing the experiences and assumptions that precipitate their choices and behavior. How did they get here? How did you get here? What’s the wider story, and how can your responses take that wider story into account?

Working the substrate might mean re-evaluating the way an intractable community debate has been framed, and emphasizing what’s possible rather than just what’s been consistent. Is a “problem” group really the source of the discord? Are there new ways you could perceive your contributions and responsibilities as you engage other group members?

Working the substrate might mean transcending the call to conversation entirely in favor of taking action with and for people who are actively harmed and under-served. What does the dialogue circuit require of you? What could you accomplish if you focused less on explaining to the doubtful and more on focused on acting with the willing?

Deal with what feeds the obvious—or work around it, and watch how what grows changes.

I posted this note earlier today in a closed discussion group for people who support women in ministry and promote their full affirmation in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. I’m re-posting it outside the group so that I can share it with the person I wrote about.

Thank you, Ann, for your encouragement, rooted-ness, patience, and service.

Photo of Ann Roda's January 10 weekly column. — Pr. Ann Roda specializes in ministry to families and children at New Hope Adventist Church, Fulton, MD.¹ This was her weekly column in the January 10 bulletin. Click the image to read at full size.

“Every week, Pr. Ann Roda writes a short column that’s part of our congregational bulletin. This was this week’s column. (It fits in with the ministerial team’s sermon series on discipleship for January-February.)

“When I say ‘I support the ordination of women in Adventism,’ I have ministers like Ann in mind. And on those occasions when I’m tempted to abandon the wider Adventist community—this is my family and my family knows exactly how to wear a sister out—I imagine not knowing people like Ann, I shudder a bit, and I take a nap instead.

“I would challenge [Ann] on describing any role in the Church as 1st/2nd/3rd place since I think that’s arbitrary social value talking, but I get the bigger point. And she’s lived that bigger point in her own life: she traded a great corporate job to study and serve in a denomination that’s still arguing whether she’s qualified to do the work she does. She answered the call and is doing the work regardless.

“As the apostle Paul wrote, not all parts of the body draw praise, and because of our own skewed value systems we don’t rank them equally, but they all serve a function, and they all have merit. All of them.

“I support the calling, training, ordination, and work of women in Adventism because I support the effective ministry of every believer, in every role, through every office, and in the exercise of every spiritual gift for the purpose of the maturation of the entire Body and the transformation of the world God made and ‘so loved.’

“It’s not just about the mini-organization I call my family and not just about the ‘clergy.’ I support women in Adventism because I support all of us.” —Keisha E. McKenzie

After J. David Newman retired in 2012 and Kumar Dixit emigrated to Vancouver in 2013, New Hope welcomed two new ministers: Mike Speegle (from Washington) and Jason Decena (from Pacific Union College). Ann Roda has been one of the congregation’s notes of continuity through all of this change.

Today, Mike told us that the pastors have been discussing the guiding vision they hold for the work they do together. They shared it today and I am so here for it. It is, simply:

To help you live out the kingdom of God wherever you are.

This vision seems perfectly aligned with how these pastors actually interact with congregation members, so I don’t expect to see whole new sides of them. But I feel good for them and for the congregation that their pastoral philosophy is now explicit. I hope they’ll go on to articulate this vision in more detail, and I will comment here when they do.

^{[1] This is my fifth year intersecting with New Hope as a regular visitor, and it’s my first as a member. ↩}