Casting a vision for the church
by John Potter, Living Lutheran
When Yehiel Curry considers his vision for the future of the church, he sees an important distinction. “Part of the work is naming it,” he said, “but that next phase is embodying it.
“When we’re talking about casting a vision, I think people want to be part of a vision because they want to share in the process. But they typically will also share in the burdens as well. So part of my vision is [about] those things we’ve lifted up as a church that we said we need to do, we’re going to do, and find a way to bring more people to the table so that we might embody that work instead of it just being a written document.”
Curry, who was elected July 30 to serve a six-year term as ELCA presiding bishop, knows something about embodying a vision and discerning a call.
Before he became a pastor, then a bishop, then the chair of the Conference of Bishops, and now presiding bishop-elect, he was a social worker, then a teacher, then in sales. “I went from being a social worker to a teacher in the same community where I was helping those families, and in both cases, what I learned is passion is very important. And if you can align a person’s passion with a need, then it doesn’t feel like work sometimes.
“It wasn’t until I was in the church that I said, ‘I could do this for the rest of my life.’” ... Click here to read more.
