(no subject)
Nov. 17th, 2008 06:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
violachicSo I know I promised a second post last night, but I ran out of energy. So here it is.
Every once in awhile in my life, I meet people who seem to think I'd make a good leader. I often doubt this capacity in myself, but I give it a try anyway; sometimes it even works. Mostly, though, I think I'm very interested in things, and very opinionated on how they should go, which translates to some as "OMG potential leader!". As I've gotten older, wiser, and more mature, I've been able to at least fake it most of the time.
Ever since I started attending this particular church, I've gotten more and more involved- not because I feel the need to lead, but because this is an interesting congregation with interesting things happening. I started singing in choir, then I preached a couple times, then I helped with Vacation Bible School, and now that I'm back into playing, doing a lot of that- oh, and I try to help out in various ways with the Arabic church, although its been awhile since I've been there.
So yeah, I'm involved. It happened kind of accidentally, I didn't go into it thinking I'd be doing all that. But I also really like this congregation. They're kind of quiet and unassuming in worship, but they are so deeply involved with the community, I have a great deal of admiration for what they do- they're truly community organizers, on very grassroots levels.
On All Saints Sunday (the Sunday after Halloween- this year, November 2nd), I was officially received as a member there. This is a strange experience for me, for a couple reasons. First, I haven't been received as a member somewhere for ten years, and the last time was at a Church of the Brethren church. Second, this is the first time in my life I've attended a church where neither my mother or my sister attends; it feels a little odd to be doing all this on my own. This all makes me feel very grown-up, in good ways, I think.
A week and a half after I was officially received, the council president- and a friend of mine- took me aside and asked seriously if we could "talk". I was a little worried, wondering what I had done wrong (kind of a sad commentary on my life, I think....). But what she asked is if I'd be willing to run for council- that the nominating committee thinks I have a lot of gifts, and that I'd be an asset to the council. I was a little taken aback; I have had no grand ideas about being in a leadership role here. But I thought about it, and said yes.
Last week after service, someone else cornered me and asked if I'd be interested in being one of two church delegates to the Synod assembly in June. Here, I jumped for the chance; to be honest, its something I had been wondering how I could worm my way into doing it, as there are things about ELCA policy I really want a chance to help change.
So yesterday was a congregational meeting. There was an entire page of ballots, including for the two things I was up for. I had been worried that maybe I wouldn't get elected, but was amused and relieved to see that everybody was officially running unopposed. As there were no nominations from the floor, and nobody was opposed to anybody running, the entire page passed in one fell swoop. I am now a member of my church council, and will be the female representative of my congregation in June, at the Synod assembly.
At the beginning of this post I really downplayed my leadership ability. Truly, I don't think I'm a natural leader. I think that I am really good with people, and am very opinionated, but I don't have an innate ability to lead. This, however, I am trying hard to learn, because in order to help make a difference, I need to know how. I think serving on this church council will be fairly easy- I think they all share my values, so its not as if we'll be wrangling over things like that. At the Synod level, I think it will be more difficult. And quite frankly, now that I will be attending the annual Synod assembly, I am trying to figure out how to get myself in a position to run as one of the representatives of the Synod at next summer's Trienniel Churchwide Assembly. I doubt I am well-ensconced enough back into Lutheran politics to be elected, but I'm going to figure out how to run, anyway.
So I'm excited about all this. I hope I have the energy for all this. It will be very weird, I know, after a whole decade of working almost exclusively with the Consensus Process, to be back working with Robert's Rules of Order (AKA, Parliamentary Procedure). In fact, I think I will hate it. But I will have to deal with it.
So yeah, that wraps up my big news for now. I may or may not say more, at a later time, about my feeling about working in these capacities. But for now, I have a shower to take, so I won't.
Every once in awhile in my life, I meet people who seem to think I'd make a good leader. I often doubt this capacity in myself, but I give it a try anyway; sometimes it even works. Mostly, though, I think I'm very interested in things, and very opinionated on how they should go, which translates to some as "OMG potential leader!". As I've gotten older, wiser, and more mature, I've been able to at least fake it most of the time.
Ever since I started attending this particular church, I've gotten more and more involved- not because I feel the need to lead, but because this is an interesting congregation with interesting things happening. I started singing in choir, then I preached a couple times, then I helped with Vacation Bible School, and now that I'm back into playing, doing a lot of that- oh, and I try to help out in various ways with the Arabic church, although its been awhile since I've been there.
So yeah, I'm involved. It happened kind of accidentally, I didn't go into it thinking I'd be doing all that. But I also really like this congregation. They're kind of quiet and unassuming in worship, but they are so deeply involved with the community, I have a great deal of admiration for what they do- they're truly community organizers, on very grassroots levels.
On All Saints Sunday (the Sunday after Halloween- this year, November 2nd), I was officially received as a member there. This is a strange experience for me, for a couple reasons. First, I haven't been received as a member somewhere for ten years, and the last time was at a Church of the Brethren church. Second, this is the first time in my life I've attended a church where neither my mother or my sister attends; it feels a little odd to be doing all this on my own. This all makes me feel very grown-up, in good ways, I think.
A week and a half after I was officially received, the council president- and a friend of mine- took me aside and asked seriously if we could "talk". I was a little worried, wondering what I had done wrong (kind of a sad commentary on my life, I think....). But what she asked is if I'd be willing to run for council- that the nominating committee thinks I have a lot of gifts, and that I'd be an asset to the council. I was a little taken aback; I have had no grand ideas about being in a leadership role here. But I thought about it, and said yes.
Last week after service, someone else cornered me and asked if I'd be interested in being one of two church delegates to the Synod assembly in June. Here, I jumped for the chance; to be honest, its something I had been wondering how I could worm my way into doing it, as there are things about ELCA policy I really want a chance to help change.
So yesterday was a congregational meeting. There was an entire page of ballots, including for the two things I was up for. I had been worried that maybe I wouldn't get elected, but was amused and relieved to see that everybody was officially running unopposed. As there were no nominations from the floor, and nobody was opposed to anybody running, the entire page passed in one fell swoop. I am now a member of my church council, and will be the female representative of my congregation in June, at the Synod assembly.
At the beginning of this post I really downplayed my leadership ability. Truly, I don't think I'm a natural leader. I think that I am really good with people, and am very opinionated, but I don't have an innate ability to lead. This, however, I am trying hard to learn, because in order to help make a difference, I need to know how. I think serving on this church council will be fairly easy- I think they all share my values, so its not as if we'll be wrangling over things like that. At the Synod level, I think it will be more difficult. And quite frankly, now that I will be attending the annual Synod assembly, I am trying to figure out how to get myself in a position to run as one of the representatives of the Synod at next summer's Trienniel Churchwide Assembly. I doubt I am well-ensconced enough back into Lutheran politics to be elected, but I'm going to figure out how to run, anyway.
So I'm excited about all this. I hope I have the energy for all this. It will be very weird, I know, after a whole decade of working almost exclusively with the Consensus Process, to be back working with Robert's Rules of Order (AKA, Parliamentary Procedure). In fact, I think I will hate it. But I will have to deal with it.
So yeah, that wraps up my big news for now. I may or may not say more, at a later time, about my feeling about working in these capacities. But for now, I have a shower to take, so I won't.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-11-17 01:41 pm (UTC)I'm going to show my ignorance here, but where is the Synod trip going to?
no subject
Date: 2008-11-17 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-17 01:53 pm (UTC)remind me which church? :)
no subject
Date: 2008-11-17 11:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-17 02:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-17 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-17 09:47 pm (UTC)I am a big fan of Robert's Rules over consensus. At some point I should throw up a post about why I believe it's more democratic, but that'll be for when I'm not sick.
Also—I think maybe the best leaders are the ones who are unsure of their leadership ability.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-20 12:30 am (UTC)But hey, cool stuff! Really happy for you in all this. And I might worry about you if you were TOO comfortable and confident in your leadership abilities. I think it could help you keep doing the necessary self-reflection to be effective without getting too uppity. ;-)