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Lay Leadership
At St. Bartholomew's we are about welcoming seekers, forming disciples and developing leaders. Leadership is shared, relational—being accountable and taking others into account.
Clergy and staff at St. Bart's are a function of the ministry of the whole people of God, not the other way around. Identifying, developing, linking and deploying leadership is an ongoing part of the life and work of St. Bart's. Becoming a leader at St. Bart's includes modeling one's membership in faith terms; i.e. through active participation in worship, education, fellowship, stewardship and the mission and ministry of the church.
As members go deeper in their involvement, some develop smaller or larger networks of relationships that define them as leaders. Such leaders are essential in helping others find places of belonging and in moving other newcomers, members and leaders into places of ministry so that no one wanders with uncertainty into the life of this community.
Leadership involves knowing one's self in relation to God and others. As Parker Palmer states, "A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to project on other people his or her shadow, or his or her light. A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to create the conditions under which other people must live and move and have their being—conditions that can either be as illuminating as heaven or as shadowy as hell. |
