Don Shutt: I am here today with the privilege, on behalf of the Bethany Fellowship, to thank you publicly on this Outreach Sunday – Mission Acknowledgement Sunday – for the wonderful partnership of the Bethany Fellowship and Broadway Christian Church.

 

I would like to share with you a passage of Scripture from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, Chapter 1.

 

 

 

I would like to lift up a couple of things in that prayer, as we consider this time of mission and outreach together. First, there is not prayer or outreach unless we are partakers of grace. Unless we have some experience of the unconditional love of God, we don’t tend to be generous. John puts it like this: “We love God, because God first loved us.” Grace is that affirmation of God – that word of acceptance – “You are accepted.”

 

The problem with this is most of us do not believe this. We get little hints and flashes along the way, occasionally from a song, or maybe a look, or a touch by someone else. Every once in a while, we hear, and believe, and receive the word, “You are accepted. You are really accepted.”

 

That is the good news of the gospel of God and Jesus Christ. Out of that acceptance, Paul says, “You are partakers with me of grace.” 

 

Paul loves this Philippian church. I think Broadway is a wonderful Philippian church. A little later in this letter Paul says, “I have no one like you who have joined me in giving and receiving.” I have to say, on behalf of the Bethany Fellowship, Broadway Christian Church has been the most generous to our work.

 

In the Bethany Fellowship program, we are attempting to help newly-ordained ministers make the transition from their seminary process to congregational ministry. That is not an easy journey. Some research has been conducted by the Pulpit and Pew folks at Duke University. There are indications that suggest that in the first five years of ministry, over one-third of the folks do not make that transition. This is after four years of undergraduate studies, four years of graduate school, and who knows what time involved with internships, and residencies. Then they still don’t make that transition. There are a number reasons why that happens. Some of them are rather obvious.

·        Financial pressures of serving in small congregations throughout the country.

·        Sometimes folks get into associate positions with senior ministers that are less than a blessing. [Kim Ryan yells, “Not ours!”]

·        Sometimes the whole notion of working together in a team is a significant struggle.

·        The struggle in marriages, with frequently one partner saying, “I didn’t know I was getting into this.”

 

There are incredible pressures, and so we attempt to support this group of ministers. There are approximately 50 or more that we have been working with. There is a list of these young ministers in your bulletin. I’d like for you to look at that list at some point and just see the number of people that are represented in those ministries throughout the country.

 

Your financial commitment to the ongoing work of the Bethany Fellowship, which affects approximately 8,000 to 9,000 people in congregations throughout the country represented by the leadership of these young, newly-ordained ministers, is much appreciated. We are deeply grateful.

 

A couple of folks are right here among you. Jacob Thorne is one of our fellows, and he has been very active. Another young woman, Sarah Griffith Lund, has been part of this congregation.

 

I asked permission from a couple of folks if I could share just a word from them about their response to the Bethany Fellowship.

 

David Miller, a graduate down in Florida, said that his involvement with the Bethany Fellowship has single-handedly transformed his ministry.

 

Liz McGill said, “The Bethany Fellowship is the reason that I can and I do stay in parish ministry. The retreat approach to self-care has forced me to remember that it is God who got me into this ministry, and God will guide me through the doing of it.”

 

Josh Barrett says, “The Bethany Fellowship has provided a foundational piece in my early years in ministry.”

 

And last, I’d like to share with you what Sarah wrote: “The Bethany Fellowship, to put it bluntly, rescued me at a point early in my ministry when I was drowning in doubt, confusion, and despair. In our time of fellowship, I felt radically renewed, loved, and nurtured by God’s Spirit and by God’s people. This community provided a safe space for the genuine sharing and communicating of unique needs, joys, and concerns.” 

 

This work, to which you contribute, is helping young ministers sustain their lives and calling as pastors in the Christian Church – Disciples of Christ. Thank you. Thank you.

 

To continue with Paul’s words, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.” I was reminded as I read this of a passage from Meister Eckhardt, a fourteenth-century Dominican, who said, “If the only prayer you ever say in your life is, ‘Thank you,’ it is enough.”

 

You know, this statement is pretty deep. Just sit with this for a minute or so. Gratefulness, gratitude, thankfulness will change your life. It will transform you. 

 

So Paul says, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.” He is deeply grateful for the Philippian church. It was there he met Lydia down by the river. She and a group of women were gathered, and Paul met with them. It was there Paul was put in jail, and an earthquake in the middle of the night broke the chains, and he and Silas were set free. They were singing and rejoicing in the night. Paul has many wonderful memories of the Philippian church.

 

Memory connected with gratitude will transform your life.  “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.”

 

We are “thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” My word of gratitude for your partnership is that Broadway Christian Church has allowed Kim Gage Ryan to serve as a leader, mentor in this work that we share together. She has been working now for over six years. She is currently serving as the president of the board of directors, and she is helping to shape the future of the lives of many young ministers.

 

Another member of this congregation, who is sitting in the back, Rev. Dr. Kris Tenny-Brittian is also one of the mentor pastors in this group, and she has been very foundational in the work of the Bethany Fellowships. We could not do it without you. We are deeply, deeply grateful.

 

Specifically, Broadway is a point of connection for the Bethany fellows and Bethany Fellowship. On August 18, 2004, in the library here at Broadway, Kim gathered the leadership team and challenged us, and we challenged each other, “Are we going to continue doing this work? Is God calling us to continue to do it?” We made a commitment to God and to each other to continue to work and be faithful to minister and serve these young pastors.

 

I am deeply grateful for the partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

 

Thank you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

God of Abundant Life, thank you for your many gifts. Let us count them all joyfully. Let us share them all joyfully. And in the fullness of this joy, let us celebrate you! Amen.