Beginning to Learn

Last week, I gave a presentation to the church council on what I was doing for the duration of the summer and what I had accomplished after two weeks. I was a little nervous, mostly because I was unsure what sort of audience I was preparing myself for (what was the age makeup of the church administrative council, for example? Would I need to explain newer, research concepts or would the younger members be able to follow?), but my presentation was far from the most interesting thing of that night.

Unbeknownst to me, the church council meetings apparently always begin with a quick 15 minute Bible study. As I was handed an agenda for the evening’s meeting and saw this right at the top, I became even more nervous. For some reason, it became very important to me that the other members not realize that I was not also a Lutheran. I also didn’t want to disrespect them or their faith by not participating, but I had no idea what to expect because I had never been part of a Bible study session of any Christian denomination before.

In any case, I was handed a Bible (and fumbled around trying to find the passage; the lady next to me whispered the page number in my ear but for some reason I couldn’t find any,  just the books and chapters) and sat for 15 minutes listening to Minister Troy link the passages to an interesting and, to me, seemingly obvious concept. Still, as with all purposeful Bible study (I imagine), the ideas Minister Troy spoke about connected very well to the underlying purpose of that church council meeting.

The passage spoke about everyone’s individual strengths, and how using those together would make everything run more smoothly (though this is probably the less scripture-based summary of the verses). It was a subtle push for the church council members to think about their roles in the church and, specifically, on the church council. If they were uncomfortable or didn’t feel like they fit in with doing the administrative work (rather than, say, teaching a music class or actually working at a church event), then the church as a whole would function better if the individual rose to his or her unique strength instead of trying to do something that they did not feel confident in.

I could tell that the ideas of a structured council meeting with recorded minutes and rules about who could speak when were new to the council. They did not really understand how they were meant to deal with business, or who was allowed to speak or start a motion (or second it, or what those really meant in terms of doing business). There was a lot of explanation of these processes. I spoke with Pastor Kirstin about how this was a bit common with dying congregations: lack of administrative drive or power. It really solidified my work here with these congregations and with Pastor Kirstin and Minister Troy; they can’t do all of the work to save these three congregations by themselves, and I think I have a much better understanding of that, now that I have a better idea of how the church’s administrations currently operate.

Also, I have explored a bit more of Detroit, and took a little trip to Southwest Detroit with my parents this last weekend for some delicious food. I enjoy it there, I really like the atmosphere. (Also, I really like exploring in general.)

I snapped a picture of the abandoned train station as I was stopped at a red light:

I also had Lisa snap a few pictures on her phone of my view when I drive into work every day. I know Amy and Kerrel spoke about their visit to the industrial part of Detroit, and Marathon’s monopoly on the surrounding land. It’s actually a site that I see every day as I drive south on I-75. For those who haven’t been around these factories, the pollution they produce is exorbitant and toxic. Just driving in my car, I can start to smell the pollution as far away as the Ambassador Bridge (something I also drive quite close to). When I am as close as these pictures, it’s almost unbearable unless I roll up the windows and I had switched off the car’s default of using external air for any air conditioning or fans way before I reach the factories. I can only imagine what it might have been like for the people who previously lived in the homes near to the factories, before Marathon bought them, or people who live or work in that area.