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November, 1998 - Vol. XXVII No. 2
Total Ministry: A New Way of Being Together

"My Experience with Church Organization"
by Ramona Rich

As a member of a "congregational" style church the first 17 years of my life, I was stifled by the control the congregational vote had on my personal spiritual growth, and the uncertainty of tangential directions in which the vote would send us. It was not where I wanted to be. My Episcopal confirmation at age 18 freed me, spiritually. Now I "knew" the parameters of things, and just started to do what God was telling me to do, within the traditions and canons. I could count on worship as consistent and therefore personal. In Episcopal worship I knew what to expect and found closeness to God more quickly and completely. In my years as an Episcopalian, the major block to the ministry God was putting in my heart came from the person in charge. More often than I want to acknowledge, this was his church, therefore not HIS. Total ministry is a way to clear the decks (while keeping the Episcopal traditions and canons) and adopt the missionary credo I subscribe to: we are to help people come to know Jesus Christ and become reliant upon God (not the administrator). Now I see the source of my frustrations the past 35 years. By relying on the administrator to call the shots, rather than God, I was kept from acting on ministries God put in my heart.

Then I came to St. Mary’s, Gardiner. Here we rely very much on our supply priests to do what only they can do for us: celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday, counsel us personally when appropriate, encourage and bless our ministries, and do much more as they interact and respond to us. They can be more honestly our friends, instead of our bosses.

Have I now come back to democracy in the church? No, I am an Episcopalian. I subscribe to the episcopate. I want the Bishop (or assigned priest) to be our guide, just not our administrator. You see, the beacon for Total Ministry is group development of our mission, vision, and goals. We review and change these regularly, and ministries change as we do this. The results are exciting! Each of us can blossom in our ministry.

This is just a glimpse of the way it works at St. Mary’s.

Ramona is a member of St. Mary's, Gardiner. Contact her at rdrich@harborside.com.