PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS

Kuhnekt Initiative builds relationships among church members

AWARD-WINNING MINISTRY PAIRS MEMBERS FOR MONTHLY MEETINGS

With the same spirit of daring that led them to reinvent their once-dying church, members of The Grove Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, are embracing an experiment in fellowship, one relationship at a time.

"Jesus is bringing together people who the world says have nothing in common," says the Rev. Kate Murphy, The Grove's pastor. "But we're in each other's lives for a reason. We need to know each other's stories."

Inspired by the Christian directive to go out in pairs, the church launched the Kuhnekt Initiative in June 2016. The Grove formed twosomes by picking the names of church members out of a bowl. If husbands and wives were paired by chance, their names were thrown back in and matched with someone new.

Each pair was then given simple instructions: At least once a month, share a conversation -- a meal, an outing, a walk in the park. Discuss your answers to a series of question prompts -- What's your deepest hope? What's God teaching you in your life right now? Learn each other's life stories -- your joys, your challenges, your hopes, your fears. Preserve your budding friendship with a selfie.

The Kuhnekt Initiative took hold quickly. So far, 40 church members have participated, in a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation that draws 120 on a good Sunday.

Murphy came up with the idea, hoping that by building stronger relationships in the church, The Grove could build stronger relationships beyond the church at a time when Charlotte and so many other communities are divided by race, class, culture and politics.

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FROM THE ALBAN LIBRARY

Blessed Connections: Relationships that Sustain Vital Ministry

by Judith Schwanz

No pastor sets out to fail, but statistics say 15 to 20 percent of pastors leave pastoral ministry within the first five years. One seminary administrator said that every person he had heard of leaving the ministry had done so because of a relationship failure. We cannot escape relationships in ministry, yet few seminaries offer courses in how to build healthy relationships. The assumption is that the type of person who is called to ministry will have all the "people skills" they need, which sadly is not always true.

In Blessed Connections, seminary professor Judith Schwanz focuses on the person of the minister and the relational system of the minister's life. She spotlights three areas of connection -- relationship with self, relationships with other people, and relationship with God. Attending to these three primary connections will strengthen the pastor and cushion her or him against the pressures and stresses of daily ministry.

Blessed Connections is ideal for seminary students and new pastors and includes "Assessment Journal" questions at the end of each chapter for personal application.

Learn more and order the book Â»

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