Words Incarnate

The season of Advent prompts us to think of God-become-flesh, and the Omnipresent-become-local, and the Almighty-become-infant. It causes us to consider the significance of God's eternal kingdom becoming manifest in a particular place. Indeed, a peculiar place. Bethlehem.

But so it is with each of our ministries. As ministers of the gospel, we bring words of life, hope, redemption, and salvation. And if they are to transform anyone, that transformation will take place in a particular place, even a peculiar place: your unique corner of the world.

That's our theme this month. Associate editor Paul Pastor, ably assisted by Paul Sparks and Tim Soerens, produced this monthly edition of Leadership Journal. And he has a powerful perspective on "place." Let me have him tell you about it …

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I live just off one of the most beautiful roads in the United States—the Historic Highway that snakes along Oregon's Columbia River Gorge. It's a place of black basalt cliffs, ochre sunsets, and bracing winds that howl westward to the ocean like a host of fearsome angels.

Wikipedia calls my neighborhood—a loose cluster of a dozen houses and a Franciscan convent—a "ghost town." They're almost right. All that remains of the busy lumber town that once was here is a cemetery, a 10 x 10 post office, and 60 or 70 people. You can walk on the old wagon trail to find the main street of our town—bustling 100 years ago—now swallowed by moss and brambles, the flourishing decay of a forest reclaiming its own.

When the weight of snow presses down the vegetation, the ghosts here rise a little bit: you can see old concrete steps running down from the "street" to where a front door used to be. There is the footprint of an old foundation, explaining the clearing in the woods. A deer trail is revealed to have once been a back alley, zigzagging uphill to a spot with a view of the old lumber mill—a foreman's house perhaps. As the poet Shelley would say, "… nothing else remains."

That image—the bare memory of a forgotten place—was stark in my mind as I considered the theme of this issue. Reclaiming a robust theology and practice of place is vital to modern mission and ministry. But sometimes, the church-world carnival seems only to honor rising metrics, quick results, and bright, glistening facades of marketable, prepackaged "insights." Recapturing a sense of place, of faithful patience, of listening, feels impossible. Like trying to raise a ghost town from the dead.

But I have hope. This past year has seen a boom in voices that are recognizing the importance of place and neighborhood—what ministers have long called "parish," to faithful ministry and witness. Leadership Journal is focusing on this kind of well-grounded ministry, and we've rejoiced to see small neighborhood voices being honored in ministry conversations in a growing way. It's mighty good.

What does it mean to pastor a place? The concept of parish is nothing new, but it needs to be rediscovered for today.

In this issue you'll meet key thinkers and practitioners with a vision of place and parish. They're finding that just as Christ's incarnation lets us know God right here, here can also be a means of knowing God. Whatever the place—city or suburb, high-rise, town, or ghost town—our places have redemptive meaning, ministry opportunity, and a quiet question.

Go outside. Pause for a moment, and you might hear it if you listen hard:

What does the gospel mean for this place?

We'd like to know where the question takes you.

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I appreciate what Paul has done in this introduction, giving us eyes to see the place God has entrusted to us. You will enjoy the articles on parish ministry that he has pulled together.

Now a word about what's coming next.

This will be our last monthly edition of Leadership Journal. We've appreciated those of you who have purchased the digital-only editions for iPads and other electronic devices. But based on feedback from our readers, starting in January 2015, we will be publishing on a quarterly schedule. Each of the four themed editions of the journal will be fully available both in print and online. These more robust themes will be published in January, April, July, and October. And in between, we will continue to produce weekly articles and interviews and features (like cartoons!) on www.LeadershipJournal.net and so …

The always changing, always learning leadership conversation continues.