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Last Lecture - May 18, 2016

Dear Grace Church,

The following is only a tiny piece of the many lessons you all have been kind and patient enough to teach me through your words and actions. I am deeply indebted to all the generous teachers I have encountered at Grace Church—from the youngest toddler to the oldest member. On Wednesday, I was humbled to get a chance to reflect back to all of you the most important and possibly the most broadly useful of the many, many lessons I've learned about church leadership during my two years here. In addition to my leadership, Grace Church has also nurtured my spiritual growth, my sense of God's call, and my relationship with God through Jesus Christ. So I've also included seven things I learned about the Gospel while at Grace, and the questions they've led me to ask myself each day.

Top Ten Lessons I Learned About Church Leadership
  1. Grace: Be God's grace to everyone. Especially when they've let me down.
  2. Hospitality: Always make a full pot of coffee--and just keep pulling out more chairs.
  3. Gifts: The people who are here right now are the right people. Every person has something to offer the community. Most people are just waiting to be asked to share it.
  4. Compassion: It's never just about the __________. There's always some deeper issue going on for a person. Listen with my whole heart. And do my best to address the _________ issue anyway.
  5. Humility: We are all a work in progress until the day we die. Sometimes I'll be the student and sometimes I'll be the teacher. Most of the time, I'll be both.
  6. Trust: Having someone do something correctly is rarely, if ever, more important than conveying my trust in them and empowering them to believe in themselves. Having someone do something perfectly is rarely, if ever, more valuable than the lessons they'll learn by messing up. Also, there is no perfect way to do anything (even liturgy).
  7. Responsiveness: Have a plan, but be ready to throw it out once you understand the needs of the people in the room. Learn the framework, but be ready to dismantle it and use what's helpful in your context.
  8. Boundaries: Only I can set my boundaries. Only I can hold myself to them and only I need to know the reason for them. Every interaction is a chance to teach someone about how I'd like to be treated and to show them that they deserve respectful treatment, too.
  9. Teaching Love: Sunday School is the only place most kids will get a chance to learn the stories of their faith AND the most important thing for kids to learn at Sunday School is that they are safe and loved and that church is home. (Don't give kids broken crayons).
  10. Community: Just show up.
 Top Seven Lessons I Learned About the Gospel
  1. The Good News is that we are all worthy of love.
How is God using me to teach others that they are worthy of love? 
  1. The Good News is that God speaks to each of us in different ways.
How can I open each person I meet to their own experience of God's voice?
  1. The Good News of the incarnation means that God is with us in everything.
How does Jesus's fully human nature change what it means to be human?
  1. The Good News is that Jesus was kind of a jerk sometimes.
What does that mean for how we act for and demand justice in this world?
  1. The Good News is that the Kingdom of God is coming through no fault of my own.
How can I trust in God to transform my limited, human errors into God's dream for humanity?
  1. The Good News of creation is that there is more than enough for all.
How can I turn from a mindset of scarcity to trust in God's abundance?
 
7. Give it away! The Good News is meant to be shared.
How is God calling me to share all the Good News I know about God?
 
I ended with a lesson from Jesus that can be found in each of the four Gospels: For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save (Matthew 10:39, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, John 12:25). I truly believe that the beauty, abundance, and community—the good news about God and love—that so many of us have found in each other at Grace is meant to be shared beyond the walls of this church. In fact, to keep it just for us is the surest way to lose it forever. I am honored to be one small piece of how Grace Church is sending out your Good News into the world!

In Christ's Peace,
Mia

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