GC Report for P2P, Ha Na Park = "UNITED Gull", June 14, 2019

General Council Report for Prairie to Pine Regional Council, 

Ha Na Park, "UNITED Gull" 

Good morning. 안녕하세요, 제 이름은 박하나입니다. 반갑습니다. 

I just said, Hello, my name is Ha Na Park. It’s good to see you. 

It is good to see you. I am here to stand and SAY the words of my GC Report as a member of General Council Executive, yet also with the hope that I should, firstly, be a listener, the HEARER of your words, and God’s. 

I am one of the 15 members on the Executive of General Council, working with the moderator, the past moderator and the general secretary. What’s new in this construction is that we are not on the Executive as representatives of the region where each one of us resides. I bring my whole self and experience to the table, something that is asked of each one of us when we meet. And, I must share with you that who I am and what I bring to the table comes from the rich experience of living and working in this region, especially from the relationships I was able to nurture with indigenous Elders and siblings, the teachings and events at Sandy Saulteaux Spiritual Centre, and a good number of decolonized thinkers and leaders in this region whom I was able to meet through the Centre for Christian Studies and many ministry centres in our region. We, the Executive, are comprised of indigenous and racialized members making half of the total number, 15, to more intentionally give context and a new spirit to the NEW work that should exist if we really intend restructuring a revolutionary step. I know the reality can be far from our hopes and dreams. From time to time, our work staggers; we have to learn over and over about how our work and thinking are still colonizing. Yet I am happy to report that each member in the Executive helps one another to learn and unlearn things. Decolonizing our meetings and ourselves was the first task we tackled in the first few meetings in person. We, the Executive, practice functional interculturality, a model for the United Church to experiment on how we might be able to work together towards becoming a decolonizing church, embracing interculturalism, risking faith and daring hope. 

In the future, we hope to establish strategies to bring more innovative ministries into our midst, and for this, I encourage everyone to ask along with the Executive, now that the restructuring is happening, how is this allowing and how is it freeing us to engage mission and ministry? This would be the core work of the Executive in the next triennium, as we would strive to create an environment where we can ask all questions needed to facilitate true change. 

Adding one more word to the end, we could also ask, “Now that the restructuring is happening, how is this allowing and how is it freeing us to engage mission and ministry differently?”, embracing interculturalism, decolonizing our mind, work and leadership.

At the April 2019 meeting of the Executive with the General Council and Regional Council senior managers/executive ministers, the Executive felt that the words in the New Creed,” We are called to be the Church”, would be the guiding theological principles for their work.  We will be encouraging communities of faith across the church to see the five points in the Creed as the basis of their mission and ministry, and look for new ways to express them as their ministries evolve. 

We are called to be the Church:
    to celebrate God’s presence,
    to live with respect in Creation,
    to love and serve others,
    to seek justice and resist evil,
    to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
       our judge and our hope.

As you see, there’s no eye-catching, buzz-words in these expressions, but as you all know well, the power of new hope is not in the letters, but in the spiritual experience of Pentecost. Let me tell you one story that happened at the Executive’s planning retreat this past April. In our agenda, we knew that we really should pursue the Vision that would ground us, the church, to be one, travelling on the road towards the future, together. In the morning, we were in worship, and in the order of the informal, beautiful service, we were invited to say A New Creed together. I couldn’t see the words for A New Creed on the screen - or anywhere. But, just as I was thinking to myself, “How can we say A New Creed when there’s no…” all the people in the room, the Executive, Regional Council ministers, GC staff, everyone who was in the room, began to say A New Creed together, filling the room, without hesitation, reciting it by heart, in one voice. It was a very powerful moment. Of course, I could only listen to those who were speaking, like the ones in the Pentecost story who came to investigate the sounds of their native tongues coming from inside a room - the powerful auditory sign and representation of the Spirit. Then, I could believe that A New Creed can be the basis for the future work on grounding us on the vision. It is beautiful, well-known, impactful. 

We have just passed Pentecost Sunday, and the lectionary reading begins with, “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” Now, WE are all together in one place. There’s the power that is given to those who gather together, all in one place. The gift of Spiritual Pentecost should enable us to “Say, and UNDERSTAND” words that were previously left unheard or were not given full attention and care, in our work and worship. Just one more verse from the scripture on the Pentecost: “So these representatives of the “farthest corners of the earth” began to hear the message in their native tongues.” That means, they COULD UNDERSTAND what they were hearing; the fall of Babel in reverse. WE COULD UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER. As the Executive, I hope to carry the Spiritual Pentecost as an empowering story, as the unsettling spirit that enables us to ask everything to change. 

Since we, the Executive, became one elected body, we’ve been listening. 

We’ve heard concerns:

Your concerns about ‘connection’ in the life of the church after restructuring: 3 Councils. No presbytery. How can we be connected? How would we be able to be ‘all in this together,’ bound by the connexional spirit as we work together? Could encouraging clusters and networks be the solution to isolation? We share huge thanks to all the staff and every member for the work that is being done to transition the church into living the new structure. Of course, we celebrate each milestone and honour the gifts of each one, but we cannot congratulate ourselves yet. We have more work to do. We identify the gaps. To name just a few: youth losing a place to connect. Rural ministry and communities without presbyteries have the potential to be further marginalized. Indigenous communities and members lose regional bodies such as ANCC (All Native Circle Conference) that functioned like family, bodies that had been suitable, supportive and appropriate to the culture of First Peoples in the United Church. There was such a spirit deep inside the past structure. Many Elders and others identified one gap of restructuring to be “no indigenous region”, which could result in the familiar assimilation process tantamount to recolonizing. These are real concerns the Executive listened to, received through the letters from and conversations with indigenous Elders and members and the education and ministry centres. In May, the moderator responded to this call to the church, in a letter; reading it could be useful if you would like to learn more about how General Council and the Executive approach this concern.  

Another concern we definitely hear is around financial aspects of the church. Assessment. M & S. Two things briefly: First, General Council has been working hard and has given significant amounts of work and effort to make plans for strategic management of our financial resources. Second, please continue contributing to Mission and Service, and encourage the church to give. Continued contributions to M&S make an impact and a difference, even more so in our time after restructuring. You can find a more detailed explanation in my report in the package. Just two highlights: A total of $4.9 million in Mission & Service giving helps to support Healing Fund and Justice and Reconciliation projects across Canada, as well as 51 Indigenous local congregations and the work of the Indigenous Ministries Council. Embracing the Spirit is a new learning network and innovation fund entirely supported by Mission & Service. Through Embracing the Spirit, both new and renewing faith communities can experiment with new initiatives and connect with other innovative faith communities in ways that help insure that they can continue to thrive and gain momentum. Let’s turn the recent decline in giving to M&S around, in order to support these innovative, necessary ministries.

To sum up, in this post-restructuring future, the interesting reality is that excitement and concern are the same thing: There are definitely compelling energies at work by those who dream and implement new ways of connecting, new ways for ministry. People are inspired by the change, taking initiatives to form clusters and networks, not waiting to be asked. I hope that restructuring could truly mean to us both structuring and un/de- structuring - keeping what has been positive, while un- or de-structuring what have been barriers, in order to give more permission, fewer boundaries, to allow the Spirit to work. 

In this time of transition to the fully stretched reality of restructuring, I have faith as I embrace my role: Like we all should do, I hope to use TWO wings for balance to fly high and safe. We need to open our arms outwards in two ways, right arm, left arm: holding institutional vision, direction, agenda and hope for the church, and at the same time honouring and listening to people’s de-institutionalizing cry. Ask everything to change. WE CAN UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER. With these two things in my heart - the national church and the grassroot communities - I stand before you. For my indigenous siblings, I say, I hope to bring voices to the table, in the spirit of humility and self-examination. WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER, IN THE CONNEXIONAL SPIRIT.

Finally, I must emphasize communication. Although the new structures do not have representatives to the GCE it does not mean that regional councils, communities of faith and members cannot or should not communicate with the GCE.  A commitment undertaken by the GCE is that we will respond to all the questions, concerns and queries that come to us.  But we can only do so if we are made aware of them. Let us travel on this road together, in a SPIRITUAL PENTECOST OF BOTH SAYING WORDS AND UNDERSTANDING THEM. Amen.