Partnership in Ministry  

Whittier Presbyterian Church shares its facilities with Iglesia Presbiteriana Nueva Vida, a new church development of Los Ranchos Presbytery.  We have a relationship that has become a model for other churches to emulate.  One of the questions that is asked of us is how we got to where we are.  The document here traces out the process and has links to some of the other supportive documents.  We encourage you to take this, modify it for your particular situation, and develop your own partnerships in ministry.

I.  How many are from churches in neighborhoods that have changed and the church no longer reflects the neighborhood?

II.  How many are sharing facilities with another congregation but are not doing joint ministry?

III.  How many are in the process of considering or negotiating a shared ministry?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, we here at Whittier/Nueva Vida Presbyterian Church believe we have some experiences that could be of value to us.  Whittier Presbyterian Church(WPC) shares its facilities with the Nueva Vida(NV) congregation and has done so for 4 years now.  We are two separate congregations with two different governing bodies with one common goal to carry out a united ministry to the community and to support each other’s ministries.

Our unique relationship was forged through a long process, overseen by our Presbytery and that resulted in an agreement which became the framework within which we began our relationship.  If you would like to see that agreement, click here:

 LRP Agreement. 

Our stories.

Whittier Presbyterian Church is 54 years old, having been founded in 1946 at a time when the community of Whittier was experiencing explosive Post-War growth, like many communities around the country.  Since that time the demographics of the community have changed, but those of the church didn’t.  The community around the church is now about 70% Hispanic, with a mix of 2^nd generation and longer Hispanic residents and new immigrants.  About 8 years ago the church embarked upon a special study process which resulted in our Vision 95 Statement.  That process took us nearly 3 years and we felt ready to begin ministry in new directions.  Right at that time, the Presbytery came to us telling us that there was a church looking for a facility in which to do ministry.  Whittier Presbyterian Church knew of the Nueva Vida congregation, having supported them for some 15 or so years as a mission item in our budget. 

Iglesia Presbiteriana Nueva Vida began as a New Church Development in Los Ranchos Presbytery in the early 1980s.  Shortly after Ernesto Hernandez became the third installed pastor, the presbytery decided it needed to sell the building.  Nueva Vida's steering committee did a demographic study of the area and one of the results showed the neighborhood around Whittier Presbyterian Church to match the criteria they had as they were looking for a new location.  They approached Whittier Presbyterian Church and began the dialogue that led to their eventual union.

How We Got Here

The first thing we want to stress is that we feel that the presence and guidance of a third party throughout the process.  For us that was our Presbytery, the Presbytery of Los Ranchos.  Both of our churches were/are Presbyterian, and that is to our benefit.  That is not to say other churches cannot share ministry as well as we do, it just means there needs to be more intensive dialogue in the initial process.

The Courtship Model

The analogy we like to use most often is that of courtship.  We viewed our process as two people getting to know each other in the old fashioned courtship way.  There is a first date, where we talked about each others histories, interests, hopes and dreams.  There was a decision to date again and regularly from then on.  Then there is the decision to date exclusively, then engagement, then marriage.  This is an old-fashioned model we realize, but the analogy was a good one for us.

Here is the process we went through, in three steps.

Step I - Pre-Agreement Meetings

·        Telling our Story.

·        We found that we had common past internal conflicts in the congregations, scars from similar kinds of wounds.

·        WPC had a huge facility with few people involved.  NV had lost their facility, a large facility with too few people to support it.

·        What makes us different.

·        Typical economic, education and class differences between established Anglos and new immigrant Hispanics or those here a shorter while.

·        What makes us similar.  (See the next section)

·         

·        Experiences in the past.   (See next section)

·         

·        Worst/Best case scenarios.

·        Los Ranchos Presbytery had some very bad experiences in the past where two churches came together and ended in rancor.  The same might happen to us.

·       OR we might find a new way to be together, a new way to minister in our community, a new model for churches with different languages and cultures to share ministry.

·        Expectations.  We tried to be as open and noncommittal to this as possible.  Let God take care of the future.

Things we had in Common

·        Desire to keep going as viable church communities.

·         

·        Dwindling financial resources.

·         

·        Large buildings/few people.

·         

·        Similar Crises in our Histories. (Internal conflicts & splits)

·         

·        Similar Goal for the Community.  We both had had ESL classes, NV for evangelism, WPC for service to the community.

Areas of Concern

·        Owner/Renter (Landlord/tenant) tensions.

·        Real Cultural Differences.

·        Issues of blame.  Who left the kitchen a mess, the lights on, etc.

·        Prejudice.  It is real and must be faced, however you can get it up and out.  It does not mean there cannot be cooperation, but it means the cooperation must be based on and rooted in honesty.

·        Accountability.  We must be held to account for our part of the bargain, our various work in the facility, etc.

·        Financial Issues, utilities, supplies, Insurance, Custodial, etc.

Advantages of Sharing

·        Both groups are Presbyterian.  WPC had a previous bad experience sharing our facility with a Pentecostal group several years before NV came.

·        Possible Bilingual Bicultural Outreach.

·        Sharing expenses.

·        Combine resources for a stronger Sunday School program.

·        Bilingual Pastors sharing ministry.

Step II.  Drafting an Agreement Contract

Again, the importance of the 3^rd party came in strongly here.

A.  Determine use of space.

·        Common areas.

·        Exclusive areas.  Locks on the doors at first.  No longer.

·        Worship/Sunday School schedule.

B.  Use of a master Calendar.

C.  Finances.  We are growing into this area.

D.  Common Concerns Committee (CCC).

III.  “The Rest is History…”

First Month Together

·        Warm Welcome

·        Common Coffee Hour.

·        Too many kids, too noisy.

·        Concerns addressed.  CCC met twice.  Then decided we no longer needed to meet and haven’t since then.

Common Ministries to the Community

·        Same hours of Worship.  2 simultaneous services allow some (3) families to worship in the language they are most comfortable in.

·        Bilingual Worship Services

·        Bilingual Sunday School.  This becomes difficult, esp when WPC gets new families.

·        Celebrate special events together, Thanksgiving(NV), Anniversary(WPC).

·        Mention the Parking Lot communion services.

·        Vacation Bible School

·        Youth Program    ---    Easter Mission Project of 2000 was the largest ever.  Youth & adults from NV went with us in a dramatic step forward in shared ministry.

·        English as a Second Language.  Our school is now 13 years old and runs on a continuous basis.  It feeds the life of the NV congregation on a regular basis.

·        Spanish as a Second Language.            This class was offered only once, but we are open to doing it again.

·        Citizenship Classes             There is no longer a need for these classes, but they too served as a useful vehicle into the NV congregation.  They had been taught by the pastor of NV.

·        Homework House (Tutoring) Program.                    Growing Still

·        Now we have the Next Generation Ministry, developing an electronic network, web page, evangelism through disaster response, and several other new elements to the pastor’s job description.  This is a whole other dimension, more focused on WPC than NV, but we continue to seek ways to move together in these new areas.  The pastor of NV is very much involved in the new directions.

Lessons to be Learned

Lay the ground work.

·        Involve a third party, such as the Presbytery.

·        Exploratory phase.  Be very careful here, taking your time, exploring all the possible or potential areas of conflict.

·        Drafting of Agreement.

Don’t be afraid to explore new possibilities.

Conflict Resolution process.                       CCC and 3^rd party.

Envisioning ministries you can do together.

Pastoral personalities.  Some would say ours only works because the two pastors get along so well.  That is a great blessing and in part makes it possible that we do not need to work out so many conflicts.  We believe however that the model we have, particularly that part talked about with the common concerns committee and a strong initial agreement.

Food for Thought/Resistances

Wouldn’t people rather worship with their own kind?  Yes.  Why fewer joint worship services.

Tensions between new/old ideas.            Redevelopment Issues cross racial, language and culture boundaries, as when older NV members don’t want newer ones.

Nesting or Sharing?  Understand the differences between these and decide which of these is most relevant and applicable to you.

Getting beyond good intentions.                        “The road to hell….”

Where do we begin, worship or…??

Different models of multicultural shared ministry.

Westminister, Temple City, California.

Immanuel, L.A. California.

Iglesia Presbiteriana/High Street in Oakland, California.

Thank you and God bless you