Pastor’s Pen | May 2023

"...but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love." (Ephesians 4:15-16, NRSV)

Towards the end of April, I joined eight of my first call colleagues at Spirit in the Desert retreat center for our bi-annual and mandatory First Call Theological Education (FCTE) event.

While FCTE is mandatory for all first call ELCA pastors and deacons in their first three years of ministry, it is by no means stale or boring in this Synod. The Grand Canyon Synod staff work hard to bring education events that are relevant, helpful and informative for our growth and development as first call pastors and deacons. For me, I delight in spending time with colleagues who are just entering into ministry. I learn so much from them and enjoy the budding collegial connections.

This spring, our FCTE event focused on Bowen’s Family Systems Theory. This is a theory of human behavior that views the family as an emotional unit and uses systems thinking to describe the unit’s complex interactions. If you are interested in learning more about this theory, click here.

In our educational sessions, we interacted with this theory as it relates to congregations and explored how congregations are similar to families—congregations are not families but are like families in that they spend a lot of time together forming emotional bonds.

Family Systems theory is a helpful interpretative tool for learning about any organization, and I am grateful to be reminded of this tool as I continue to reflect upon our shared life in Christ at New Journey Lutheran Church. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians reminds me that we truly are the body of Christ, knit together ligament by ligament. We mutually depend upon one another to grow and move and develop our spiritual capacities for discovering God’s dreams for us.

Thank you, people of New Journey, for the ways you build one another up in love and support the work of God among us. I am grateful to God for being knit together in this particular body of Christ to support the building up of God’s love in and for this world.

Joined together,

Pastor Beth Gallen