Lately, I've come to believe that the Spirit has been birthing aspects of the future that She has longed to make known from before time. I also sense that the Spirit longs for partners in that holy process of making all things new. Our highest calling may be to discover, midwife and then celebrate all that the Spirit is birthing in our midst as well as out there in the world. To take this new model for ministry seriously, though, we must face some daunting challenges.
Challenge #1: Make the transition from leaders prized for institutional expertise to leaders skilled in midwifing new forms of ministry
One trainer of midwives explained to me that, by the very nature of their work, midwives offer a covenant for presence, that is, they commit to being fully present to the one giving birth, to that which is being birthed, as well as to the actual birthing process. This wise woman impressed on me that the midwife cannot offer any guarantees, only a covenant. This is also a covenant for purpose: to offer every resource available for the sake of a complete birthing process. Finally, in her own words, the trainer insisted that this is also a covenant between the midwife and the whole family to fully participate in whatever happens.
Speaking practically, when an experienced midwife walks in to work with a mother about to give birth that day, her initial concerns are around some very specific issues. She asks the mother about the timing of her contractions. Her sensors are discerning the suitability of the environment; the supportiveness of the family, the mother’s mood and whether or not the baby about to come into this world is experiencing distress. In other words, she is pacing the process of this delivery and coming alongside. Unlike some of the busy doctors in our large hospitals, most midwives can afford to let the mother’s process set the pace of their interactions. This is an incredible model for new ministry today. If we were to adopt this way of being in the world – if we were to take on the role of midwife to the Spirit – we might be called to move into unfamiliar environments to sense exactly what it is that the Spirit might be birthing out there.
Would it not make a tremendous difference if we were to train our church leaders in the art and science of midwifery, as well as everything else we think they need to know? Imagine if we asked our clergy to consider the high calling of midwifing that which the Spirit is birthing in their respective communities? To speak of ourselves as incarnational communities would take on a whole new meaning. Instead of our rice paper communion wafers held up as the ultimate symbol of God’s presence, “that which is being birthed” might call us to prepare a sumptuous meal intentionally shared with strangers-now-guests. We might even hold up the stories of the Spirit’s in-breaking presence outside of church as evidence of Emmanuel, proof that “God is with us.” Such a shift would ask us to consider story-listening as an advanced level of evangelism – listening for evidences that God is at work, that the Spirit is birthing new life, that God is alive and well.
It is this very sort of evangelism that set up the birthing station known to many around the world as “Common Cathedral.”[i] When Debbie Little-Wyman encountered people of the street loitering around the steps of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in
It was initially a stretch for church leaders to recognize Debbie’s call to the priesthood or to see her gathering at a fountain on Boston Common as a viable congregation. Little did she know it, but Debbie was actually midwifing a ministry that would eventually become the birthing station for dozens more street ministries around the world. Today, when seminarians from various denominations visit her “Come and See” weekends to learn the nuts and bolts of this birthing station ministry, it is common to hear remarks like, “I only wish that this is what I was learning in seminary, right now.”
The Church would be a different place if our seminaries taught these skills of community organizing, deep listening, transformational interviewing and action/inquiry. Within a generation, we might value birthing stations like the one Debbie Little-Wyman and Duncan and Ann Petty and many others have created every bit as much as our fine Cathedral ministries!
