Equipped to Serve: Parish Leadership Training
A City of Villages

Equipped to Serve (mp3)
Rev. D.P. Cassidy
April 2, 2006

Equipped to Serve (mp3)
Rev. D.P. Cassidy
March 26, 2006

Equipped to Serve (mp3)
Rev. Danny Shuffield
February 26, 2006

Equipped to Serve (mp3)
Rev. D.P. Cassidy
February 5, 2006

Equipped to Serve (mp3)
Rev. D.P. Cassidy
January 29, 2006

Equipped to Serve (mp3)
Rev. D.P. Cassidy
January 15, 2006

Equipped to Serve (mp3)
Rev. D.P. Cassidy
Handout
January 8, 2006

Leadership III (mp3)
Rev. D.P. Cassidy
Handout
October 9, 2005

Leadership II (mp3)
Rev. D.P. Cassidy
Handout
October 2, 2005

Leadership I (mp3)
Rev. D.P. Cassidy
Handout
September 25, 2005

What Is a Parish and How Will it Work? (mp3)
Rev. D.P. Cassidy
Handout

The Psalmist tells us that those people who have in their hearts the highways to Zion, the city of God, become those who turn barren places into fruitful lands (Psalm 84:5-6). That's restoration language for the recovery of the Garden of God, a frequent theme with the prophets as well (see Isaiah 51). But don't gardens and cities stand in juxtaposition to one another? Perhaps the "Green Acres" theme works on TV, but in Scripture both city and country go together. Indeed, the heavenly city "coming down" to us might well be described as a Garden-City that has streets and gates, but is also filled with beautiful trees, including the Tree of Life, a River of Life, and abundant foliage that brings healing to the nations (Revelation 21-22). The historical manifestation of that redemptive reality was called "the perfection of beauty" and "the joy of the whole earth" (Psalm 48:2, 50:2).

Jesus tells us that this "city" is actually a people, just as his temple is as well (Matthew 5:14). His city "set on a hill" is a light to the world, a place from which his truth goes forth and where the broken world finds healing. There are many who have sought to politicize this reality. But that is to confuse the hills on which this city stands. It is built not on Rome's seven hills (or Jerusalem's for that matter), but on "the place of the skull," the hill called Calvary. Some scholars have suggested that Christ was crucified on the Mount of Olives, but whatever the exact location of the crucifixion, it is there that the city is founded and from there that it shines forth in splendor.

Over the centuries God's people have sought to live out the shape of the cross and the city in a variety of ways, most notably from the central "cathedral" church surrounded by parishes of pastoral care, service, instruction, and evangelism. Examples are simply too numerous to recount. I do believe that we can once again take up that mantle to live out the implications of manifesting the City of God in the midst of the broken city of man. That is not to suggest the hope of a utopia (a Latin word meaning "nowhere"). On the contrary, it is to confess with Paul that the Jerusalem above, our "Mother," is "free," and we are called to live in her freedom in the fallen world until God is pleased to bring forth that final eschatological city of glory. After all, "here we do not have a lasting city" and with Abraham we search by faith for "the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Hebrews 11).

The details of the emerging pastoral teams for our yet-to-be defined parishes, the lesson plans for the training, the way in which everything from follow-up to small groups to church planting, and numerous other strategic concerns could easily distract us. But here at the outset, let us simply embrace by faith the search for the city, a city of villages filled with God's glory, protected by God's presence, embracing God's people, and reaching to God's world. We will need all, male and female, young and old, who sense God's call to serve in Parish Leadership to embrace the course of preparation offered in our Equipped to Serve class. This is about leadership rather than officership. If you believe that God has put a desire in you to care for, serve, evangelize, and disciple others, please sign on. And may God bring forth his City among us and through us.