Date: August 20, 2024
In 2022, Virginia Theological Seminary received a one million dollar, 4-year grant from the Lilly Foundation, Inc. that, along with various other grant initiatives, would be housed in the Lifelong Learning department. The purpose of this grant, which they called the Mutual Ministry Initiative (or MMi, for short), was to study models of “mutual ministry” across the country and consider how the curriculum at VTS might deepen our preparation of students for the emerging models of ministry that center baptized people and call them to share leadership and ministry with ordained priests or bishops. As part of this grant, I was given the funded opportunity to complete my contextual ministry requirement for a month on the ground in the Diocese of Northern Michigan, a historic center of mutual ministry models. I had the joy of learning about mutual ministry while enjoying the grandeur and beauty of Lake Superior.
For over a month, I lived, observed and served in and around Northern MI. There I learned two important concepts about ‘mutual’ or ‘shared ministry.’ First, that mutual ministry is a way to bring the church together as a community of ministers, not a community gathered around a minister. The second is that mutual ministry challenges and changes the traditional church model from a triangle (clergy on the top, the church community below) to a circle (where the life, discernment, and leadership roles of the faith community are a shared ministry rooted in the spiritual gifts of all). Mutual Ministry promotes equality and inclusivity, incorporating everyone as a leader and minister according to the gifts God gives and continues to feed the community through the priesthood of all believers. These important concepts and dismantling the triangle model create a community of ministers that allows everyone to identify and share their gifts while spreading the Good News both inside and outside of the church walls.
In my time in the Diocese of Northern Michigan, I visited parishes, interviewed leaders in the mutual ministry movement, prayed and attended traditional as well as innovative worship services (both indoor and outdoor) spearheaded by ministers of all ages. I return to VTS this fall convinced that the mutual ministry model for church calls the entire church community to be the priesthood of all believers – discerning their individual and communal roles in God’s unfolding redemption throughout the world.
Diane Kyle
M.Div. ‘25