NEXT Church begins its 2017 National Gathering

Alonzo Johnson encourages worshipers to be creative witnesses for the Gospel

by Gregg Brekke | Presbyterian News Service

Alonzo Johnson invites NEXT Church 2017 Annual Gathering participants into worship. (Photo by Gregg Brekke)

KANSAS CITY – Employing the theme “Wells & Walls: Well-Being in a Thirsty World,” the 2017 National Gathering of NEXT Church began today and runs through Wednesday. With the guiding scripture of John 4:1-42—the story of the Samaritan woman at the well—the gathering is seeking to explore the ways Jesus modeled for his disciples a boundary-crossing ministry.

Addressing current issues facing the church, gathering attendees will seek to “recognize there are many walls and wells that manifest in our lives” in:

• The post U.S. election political and social climate.
• The refugee crisis and subsequent global unrest.
• The new leadership of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) with Co-Moderators Jan Edmiston and Denise Anderson, and Stated Clerk the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II.
• The slow growth or decline of church membership for some churches across North America.
• Discovering ways the PC(USA) can continue to exhibit a “Big Tent” theology and welcome, holding space for minority voices.
• Understand ways fear manifests itself as “racism, homophobia, demonization and polarization.”

Women from National Capital Presbytery tell the story of the “Woman at the Well” from John 4. Co-Moderator of the PC(USA) Denise Anderson, center. (Photo by Gregg Brekke)

Opening worship at the gathering featured the telling of the story of the Woman at the Well by women from National Capital Presbytery, including Co-Moderator Denise Anderson, along with drumming and a sermon by the Rev. Alonzo Johnson, head of the PC(USA) Self-Development of People program, and a prayer using stanzas from the Belhar Confession.

Johnson addressed the theme of “Wells and Walls” found in the story, taking aim at situations of powerlessness found in the story of the Samaritan Woman. “You know she already gets two strikes right there—‘Samaritan’ [and] ‘woman.’”

“In contemporary parlance we ‘slut shame’ her,” Johnson said. “She becomes a prostitute. Nothing in the story even points to that, but we make her a prostitute. Because you know the other five men [her previous husbands] couldn’t have done anything wrong.”

Talking about the hurt and abandonment the woman likely experienced, along with her cultural isolation, Johnson said the story shows how a society can become justified by demonizing and stigmatizing victims to the point that they become “the other.”

Liturgical artist Lisle Gwynn Garrity paints during opening worship at the NEXT Church 2017 Annual Gathering. (Photo by Gregg Brekke)

Saying the walls presented to the woman at the well and others throughout John’s Gospel are broken down, Johnson asserted, “This story is not about some dude [Jesus] saving some woman. Don’t take this story for granted because it’s about the power of the living God acknowledging that God’s power can free anybody. And that God has the power to call and send anybody.”

Drawing a parallel with how institutions are shaped by their past and have trouble moving beyond that history, Johnson said, “Many of our churches are hurt by the past… [and] we have to own the way we’ve hurt others because we are called to see the face of Jesus, God’s gift.”

Naming homeless people, those released from incarceration, children in the U.S. and around the world, he asked, “Do we see God in them? As children of God it is our responsibility to take care of one another.”

Johnson encouraged attendees that the power to do God’s work of the world in in their hands. “The power to see Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of Detroit, Jesus of Mosul, Jesus of Baltimore… is in your hands,” he said. “The power to do God’s will in new and creative ways is in your hands.”

Jessica Tate, Next Church director, greets attendees at the 2017 National Gathering. (Photo by Gregg Brekke)

The Rev. Jessica Tate, director of NEXT Church, greeted the group following worship saying there were more than 550 people in attendance at this, the seventh annual gathering, coming from 43 states, Washington D.C., Guatemala and South Korea.

“God is always calling us to the future,” Tate said of her hope for the gathering and of NEXT Church’s aims.

NEXT Church defines itself as “a purposeful relational community of Presbyterian leaders whose mission is to strengthen a vibrant and thriving PC(USA) that shares the good news of Jesus Christ in ways that matter to and have impact on God’s evolving world.”

NEXT Church began in 2009 in Kansas City as a conversation between pastors and quickly gained national interest among lay leaders, Christian educators, theological students and partner organizations.