Breathing New Life: Pentecost and the Future of Congregational Leadership

    Birthdays are a big deal in my house! I’d always held the belief that everyone deserves at least one day where they feel totally celebrated. I’m grateful for an employer that gives us our birthdays off from work! For me, birthdays are most certainly a time of celebration, but they’re also a time of introspection. I like to take a little bit of time each birthday to reflect back on the year that was. It’s also a time of casting vision. I like to imagine the year ahead and think forward to where I might be at the same time a year later. It helps that my birthday is so close to the beginning of the new year (January 12th, if you were interested). Reflection, imagination, and celebration strike me as good practices to pursue anytime you hit a milestone. I also find that those three practices tend to extend beyond the day itself. Sometimes, I find myself celebrating a birth month. 

    For many liturgical traditions, Pentecost is considered the “birthday” of the church. It is when we celebrate the post-resurrection community of Jesus’ followers receiving the Holy Spirit and beginning the process of doing life together. We commemorate a gathering in which people from every corner of the ancient world came together, each hearing the good news in their own language. It’s both a celebration of both the unity and the diversity of the body of Christ. It may come as no surprise that with my love of birthdays, Pentecost is actually my favorite liturgical celebration! 

Transformative Leadership Workshop, March 2026

We at Creation Justice Ministries have been spending a lot of time this year thinking about the Church. To put a finer point on it, we’ve been thinking a lot about the ways that we interact with individual churches as they go on their own Creation justice journeys. So far, it’s been an exciting year of learning, sharing and discerning. In March we gathered with leaders from a small handful of congregations as well as a judicatory and a conference center to consider what transformative leadership might look like in our climate changed world. They learned about behavior change, climate communication, and how to do effective advocacy and organizing. Those who attended the gathering returned to their congregations in hopes of integrating some of what they learned into the life of the church. We’ll do an online supplement with an additional group of congregations this summer as well as a similar leadership development program with Episcopal leaders in the Northeast (reach out if you’d like more information about either cohort). We’ll also be joining our friends at the BTS Center and the Anabaptist Climate Collaborative for a second iteration of “Claiming Your Call”, a gathering for churches in the Northeast who are listening to discern their congregation’s vocation in their bioregion. Many of the congregations engaged did a similar program with us two years ago and are now taking steps to deepen their commitment to caring for Creation. 

The congregations that we are working with are reflecting on their congregation’s histories. They’re considering their past wins and losses and seeing what lessons those things have to teach them. Some are dealing with declining numbers and aging membership and yet they are able to imagine a future in which the church plays a leading role in guiding their community to a thriving that includes all of God’s creatures. And in the midst of uncertainty and fatigue, these congregations are finding the strength to celebrate the fact that God is not done with them or this world. 

What we’re finding is that in a world that feels like one crisis after another, church leaders feel overwhelmed and exhausted. Of course, that makes complete sense. And yet in the midst of that weariness, we’ve found that congregations are also seeking out that next faithful act they can do to make a small difference in their communities and watersheds. They know they can’t fix everything, but by learning more about their contexts, taking serious stock of their capacity, and listening deeply for their calling, they are able to discern what God might have in store for them and they’re able to do so with a clear-eyed vision. 

One of my core beliefs is that the local church can be a force for good in this world. It’s not just a place to maintain old traditions or to hide from the problems of the world. When there is intention, the church can be a source of moral leadership in a world that often feels like it is lacking that kind of strength. It can be a gathering place for like-minded individuals to address community problems and pool their collective resources. It can be a place where people are educated, equipped, and mobilized to be agents of a Gospel that means healing for all that God has made. As we celebrate Pentecost this year, we recognize that the Holy Spirit is still moving through local congregations across this country and compelling them to care for God’s planet and people. We hope, pray, and work to see more churches become places of transformative leadership that bring healing and wholeness to God’s world. ​

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​Derrick Weston
Director of Theological Education and Formation
Creation Justice Ministries