{"id":12817,"date":"2022-02-07T15:08:24","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T20:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/?p=12817"},"modified":"2024-03-25T16:51:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T20:51:52","slug":"donde-la-justicia-y-la-diversidad-se-encuentran-con-la-acogida-radical-y-la-esperanza-reparadora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/resources\/news\/where-justice-and-diversity-meet-radical-welcome-and-healing-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Donde la justicia y la diversidad se encuentran con la acogida radical y la esperanza reparadora"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rev. Dr. John Cleghorn used skills honed as both journalist and banker \u2014 his jobs before hearing God\u2019s call to ministry in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) \u2014 to write his first book, \u201cResurrecting Church: Where Justice and Diversity Meet Radical Welcome and Healing Hope<\/a>,\u201d published last year.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Cleghorn, the pastor of Caldwell Presbyterian Church<\/a> in Charlotte, North Carolina, was the guest Wednesday of the Presbyterian Foundation<\/a>\u2019s senior director of Theological Education Funds Development, the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty, the host of \u201cLeading Theologically.\u201d View their half-hour conversation here<\/a> or here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In \u201cResurrecting Church,\u201d Cleghorn uses stories, profiles and insights from other church leaders and members he\u2019s come to know on how they\u2019ve found ways to build more racial diversity and extend radical welcome. Cleghorn and the congregation he serves have walked a similar path: he told Hinson-Hasty that Caldwell Presbyterian Church\u2019s members and friends are 20% people of color and 20% LGBTQ. About half come from a church background other than the PC(USA).<\/p>\n

He told Hinson-Hasty he wrote the book \u201cto the self I might have been,\u201d the reporter turned senior vice president for Bank of America, the nation\u2019s second-largest bank.<\/p>\n

Instead, \u201cI got plunged into the deep end and have been learning ever since,\u201d Cleghorn said of his ministry and research. \u201cI use this \u2018intersectional\u2019 language with respect and humility and caution.\u201d He borrows language developed by Prof. Kimberl\u00e9 W. Crenshaw<\/a>: Intersectionality is \u201ca lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It\u2019s not a problem to see that there\u2019s a race problem here, a gender problem there and a class or LGBTQ problem there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty<\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really a problem,\u201d Hinson-Hasty noted. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposition in my book is it\u2019s a way forward,\u201d Cleghorn replied. \u201cIt\u2019s a far stretch for a lot of congregations to get from here to there, but it\u2019s a proposition worth talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cleghorn called enrolling in seminary at age 41 \u201can unexpected exit ramp.\u201d Union Presbyterian Seminary<\/a> in Richmond, Virginia, was opening a second campus in Charlotte just two miles from Cleghorn\u2019s door. It was offering classes on Saturdays to cater to students with full-time jobs during the week.<\/p>\n

Cleghorn saw the writing on the wall, telling himself, \u201cYou are out of options. I knew,\u201d he told Hinson-Hasty, \u201cI would stay on that exit ramp.\u201d<\/p>\n

In time he was called to Caldwell Presbyterian Church in Charlotte\u2019s Elizabeth neighborhood. A few years later he wrote \u201cResurrecting Church,\u201d about which Hinson-Hasty told him it \u201cfeels like you bring some of your journalism to bear here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Fortress Press published \u201cResurrecting Church\u201d in 2021. (Contributed photo)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt was fun to get back into some reporting,\u201d Cleghorn said. He\u2019s forged relationships with many of the pastors he reported on in the book. One thing about them and the congregations they serve is \u201cthey center social justice,\u201d Cleghorn said, in a variety of ministry areas including worship, theology, formation, mission, evangelism, pastoral care and the use of their church campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are laboratories,\u201d Cleghorn said of the churches and worshiping communities he studied. \u201cSocial justice is the heartbeat of these places.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s right there in the prophetic books of the Old Testament, Cleghorn said. \u201cThere is the unrest we read about from the prophets and a willingness to engage in the messiness of the world. We can\u2019t fix things \u2014 that\u2019s up to God. But we can meet God in this work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGloriously messy\u201d and \u201cconstructive tension\u201d are among the watchwords at Caldwell Presbyterian Church, he said, and they\u2019re also present in the churches he studied for his book.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a particular messiness to this that is the lifeblood of these churches and their membership,\u201d Cleghorn said, likening the tension to \u201ca guitar string pulled taut. That\u2019s when it makes a true note.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is both a sacrifice and a hardship, Cleghorn said, for people of color to worship each week at a majority white church.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are investing themselves and making an effort to come to worship on Sunday morning,\u201d Cleghorn said. \u201cThey hold [Presbyterian] polity respectfully, but there is a revolutionary streak around the rules because rules can bind us.\u201d Some look at membership standards \u201cin a relaxed way,\u201d Cleghorn said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat strikes traditional pastors as out of bounds. How dare you!\u201d Cleghorn said. But during the pandemic, many churches have gained members who\u2019ve joined in worship and even the life of the congregation online.<\/p>\n

\u201cA gentleman from Pittsburgh joins us and donates,\u201d Cleghorn said. \u201cI\u2019ve never met him, but he\u2019s my hero.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up to 20% of the Caldwell congregation is classified as friends of the church. \u201cSome have been walking with us for years. They pledge and they volunteer. They help lead worship and they get on the streets [to demonstrate] when it\u2019s time \u2026 We try to make a sanctuary for folks to just come and be, not hover over them and say, \u2018Can we get you on a committee?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s our core membership,\u201d he said, \u201cand there\u2019s a broader cloud of witnesses, which has grown online.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by Hinson-Hasty to offer a benediction, Cleghorn reached for his mother\u2019s Bible and turned to Philippians 4:8: \u201cFinally, beloved,\u00a0whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about\u00a0these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,\u201d Cleghorn said, quoting Paul in the next verse, \u201cand the God of peace will be with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rev. Dr. John Cleghorn used skills honed as both journalist and banker \u2014 his jobs before hearing God\u2019s call to ministry in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) \u2014 to write […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":12826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}