In the May issue of connections, Mike Castle, vice president and chair of the Board Restructure Task Group outlined Board affirmed revisions to the Alliance’s bylaws. One significant impact of the changes to the bylaws is the opportunity for constituents to create communities  — an opportunity that begins with sounding a call at Asilomar during the annual Convocation business meeting. In this article, Mike shares more about what it means for the Alliance of Baptists to be a community-driven movement.

What led you to first conceive of the idea of communities?

It is true that I first suggested the concept of communities.  However, I need to give Jeff Haggray the credit for suggesting the word "communities" for the concept.  As soon as he said it, I knew that was the word I was looking for.

My suggested stemmed from witnessing the Alliance Board of Directors “doing ministry” in addition to doing their work as Board members tasked with guiding the Alliance’s mission. This just seemed untenable to me.  Also, many of us on the Board had heard people express that they found it difficult to "fit in" with the Alliance.  My hope was that the "communities" would be a way for us to expand participation in the mission and ministry of the Alliance beyond the Board and at the same time enable people to enter into more meaningful relationships through the Alliance around a shared passion and/or ministry interest.

What is your ultimate vision for the communities? How do you see them functioning?

Instead of 30 or so Board members doing the work of the Alliance, I envision literally hundreds of Alliance folks engaged in communities around a ministry interest or a shared passion for mission or justice.  I would love to see individuals from our various churches coming together to share resources, insights and ideas. 

For instance, I can imagine pastors forming a community for mutual support and development.  I can imagine Children's Ministry workers forming a community to share ideas, develop resources and share collective wisdom with one another about the important work of Children's ministry in our churches.  I can imagine communities forming around environmental or GLBT concerns.  And in addition to seeing new communities forming, I also envision long established "committees" morphing into "communities."  I am thinking about a chaplain community that will more than likely manage the endorsing process.

Each community will have to determine how they will function together, so I am sure there will be a lot of diversity and creativity in how each community will organize their life together.  However, I hope that in the future there will be time set aside at each Annual Convocation for communities to meet face-to-face and dream about how they might create ministries and resources that furthers the work of the Alliance, builds relationships and strengthens churches. Since the Alliance is a national body, I would imagine that beyond a yearly face-to-face meeting, there will be other interactions via email and phone and social networking.

What is your hope for Alliance of Baptists communities?

My greatest hope is that Alliance people will find their involvement in the communities to be exciting, meaningful, challenging and a practice that facilitates spiritual growth, deepening friendships and relevant and timely ministry action within the Alliance of Baptists and among our churches.  I would also hope that Alliance people would experience the Alliance in a more profound way and discover that the Alliance connection is one to be nurtured and cherished.