Network of Lay Professionals Updates Position Paper, Launches Membership Campaign
Episcopal News Service. February 8, 1996 [96-1384]
(ENS) When the sixth annual meeting of the National Network of Lay Professionals (NNLP) gathered January 12 in New Orleans, they updated a 1985 position paper by adding the concept of "vocation" to its list of primary issues -- and they launched a membership campaign to increase visibility.
"What distinguishes a lay professional is the commitment to do ministry within the church structures" based on a "commitment both to the vocation and the institution," said the paper, discussed at the meeting and officially adopted by the steering committee after editing. The other primary issues identified are identity, employment, education and training, accessibility, and support.
The position paper pointed out that "it is in the area of employment where much of the frustration is concentrated," largely because "the emphasis on employment standards in the Episcopal Church has been almost exclusively with clergy." It also contended that job discrimination against lay employees is a continuing problem.
"For the sake of the whole church, it is only right that lay professionals should not have to fight for employment rights and benefits that are considered normal for clergy, and for those who work in the community at large," the paper said.
NNLP "has come a long way since its beginning" and hopes to expand its efforts to raise the visibility of lay people employed by the church, said Ruth Schmidt of Olympia, executive director. Beginning with the 1991 General Convention, the organization has been able to raise "justice issues for lay professionals," such as compensation and pension. At the 1994 General Convention, for example, NNLP joined other lay organizations calling for parity on lay and clergy pensions. "Salaries for lay people are lower so parity continues to be an issue," she said.
NNLP hopes to convince the Pension Fund that the retirement formula should be based on the three highest years of compensation, rather than the last three years. The rationale, according to Schmidt, is that lay employees too often reach their highest earning potential before retirement.
It has not succeeded, however, in efforts to include questions on the parochial reports to provide better statistics on lay employees. "We have no idea how many lay people are employed by the church," Schmidt observed. While 6,000 are officially part of the church's Pension Fund, "we think the total may be closer to 12,000 or even 14,000," she said.
In a position paper adopted by the steering committee, NNLP said that it "has been examining the practice of so-called pro forma resignations on the part of staff in parishes and dioceses upon the arrival of a new rector or bishop." The statement argued that the lay professional "must be treated with dignity and his/her work" honored.
When a lay professional is asked to resign without cause, it opens the possibility that "a loyal employee's ministry will be devalued and terminated, without regard for the theological and pastoral implications of the action."
In its efforts to be viewed by church leadership as truly representative of the thousands of lay professionals serving the church, the NNLP has launched a five-year campaign to raise membership from 600 to over 2,000.
"Clout comes with numbers," said Stan Virden of Ohio in outlining a campaign. "We need to build membership so that we can legitimately say that we represent the lay professionals of this church -- and to give us the influence to get our issues into the mainstream of the church."
"We are at a stage in our growth where we are reorganizing and regrouping so that we can more clearly communicate to people throughout the church the value of working together for the total ministry of all God's baptized people," Schmidt said.
She is convinced that there is substantial untapped potential in places like educational institutions. And she is encouraged by a meeting Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning has called next May where representatives of both lay and ordained professional ministry groups will discuss ways to strengthen their working relationships.
The discussion was undergirded by presentations on "Spirituality in Lay Vocations" by Dr. Timothy Sedgwick, professor of Christian ethics and moral theology at Seabury-Western Seminary in Illinois, who encouraged participants to see their vocations as a call from God. He warned participants that they should "balance life so that we are not defined by our work." And he urged them to always ask themselves "what is the larger identity of which I'm a part."
Sedgwick defined spirituality as "the practice and discipline that shapes the way we are formed and relate to the world around us." That includes prayer and worship, "the discipline that puts us in the presence of God," as well as meditation and contemplation "in search of a centered self."
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