Sunday, September 30, 2018

A Sad Stumble by a Strong Local Institution

Imagine you're a young, idealistic, religious college grad who's traveled cross-country to the Borderlands to work as a fellow with Border Servant Corps.

You'll work with and learn from a local nonprofit, live in a house with others like yourself, and make enough to cover expenses. For 21 years, BSC has been a great program. You're excited. 

One night, when you and the others planned to discuss your spiritual paths, BSC's board chair and Pastor Jared Carson from Peace Lutheran show up at the house. They announce they're canceling the program. Your year of service won't happen, and you have to be out in a week. You'll receive $500 toward travel expenses... if you sign something right now. No time to consult anyone.

It's painful to write this. BSC does good things here, notably the Refugee Hospitality Ministry.
But fellows and local nonprofits are asking, what happened?

Financial reasons were hinted at. One fellow asked how money could become an issue so suddenly. More likely, it was a response – maybe overreaction – to a respectful proposal by BSC alumni for sensitivity training and better protection of fellows. (I have no basis to judge the proposal's merits. Carson concedes the substance was acceptable.)

The proposal apparently ruffled feathers in BSC/Peace Lutheran. Alumni were questioning the board's wisdom. The board told the alumni they were “badgering” the board (as perhaps they were), so the alums sent an email promising not to initiate further contact (to avoid “badgering”), but hoping they'd hear from the board. They didn't. The board says it created a subcommittee to address the proposal, but never told the alums – claiming the alums ended the conversation. (Carson opines that someone on the board misconstrued the alums last email, which is unfortunate.)

Carson was forthcoming and cooperative when we talked. He acknowledged that BSC/Peace Lutheran may not have handled the matter perfectly, but says the alums had been somewhat demanding, and the board needed to protect staff from taking time responding that'd be better spent on other BSC work. He also says the alums had so infected the new fellows with discontent (or, “unhealth”), that the new fellows' year could not have been a good one, so the program needed to be terminated. 

He said all the fellows already knew of the conflict. (My sources say some did, some didn't.)
Certainly the action was abrupt. It surprised and disconcerted local nonprofits to which fellows had been assigned. (Some worked out a new deal with their fellows. Some couldn't.)

Everyone is sad. “I'm grieving as much as anyone,” Pastor Jared told me. 

I'm sad too. I like and respect Pastor Jared Carson. What the BSC board did to these folks and the nonprofits was harsh. While I can't conclude the alums hadn't unnecessarily provoked the board, I don't see evidence for that in the email strings. More likely someone at BSC couldn't or wouldn't deal thoughtfully with a challenging situation. Couldn't BSC have discussed the issues with the fellows first? Asked questions – not come in with guns blazing?

I'm writing this because it's troubling on many levels. Not only has this negatively affected some fellows' feelings for their church, and angered parishioners, but a local institution known for promoting justice, kindness, and humility has arguably fallen short in this case. These kids were victims. If BSC can make these kinds of mistakes, so can we all.
                                            - 30- 

[This column appeared this morning, Sunday, 30 October 2018, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well and should soon be on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air during the week on KRWG and on KTAL, 101.5 FM (www.lccommunityradio.org)]

[This isn't my favorite column.  Again, I wouldn't want the abrupt termination of the fellowship program to undermine the positive values of BSC's and Peace Lutheran's other important programs; but neither did I think this incident should go unnoticed.  If I were a Lutheran I'd be asking further questions internally.  From what I've learned so far [and although Pastor Jared responded to my request to talk with him about this, the BSC Board Chair did not get back to me], the Board's conduct on this doesn't look mature, wise, or particularly Christian.]


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