Illustration by Christie Allan Piper

Rick Chrisman, a Man with a Mission by Amanda Nourse

Sit down with Rick Chrisman for any length of time, and you're more than likely to come away feeling inspired. Here clearly is a man filled with the Spirit. And more and more, he is a man with a mission. A mission church actually. For Rick has been called as Senior Minister to Central Congregational Church in Jamaica Plain (85 Seavern St.), a church which until recently was preparing to close its doors forever. This opportunity came about so serendipitously and seems such a natural extension of Rick's love of and commitment to the urbanchurch and urban ministry that it is hard not to rejoice with him even while knowing he will be sadly missed at Old South.

The decision to leave Old South wasn't an easy one for Rick. He certainly wasn't combing the pastoral classifieds looking for a better parking space. So how did this opportunity arise?

When Central's current pastor, Reinhold ("Reine") Abele was called to the position, the church, which has been struggling financially, understood that he would be their final pastor. When he retired the jig would be up. As he is preparing to retire this year, the JP congregation faced the impending loss of their church. Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC was busily allocating funds to build new start-up churches of the type that can be seen popping up alongside Rte. 128. It seemed ironic to Rick to be funding start-up churches while simultaneously allowing others to shut down. Especially when they exist in such vibrant and diverse urban settings as JP.

So Rick convened a meeting, which included among others Chuck Harper of the MBA, Bennie Whiten, of the Mass. Conference UCC, and Ben Griffin, president of Andover Newton, to discuss the possibility of earmarking some funds to help the JP church get back on its feet.

With this start, the process was underway and, according to Reine Abele, Rick was generous in volunteering his time in meeting with the church council and facilitating the transition and search process — actions usually done by a paid interim person. When the possibility came up of calling Rick himself to the position, he says he wasn't sure what to do. Did he really want to take on this project at this time in his career? But after much prayer and discernment on both sides, it was clear that Rick was the one for the job. After all, if anyone can make this work, it's Rick Chrisman. For not only is he a man with a mission, he's a man with a plan! According to this plan, the central and most important aspect at Central Congregational Church will be the Sunday worship service. This service, according to Rick, is the key to building a vital church. Gone are the days, he says, when the church is at the center of a community's life. Rather, most people come to church only for Sunday worship, and they come hungry for spirituality, then and there. "If you give them a lukewarm worship sevice, and then tell them to come back Wednesday night for a spirituality class or adult education — why would they want to come back??!" Better to incorporate education into a spiritually charged worship experience.

Services at Central will have four general components: the Gathering (getting people in, transition from getting there to being there), Hearing of the Word (Scripture and sermon/education), Prayer (the climax, or crescendo of the service), and Departure (the benediction, where the congregation is sent back out into the world spiritually equipped for action and ready to work towards ethical change).

Within that structure there will be room for diversity and variety. For example, rather than having one music director, Rick plans to have rotating music directors of different ethnic and aesthetic musical styles. Not only does this promote diversity, but also he believes having an element of change within a structure provides a needed nudge, "destabilizing the worshipper to hear the word of God".

Rick thrives on diversity, and perhaps his most important goal for his new church is that it attract a congregation that demographically reflects the same diversity as the surrounding community of Jamaica Plain. Rick is working toward having a population inside of the church that resembles the population outside in terms of race, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age range. The "mix", he says, is critical to the life of the church.

Rick is passionate and enthusiastic about his new position (which also includes teaching a course at Andover Newton). Vibrant worship in a church as diverse as the community -- it's a huge challenge but he is convincingly determined that it will happen. "I'm not expecting not to succeed," he says, adding in his signature metaphor, "I'm putting my one blue chip on this." We at OSC will certainly miss Rick. But don't we all benefit when God's Spirit is at work in the world? For this is what surely is happening through Rick's new ministry. And besides, we are all welcome to visit Central Congregational Church! Rick will start there on August 1, with services at 10 a.m., and jazz liturgies at 5 p.m. starting in September or October. And rumor has it that post-worship coffee hour will be held at the dangerously proximate J.P. Licks. Give me a large cone of that Old Time Religion! +