Preacher and Deputy Brooklyn Borough President looks to Nehemiah to help gauge the work ahead of us
The Rev. Kimberly Council is the final speaker during the ‘Connection to Transformation’ conference
NEW YORK — Wearing two hats simultaneously as both a Baptist pastor and Deputy Borough President of Brooklyn, the Rev. Kimberly Council brought the Synod of the Northeast’s “Connection to Transformation” conference to a rousing close last week with a sermon tracing the task that faced Nehemiah and the work that’s ahead for the church.
“Bringing a vision to reality is often challenging,” Council said. “You often have 20% of the people doing 80% of the work.”
“Some will help you bring your vision into fruition,” she said, “and there are some you have to leave right where you found them.”
Nehemiah went into the city and found willing workers, but he faced both external and internal opposition. “They had the tools and the resources and were of a mind to do the work, but the enemy was within — just like in the church,” Council said. “The worst enemy you will meet is often yourself, that voice inside your head.”
We must work to quiet that voice, she said. “When you embrace who you are and who you were created to be, you will find focus to rebuild and restore. … Push yourself into your purpose, and trust that God will restore.”
In Nehemiah, we learn that “Ezra had worked 20 years, and all of a sudden this cup-bearer [Nehemiah] turns things around,” Council said. “Just because you’ve decided to rebuild, it doesn’t mean the enemy is taking a break.”
Prayer doesn’t always change things, but it changes you,” she noted. “The God we serve will restore as promised as we focus on the work God has called us to do.”
After college, Council returned to her home church in Brooklyn, which had turned its manse into a medical clinic and was setting out to work on constructing more than 100 affordable apartments on its parking lot. Like Nehemiah, the church faced “a lot of pain points, a whole lot of nagging naggers. It was a 17-year odyssey full of stops and starts,” Council said.
Elected officials came and went. “The longer it took, the wearier people became,” she said. “The neighborhood began to change, the political environment changed, but our God remained the same.”
“As you move from insight to action, God has not forgotten about your ministry,” Council said. “God can take your willing workers and do the impossible.”
We “have got to learn how to tie our ropes together,” she said. “The Spirit of God is hovering over your ministry. You’re already qualified. Now it’s time to lead. God bless.”
To wrap up the conference, the Rev. Dr. SanDawna Gaulman Ashley, the synod’s transitional leader, said that going forward, “our actions need to match what’s going on in society.”
“There’s nothing quiet happening in society, which is begging — pleading — that something be done,” she said. “We wanted this conference to mark the beginning of what we hoped would become a movement in the Synod of the Northeast, a Matthew 25 synod. Our working group conveners know we want to fund initiatives in our communities that are making a difference, so that we can make an impact in this region.”
The Rev. Patrick O’Connor, pastor of the conference’s host church, First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, will lead “a cohort of people who want to learn the art of community organizing,” she said. It’s part of a vision around the need for public theologians. “We need people who see themselves as theologians in residence, where’ve they serve. We aren’t CEOs and CFOs, but prophets and leaders.”
“Today’s pressing issues are best addressed through collaboration,” she said. “We have been learning about being a good partner and about translating insights into actions. We trust everyone has something to take back home — knowledge, more skills, and being empowered to make a difference.”
“You wouldn’t know how much you have blessed us by being here,” O’Connor told conference-goers before offering them a benediction that included these words: “May the Lord bless our journey and give us the networking connections that allow us to survive the hostility of this time. May God give us grace and peace. Amen.”
Read other Presbyterian News Service reports on the “Connection to Transformation” conference here, here, here, here, here, and here.
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