Representation and equity

“Speak, for your servant is listening.” — 1 Samuel 3:10b

9.48 Jesus Christ has given the church preaching and teaching, praise and prayer, and Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as means of fulfilling its service of God among men. These gifts remain, but the church is obliged to change the forms of its service in ways appropriate to different generations and cultures.” Book of Confessions — Confession of 1967

G-3.0103 Participation and Representation: The councils of the church shall give full expression to the rich diversity of the church’s membership and shall provide for full participation and access to representation in decision-making and employment practices. Each council shall develop procedures and mechanisms for promoting and reviewing that body’s implementation of the church’s commitment to inclusiveness and representation. — Book of Order

God calls different people, with different backgrounds, experiences and lineages. In the case of Samuel, God called him since he was in Hanna’s womb. Samuel had no direct lineage to judges or prophets, yet he became a great leader, counselor, prophet and guide. As leaders in the church, our place at the various decision-making tables begins with God’s call to service and the practice of that vocation in the varying aspects of church life. For many ruling elders, the call to service was recognized and tapped by another person within the congregation. Many are invited to consider service as a ruling elder, become members of the session and serve the congregation in various capacities. Eli’s guidance enabled and empowered Samuel to answer God’s call to serve, minister in the temple and eventually guide the people of God. Representation starts with recognizing that God calls a variety of people to God’s service, followed by the tapping and the empowerment of those whom God calls. 

God has granted ruling elders in our denomination with the responsibility and opportunity to be called to service, identify others to join that journey of service, and lead the church into learning, worship and active service. The responsibility of representation and equity in congregational life within our denomination is placed on all participants, and ruling elders have an underscored role to facilitate and actualize this reality. Often, we see this function as one of authoritative power with license to exclude and pride in gatekeeping. God, in the person and testimony of Christ, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, calls us to create spaces of accountability, imagination, creativity, kindness, courage, compassion and justice.

Who is not at the table? Whose voice/voices are not at the table?

It is easier to look after, be concerned, and seek the well-being of those who are within eyesight, with whom we are comfortable, those whom we are impressed by or those by whom we are mesmerized. Representation and equity expect ruling elders to step out of comfort zones to discern God’s will for us and the church and to model for the church the kin-dom-like presence embodied in Christ. Still, the scope of our reach and vocational practice extends and expands to those whose eyes our eyes cannot see immediately. 

Jessica Vazquez Torres, transitional executive director at Crossroads Antiracism Organizing and Training, challenged conference attendees to take seriously the responsibility to provide a worship space that embodies the diversity of the body of Christ, not just the diversity within our congregations. She went further to state that if we as leaders of congregations only include the same items, liturgical resources, prayers, hymns, and Scripture readings Sunday after Sunday, month after month, year after year, we are truly wasting the Holy Spirit’s imaginative and overflowing power to disrupt, co-create, and co-inspire a new reality within us, our communities and our collective faith journey. 

As leaders of congregations, we're invited by the Holy Spirit to trust God’s imagination, creativity and infinite scope. Then, to take a leap of faith, take risks and read beyond the traditional worship resources. Explore with authors you don’t normally select. Expand our vision of who God is. Let our leadership, decision-making processes, worship spaces and daily interactions expand the scope of who God is for others. Let’s invite our congregations to uncover, to peel layer by layer, an aspect of the Divine that perhaps we are too afraid to confront. We may encounter a God who is truly, genuinely and authentically forgiving, full of grace, enamored with compassion, fearless about justice, and unequivocally committed to be in relationship with us, the created. 

For reflection

• How can you include the voices of those whose stories we do not hear regularly?
• How can you give voice to the needs and cries of those with whom we do not normally interact?
• How can you incorporate the voices, needs, doubts, fears, joys and sorrows of others into our conversations that lead to decision-making?
• How can we nurture and cultivate our individual and collective imagination to invite the congregation to explore, imagine, and help bring about a healthy reality in our worship space, governing environment, and surrounding neighborhood and community?

The Rev. Ruth-Aimée Belonni-Rosario is a servant of God committed to educational ministry in all its variety. A lifelong Presbyterian with 18 years of ministry as a teaching elder, she has served the PC(USA) in many capacities and has written several articles and presented at various events. She has been blessed by the stories of all she encountered, solidifying her commitment to love, kindness, humility, justice, peace and compassion. She loves the beach, reading, sports, food, learning and spending quality time with loved ones. 

Throughout 2026, monthly Regarding Ruling Elders articles will focus on some of the foundational aspects of ruling elder service and spiritual leadership in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

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