University of Virginia Library

A Matter of Interpretation

The question still remains, however, as to whether Righter ignored the directive and charge laid out for him by the Miami Presbytery. We view this as problematic. To a considerable extent, the constituency he would have to work with was determined before he arrived. Had he pursued more "establishment" tactics he might well have lost the core of his potential congregation and the whole experiment could have died. Given the structural restraints of the inadequate foreplanning, the possibility of recruiting a more "moderate" constituency was doubtful.

Righter had read the list of Presbytery goals for the proposed experimental congregation when he was interviewed for the position of organizing pastor. He had no difficulty accepting those goals. Indeed, even today Righter affirms the goals as legitimizing the style of ministry which he pursued in leading the Congregation. In his view, the Congregation for Reconciliation has to a large degree accomplished the stated goals of the Presbytery.

We went over the list of goals with Righter in a long probing interview. Portions of this interview are quoted below in order to make clear his understanding of what the Presbytery had set out to accomplish through the experimental congregation.

INTERVIEWER:

"HOW do you interpret the following statements and how has the Congregation, and you as its leader, attempted to

accomplish each goal? First goal: Develop a congregation of action-oriented Christians with a like commitment to strive for racial reconciliation within the church and within society."

RIGHTER:

"That's What I was interested in [coming to do]." INTERVIEWER: "Second goal: Provide a base for these Christians upon which to develop a program of worship, education, fellowship, and service that will enable them to carry on their ministry."

RIGHTER:

"That's the building of a congregation. We have done that."

INTERVIEWER:

"Goal three: Develop a group of skilled communicators, educators, technicians, and planners for use by local churches, Presbytery, ecumenical, or secular organizations."

RIGHTER:

"That's very, very broad. I don't remember reading that when I first came. It certainly wasn't stressed when I was interviewed. But I think we have fulfilled that goal. To me, it calls for leadership development and we have done it."

INTERVIEWER:

"Goal four: Support and supplement programs in the area of race relations currently being conducted or planned by established congregations."

RIGHTER:

"We've always supported anything that's been done by other congregations in this area . . . but I don't think much has been done in the last five years. We have never been asked to help with programs in other congregations, probably because of our image."

INTERVIEWER:

"Goal five: Provide a training ground for Presbytery and its congregations where members can learn the methods of social action and where churches can lend support to ministries of reconciliation in the racial crisis."

RIGHTER:

"I visited all the pastors [in Dayton] early on, and then about a month or two later I sent a letter to all of them. It contained a list of some of the kinds of areas we were considering working in. I asked if they had people that they would like to see involved cooperatively in those kinds of projects or issue areas. I suggested that maybe our congregations could work together in this way. But I never got any responses to the letter at all. We tried to fulfill the goal, but we didn't have any people to train. . . . [I wasn't really surprised or disappointed because] I don't have a great deal of hope in the training institute concept. . . . I

think it's pretty hard for ministers to be change agents as far as their congregations are concerned. If they even have dialogue going on within their congregations between persons in different social positions they are doing pretty well. . . . I guess I don't expect great short-run change in the main-line institutional church."

INTERVIEWER:

"Goal six: Explore all possible avenues of ecumenical witness and mission to bring about needed social change."

RIGHTER:

"Our congregation is one of the most active in the major ecumenical body here-the Metropolitan Churches United. I don't think anyone can fault us on that."

INTERVIEWER:

"Goal seven: Explore and develop all possible courses of action that are designed to change negative attitudes toward racial understanding in all white churches."

RIGHTER:

"I'm sure, at least in the way this was intended, we did not come through at this point. After the Christmas card leafleting at NCR, the local churches were very suspicious of us. Church leadership knew that politically it would be difficult to bring us to their congregations for workshops and seminars on racial attitude change. And they didn't. It was an image problem. Whether we have had an impact through the media coverage of our involvement in the community-that is, a positive impact on attitude change-I don't know. I would argue that we've had some effect."

INTERVIEWER:

"One thing I think is obvious is that we read that list of goals and see entirely different things."

RIGHTER:

"I guess it is a political document in a sense because the language can be read in different ways."

The language, indeed, can be read in different ways. Many factors bear upon one's perception. The values and experience brought to a situation determine to a large extent how that situation is defined. The cues from the setting in which communication occurs also place the exchange in "a certain light."

Righter was called by the Miami Presbytery, as he saw it, for the explicit purpose of establishing an experimental congregation as a showcase of direct social action in the city. Our interviews with members of the calling committee indicate his perception was accurate. During his recruitment interview with the National

Missions Committee, the educational role of the proposed mission, emphasized so strongly in the statement of goals, was not emphasized to Righter. His past experience as a social action leader was, however, a primary focus of interest. Rightly or wrongly, he assumed the Presbytery expected him to relate to established congregations in the role of action specialist, as a resource available to them upon their request. It fulfilled the Presbytery's goals, as he understood them, to provide for other congregations the option of involvement in joint projects or leadership training ventures. That this resource remained unused was not, in Righter's view, a failure of the Congregation. Nor did it come as a surprise. In fact, the offer of assistance seemed to him window dressing, a nice thought but an item much lower on his agenda than developing an activist congregation. Yet he has always considered the doors to other congregations open.

In contrast to Righter's openness to the possibility of involving other churches in social action, the participants of his group expressed little interest in establishing educational-training relationships with other congregations. Indeed, some of them were openly contemptuous of other churches.