Interview with Mr. Jim Barclay
Executive Director of Lutheran Family Services October 15, 2018 Moving forward with my Alternative Residency Formation Plan to be approved for ordination by the Rocky Mountain Synod Candidacy Committee, I will be focusing my interviews to answer the following question: What are the joys and challenges of congregational ministry? To answer this question, I will ask:
I had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Jim Barclay at his office at Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains in Lakewood, CO. What strengths did you bring to your ministry setting? Mr. Barclay said he was born to parents who were Lutheran and he said he has been a life-long Lutheran. Mr. Barclay met his wife met in 6th grade and they have been married for 46 years. He said he grew up in a time of significant national unrest over civil rights and the Vietnam War. Both he and his wife earned graduate degrees in social work (MSW’s). Mr. Barclay began his post MSW career in community mental health in Lansing, MI where for 13 years he worked with children and adults with developmental disabilities. He said, “along the way, I worked with an ELCA pastor who was the parent of a young adult woman with developmental disabilities. This pastor purchased a single family home that his daughter shared with a non-disabled roommate who, in exchange for living rent-free, agreed to provide support and companionship for his daughter. It was a very creative and compassionate alternative to living in group homes or adult foster care and it was a privilege to be able to share our faith journeys in the process of serving his daughter.” Later Mr. Barclay had conversations with the pastor about a “stirring” he was having about seeking to connect his vocation to his faith in an organization that would be an extension of the church. Again, the pastor connected him to the President of Lutheran Social Services of Michigan (LSSM) and a year later, Mr. Barclay was hired by LSSM as the Director of Program Design and Development. He said this position “allowed the inspiration of my faith to be the center of my service”. Mr. Barclay said many times and many different ways during our conversation that his “faith is my inspiration for serving.” In 1994, Mr. Barclay was hired as the CEO for Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota. From 1994 to 2001, LSS-SD more than doubled in size and impact. He said while in South Dakota, he and his wife also volunteered in prison ministry in Sioux Falls and his wife started a program in elementary schools providing group counseling and support for children whose fathers are incarcerated in the State Prison in Sioux Falls. In 2001 he was called and hired as the CEO for LFS of Colorado, now known as Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains (LFSRM). Mr. Barclay said his motivation to work in Lutheran Social Ministry organizations has always been about, “connecting people in need with people (in the church and community) who care”. He said he loves the way the mission statement of LFSRM proclaims the inspiration for and the approach to ministry that is lived out by many donors, volunteers and staff: “Inspired by the compassionate love of Christ, LFSRM walks with the vulnerable through services that heal, strengthen and provide hope.” He said that “walking with the vulnerable” takes much more than just a brief act of kindness. It’s about being there for the long haul and seeing all people as made in the image of God, who loves them/us in spite of our brokenness. What were your areas of growth? Mr. Barclay talked about the growth of LFSRM from 2001 to today. He said the LFSRM budget was just under five million dollars in 2001, serving about 8,000 people/yr. In FY 2016-17 the budget was $17.4 and the agency served more than 30,000 people. LFSRM in the Rocky Mountain region (CO, NM, WY, UY, and MT) serves 30,000 people. Mr. Barclay said, “It is a blessing to attract and hire very talented and committed people to deliver our services. But with only 150 employees, we could never serve 30,000 people a year well, without the support of thousands of volunteers, donors and faith communities coming alongside our staff to enrich and encourage the lives of those who turn to us for help and hope.” Mr. Barclay said one of his goals is to ensure that LFSRM is no longer a best-kept secret, especially in our churches and service communities. He wants everyone to know the incredible work and services LFSRM provides as a premier multi-service, multi-state, faith-based human service organization. LFSRM has the capacity to respond nationwide and it is able to be present in local areas. Do justice issues impact how you do ministry? Mr. Barclay said, “The people we serve live on the edge and are often marginalized by those who question their worthiness as human beings. The ministry of Jesus on earth was among such people and we have been called to go and do likewise, wherever suffering is found”. We do what we can to influence public policy in order to restore justice, dignity and the value of every person.” But he added, “that when you walk with the vulnerable you become vulnerable too, to rejection, scorn and judgement.” LFS has the capacity and mission to respond when and where needed. Mr. Barclay said, “As a faith inspired organization, we are called to be the voice of the voiceless, and to not just minister to their suffering, but to try to alleviate the causes of their suffering altogether. When I get discouraged sometimes, it is usually when I forgot that we are not called to be successful, we are called to be faithful.” How does the geographical setting of your ministry impact how you do ministry? Mr. Barclay said, “LFSRM will respond wherever help is needed. Sometimes the need is to provide support for pastors who serve in a community that suffered a natural or human caused disaster. Sometimes, a spontaneous human crisis such as the recent separation of immigrant children and parents at our southern border, thrusts us into the spotlight as people either bless our ministry of love and service or condemn the same work as politically motivated.” He also said that, “here in the west where Lutherans are not as numerous as in some other parts of the country, LFSRM is much more deliberate in welcoming other faith communities to serve with us in response to human need of all kinds. As a result, we enjoy authentic partnerships with dozens of other denominational and non-denominational congregations that greatly magnifies the resources available to create transformational change in the lives of those we serve.” We try to be the hands and feet of Christ to restore a sense of community and to know all are loved by God. I think the approach to take is that this is really a call; it may look similar to some kind of secular work, but it is God’s work and if you have been inspired to work, it is not enough to just show up. We are to reassure foster kids, refugees, older kids, victims of disaster they are loved. We are there to advocate and alleviate the cause of their suffering.” He said he knows not everyone can be a foster parent, but everyone can support a foster parent and the kids. What advice do you have for a new pastor? Mr. Barclay said pastors sometimes diminish the service part of Word-Sacrament-Service ministry and forget to embrace and engage with social ministry organizations of the church to help enliven the faith journey of their congregations. Most worship services conclude with, “Remember and love the poor”. Social ministry organizations can be a portal to the poor and they desperately need more of the “hands and feet of Christ” to create ministry worthy of our calling as Christians. He said Pastors can also keep broadening the answer to the question, “who is my neighbor”, far beyond people who look like us or think like us. God did not qualify who is a neighbor. He said we are called to love and serve the whole world and we have been given abundant gifts of time, talents and treasure to be a blessing to many. Whether that service happens through a congregation or through a social ministry organization harnessing the compassion of many congregations, we need to live together in abundance, not scarcity. It is not a competition. Serving others serves us too, and as we respond to the needs of the neighbor in the name of Christ, we respond to the needs of the world, and God is glorified. Reflection For refection, I am to answer the following questions: What do they tell you about you? How does your particular lens as a Latina Transgender minister affect how you hear and see the work of other ministries in this synod, and how would a deeper understanding on the part of these ministers bless the work at hand? Where does the gospel intersect these interpretations? The notes I took and this reflection do not do justice to the interview I had with Mr. Barclay. His passion and calling to do the work of serving the community knows no bounds. Mr. Barclay has spent his entire life living out a call to serve the neighbor—a life of service he learned from his parents and is he is living out his call with his wife of 46 years. When Mr. Barclay spoke about reaching out to those who are less fortunate or to victims or to those impacted by disaster, he underscored the need to reach out to anyone and everyone. I was inspired by his commitment to serve all of God’s children and race, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation had no bearing on who should be served. There were times during our conversation when it sounded like Mr. Barclay was preaching the gospel for his commitment to serving the neighbor is not a saying or a catch-phrase, but a way of life; a way of life he learned from his parents and has lived out through service. I can understand why Mr. Barclay earned a master of social work for that graduate degree is centered in service. Mr. Barclay may have learned about service in the secular world with an MSW, but he lives out a call to serve the neighbor through Jesus Christ. He spoke often of walking with people when the need arises, much like Jesus walking with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Mr. Barclay has a calm demeanor, but I was impressed by the passion in his voice when he talked about serving others. He stressed to me the importance of serving anyone and everyone; a phrase that gives me hope for the future of LFS and the church as a whole. Mr. Barclay is the type of leader, in my opinion, who begins with Scripture and then move forward to actually help and serve the neighbor—no matter who the neighbor may be.
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