Dear Members and Friends of Parkwood Presbyterian Church:
As you know, for the past 18 months the Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC) has been on a quest to find a Pastor for our congregation. The process began with exploring who we are, listening to your feedback and posting our Church Information Form on the Presbyterian web site.
Once our information was available we matched with or heard from 110 pastors. Out of this number the PNC reviewed and interviewed candidates for several months. We were clearly able to select the top four candidates. We interviewed these candidates face to face and invited three of them to participate in a rigorous weekend of interviews that culminated in preaching at a neutral pulpit, sharing the word of God with us.
After much prayer and careful consideration we discerned what God's desire is for us. We joyfully offered a Call to one of our candidates, and he has responded with pleasure and thanksgiving to be invited to become a part of our journey with Christ. At this point we are prepared to present Matthew W. Wright as candidate for the pastoral role in our church.
Below is Matt's statement about being Presbyterian.
Matthew Wright
Inquirer, Presbytery of Chicago
Statement of Being Presbyterian
Though I was not raised as a Presbyterian, I have found in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) the place where I believe I can best live out my response to the gospel of Jesus Christ through worship and mission. Being Presbyterian has taught me to live with a commitment to an orthodox Reformed theology that draws interpretive guidance for Scripture from the historic creeds and confessions of the universal Church to speak to the Church in our time and place. Being Presbyterian has taught me an appreciation for social justice issues that are often neglected in other traditions that may overemphasize the strictly spiritual over the material needs of humanity. Being Presbyterian has also taught me a polity that does not position the pastor as CEO of the local church but rather relies on a long and deep tradition of strong leadership by sessions and that seeks to discern God's will and express unity through shared power and responsibility.
Through participation in two particular churches--First Presbyterian Church of Glen Ellyn (IL), my home church, and First Presbyterian Church of Dubuque (IA), a church near my seminary where I am an affiliate member and where I served an SPM (Supervised Practice of Ministry)--I have become aware of how all of these traits stem from an emphasis on the Word and Sacrament in worship. Though quite different from each other, these two Presbyterian congregations have shaped my understanding of being Presbyterian in another very similar way. They both manifest the centrality of the lordship of Christ to the bonds of Christian community in a particular church.
At Glen Ellyn, I have come to a sense of the broader Church, in a large worshiping community with educational opportunities and extensive connections to mission. Here, I have been warmly welcomed in the inquirer care process by a session that did not know me well at first, but with whom I am coming to develop deeper relationships. Through my time under care, most of it remote from Glen Ellyn, I have seen how a community founded on dependence on Christ can bridge gaps in distance to carry out the common ministry of the Church.
At Dubuque, a smaller congregation where I have spent the most time, I have gained a sense of how people from very different walks of life are united in a deep, common commitment to Christ. Because my family and I worship there regularly, we have been able to become more deeply involved in the life of the church than is possible for me at Glen Ellyn. Over time, I have seen how the seemingly mundane goings-on of the local church--such as committee meetings, youth mission trip planning, the sharing of and praying for joys and concerns--reflect the very presence of Christ within the community.
I am blessed by my connection to both of these congregations, as they have given me firsthand awareness of how the in breaking of the Kingdom of God shapes and is reflected by a Presbyterian understanding of the Gospel.
