“You are not tied to a manual,” says Manuel Silva-Esterrich by way of encouraging presbytery leaders to use the “new” Book of Order (12 years young this year) to explore new approaches to ministry as they care for their congregations. “It is a tool you can use. The tool shouldn’t use you.”
A guest in the second of two recent “Encounter” podcasts (part of the “Along the Road” series), Silva-Esterrich's words apply equally well to the first episode, which focuses on the experiences and perspectives of leaders in one especially innovative presbytery: New York City.