![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/nd9-is-interviewed.jpg\")
ND9 offered to share their story publicly because the group felt their transformative experience could be helpful to others and demonstrates the possibilities of the process. In addition to Johnson, who pastors Middle River Church of the Brethren in New Hope, Va., those participating in the interview included Bobbi Dykema, pastor at First Church of the Brethren in Springfield, Ill.; Kenton Grossnickle from Myersville, Md.; and Carolyn Schrock from McPherson, Kan. Two table members had to leave before the interview.<\/p>\n
The group was careful to acknowledge not every table had a transformative experience. They had heard reports from people at tables where the experience had been painful throughout the conversation sessions. However, if one table could be surprised by unexpected relationship-building, perhaps there is hope for others–perhaps even the whole denomination.<\/p>\n
The members of ND9 came to the conversation with their own feelings and thoughts, and at times with ill feelings toward each other. Over the course of the three days, their journey toward what ended up being \u201ca wonderful way of listening\u201d–as Johnson put it–was not easy. Some hurtful things were said, even if they were honest. After the first day\u2019s conversation, one person said they wished another person wasn\u2019t at the table. Another person was feeling pushed out, and finally told that to the group.<\/p>\n
By the second day, things began to change. The honest expression of feelings–however hurtful–created a new possibility for openness and acceptance. \u201cIt\u2019s so powerful to let you feel what you feel and say what you say and still love each other,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
By the third day, the group had decided to wash feet together during the love feast scheduled for that afternoon. When the time came for feetwashing, they went as a group to the area for the genders to wash together, inviting Johnson\u2019s wife to join them. Each person in the group washed every other person\u2019s feet.<\/p>\n
The love and servanthood they expressed in feetwashing did not change who they were as people, and did not change their opinions, Dykema noted. But it was a symbol of a new willingness to be vulnerable to each other. \u201cOur ideology hasn\u2019t changed but our togetherness has,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Surprisingly, one of the things that brought the group together was a common concern for creation care–an issue usually assumed to be extremely divisive. The table shared a concern for farmers in their communities, some grew up on farms, and some are enthusiastic gardeners. They also shared a heart for trauma victims and people with addictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love each other despite our differences,\u201d said Grossnickle, who noted that distrust was an obstacle they had to overcome from the start. He blamed the distrust on their fear of each other\u2019s differences. It is important to understand that perfect love casts out fear, he said, quoting scripture. He added that it was helpful to realize they could listen to each other without fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter our rocky time, I was praying that God would help us and then I felt the Spirit move among us,\u201d said Schrock.<\/p>\n
ND9 hopes the Holy Spirit will move in the same way among the wider church–in Dykema\u2019s words, that the Spirit may \u201cwrite this large.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWe shared what was on our hearts, the words that were needed,\u201d said Bob Johnson, one of those seated at Nondelegate Table Number Nine–known in the common parlance of the 2019 Annual Conference as \u201cND9.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":14168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1258,1558],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-14191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-annual-conference","tag-annual-conference-2019"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14192,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14191\/revisions\/14192"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14191"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=14191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}