I had the privilege of speaking to a large group from Greenville Connect yesterday. Greenville Connect is an “alliance of churches, ministry organizations, and businesses and community leaders who share a commitment to working together to encourage and support movements of evangelism and discipleship in every segment of Greater Greenville. 
I was overwhelmed when I looked into the crowd and saw over 80 folks staring back at me, waiting to hear where Vision 2025 was today. In previous conversations with the organizers, I also knew they were looking for ways that the faith communities in Greenville could be involved in helping to shape our vision for the future. How could they work to help us in our mission to move Vision 2025 in achieving it’s daunting and aggressive goals. So, before I even walked into the room I knew I had some work to do.
When the leaders of Vision 2025 originally got together to define the areas of focus for the entire visioning process, they all agreed that two segments would be left untouched. Politics and Religion. The reasons were clear. Both areas are very emotionally driven. Both areas have a variety of opinions. And both areas, while important to the community, could derail progress on getting the vision completed because no consensus could happen with all parties involved. I could understand the omission of the political side, due to the fact that we are all so divided on issues, not only in our community, but nation-wide. Don’t believe me? Watch TV for 5 minutes and listen to the debates happening on ONE side.
But, I was always wondering about the religious aspect. Why could we not include that in the vision process. It doesn’t have to be that Greenville will not worship God and Jesus and those that don’t support it will not be included in the Vision. But, it could have come from the perspective that we have a strong community of faith and it has played a significant part in shaping our community. We have those that believe and those that choose to believe something else. Those that choose to not necessarily believe what is widely accepted. Those that choose to believe quietly and those that choose to believe loudly. But, each person has a a choice to believe. And, all of those people make up crucial parts of this community.
So, I struggled to figure out the right way to say how the evangelical community could be involved in Vision 2025. And, my base answer was “they already are.” Everyone is involved with our vision for the future. It’s up to them how they choose to be involved. Some are very vocal. Some are more reserved, but attended every meeting possible to learn more. Some are leaders who use the Vision as a blue print. Some are advocates, but choose to listen and learn. But, everyone is involved.
But, I did realize that we could offer more involvement to our faith community. We have small churches, medium churches and mega churches. All with a large membership waiting to help Greenville move forward. It’s time to reach out them and ask them to be involved. Show them that there is a place at the table, to share their voice, to share their opinions. But, as with anyone, sharing opinions is a community building thing. It should not be divisive. There should not be battles won or lost. There should not be such heated debate that we are unable to come to any conclusion. Mutual respect must be the highest priority. We live in a beautiful culture of different belief systems.
My neighbor might not believe what I believe, but I respect their right to that. And vice versa. But, you know what? I know there are things that we have mutual belief in. And, that’s where we start. From the common ground. Not from the disagreement. From the standpoint of mutual respect. Not from total disagreement. We can take time to talk about our disagreements, sure. But, they cannot dominate a conversation about visioning for the future.
I had to write my thoughts down quickly. This is what I came up with. I hope it showed what I was thinking.
Since we were the tiny little community of Pleasantburg, nestled at the foot of the mountains and basking in the glow of the coast, we have had a past steeped in faith.
The Father of Greenville, Vardry McBee gave portions of his land for the establishment of four cornerstone churches, Christ Church Episcopal, Buncombe Street Methodist, First Baptist, and First Presbyterian. Some people know this already, but if you look at the four churches from the air, they form a cross. So, Greenville is literally built on faith.
Today, our faith still moves us to volunteer, to help those in need, to give generously and often from our hearts and our pocketbooks. Our faith institutions serve as a compass to guide many of our citizens in a positive direction, regardless of demonination, gender, race, socio economic status or otherwise. We are rooted in our faith-based past, and we cannot ignore it.
I’ve heard an antidote that deals with the three regions of South Carolina, the Low Country, the Midlands and the Upstate. When you’re in the Low County, the question that is always asked of you first is, “Who’s your family?” When you’re in the Midlands, the question that is always asked of you first is, “Where do you work?” When in the Upstate, the question is “Where do you worship.”
In looking toward 2025, the faith community will play a vital role in our success. The Vision for our future calls for all citizens to be involved in helping to shape our path. This is no more true than for our religious leadership. The tables of conversation, collaboration and cooperation are open to anyone and everyone that wants to participate. The reach that you have into your congregations and your membership is vital to the advancement of Vision 2025.
In the first years of Greenville Forward, we conducted an experiment where we got someone from a conservative faith background and someone from a non conservative faith background. We asked them to sit down and “talk.” And, talk they did. They talked about faith, community and a variety of other things. Then something amazing happened. The conservative simply said, “you know, you and I could make a list of 10 things. We may disagree on 2. But, we spend so much time focusing on those 2 to things we disagree on, rather than the 8 we do agree on, that we are never able to move forward. This is true for our community and our nation. We tend to approach our differences in a defensive way, rather than look beyond them and work for a better overall community. We don’t respect another’s right to agree or disagree with us. We come to a table of collaboration and immediately become defensive because you don’t go to my church or you don’t worship how I worship. If we said, ‘I respect that you and I are different in certain areas, but we can move beyond that and work together on these areas where we are alike,’ the world would be a different place.”
It’s amazing to think like that. Regardless of our race, creed, gender, background, religion or opinions, we all want our community health and happy. We can agree on that. We all want our poor to be fed and housed. We all want our children to have the best opportunities to succeed. We all want to live in a vibrant, friendly community. We can agree on these things. We can talk about these things. We should be albe to at least.
Our faith community can be our strongest link to a healthy and happy future for Greenville.
Thank you.













