We’re being called ‘into a place that is formed by the likeness of Christ,’ she says during ‘Leading Theologically’

March 11, 2023

The Rev. Jenny Warner

Part of the work the Rev. Jenny Warner does as lead pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Portola Valley, California, is curating sacred space. When Warner appeared on the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty’s recent broadcast, “Leading Theologically,” he asked about that work.

“’Curator’ has become a word that’s really important to me, when I think about how I pastor and what happens across the life of the church, particularly on Sunday mornings,” Warner said. In fact, the church hired a curator last year. The idea for a faith community’s curated space comes from a Mary Oliver poem, “Maybe”: “Maybe, after the sermon, after the multitude was fed, one or two of them felt the soul slip forth.”

“I try to curate a space where it’s possible for people’s souls to slip forth,” Warner said during the 30-minute broadcast that explored “Spiritually Strategic Leaders” and can be viewed here or here. “Beauty is important to me. What is that soul-transforming space where people can see in a new way and hear and make sense of their own call? Making that happen is the Holy Spirit’s work, but we can create space for those soul-transforming experiences.”

“This is discernment work,” said Hinson-Hasty, senior director of Theological Funds Development for the PC(USA)’s Committee on Theological Education and the Presbyterian Foundation. “I know listening is a big part of who you are. A lot of pastors and leaders are thinking about moving the church forward in its mission. Does that start with listening?”

For sure, Warner said, but “it takes a lot of time, and we are all influenced by the stories of big, successful churches.” But most of Valley’s “traction has come through listening.”

“You balance putting up a vision people can reach for and listening deeply to what the Spirit is doing. Moving back and forth between the listening and the naming, that’s been powerful for me,” Warner said.

Valley Presbyterian Church is nestled in California’s Silicon Valley.

Warner described Valley Presbyterian Church as “a destination. People get married there. We are 10 or 15 minutes off the beaten path. It’s a place where people walk a Redwood grove or light a candle and pray in church.” Valley Presbyterian describes itself as a “base camp” that’s “building a more loving world.”

Warner also serves as board chair of African Road, a nonprofit organization that, according to its website, “comes alongside changemakers through collaborative project development and strategic funding.”

The Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty

“It’s an amazing organization,” said Warner, who traveled to East Africa in 2015. “It starts with the same listening and reflecting model. It’s a different development model. It’s what’s possible when communities listen to the answers that are already there embedded in the community. That’s true for churches as well.”

Asked further about her work and her travels — Warner worked during the 1990s in post-Communist Europe training others in cross-cultural learning and adjustment — she said she relishes “getting out of my routine and seeing something new. I’ve always had an adventurous ‘road not taken’ way of being.” Even walking the neighborhood can spark a creative answer to a problem, “and it’s even more true when you’re traveling. As a preacher, I’m always looking for more inspiration, new stories and new ways of communicating.”

Over the past few years, Warner has increasingly focused on preaching a vision because “it matters there are communities walking in the way of Jesus, and that’s what the world needs.” Valley Presbyterian Church “is re-examining what it means to be church right now, to let go of things and see what it means to be faithful in the here and now.” What worked 20 years ago “may not be working moving forward.”

People need encouragement, Hinson-Hasty said, if they’re going “to take the risk to do things differently.” He then asked Warner to offer a benediction. Here’s what she delivered:

“For us as a church, may we listen to the Spirit blowing through us. May we believe that the answers are there, and that God is going with us into the future and leading us into where we are called to be, into a place that is formed in the likeness of Christ. Amen.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Rev. Jenny Warner, a poet and the pastor of Valley Presbyterian Church in CA

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Fred Tangeman, Communications Specialist, Office of the General Assembly
Allison Taylor,  Art Director, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation

Let us pray

What we know not, teach us. … What we are not, make us. … What we have not, give us. Amen.