Michael Wilson’s two-year tenure as the stated clerk for the Synod of the Trinity was celebrated at the Synod’s annual Assembly in Bedford, PA, in October.
Michael Wilson loved being a pastor for 20 years. He has loved being a stated clerk for nine years at the presbytery and synod levels. And he will almost assuredly love being a Director of Education when the calendar hits 2025.
Michael accepted an offer from the Board of Pensions in October to become its new Director of Education for the Arc of Ministry. His final official day as the stated clerk for the Synod of the Trinity and the Presbytery of Donegal is Dec. 31.
“There has always been part of my calling to education,” he said. “That is a through-line in my ministry with teaching at Lancaster Seminary, and then at Princeton Seminary. When I read this job description, I thought here’s a chance to focus on that part of my call, which is really the heart of who I am.
“Being a stated clerk has not just been about making sure people follow the rules of the Book of Order, it’s been about educating, supporting, training stated clerks, clerks of session and presbytery stated clerks. I have loved parts of all of those jobs. One particular part I have just really, really enjoyed is when I get to get people in a room and work with them on how they thrive in ministry and do their jobs well. I’m going to get to focus on helping people do that.”
In short, this brand-new position at the Board of Pensions will involve designing educational programs for pastors that they can use during the arc of their lives and ministries. Among Michael’s duties will be overseeing the CREDO program and its curriculum. There are 13 CREDO conferences throughout the year, which are in-person, weeklong gatherings held in Little Rock, AR, that focus on a pastor’s wholeness and well-being.
“It is a new position. It continues what the Board of Pensions has been doing with CREDO, which is a major program to support pastors in their wholeness, along with developing new programs to support pastors and help them grow their leadership capacities and overall wellness from ordination into retirement,” Michael explained. “In a sentence, it’s continuing education for pastors throughout their entire career.
“The Board of Pensions has a long history of supporting pastors through assistance programs and also through CREDO. As they have looked at what pastors need to thrive in our present world, they decided they wanted to expand programming. It really is them deciding that they wanted to support pastors even more and wanting to have someone to grow that area of their ministry.”
Among Michael’s initial goals while he’s in his office in Philadelphia is to learn about the behind-the-scenes work involved with CREDO. There’s a need to improve access to these conferences for pastors who are women and minorities, something Michael will hope to figure out early in his new call. He’ll also be involved with preparing pastors for retirement and how best to accomplish that.
A third piece of Michael’s work at the Board of Pensions will be to support people who are preparing to be pastors of small congregations.
“We have a lot of small churches,” Michael said. “For us as a denomination to be supporting those congregations by helping people be prepared to do that kind of work and do it well is something the Board is interested in doing.”
It will be new work for Michael but something he is looking forward to. Facing different challenges is something he knows is part of a new call and something he is embracing. It’s not a situation he expected to be in six months ago.
“I wasn’t looking, I wasn’t talking to anybody else, I wasn’t thinking about leaving,” he said. “When I got sent the link and looked at the job description, I was immediately pretty attracted to it. In the end, it was a really difficult decision because I really like the work I do, and I really like the people I work with at both places.
“That said, I’m really looking forward to this job. I love being an educator, and I am excited for this chance to focus my work on supporting pastors in this way.”
In a show of support, Synod Assembly commissioners and presbytery leadership lay hands on Michael Wilson as he prepares to take a new call with the Board of Pensions in 2025.
Michael’s connections to the stated clerks in the Synod and his work with pastors in the Presbytery of Donegal are two things he’ll greatly miss as he begins his new call.
“I will miss the stated clerks and the clerks of session,” he said. “I just really loved being useful to them. They would call me up and we would often figure out pretty knotty problems. I will miss getting to work on these complex issues and using our polity in a way that serves the gospel.”
Michael served as the Synod stated clerk for two years, replacing Wayne Yost at the start of 2023. Despite it being a relatively short time, he helped create new relationships among the presbytery stated clerks in the region.
“We brought back time for the stated clerks to be together with the EPs (executive presbyters) to do peer learning and support,” he said. “I was really gratified to see the stated clerks together and appreciating being together and finding a community of support for one another.
“I really, really enjoyed working with the Synod staff,” he added, echoing those same sentiments about the Presbytery of Donegal staff. “I think it’s a great staff and I think really, really highly of all of them and what they do for the Synod.”
In Donegal, Michael’s near decade there helped provide positive results as well as a slight shift in the culture of the region.
“I have seen over the course of this nine years this presbytery become more curious about other people and their perspectives and be less defensive, and I’m really gratified to see that,” he said.
Skip Noftzger, the retiring executive presbyter and stated clerk at the Presbytery of Redstone, has been named the acting stated clerk for the Synod of the Trinity beginning in 2025. In the Presbytery of Donegal, Erin Cox- Holmes, who serves as the mid council’s executive presbyter, will be taking on the stated clerk duties there upon Michael’s transition from the office until a transitional plan is in place.
While neither long-term presbytery leader needs advice on how to handle Michael’s vacancy, he did offer a recommendation for anyone who is looking to take on a similar role in their region.
“My advice would be relationships first, use the polity for good and figure it out together,” he said.
“Figure it out” Michael did, and while there will undoubtedly be some new territory to traverse at the Board of Pensions, he will assuredly hit the ground running there as well when the calendar turns to 2025.