A “New” Kind of Church Minister: George Isley

My pastor, George Isley, who went to be with the Lord five years ago, modeled a kind of leadership in the Church that is, from my perspective as a missionary of 25+ years, too rarely seen. One of George’s classmates, Dr. Don Lundgren, Missions Minister at College Church in Northampton, MA, said George had been so brilliant at Princeton Seminary that many expected him to become a professor there. However, his vision was for a small church in rural New York. He started as a Presbyterian minister in Valatie, NY.

George’s methods were always “unorthodox,” according to the old guard, whom I came to know years later. He led the youth to memorize scripture and rewarded them with money for Bible Summer Camp or Mission Trips. This practice began in the ’60′s and one young couple, Tom and Libby Little, were among those who joined him on outreach to Guatemala one summer working alongside Ralph and Roberta Winter. They were sent out as missionaries and, long before the Taliban, and before Soviet occupation,  Tom became an optometrist to help the people of Afghanistan. Tom was martyred in Afghanistan last year. He and Libby worked at the Noor Eye Institute in Kabul for about 30 years. Libby received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House for Tom and spoke at the Lausanne Congress in South Africa last year. In closing her address on “The Church and Other Faiths” to the Lausanne Congress, I could almost hear the heart of Jesus in the life of George Isley:

‘In communities where power rules, strength prevails, where you work hard to attain honor and avoid shame, where you get what you deserve, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, this talk about God’s grace, the vulnerability of God, his loving kindness is too foreign. It’s too distasteful. It’s almost repulsive. It needs to come in small doses over a long stretch of time.’

When the old guard voted to have George and Carol Isley removed from the pastorate in the early ’70′s because they had experienced and taught a more complete faithfulness through fellowship in the Holy Spirit, half the congregation followed them. Shortly thereafter, he and several others started Christian Community Church (affiliated with the CCCC) and met in a partially renovated barn outside Kinderhook, NY. The community was not led by one person, but rather through a plurality of elders. And rather than fill the church schedule with meetings, this community decided there was no need for any more than the one Sunday morning gathering, where each member was encouraged and afforded the time to bring their offering of a poem, a hymn, a word of exhortation, a testimony, or a prophecy. The members ministered to each other, oftentimes for the majority of the Sunday gathering time. The elders would rotate as teachers, and when there was no time for that, George would offer a short summary word about what God was saying to us through his people that morning. The rest of the week was freed up for informal gatherings in homes, sharing their tables with friends, neighbors, or just to enjoy quality family time. The community still meets there today under the leadership of Bill Otterbeck and his team.

I was invited to live with George and Carol and his family for two years. The table was the center of George and Carol Isley’s home, and all important discussion, questions, stories, and jokes, were held until everyone was gathered at the table. I was working in the community as a District Executive for the Boys Scouts of America, while I was being equipped for ministry, giving direction to Solomon’s Porch Coffeehouse, a Friday night ministry of the church. George met with me every Wednesday morning for a few hours and, after praying and sending me out as a missionary in 1985, I returned to Kinderhook to meet with George to debrief and pray for each other.

George Isley on his last hike in the Catskills

Because he loved hiking the Adirondak, the Catskills, and the Berkshire mountains of Upstate New York, we chose to spend time together on a mountain nearly every year for the following 20 years.

George’s vision for a community was not your typical “church-growth” strategy. He served the community in a way that brought a deeper growth in me and the others in the community through a few key strategies:

1. Forming a team of elders, all of whom were being equipped for ministry.

2. Receiving only a housing allowance. Rather than receive a salary from the church, he worked in the community as a bus-driver for the public schools and as a chaplain for Berkshire Boys’ Detention Center.

3. Relaxing the typical church’s weekly schedule, so families can be more intentional as neighbors and friends (MISSIONARIES) in the community.

4. Allowing the members of the community to share testimonies and minister from the front and to one another during the Sunday morning gatherings. This resulted in less passivity and a growing maturity among all the members, including a greater tendency to minister to their neighbors during the week.

At first glance, the life and ministry of George Isley seems unimpressive, uncelebrated, and somehow lacking the “marketable leadership skills” of a “well-trained” church minister. However, George lived his vision for a community that follows Jesus.  The “New” Kind of Church Minister may not be all that new; George simply set a true example of a surrendered life, minimizing “church” expenditures and maximizing “missions” expenditures. George Isley’s example exemplifies what I believe is this shift from a traditional “attractional” church to a “missional” church. It starts with leaders. The value of this kind of “church growth” strategy is not readily apparent and it may only be measured at the Throne of God.

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