Today’s featured volunteer has built a lifetime on Joyful Generosity. And he lives with sweet satisfaction for having made some big differences in the world. Let’s take a romp through this lifetime looking for clues to that satisfaction.
Dick Ridenour’s parents were both teachers until family responsibilities led his mother to teaching only as a substitute and economics of the depression years forced his father to change careers. Dick appreciates that his father retained an excellent tutoring style however, rarely providing direct answers to the youngster’s questions, rather guiding the boy to seek out answers for himself so he could better integrate the information. Ridenour’s grasp of this lesson has made him extremely resourceful, even to this day.
He studied history and political science in college then followed a call to ministry, receiving a Masters degree from the Graduate School of Theology of Yale University. Then, with his very first assignment – and last, as it turned out – his courage and innovation evoked a conspicuously unique church community.
Not long after becoming pastor of a small Presbyterian church in Reedsville, Pennsylvania, the fresh and thoughtful pastor began to wonder if following tradition was really the best way for the 120 members to spend their Sunday mornings together. And he had the courage to experiment.
Soon a new kind of service was offered as a three-month pilot program to be carefully evaluated before adoption as a regular practice. Ridenour introduced the concept to his congregation, defining the experiment as an attempt to “deepen our roots.”
The plan required that he train several individuals to be discussion leaders and then weekly brief them on that week’s readings from the lectionary.
On Sundays at 10:30, the entire church community would now meet together for about 20 minutes and then children from sixth grade and younger would peel off to attend their church school.
After listening to a 15-minute sermon, the junior high, high school and adult members would break into small groups to share their responses. Following the service the pastor would meet again with discussion leaders to share how things had gone.
A significant number of congregants showed willingness to “give this a shot.” Some actually stood at church doors to intercept folks who got up to leave. “Are you sure you want to go home?” they’d ask. “Here’s your chance to talk back to the minister. Let him know what’s on your mind.”
And people stayed. Ridenour says the feedback was invaluable to him as pastor. Open discussion of concerns helped him know “exactly where the congregation was and what issues were there.”
The experience proved popular and word spread. “Hey,” could be heard on the street, “There’s a church in town where you can talk back, where you can tell the minister off!” And pews got fuller and fuller. Of the 100 or so who completed the evaluation after three months, only one wanted to go back to the old way.
Ridenour also indulged his passion for lay involvement, getting out of the way as a cleric to empower people in the pews to bring their skills and training into voluntary service to the church.
However, it was the middle of the 60s and the 26-year-old pastor had a broader vision. “Since there was a lot happening on civil rights,” he told me, “being a week-end only clergy person was not the way to be most effective. With a degree in social work, and a background in theology, I could consider any contingent of challenged and oppressed folks to be my parish.
Masters in social work in hand, Ridenour has fulfilled his vision in numerous venues, including as VISTA Coordinator for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, specializing in welfare rights and tenant rights; in Mexico with a focus on micro-credit and for nine years as Director of the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services.
What most intrigues me in Dick Ridenour’s story, however, is the intensity and beauty of his study of what it means to be a man. His involvement in men’s groups ever since his move to California provides enough material for another column someday. For now, let’s just rejoice with Dick and his friends over the 30th anniversary of a dynamic group that started with an exploration of “What is it like to be male in the middle of the feminist movement?”
He and his steadfast friends have learned more in those three decades about maleness, about life and even about women than they ever could have anticipated. And life is better for all of us because of it.
