Rev. Clare Morgan is drowsily sifting through her mail at Grace Church. She has just returned from a lunch appointment and expects to spend a couple of hours in the office before the Board of Elders meets in the evening.

The top sheet on the stack of papers pleases Clare even before she picks it up. It is the first report of the new Sunday School Director, Angela Michaels. Angela symbolizes for Rev. Morgan the new hope that has blossomed since Clare became pastor of the 200-member mainline congregation three years ago. Angela is young and energetic, full of ideas -- a former bank branch manager with an infant daughter. Angela is one of a handful of Grace Church's newer members who had begun to take responsibility for the long-neglected Sunday School program. Clare smiled as she thought of Angela proudly presenting her report to the Board. It was a very hopeful time at Grace Church.

But as Clare read Angela's report, she began to worry. There was trouble on the horizon. Angela was headed for a tongue-lashing from the church treasurer and she did not even know it. Angela's sin appeared innocent enough. She and the Christian Education Committee had decided to abandon the Sunday School curriculum produced by the denominational publishing house. They had met together as a committee, reviewed the available options and selected the curriculum that Angela's report said was "the most Christ-centered." The fact that it was not published by the denomination was never really a factor in their decision.

Clare knew this was going to be a problem. She knew it was going to upset Gilbert Gaddis, the church treasurer. Gil had an authoritarian personality. He tended to reprimand people who displeased him. He had been the treasurer for twenty years and Clare had not yet convinced him that his job as treasurer did not include veto power. He believed that he had the right to approve all congregational purchases.

The fact that Angela had not consulted with Gil was going to make him testy. But that was not the real problem. Gil was one of the core group in the congregation who felt a real allegiance to the denomination. This band of denominational stalwarts tended to be more theologically liberal than the young families who were beginning to take responsibility for the Sunday School. The old guard, as Clare thought of them, would likely be disturbed by the theological content of the new curriculum, interpreting it as yet another sign that they were losing control of the congregation that they had sustained for a generation. Clare was convinced that Gil would view Angela's report as saying that she had turned her back on the denomination, and done it without his approval.

Instantly, Clare knew this was a pivotal moment in her ministry at Grace Church. This situation touched on too many of the issues bubbling below the surface of her growing congregation. Now was the time for Clare to exercise leadership. Clare ditched her plans for the afternoon and decided instead to map out a strategy for meeting the evening's challenge.