Lessons in Leadership: Thomas Bray, Champion of Standards
On Feb. 15 of each year, we commemorate a man by the name of Thomas Bray. This actually extraordinarily unassuming and yet courageous pioneer takes us back to the 1600s, when the original 13 Colonies were just beginning to get off the ground. And as a result, there was some real concern, particularly by the bishop of London, around a certain part of the Colonies called Maryland. He was concerned about them because Maryland, in terms of its original settlers, was predominantly Roman Catholic, and he wanted to make sure that the Church of England people were going to be taken care of. So in 1696, he appointed Bray as his commissary to organize the church there.
Standards for Clergy
Bray wanted to make sure that the best leadership was there to be able to lead the church. In fact, he became known for wanting to ensure that the best clergy were being sent to the colony of Maryland. And of course, the only way you could reach the Colonies was by ship. So he would make sure the sea captain gave him a report about the behavior of the clergyman on board between England and Baltimore.
These were his requirements: “He wanted to make sure that such a clergyman gave no matter of scandal, wanting to know whether he in fact did constantly read and pray at least twice a day, preach on Sundays, including on board ship, and which, notwithstanding the common excuses many give for not doing that, he said it can be done by a minister of any zealousness at all.”
In other words, Bray wasn’t much for laziness. He wasn’t for a kind of moral slackness or the kind of attitude that says, “Oh, I’m on vacation, so I don’t have to wear my collar. And therefore people aren’t going to know where I am or what it is that I’m doing. And so I can get away with things that I would never get away with if I were the rector of a parish.” And I want you to know that I consider Bray’s position both appropriate and admirable.
Standards for the Church
When Bray got over to the Colonies, particularly to Maryland, here were the things that were of concern to him. First, he wanted to make sure that, with the church coming from England to the Colonies, there was no lack of educational standards. And because that was the case, one of his zealous points was making sure every parish church had a fine library.
You see, there were no libraries in the way you and I think about libraries, either in any kind of university institutions, except for very few, much less in local communities. And as a result, Bray founded an organization that still exists called the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (now the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge). To this day, this organization makes appeals particularly for clergy nearing retirement to see if they would be willing to donate their libraries (because all clergy are bookaholics, myself included) and donate them to places like sub-Saharan Africa or others where such books are not so readily available.
The other society that he founded, and it came out of a similar concern, was the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Because the things that he required clergy to do aboard ship were not just him being fussy about clergy behavior. He knew that that commitment to prayer, that commitment to be the same person in the pulpit that you are on the ship and vice versa, gave the clergy what was necessary to be able to be available for God to use them wherever they were. So that there was not a distinction between their “religious life” and who they were when they were without collar. This meant they were committed to their own personal Christian formation. And more importantly than that, they were committed to their own availability for God to use them wherever they were.
I have to say that that’s big in my book too – that clergy, no matter where they are, do their best to be available for God to use them, whether they consider themselves on or off the clock, because emergency needs and evangelistic opportunity are never limited to from 9 to 5 on four days of the week and then Sundays.
Standards for Today
In other words, the assumption Bray had was that if the church were to thrive, it had to be what I would call a sending church, and a discipling church, an evangelistic church, a church that continued to ask very basic questions such as “Why has God planted us in this community?” and “What’s our responsibility to this community?”
I always ask clergy, “Have you met the mayor? Do you know the chief of police? Are you building relationships with other community leaders or other Christians of various denominations who have a concern to reach the city?” There’s a reason we consider that the town or area in which a church is located – not merely a congregation – is its parish. We must always have that concern that moves us to ask, “How are we making a difference in our community?” And we do this not so we can be do-gooders, because our concern, like Bray’s, is the fact that all people everywhere might reach and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s really the point.
If that’s the case, I believe Thomas Bray would be very excited that somehow his passion for the gospel today is not just being carried out in societies, but also that it is being reflected in the voluntary life of its members. And that is certainly my prayer as well.
How do you think Thomas Bray’s standards can inform the church today? Share this blog and your response on Twitter. Please include my username, @revgregbrewer.
(This post is an adaption of Bishop Brewer’s sermon on Feb. 15, 2020, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, DeLand, Florida.)
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.