It's been my experience that in places where power is concentrated, especially political power in the religious world, the above statements are often implied, if not outright said or asked. Especially the part about an agenda. Power is concerned with agendas...specifically those that don't conform to THEIR agenda.
After a while, you'll learn your place. You won't be asked to do anything significant...you're there to learn, surely. You have a lot to learn from Power, they think, because if you knew what they knew you wouldn't believe what you believe or behave as you do. So, keep coming to the church conferences and meetings and conventions and conclaves--but please be quiet; you're here to learn, not teach. Oh, Power has heard what you have to say...you're so loud and obnoxious, Power thinks. And it must be true, it often feels like you're shouting because you are the only voice in the room saying anything different from what everyone else is saying--"Why can't you get with the program?" Power will ask. "Why don't you see things our way? Shhhhhh! We're trying to help you!" So as the lone voice that no one ever listens to, you gradually raise your voice until someone notices...and cuts you off. It's discouraging. It's disheartening. It makes you lose your faith in Christianity. And maybe it should. Because Christianity has failed. The fact that the church of Jesus Christ even exists today is a testimony to the resurrected Lord, for only a living God could keep such a failed institution alive. Even as I write this, I am aware that I might be misunderstood...as though I did not value education, or faithful service, or history, or traditions. None of that is true. But I do not hang my hat on any of those things. I hang my hat on Christ. I believe education is what frees and empowers the people of God, that faithful service is what sustains the church, that history is God's activity with humanity bringing us to today and helping us dream for tomorrow, and that traditions reflect the values that we have as God's community.Yet, if church history and education and tradition teaches me anything, it is that it was most often the dissenters that were right. Only later does Power get with the program and try to downplay the centuries of not listening to those obnoxious and annoying naysayers. And the death rattle of mainstream Christian denominations and sects in America is a testimony to the failed ventures of Power and Influence and Empire. Why would you even go back? Why even be a part of the conversation anymore? Why even show up? Why go forward for communion if you know you'll be refused? Why attend the conversations if you know they are only monologues and not dialogues?
You show up, because real transformation happens when you show up. Don't get it wrong, either--not just transformation for Power (which desperately needs the transformation that only dying to self can bring), but transformation for you. Showing up at the table that you were only invited to as a formality, with the silly notion that your non-establishment, non-member-of-this-club status really makes you equal to those sitting with you at the table, offers an opportunity for you to learn and grow. (I should probably add that even though these are valuable lessons, it's also perfectly good and right and just to vociferously protest such treatment!) Being treated like "the help" may make you a better servant...and when you leave that table to go to the table that really DOES include every voice and makes every person important, it will certainly make you a better leader. It will help you see that person who is dead wrong as important...because it really wasn't about being right or wrong anyway.
You show up because you being there opens up a seat for the person that wasn't invited. You open up a spot for the one wasn't thought of. You thought of them because you know what it feels like to be ignored, muted, put down, the object of condescending statements and glances. And you will mention those children of God who should be at the table but who are left out because they are even further out on the margins than you. If you don't show up, who will mention them?
You show up because inside of you is the Spirit of God burning like a flame. John Wesley said it best; "Catch on fire...and people will come from miles to watch you burn." Lest you become haughty, remember that the Spirit of God is present as well in the hearts of those sitting at the table with you. Even those who ignore you. The bush was always burning...Moses was just the first to see it. You show up because when you see the Spirit of God in even the hardest of hearts, you are able to point Power to where Real Power is. Not in buildings and cathedrals and constitutions...but in wind and in crowds of people all speaking different languages at once...and in a fire that burns within you.
You show up because the notion that the people in charge are really in charge of anything is as ridiculous to you as it is to the Spirit-Wind of God Who blows where She wants. It's as ridiculous to you as it is to the rest of the world who shakes their head at institutional Christianity, wondering if anyone there will start talking about things that matter. Those in Power don't have any Real Power so long as they continue to point to all of the man-made constructs of religion to validate who they are. They have no Real Power so long as they continue to believe that ecclesiastic office means ministry and church titles mean leadership. 
You show up because you realize that any authority or Real Power they might ever have, exists outside of all of those trappings. Behind the robes. Behind the stoles. Behinds the desks with nameplates. Behind the credentials. Behind the titles. In the heart. Of every person. Where God is.
You show up because someone has to keep saying THAT.
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