However, a new proposal would change just one word in the Discipline. That small change has big implications:

The United Methodist Book of Discipline states elders in good standing who honor their ordination covenant to the itinerate ministry and who faithfully and effectively fulfill their ministerial duties and attend to their annual continuing education requirements shall be continued under appointment by the bishop.

In its interim report, the commission recommends changing the language from “shall” to “may” continue to be appointed.

Changing that one word means that clergy would no longer be certain of a position. Instead, each year, they would be subject to the bishop’s appointment process – not only to move, but even just to have a job.

Now, I realize that for most people, job security is an issue they have to live with. When most people don’t perform well in their jobs, they risk losing their jobs. And I also realize that guaranteeing clergy an appointment makes it impossible for bishops to hold their clergy accountable to standards of excellence. I also realize that church decline has everyone scrambling for a solution – and now, it seems, a scapegoat. But, getting rid of the guaranteed appointment will do nothing to address the problems we face as a church.

No doubt, we need effective leadership. We need a wholesale focus on attracting the best of our young people into the ministry. This is difficult in a climate where theology is among the lowest paying college majors, the perception of clergy in our communities is diminishing, and we saddle our seminary students with impossible debt. Add to that a 40 year track record of decline and now (possibly) the end of any job security and the ministry is not looking like a good career move. In my conference, we are closing and merging churches, eliminating associate positions, and asking more and more clergy to serve in less-than-full-time appointments. The trend is pretty clear – and it is scary.

The suggested change to the Discipline removes the guaranteed appointment, but it does nothing to address opportunity for clergy to advance, assistance with mountains of debt, practical job training for clergy, nor does it offer transitional assistance for those clergy that are deemed unappointable. If you have a $100,000 seminary degree and the church won’t give you a job, who will? More than that, such a change does nothing to address ineffective and shrinking churches. The assumption is that the pastor is the problem. Sure, the pastor is part of the problem. But changing institutions is no small task, and the church is notoriously reluctant to change. I wonder what the outcry would be if we empowered our bishops to arbitrarily close ineffective churches. What if the churches were told that they “may” continue to operate from year to year?

The appointment and itinerate process have served the church well for many years. But it is time to admit that their day is gone. A comprehensive reform of the appointment process would be welcome. It is also time to take a hard look at the role of bishops, district superintendents and other conference staff. Instead of asking churches to fund a layer of administration that is mostly invisible to them, why not expect more from our conference leadership? Do we really think that bishops are in a good position to evaluate clergy and appoint them in creative ways that foster effective ministry? My guess is that the problem is much bigger than the burden of guaranteed appointments. It’s endemic to our now-out-moded structure.

In the absence of other major changes, eliminating the guaranteed appointment will do little to help our church. Instead, it will alienate many clergy and further discourage new ones. What if we took a pro-active approach:

1. Start seriously funding clergy education. Promise every seminary student that their debt will be forgiven after five years of service. Consolidate some seminaries – do what has to be done – to make this promise possible.

2. Provide real professional training to our clergy so that they are equipped for the reality of their work. A seminary education is great – but it is not enough. Practical leadership training needs to be ongoing. Most conferences are horrible at this.

3. Reform the appointment process. Require churches to provide plans for vitality before they receive their pastor. Hold them accountable and refuse to appoint clergy to impossible situations. Make churches and clergy covenant together for success and actually follow-up on them and bench mark their progress. If guaranteed appointments must go, make all appointments go and let churches hire their clergy and let clergy find their churches.

4. Pressure ineffective churches to close and sell their assets to fund new, creative and/or successful ventures. Fund success. Liquidate failure. Promise clergy that closing an ineffective church is a positive move for their careers.

5. Aggressively strategize for church effectiveness across the conference. Don’t leave it up to independent churches who seldom think beyond their own walls. Use the conference structure to build strategic church starts and re-vitalization efforts based on solid demographics. Create teams of clergy who can work together to build larger, stronger churches and reduce the “lone-ranger” phenomenon. Regional churches should be our strength, since we are organized in regional bodies.

Those are just some ideas. There are many more out there. All I’m trying to say is that simply eliminating the guaranteed appointment will do very little.

If revelation is to come to human beings, they need to be changed entirely. Faith itself must be created in them.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Act and Being

We are what we are because of God’s initiative, not our own. I suppose this idea is fundamentally the problem some have with evolution. How can we be the result of rational evolutionary processes and at the same time the product of divine creation?

The apparent contradiction, however, is false. It is false because it tries to “out-rationalize” science itself. Creationists use logic to defeat logic. Faith may be intelligible, but it need not be rational. It is first and foremost revelation – an act of divine disclosure – that allows us to be open to ever deeper dimensions of God’s being and acting in this world. Evolution is simply our effort to understand the development of biological species in the context of dynamic environments. It is a valid way of knowing in so far as science allows us to go. Revelation, on the other hand, is only grasped by faith. Faith itself is form of revelation – the envelope in which God delivers the messages about God’s self to us.

I think it is one of Christianity’s worse mistakes to condemn those who do not believe as we do. Such a position ironically undoes faith itself, since it credits the thinker as the origin of the thought. Is not God’s revelation a gift to us? Is not grace an act of God’s own choosing, freely extended to us from beyond ourselves? And if it is not, than what is there to believe?

God is acting in this world. I can’t prove it. But I can believe it.

Service and prayer can never be separated; they are related to each other as the Yin and Yang of the Japanese Circle.
– Henri Nouwen in The Living Reminder

When we prayer, we serve. When we serve, we pray. Our actions are simply our prayers given flesh. I often marvel at the insistence that we open and close our meetings in the church with a perfunctory prayer. While these prayers serve as useful “bookends” to the meetings, they seldom raise to the level of prayer as prayer. I remember one of my seminary professors who was confronted by a student who objected to the fact that this professor never began his classes with a prayer. The professor’s response was “What do you think we are doing all hour?”

Prayer is not simply the utterance of formal words. It is the expression of our deepest yearnings. Sometimes we articulate these yearnings with words in solemn petitions. Often it is our actions and deeds that give form and shape to our deep desires. All is prayer.

Christ is the center. That is the affirmation of my faith. Not that I put Christ at the center of my life. Rather, God reveals Christ to me as the center of everything. And that is all I have, ultimately, to bet my life on.

Lent is a season of re-centering. Not of putting something in the center, but of returning to the center that is always already there. Perhaps that is the heaviness of heart I feel – a deep, gentle, but decisive tug pulling me closer to that center of all, like a tiny asteroid spiraling around the sun, ultimately to be consumed by its fire.

The center is reveled to be Jesus. God lived and breathed. And died. The center is reveled to be weak, broken, torn, poured out. The center leads us back to the edges and the fringes and the brokenness of our world.

Welcome to the only one in whom we can hope.

Well, a new model would of course be faithful to the oldest model – that utilized by Jesus and his disciples. Here are some elements of a new/old model for discipleship that migh be helpful for us in the old-line church to consider:

1. Discipleship is about forging relationships. A “disciple” is a student, which suggests that there is a teacher. Our ultimate teacher, of course, is Jesus himself, who called the first disciples. And the relationship that Jesus had with his disciples should be the model for discipleship in the church. We are first of all a community of disciples – which means we are in relationship with each other. And, of course, the fundamental word we use to describe the nature of this relationship is love. The basic instrument for defining our relationship to each other is the covenant.

2. Discipleship is integral to all that we do. Discipleship is not a separate program. It is not limited to learning opportunities (an educational model) or to community outreach (a service model) or to committee membership (a bureaucratic model). Everything that we do as the church is a form of discipleship. So, when we gather as the church, we should be deepening our relationships with each other and God as we cultivate our discipleship by being the church.

3. Discipleship is a life-long journey. Though we affirm the idea of perfection in the Methodist tradition, we always remain disciples. People need ongoing opportunities to grow in their faith, and the church can provide a wide variety of ways that people can engage in discipleship based on where they are in their faith walk. One-size-fits-all approaches fail to acknowledge the various phases of life and the different needs of real people.

4. Discipleship is an open process. God calls us as we are. There are no requirements for starting on the journey of discipleship. Everyone is invited. God calls us all. A special focus should be placed on those who are entering the life of discipleship for the first time, and the church can be intentional in extending the invitation and creating entry points for those new to discipleship.

5. Discipleship is dynamic and engaged. Disciples gather in order to accomplish a goal or fulfill a purpose. Fellowship, learning, growing are all valid reasons for disciples to gather – but the reason should be clear and everyone should be committed to the purpose. Disciples support each other in their shared journey of discipleship in a loving relationship defined by covenant in order to discern and fulfill their calling.

Maybe discipleship can be defined in other ways. Perhaps there are modifications to these ideas that you would suggest. But I think these five points serve as a good foundation for a discussion about what discipleship is and how we, as the church, might facilitate people in their response to God’s calling in their lives.

I wonder what happened to that idea. Somewhere along the way, the church stopped catching people. Or, I should say, the mainline protestant church in America stopped catching people.

The mission of the church, from the days when Jesus walked the earth to the present moment, has essentially been the same: make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. It is a clear, simple mission, and yet it seems so hard to rally the mainline church around this fundamental task. We have become overburdened with buildings we built to accommodate large congregations that only lasted for a season. We have invested in the nurture and care of the needs of our present congregation at the neglect of reaching out to a changing culture around us. We have encouraged our children to accelerate their careers and their futures while sacrificing their religious, ethical and moral development.

We need to rethink discipleship for a new time.

Discipleship can begin at any stage of life. For some, it begins at birth with baptism and a lifetime of growth and teaching in the church. But for many today, spiritual formation and faith development are agendas adopted later in life. The church is challenged to meet people where they are, recognizing that everyone is in a slightly different place. For some, the basics of faith – prayer, Bible study, worship – are alien concepts. For some, there is a hunger for a sophisticated approach to scripture. For some there is a need for a deepening spiritual awareness. Needless to say, no one pastor can provide all the needs around us. A comprehensive approach to discipleship will require the focused efforts of the entire congregation. Leaders will need to rise up who are willing and able to joyfully lead people through various stages of growth.

Discipleship is our business. It is the mandate Jesus gave the earliest disciples even as they themselves were being called into a life of discipleship. Our faith is worth sharing with a world that desperately needs the rich resources of our tradition, faithfully interpreted for a new time. As we look to the people of Greater Hartford, we are presented with an amazing challenge and a great responsibility. The gospel is ours to proclaim. As we extend the invitation we must match those who respond with an opportunity to grow that meets their needs.

Few places have collected more dust in recent years than that attic at the parsonage and the church library. This is true of my parsonage attic and our church library, but is also practically universally true of all parsonages and libraries. Dan Dick recently reflected on this reality across Methodism, and his thoughts inspired me to think about our library situation.

Another thing parsonage attics and libraries have in common: they are full of antiques. When I look through our library (right next to my office, on our neglected second floor) I don’t find many books written in the last year. In fact, I don’t find many books written in the last thirty years.

Our library used to be well maintained. The books there represent a respectable collection – for 1970. But since then, the library has been in decline (with a few efforts at reform along the way). I can only think of one or two times over the last few years that anyone has asked to use our library, as a library. Now it is a place for the occasional meeting and the collection of dust.

Dan’s observations describe our situation well:

Church libraries are odd little repositories for an eclectic and uncritical assemblage of writings and ideas. Many churches do little or nothing with their libraries, and in fact in about one-in-ten the last new title was added sometime in the late 1970s (usually by Billy Graham or Robert Schuller). Only about one-in-three church libraries I visit is “active” in the sense of people actually borrowing and returning books, new titles being added regularly, and some kind of organization and display of featured titles employed.

Growing up, we used to joke that Methodists were Baptist that read books. I wonder if we could still make that claim. Given the shaky state of libraries in Hartford generally, I wonder if anyone reads books in our community. It seems to me that a well run, well staffed, technologically savvy library would be a great tool – not only for our congregation to grow in faith, but for our community as a whole. Is it possible that in an urban context, a well run library could be a mission project?

Reading is a great joy of my life. It is also a source of power. Reading makes us larger than we were. Reading invites us to grow, to learn, to be amused, to laugh, and to expand our understanding of others. As libraries are being quickly transformed by technology, perhaps now is a time to revisit our library, and ask how it might serve the needs of our community.

]]> http://overstatement.org/?feed=rss2&p=160 1 http://overstatement.org/?p=159 http://overstatement.org/?p=159#comments Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:02:32 +0000 Bryan http://overstatement.org/?p=159 “Social justice” is one of those buzz words that we preachers give a lot of credence too. Almost all of us look up to the great champions of social justice throughout history, from Martin Luther to his namesake King. I too have a long-standing interest in social justice going back to my seminary training and interest in liberation theology. Liberation theology was the first theology to really make sense to me. It took experience seriously, and demanded that our actions take as much precedence as our words. Liberation theology was radically relevant and it called for a kind of Christianity that was boldly engaged with the social ills of our world.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/opinion/01herbert.html?ref=todayspaper

Looking back now, after about 10 years of professional ministry, I have come to see my call confirmed. That’s not to say that I am perfect. I am more aware than most of my many shortcomings, and am rather intentional about trying to overcome my failings and play to my strengths. Having said that, I do not believe I would have as much joy in my life as I do if I were working in any other field. The job of the pastor is strange, difficult, complex. But it is also rewarding beyond words and money. I am grateful.

So, how did I come to this line of work? Here is what I wrote, officially, as I went through the ordination process:

One of my earliest experiences of God occurred in the United Methodist church in Texas where I was confirmed. My father, no doubt influenced by Southern Baptists, believed strongly that I should choose my faith for myself so he did not have me baptized as an infant. Thus, at the time of my confirmation, I was also going to be baptized. And if memory serves, I was the only one in the rather larger confirmation class who had not received the sacrament of baptism.

I remember the moment well. The church had around five or six clergy members on staff, and they all took part in the baptism. They were all white men, and they all wore black robes. Despite their general good humor, they were an intimidating group from my youthful perspective. The intimidation was enhanced when they all closed around me and everything went black. Their hands all covered me, some “magic” words were spoken, and water dripped down the side of my head. Somewhere in all of the activity, I heard my name spoken. It was an intense, strange, and somewhat spooky experience. But it left me with one clear impression: something powerful and important happened.

After that experience, I found God primarily in two places. The first was community. In the churches that I grew up in, God was present in the relationships that were formed, in the opportunities that the community of faith provided, and in the traditions of the church. In the community of the church I learned the power of the sacrament of Holy Communion. It was, and is, a mysterious experience, that cannot fully be reasoned. But in communion I sense the love and grace of God, as well as a connection to the church universal. In the community of the church, I also learned the power of scripture. Secondly, I found God in nature. The simplest mysteries of nature – a blooming flower or a gentle breeze – have always served to remind me of God’s presence. Recently, on a trip to Wyoming with my family, I witnessed a moose drinking from a stream. Moose are large, majestic creatures, despite their comic-book face. As I watched the moose drink water, occasionally gazing up at me, I saw God’s handiwork in this mighty living thing.

The Bible is full of diverse images of God. I strive to be open to the multiple expressions of God and to celebrate and appreciate a diverse array of images for the Divine. The primary characteristic of God that stands our for me from the Bible is God’s nebulous quality. God keeps shifting shape – from a burning bush (Exodus 3:2), to a stormy cloud (Exodus 24), to an eagle in the air (Deuteronomy 32:11), to a child in a manger (Luke 1:35). God is always surprising me, appearing in unexpected ways – the voice of a friend, a stranger on the street, children at play, or in a poem or song.

The theological sources I generally draw on emphasize that God is found in the narratives of my life. Just as Biblical stories reveal the nature of God to us, so the stories from our own experience illuminate the Divine. Theologically, then, I try to tell my story – the story of my experiences – and in them find the God of my creation. In terms of theological traditions, I am influenced by liberation theologies, which emphasize the experiences of the poor and the marginalized. But I am also informed by postmodern sensibilities, which question objectivity and emphasize context. Hence, my personal story serves as a primary influence in my theology.

Historical sources that are important to me include traditional United Methodist sources, such as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, which I will discuss more below. In addition, I have been influenced by Wesley’s sermons. Two sermons have been particularly meaningful to my understanding of God. The first is “The Almost Christian.” This sermon affirms Wesley’s strong belief in faith as the only avenue to salvation. I share this conviction with Wesley, and I find his articulation of this idea in this sermon particularly effective. Secondly, “The Catholic Spirit” is a powerful sermon for me because in that sermon Wesley calls us to recognize our connection with others and challenges us to overcome our differences and divisions. I think this sermon is vitally important for us as we continue to struggle with our disagreements in the United Methodist Church.

1. Blogging requires a real commitment. It is not simply an extension of what you are doing in ministry. It is a whole new project. I have never really given blogging the time it deserves. But if you want to have a meaningful blog, you have to be ready to commit time, thought, and energy to it.

2. Read your comments. The most important thing about a blog is to build a sense of community. It is critical that you keep your comment areas clean of spam. It is also critical that you respond to your readers. If a reader has bothered to make a comment, chances are good that a dozen other readers have thought the same thought without bothering to comment. The comments are the heart and soul of your blog life.

3. Set up a regular posting schedule. Let your readers know when to expect new content, at least at a minimal level. Pastor’s who wish to blog seriously should have at least one post a week – and also spend ample time in the comment section. That’s a pretty serious effort.

4. Have something interesting to say. Don’t just blog anything. Make sure you have an interesting comment to offer the world. Make your blog worth reading. We preachers have to come up with a sermon every week – this should be our strength. Be interesting.

5. Read other blogs related to your content. See what other bloggers are talking about. Comment on their blogs as well and participate in their communities. If you make an interesting comment, it might prompt their readers to check out your blog.

6. Use social networks. Facebook and Twitter – you got to use them at least! Use twitter and facebook status updates to announce new posts and communicate with your audience. Keep in mind though: twits need to be interesting too!! Don’t twit your latest visit to the restroom. Make your twits matter.

7. Be personal. Don’t shy away from sharing things from your personal life. Your readers want to know your thoughts – but they also want to know you. Be careful of course – don’t violate any professional boundaries or overexposure yourself. But do share in ways that make you human and real. Let your real self show through.

8. Make a list! This one came to me from a real blogger on my facebook page, and I’m modeling it here! The fact is that people are looking for quick content that they can scan easily. A list is just a clever deliver mechanism that happens to work in this context. Don’t only make lists. But do make lists.

9. Use WordPress. Sure, there are other blogging platforms out there. But WordPress is free, open, easy to use and install, fast, reliable, etc. If you like a different system, stick with it. But if you aren’t sure, WordPress is easy enough to get you started and sophisticated enough to meet your needs as your blog expands.

10. Write reviews. This is another form of content (like “lists” above) that works well in the blogosphere. Review a movie or a book. Review an album. People are looking for insights and ideas on current cultural events. Clergy have a unique and informative perspective – share your thoughts on a movie and you will attract some new traffic.

How did I come up with these 10 laws? Mostly by not doing them. I have not been a successful blogger, so I’ve learned from my mistakes. Perhaps someone with more success than me can offer some other suggestions. One thing I continue to be frustrated with is the lack of really good blog clients for Mac OS X. I generally just use the WordPress back end, but I would love to use a really good client that is simple, fast, effective. I’ve used Ecto and Mars Edit, but have not been very pleased with either of them. Any ideas?

Bass, Dianna Butler. Christianity for the Rest of Us

Cladis, George. Leading the Team-Based Church

Harris, Sam. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason

Long, Thomas. Testimony: Talking Ourselves into Being Christian

Neff, Thomas J. and Citrin, James M. You’re in Charge. Now what?

Tillich, Paul. A History of Christian Thought

Tolan, Sandy. The Lemon Tree

Weems, Jr. Lovett H. Church Leadership: Vision, Team, Culture and Integrity

I’m sure I’ll toss in some science fiction as well, but these books represent several areas of interest for me and I think they will contribute to my pastoral skills. I also think they would be good books for anyone in ministry to read. As I knock them out, I’ll let you know what I think of them!