If you read this blog you've noticed I've give attention to the issue of church growth and the emphasis on revitalization. Lately I especially have focused on small churches being compared to large ones. And you may wonder why - since I serve what many might consider to be a large church. I don't think of it with that adjective, but I have attended the Gen. Bd. of Discipleship's Large Church Initiative events, so I guess it applies.
One of the inside facts about the United Methodist Church is that if you get put on a committee, you've probably also become a member of some other committee. That's a little surprise for laity when we ask them to do something like chair the Nurture Committee (and then they find out later they are members of the Church Council.) Well, if you are asked to serve on the Conference Board of Ministry, you find out you also serve on the District Committee on Ministry (dCOM). It's not so bad. The down side is the additional meetings. The good side is keeping up with, and helping people in the journey into ministry.
Each year the dCOM has to re-certify the Local Pastors for their ministry. We meet with them, review their mentor report and continuing education, and hear from them what's been happening in their lives and their churches. I enjoy hearing about the various ministries going on in these churches, most of them smaller membership churches on charges. What I've noticed however is that nearly every local pastor in some way apologizes that their church is small and doesn't, or can't "do that much." Or I hear them talking about trying to mimic ministries that really are designed for larger, program based churches.
The images of success, and pressures of numerical growth shape these pastors, and it seems the effect is to lower the church's and pastor's self-esteem. I want to find a way to move beyond that. I think we need to lift up more models and measures of ministry than the one denominational bean-counters exalt, the number of professions of faith in a year (or if you're Baptist, the number of baptisms - same difference I guess).
If we really believe that Christ is present whenever two or three meet in his name, and if we believe the presence of the risen Christ means life, then what are we saying when we send notice that two or three has to become twenty or thirty, and then two hundred to three hundred, etc. for the gathering to measure up and reveal a church with vitality?
Believe me, I know that churches can become both stagnant and wayward. I know that some behave like dysfunction families. And I know churches can become stuck in the past. And small membership churches especially can become defeatest in attitude. But why add to those challenges by forcing the smaller church through the large church mold?
I don't expect an easy answer or a simple alternative model for assessing the smaller membership church. I'd just like to keep the issue on the table and to suggest that maybe what we need are more questions.
How is the love of Christ experienced in the congregation?
How is the compassion of Christ expressed beyond the congregation?
How is the joy of Christ seen in the church?
How is the good news of Christ shared?
How is the church's record of paying its apportionments?
OK, that last one was tongue in cheek, but it wouldn't be that bad a question, since for Methodists our connectional ministry is expressed in the apportioned budget to fund those ministries. I'd be interested to know what other questions might get at the heart of what it means to be a vital church, and that's for churches of any and every size.
Showing posts with label Local Pastors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Local Pastors. Show all posts
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Hello Blog World!
O.K. I'm only the 100 billionth through the turnstile, but finally I overcame my hesitancy and have a place to have a say in web-world. Now the learning curve is WHAT to say. I expect it to be some journaling, some observations, some resourcing, and hopefully, some laughs. Anyway, here goes....
This first post is done as I begin to wrap up a two-week teaching stint at the Course of Study School at Emory U. The Course of Study is a program of the United Methodist Church for pastors, who because of entering the ministry at an older age, and other circumstances, choose not to become credentialed by attaining a seminary degree. They take four courses a summer over five summers to receive the basic certificate. And then there is the Advanced COS, for those who want to move to ordination. All Local Pastors in the United Methodist Church are required to complete COS.
I have been teaching courses on Evangelism and on Worship and the Sacraments for the past three years. Each year I grumble about leaving my church and packing up to go to Atlanta for the two weeks. Then I get here and meet the students, and start interacting with them in the teaching process, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to be a part of it. The people factor makes all the difference. But isn't that true about most things?
These are full-time local pastors from across the southeast. A couple of them in my classes are on the staffs of larger churches, but most LPs serve small and rural churches. I get inspired as I see their dedication to the ministry. They want to make a difference, even though they are appointed to places where little opportunity exists to try creative things or to motivate the church to outreach.
Right now there is a lot of anxiety among the LPs. There are proposals for the upcoming General Conference that may remove sacramental rights from the LPs, thus only leaving only the ordained Elders (a classification on ministry) with the right to perform the sacraments (baptism and holy communion). General Conference is the representative body that meets every four years to decide the rules of the United Methodist Church. Since I will be a delegate to the Gen. Conf. 2008, and serving on the legislative committee that deals with ministry matters, I have been having some group conversations about these issues.
Basically, as I understand it, the idea to limit the sacraments to the ordained Elders is proposed because our giving the LPs the ability to offer the sacraments in their place of appointment conflicts with our ecumenical efforts. Other denominations, with which we try to share ministry, have trouble with the way we allow non-ordained persons to have sacramental rights. That's even though we say the LP's rights is simple an extension of the Elder who oversees them (usually the District Superintendent).
Well here's my opinion. The Methodist movement has always adapted its form of ministry to the mission. Our founder, John Wesley, did this as he appointed Class Leaders and Lay Preachers. In 1748, while the Church of England continued to refuse to ordain ministers for the Methodist revival, Wesley began ordaining ministers so that the Methodists would not have to go without the sacraments. Our current formation of the orders of ministry allows us to serve the people and I for one, would be hard pressed to see a reason to change that.
The General Conference next April will be interesting. I hope to have more conversations along the way as we prepare to deal with a lot of issues. But for now, I give thanks for the Local Pastors and the way they serve Christ and the church.
This first post is done as I begin to wrap up a two-week teaching stint at the Course of Study School at Emory U. The Course of Study is a program of the United Methodist Church for pastors, who because of entering the ministry at an older age, and other circumstances, choose not to become credentialed by attaining a seminary degree. They take four courses a summer over five summers to receive the basic certificate. And then there is the Advanced COS, for those who want to move to ordination. All Local Pastors in the United Methodist Church are required to complete COS.
I have been teaching courses on Evangelism and on Worship and the Sacraments for the past three years. Each year I grumble about leaving my church and packing up to go to Atlanta for the two weeks. Then I get here and meet the students, and start interacting with them in the teaching process, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to be a part of it. The people factor makes all the difference. But isn't that true about most things?
These are full-time local pastors from across the southeast. A couple of them in my classes are on the staffs of larger churches, but most LPs serve small and rural churches. I get inspired as I see their dedication to the ministry. They want to make a difference, even though they are appointed to places where little opportunity exists to try creative things or to motivate the church to outreach.
Right now there is a lot of anxiety among the LPs. There are proposals for the upcoming General Conference that may remove sacramental rights from the LPs, thus only leaving only the ordained Elders (a classification on ministry) with the right to perform the sacraments (baptism and holy communion). General Conference is the representative body that meets every four years to decide the rules of the United Methodist Church. Since I will be a delegate to the Gen. Conf. 2008, and serving on the legislative committee that deals with ministry matters, I have been having some group conversations about these issues.
Basically, as I understand it, the idea to limit the sacraments to the ordained Elders is proposed because our giving the LPs the ability to offer the sacraments in their place of appointment conflicts with our ecumenical efforts. Other denominations, with which we try to share ministry, have trouble with the way we allow non-ordained persons to have sacramental rights. That's even though we say the LP's rights is simple an extension of the Elder who oversees them (usually the District Superintendent).
Well here's my opinion. The Methodist movement has always adapted its form of ministry to the mission. Our founder, John Wesley, did this as he appointed Class Leaders and Lay Preachers. In 1748, while the Church of England continued to refuse to ordain ministers for the Methodist revival, Wesley began ordaining ministers so that the Methodists would not have to go without the sacraments. Our current formation of the orders of ministry allows us to serve the people and I for one, would be hard pressed to see a reason to change that.
The General Conference next April will be interesting. I hope to have more conversations along the way as we prepare to deal with a lot of issues. But for now, I give thanks for the Local Pastors and the way they serve Christ and the church.
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