Church Transitions

“Moving Day” in the United Methodist Church can be an awkward transitional time. In our first move from seminary in Boston to a three-point charge in South Carolina there were generous folks who brought over a meal and proceeded to watch us eat it!  One dear woman asked what they were all thinking as I followed a more seasoned minister, “Are you old enough to be a preacher?” My response was both sure and ambiguous and offered very little assurance, “I hope so!”

Hope is what sustains us when one minister leaves and another comes. We all try to put our best feet forward. Afterall, there is only one chance to make a first impression. Together, laity and clergy hope to win people to Christ and disciple them. That’s the great expectation! Our new preacher or our new congregation will be a grand opportunity to fulfill The Great Commission to make disciples for Jesus Christ! One preacher was heard adjusting his expectations, “During the first five years of ministry I had a sign on my desk that said, ‘Win the world for Christ.’ The next five years the sign read. ‘Win five for Christ.’ After ten years, I changed the sign to read, ‘Don’t lose too many.’”

Sad to say and worse to admit, this is the low expectation of too many ministers and churches, but when clergy move it’s an opportunity to recalibrate and have fresh ideas. Each church has its own personality and history. If you expect others to adapt to the congregation then you better do it!

Most importantly, we need to trust the Holy Spirit to make a new appointment work. E. Stanley Jones was probably the greatest evangelist and missionary of the Methodist movement. He spent most of his life in India and wrote prolifically. In many ways, he was a man before his time. In his book on Pentecost and the book of Acts, The Christ of Every Road, he describes the church as living between Easter and Pentecost:

“The church stands hesitant between Easter and Pentecost. Hesitant, hence impotent. Something big has dawned in the church’s thinking—Easter. Christ has lived, taught, died and risen and has commissioned the church with the amazing Good News. But something big has yet to dawn in the very structure, make-up and temperament of the church—Pentecost. If the church would move up from that in between-state to Pentecost, nothing could stop it—nothing!!”

Then he describes the church of his day. Remember, this was written eighty-five years ago:

“Now the church is stopping itself by its own ponderous machinery. Whenever we have been troubled about our spiritual impotence, we have added a new wheel—a new committee or commission, a new plan or program—and in the end we have found that we have little or no power to run the old or the new. We become busy—devastatingly busy—turning old and new wheels by hand. The Holy Spirit of Pentecost is not a lived fact with us. Hence we worship machinery instead of winning and discipling souls.”

We worship machinery instead of winning men and women for Jesus. Amen!

So, trying to keep you from becoming too busy and quenching the Spirit, I would offer a simple list of ideas that I shared at a Bishop’s School of Ministry:

Quick Start Guide for Pastoral Transitions

1. Don’t change much in the first 6 months!
2. Be a good historian! Learn the church’s history, especially emotional history of past tensions.
3. Get a copy of the pictorial directory and pray through it daily!
4. Ask the Lay Leader and Church Council Chair, LMAC for advice!
5. Visit people!
6. Be like a Persian cat with keen observation! Get copies of church leaders and financials.
7. Ask more questions than you give answers!
8. Don’t change the order of worship!
9. Preach good/great and familiar sermons!
10. Write a synopsis for first 15 sermons and give to worship leaders!
11. Don’t blame Bishop, DS, or predecessor for the move!
12. Accept strategic invitations to people’s soiree’s even if it’s on your day off!
13. Listen, listen; Love, love
14. Use “That’s interesting.” Without moving anything!
15. Stay out of Triangles via non-anxious presence and defecting in place!
16. Go to every District meeting and depend on other clergy near you!
17. Praise in public and criticize in private!
18. Go to every team/committee meeting and most other small groups!
19. If asked, say “Yes!” to children’s sermon, youth, confirmation, chapel, Rotary, etc!
20. Call people within 24 hours of their visiting church or returning!
21. Hold cottage meetings or speak a lot so people get to know you!
22. Beware cottage meetings if tensions are high!
23. Dress for success, up or down!
24. Familiarity breeds contempt! Be careful not to “let your hair down” too quickly.
25. Don’t talk about your previous church/ministry!
26. If you go out of town for vacation or continuing education, inform SPRC Chair & Lay Leader!
27. Beat people to the hospital! Go early, pray, and get out of the way!
28. Get Business cards immediately and make sure your cell # is a local call for everyone!
29. Get involved in the community; find out where your people eat, hang out, and sit at ball games!
30. Let church committees, especially SPRC, self-select their own successors!
31. Don’t be afraid to use the Book of Worship or Book of Discipline!
32. Beware those who put down your predecessor and honor those grieving her/his leaving!
33. Get a list of shut-in’s and recent deaths, serious illnesses, and life changes!
34. Call the Office of Congregational Development for your new demographics!
35. In connectionalism, how well your successor does says a lot about you!
36. Meet with the Altar Guild ASAP and ask about baptism/communion procedures & preferences!
37. Play dumb because you are, and never come off as angry!
38. Leadership by walking around and keep confidences!
39. Read church wedding policy and put dates on your calendar!
40. Ask people/staff what the church is known for in the community and what each staff member is known for in the church!

Clergy Burnout and Labor Day

Labor Day and clergy make for an interesting pair. One issue is mixing the secular with the sacred. Most of us clergy aren’t too fond of that, but we do have sense enough to know that you better mention mothers on Mother’s Day. Another Labor Day issue is that most people assume that we only work one day a week. They wonder, “What would clergy know about labor anyway?” That’s a hoot.

Being clergy is a 24/7 job. In this morning’s mail I got an appreciation card with a cartoon strip from “Dennis the Menace.” It shows Dennis talking to a minister, “So, Pastor, you work Sundays and the other six days, you just hang out?” The person graciously wrote that they knew I was working hard, and I very much appreciated the card. My question is, “What other profession needs this affirmation?”

Just google “clergy burnout” and you’ll get a quick education on pastoral demands and their toll on ministers. So, of course, clergy work hard, but too often we do it to please others, and that’s fool’s gold. It looks good, but it’s not real. It doesn’t really satisfy. We need to be God-pleasers more than people-pleasers. This could be one of the reasons for the high clergy burnout rate. Journals suggest that 50% of young clergy will give up on ministry in their first 10 years. That’s horrible, but I understand it. The demands are high, our offices are as close as our ever-present cell phones, and the pastoral needs of our stressed generation are never ending.

If anyone thinks being clergy is a lightweight job, good luck. For most clergy it requires a college degree and a three-year 90-hour Master’s on top of that. Then you’re only as good as your last sermon, except that good pastoral care and relational skills will make up for preaching an occasional dud. Our ministry is part counselor, speaker, teacher, chaplain, CEO, administrator, bookkeeper, UN Peacemaker, comedian, village story teller, community activist, fundraiser, home health provider, taxi driver, and financial advisor.

How hard is it? God wants us to afflict the comfortable, and comfort the afflicted. The former is prophetic and risky. The latter is a never-ending emotional roller coaster. Both tasks are fraught with costly sacrifice. On top of that, churches expect people with a boatload of education to do this work with a nearly insurmountable amount of seminary debt and start off getting paid less than minimum wage for the amount of hours put in.

What makes or breaks the demands is how we answer the question of who we’re working for? If we’re doing ministry because of some unresolved crud in our own lives, it won’t end well. If we’re working for people and to please them, it won’t end well either. Our uneasy but blessed task is to please God more than anyone else.

Wouldn’t it be great if we all did that in our labor, whatever our work may be? A story adapted by William R. White from Aesop is informative for anyone tempted to play to the crowd rather than their calling. It’s called “The Miller, His Son, and Their Donkey:”

“A miller and his son were traveling to market with their donkey. They had not gone far when they overheard three women at a well. ‘Have you ever seen anything so strange? Two men are walking when they could ride. Why do people have donkeys?’

Responding to the women, the miller quickly put his son on the back of the animal and continued on the journey. Soon they met two men in the midst of a fierce debate. ‘I say the present generation shows no respect for its elder,’ cried the older man. Spying the miller and his son, he continued, ‘There, that proves what I am saying. The young, healthy lad rides while his old father is forced to walk.’

Immediately the father told his son to dismount, and he climbed on the animal’s back. They hadn’t gone very far when they met a man and his wife walking down the road. ‘Look at that mean father,’ the woman exclaimed. ‘He rides while his little son has to walk.’

Embarrassed, the miller took his son by the arm. ‘Come up here with me. We will both ride on the donkey.’ Together they rode toward the market. Soon they met a group of men loading hay beside the road. ‘Shame on you,’ a fat man cried, ‘over-loading the poor donkey. Why, the two of you are strong enough to carry that poor animal.’

Both the miller and his son quickly got off the animal and walked along until they found a large log. They tied the legs of the donkey together and slipped the log between the animal’s legs. Then they attempted to carry it over the bridge that led to the market.

People on the other side of the bridge roared with laughter when they saw two men trying to carry a donkey. The noise so frightened the animal that he kicked loose and fell into the river and drowned.”

On this Labor Day let’s all try to please the God who made us and called us to our various tasks. Being a people-pleaser may get you plenty of kudos, but won’t do much to help anyone else. I Corinthians 15:58 says it well, “Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” If Jesus had been more interested in pleasing people than God then we wouldn’t have a Savior! The cross would have never happened, and Easter would have been unnecessary. Working to please people will throw your donkey (another word comes to mind) in the river. Save your donkey!

 

Perspective and Opportunity in United Methodist Appointment-Making

“Boy, do I have an opportunity for you!” are words that most United Methodist clergy have heard or will hear during their ministry. Within the next 6 weeks this phrase will be used a lot! The difficulty is that one person’s definition of “opportunity” may not match someone else’s. It is a statement usually said by district superintendents who are on the front-line of making appointments. They are at the point of the triangle between churches and clergy, matchmakers who have on-site knowledge of their churches and ministers. This knowledge is shared with the bishop’s whole cabinet, and through shared discernment, matches are made.

In the UMC system defining an “opportunity” is always a matter of perspective. It takes conferencing about the perspective of the local church and its perception of desired leadership needs; the perspective of the clergy and where they are in their ministry or the importance of family considerations; and the perspective of the bishop and cabinet who are scanning the needs of the whole annual conference and doing their very best to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

Connectionalism and working together is part and parcel of United Methodism. Therefore, appointments are made by the whole cabinet, though the Bishop alone is given constitutional authority (Par. 54, 2012 Book of Discipline) to do so after “consultation with the district superintendents.” Consultation includes local churches and clergy, too, and that appears in the form of church and clergy profiles. Therefore, everyone takes a hand, not least God, in our system of clergy deployment. Staff-Parish Relations Committees complete Church Profiles that describe the church, and clergy fill out Pastor Profiles that offer insights into their situations. By the way, both need to understand the importance of a well-presented profile. Those profiles will be pored over with microscopic attention when appointments are made. Please at least use spell-check!

A key paragraph from my perspective about appointment-making is found in Par. 428.4 which says, “All appointments shall receive consideration by the bishop, the district superintendent(s), and the cabinet as a whole until a tentative decision is made.” This fleshes out for me that our appointment-making system is a collegial effort, though the final decision indeed belongs to the bishop. As a former district superintendent who maxed out my tenure after 8 years, and one who is absolutely relishing being appointed to a thriving congregation, I think that a key word as we ramp up for the annual anxiety-laden period of possible clergy transitions is “perspective.”

The bishop and cabinet have a perspective about clergy and churches and the needs of the whole conference, and sometimes they have to make decisions about which only they know all the facts. Churches have their own unique perspective and rightly so if they can only count on one hand the number of effective ministers they have had in any given person’s lifetime. Clergy certainly have a unique perspective shaped by their family needs, and their sense of their gifts and graces and how they might be best utilized. So, what we have as we approach “appointment season” in the UMC is an “intriguing dance of perspectives,” a cooperative connectional effort to discern who goes where and who gets whom.

I pray for all those who are feeling the tensions rise in anticipation. Being on a trapeze with one hand letting go of one bar (pastor, church, friend, etc.) and willing to trust God enough to reach out for that the next bar (church, pastor, friend, etc.) is daunting, yet potentially thrilling. Throughout the whole process, as it is bathed in prayer, we absolutely must believe that God is in this enterprise, that Jesus will be glorified, however saddened or distraught we might be. In other words, we need more than a human perspective. We must affirm that a heavenly perspective is of highest importance. In our system we yield ourselves to a scary and vulnerable process not unlike the risk Jesus took in his incarnation.

So the word is “Perspective,” both divine and human. This is the essence of our belief in the system we call “itineracy,” the moving of clergy. John Wesley called itineracy the “apostolic plan of evangelization.” He thought that our “sent,” not “called” system was and is one of God’s best ways of mobilizing and energizing God’s salvific plan for humanity. I agree and have yielded myself to our peculiar process. Trust me, I haven’t always seen the wisdom of the bishop and cabinet, nor have all of my appointments been rosy. I do know this, however, that God has provided for me, my family, the local church, and the community. When we yield to a divine perspective all other perspectives come into focus!

Some people claim that their personal perspective is supreme and that their needs and/or agenda supplants and trumps everyone else’s. That’s not our system. I’ve seen people finagle their way upwards using manipulation and maneuvering, but, sooner or later, their solitary and self-promoting perspective will come to a halting stop. They have elevated what they want over saying “Yes!” and yielding. God help the UMC if that kind of personal aggrandizement ever wins the day.

Let me share a story that illustrates the illusion that getting our way and making what we think are unseen jabs is the way to go in appointment-making, whether by churches, clergy, district superintendents, and even bishops. Good appointment-making values everyone’s perspective, especially God’s. The story goes like this:

“During World War II, a general and his aide, a lieutenant, were traveling from one base to another. They were forced to travel with civilians aboard a passenger train. They found their compartments where two other folks were already seated – an attractive young lady and her grandmother. For most of the trip, they conversed freely. The train entered a long and rather dark tunnel. Once inside the tunnel, the passengers in this particular car heard two distinct sounds – the first was the smack of a kiss; the second was the loud sound of a slap.

Now, although these four people were in the same compartment aboard the passenger train, they came to four differing perspectives. The young lady thought how glad she was that the young lieutenant got up the courage to kiss her, but she was somewhat disappointed at her grandmother for slapping him for doing it; the general thought to himself how proud he was of his young lieutenant for being enterprising enough to find this opportunity to kiss the attractive young lady but was flabbergasted that she slapped him instead of the lieutenant; the grandmother was flabbergasted to think that the young lieutenant would have the gall to kiss her granddaughter, but was proud of her granddaughter for slapping him for doing it; and the young lieutenant was trying to hold back the laughter, for he found the perfect opportunity to kiss an attractive young girl and slap his superior officer all at the same time!”

Perhaps our so-called “opportunities” are not at all what they seem, or they are fleeting chances for us to “work” the system and “slap” the “Man” by bucking authority. We better be careful not to be so creative in our massaging the system that God’s video cam doesn’t catch us and we end up as our own worst enemy. I would rather trust the communal perspective of our appointment-making system than end up getting what I finagled for and be absolutely miserable. So, let’s trust everyone’s perspective, especially God’s! Everyone’s input insures a better opportunity for fruitful ministry.

Narcie, Josh, and I at Josh’s Ordination

The red Stoles represent the Yoke of Christ saying that We YIELD to where we are SENT!