Thinking About Rethinking

Notes from Leadership Training with Gil Rendle

2010-03-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

This article is reprinted from my personal blog:

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a learning/training day with Gil Rendle, part of a training for leaders as United Methodists in most of New York State prepare to become one annual conference instead of four this July. I found Rendle's presentation to be very thought-provoking, churning thoughts not only on what we will do as a new annual conference, but what we do/can do in my local church.

Here are some notes and my comments mixed, hope you can decipher!:

Rendle notes that our UM membership has been declining for 40 years. We've been in the wilderness for 40 years, but in the wilderness, God can bring about change. We can manage incremental change - we can handle that because we can control it. But deep change - we can't control deep change, and deep change is what we need.

He talked about Friedman and family systems and the idea that "we've grossly overrated the power of information to change people with no motivation to change." That's pretty applicable in all areas of life, don't you think? I can't help but think of my favorite line from Tracy Chapman's "Change" - "If everything you think you know makes your life unbearable, would you change?" What is ourmotivation for changing the way we do church?

He points to CEUs as one system that was implemented to 'fix people' - 'If we only had better leaders' - just make them get more education, and the churches will be fixed... He says, "I was not trained to make disciples, I was trained to make members," of his own training for ministry, noting how we're set up to fail at our own mission of disciple-making.

He says that when "things are getting out of control, the natural response is to make more rules." But good leadership is: Not about doing things right, but about doing right things. I think we've particularly been struggling with this in my local church - are we trying to do things right or do right things?

Management satisfies. Leadership (well done appropriately) dissatisfies. That’s how you affect change. Unless we are dissatisfying, church will not change.

North American Hospitality: Fix things up just the way we like them, invite people in, and are happy until they want to change the channel. That's not biblical hospitality, radical hospitality.

Technical work – known solutions to known problems.

Adaptive work – can’t do technical. You don’t move to action. You move to learning. Have to learn to act. Deep work.

He said, "Who are we? What are we supposed to do? We think we already know the answer. But we know who we were, not who we are." In my first congregation, we once did a project as part of our stewardship campaign that asked people to identify the 'visionaries' within the congregation. To name people. And the congregation did - but it named mostly people who had died in the past years. They knew who they were in the past, but not their current identity.

Rendle says we are asked for leadership, but only rewarded for management in our systems. After all, asking the ‘why’ questions translates into a longer meeting! Whenever the system doesn’t know what to do, it does what it knows.

"Pastoral mode is one of our default modes – tries to manage everyone’s feelings, care for everyone." This is a big one for me personally. I have a very hard time not trying to make sure everyone is getting along and feeling ok. It's hard to say: I'm sorry you're not with the change that is taking place," and then just move on. I'm learning! Rendle notes that not all the Israelites made the journey out of the wilderness.

Church metaphor we love/live by (but is obviously bad): We have to learn how to build a new prison, using the bricks from the old prison, without losing any of the prisoners.

How do we prepare leaders for congregations we haven’t yet met, when we still require conformity of leaders?

The system get whatever it measures. How much, how many, how often measures. In absence of measures, get the same as before, or chaos. Have to measure something, but we’re using faulty measures. At the same time, you can't just have no measures. If you don't like the ones in place, alright, then what *do* you want to be measured on?

Our stated desired outcome: Improved relationship with Christ, enabling change in the world.

But: If you can’t measure output, you’ll measure input. (i.e. "I worked x hours." Not bragging. Just trying to show what we put *in* to system since we don’t know what we're getting out. And we feel we've never gotten enough inputs.)

Long established organizations have 2 missions: Public – what you say you do. Private – what you actually work on. The Private is always the satisfaction of the strongest constituent voices. School: Public – educate children. Private – satisfy parents, teachers, administrators. Students don’t make list.

Church: Public – making disciples. Private – satisfy clergy, congregations, interest groups. Disciples don’t make list.

Was: Whether clergy and congregations were happy.

Takes us from output position, buts us into input positions. We’re expendable resources. Can’t be deployed for our satisfaction but for the church’s mission.

When a system doesn’t know what went wrong, it wants to know who went wrong.

If you go at your work at a technical level, you might get all your tasks done, but it won’t matter.

When a paradigm shifts, everything has to go back to zero. Look for the purpose sentence in Discipline, and stop reading.

Connections across miles

2010-02-13T07:08:00.001-08:00

Today, February 12, the New ACT team is meeting. As we worship and work, a team member is posting updates to Facebook and Twitter, including themes of worship, overview of work, and invitation to post questions. It's a novel experience, bringing voices from "out there" into the room, and making us conscious in our work of our connection to so many neighbors...

What does it mean to be God's Love?

2010-01-18T20:25:00.000-08:00

I've been excited to be working on and with the New ACT team for the past year. There have been lots of ups and downs, lots of questions and few answers along the way. The one thing that keeps me excited about doing this work is that as a team we really are trying to think outside of the box and do something that gets church folks and non church folks alike excited about God.

One of the piece of our vision statements is "To be God's love with our Global neighbors" That statement really excites me. Although I have to stop and think what does that mean?

I have to go to my perspective of faith and Methodist history to understand what that statement means for me. My first thought goes to the idea of 'soul' I'm not sure that my idea of 'soul' would make it through the theological rigors of my friends who really study this kind of thing, but for me soul is that little piece of God that dwells in each of us. In order for us to be engaged in relationship with God we have to engage that piece in our self and in others. In order to understand just how I would do that I turn to the book of James and our founder John Wesley. James' idea of faith and works have been hotly debated, but for me it seems one of the easiest things to understand. If you are going to walk the walk than you better talk the talk.

This statement says to me that we want our churches to do a lot more walking. So what would that look like... Well there is no easy answer. It all depends on your place and where God is calling you to act. However, wouldn't it be great if whole congregations of people were focusing on what was going on outside their buildings? A colleague told me a story of a church group that was trying to get involved within their neighborhood so they brought some pizza over to the local housing project and started talking to the neighbors about what their problems were. The church has expected to hear about crime, or unemployment, child care. etc. They even had some ideas about what they could do about those situations. Instead, what they heard the neighbors complain about most were the rats. So what did the church do they found an exterminator and helped take of their rat problem. It doesn't sound churchy but that is what they needed most at the time.

So I think that is the first step. Churches need to know what their community needs. That involves going out and talking to community members. It means listening and not assuming.

Maybe there is a gang issue in the community. So instead of just doing summer VBS maybe a church holds VBS and an additional hour of working with kids to understand how not to be caught up in gangs.

In a rural community there is an invasion of an non-native plants that are hurting crops. How about the church bring in an expect to talk about ways of preventing the spread or salvaging the crops.

Instead of just having a soup kitchen, have church members sit down with those being served, building relationship and even invited those being served to serve....

Being God's love means a multitude of things. How are you going to engage your soul and how are you going to engage the soul of others?

How can I help?

2010-01-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

"How can I help?"
It's the first, most human response to a crisis or disaster.
People the world over are asking that very question today.
The United Methodist Church has the people and resources in place to assist anyone in offering support through prayer and giving.
Donations to disaster response through the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) are directed 100% to the targeted disaster situation.
A member of the Communications team in Troy Conference has created a bulletin insert descrbing how to help - the beauty of the document is that you can take it home from church and hand it anyone who may be seeking a way to respond.
With thanks for the prayers and faithful efforts of many, many people.

Download the document

Prayers and assistance for Haiti

2010-01-14T08:09:00.001-08:00

United Methodists are already responding to the crisis in Haiti.
Read about the UMCOR response.

Please hold the people of Haiti, and all those who are faithfully assisting, in prayer.
See the Bishops' invitation to prayer and response from the churches of Upper New York.

Gather with others - pray and dream UNY ministry

2010-01-14T07:42:00.001-08:00

A general invitation has gone out to the people of The United Methodist Church in Upper New York, to a time of prayer and dialogue around critical ministry questions:
Saturday, January 23
9 AM - 4 PM
Liverpool First United Methodist Church
Liverpool New York
find out more at: www.uppernewyork.org

Christmas Eve message from Bishops

2009-12-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

Don't forget! Bishops Matthews and Hassinger have composed a reflection for Christmas eve, available for download.

Churches are encouraged to print this for use with Christmas Eve bulletins. If it's too late for your church office to do so, don't neglect to read the reflection and share it in other ways - church website or January newsletter, for instance.

Blessed Christmas, all!

You supply the music

2009-12-20T17:19:00.000-08:00

A lighthearted gift of the season (you supply the tune):

On the 5th day before Christmas, the New ACT gave to us:
5 primary values
4 Areas of Focus
3 Simple Rules
2 Faithful Bishops
And a vision for Being God’s Love….

Primary Colors

2009-12-18T11:20:00.000-08:00

Here's a slightly different twist on the five values/principles affirmed by New ACT. These are described in more depth in the Convener's Blog.

I call these the "Primary Colors" of the new conference:

• The PRIMARY PURPOSE of the AC: to help persons “live the gospel of Jesus Christ and be God’s love to [their] neighbors."

• The PRIMARY MEASURE of the success of AC and its churches: the quality and quantity of relationships established with our neighbors, particularly those who have been disenfranchised by mainstream society.

• The PRIMARY TASK of the AC: to engage, equip, and empower local churches to be in ministry with and to our Global Neighborhood.

• The PRIMARY COMPONENT in pursuing that task: encouraging and developing leadership within the laity and clergy that is diverse and engaged with the vision of Christ.

• A PRIMARY RESOURCE to guide congregations and conference: the Four Areas of Focus of The United Methodist Church.

... the primary measure of success...

2009-12-17T13:16:00.000-08:00

In his blog - and in documents shared with the New ACT team recently, convener Bill Gottschalk-Fielding has laid out several principles guiding the work of the new conference. Here is one that particularly excites me:

“To be church” means “to be in mission;” therefore, the quality and quantity of relationships established with our neighbors, particularly those who have been disenfranchised by mainstream society is the primary measure of success for the annual conference, its congregations and its members.

So... United Methodists... how far are we willing to go, as followers of Jesus, in making "relationships... with our neighbors" the center of what we do, and the sign of how we are doing?

In a couple of districts in the UNY region, congregations have been asked to invite guests from the surrounding community to their annual church conferences, in order to listen to the needs of our neighbors and their feedback on how (or whether!) they see us.

Among these honored guests have been town administrators, emergency personnel, school nurses, social workers, and more. The feedback, and the opportunities for ministry, have been illuminating. How often do we turn our attention to those whom we serve instead of first focusing on "church business"?

An e-mail that arrived today sent me to the witness of a Jesus-followers dancing under bridges. I invite you to read and reflect on the testimony to the work of ordinary folks doing ministry-by-relationship, "helping people to feel human again."

Shalom!

Will they know us by our love?

2009-11-17T14:05:00.000-08:00

In a recent interview, the Rev. Nina Nichols of Christ United Methodist Church in Troy, N.Y., said the church was known in the community as “the church with the red doors that supports recovery.”

At the Rethink Church Training held Sept. 12 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Whitesboro, N.Y., the Rev. Danette Howell, pastor of Weimar Church in Weimar, Texas, said one way to find out what the community thinks of a church is to talk to funeral home directors, fire departments and police departments At the beginning of one of her appointments, the Rethink Church Trainer said the answer she heard was, “Oh, that’s the white church on the hill.”

Uh-oh, she thought, afraid that the statement implied the community viewed the church as ethnically exclusive. In fact, she learned, the church was white and sat on the hill—a description that, while not as negative as she feared, didn’t actually tell anyone what the church was about. In those two statements—“the church with the red doors that offers addiction recovery support,” and “the white church on the hill”—Nichols and Howell learned a community’s perception of their church could be positive, negative or neutral.

Do you know how your church is viewed by its neighbors?

Corporations and nonprofits spend big bucks every year controlling how their organization is viewed, encapsulated in their organization’s image or “brand.”

A brand, according to the Rev. Steve Horswill-Johnston, Executive Director of Communications & Brand Strategy for the General Board of Discipleship, is part how an organization defines itself, part the promise it makes to its constituents. For example, when you see the Disney logo, you know that anything associated with it will be family-oriented and brimming with happiness. Apple Computers promises to empower people creatively through technology. Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream brand promise blends a commitment to provide all natural, high quality ice cream with a commitment towards social activism and environmental responsibility.

Church people tend to cringe when words like “seller,” “advertising,” “marketing,” or “target audience” are used. But branding isn’t as crass as it sounds. Branding is really about being clear about who you are and what you have to offer, and being proactive in creating that clarity and promise.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.” (Read “What is Branding and How Important is it to your Marketing Strategy?”)

Most mainline denominations have a brand image: The United Methodists have the Cross and Flame, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has its Seal; the Episcopal Church has The Shield; and so on. Each represents the denomination’s understanding of itself, its theological and historical traditions and how it wants the world to understand it.

In the Upper New York area, we are creating a new promise to the communities and world we serve. Consider the vision statement for the new conference being born. What promise are we making to ourselves and to our neighbors? What image comes to mind that represents our shared dreams, commitments and work?

However, it isn’t enough to promise to live the gospel of Christ, just as it isn’t enough to say we’re Christian. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? … faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2:14 and 17NRSV).

It’s not enough to brand ourselves; it’s about keeping the promise, or covenant, we make with our neighbors. How will we be known in Upstate New York? Will we be known for our love?

For more information about branding and marketing, check out the new resource, Church Marketing Plan, created by United Methodist Communications …

A Name is a Name is a Name is Important

2009-10-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

I remember my mother telling me when I was boy that she and my father chose to name me Matthew because it meant “gift of God.” My parents didn’t choose “Matthew” because a great-great-great-great uncle had that name or because it was perpetually on the list of most popular baby names. They chose it because having a baby in their mid-thirties caught them off guard and saw me as being a gift of God. (I, of course, never miss an opportunity to point that out to my older siblings!)

When the Northeastern Jurisdiction College of Bishops announced that the name for the new Episcopal Area would be “Upper New York Area”, I thought to myself, “where did they come up with that name? I’ve never even heard the term “Upper New York” before. That’s just stupid.” Needless to say I was not a fan of the name…

Then time came for New ACT Communications to sift through the hundreds of name suggestions in order to make a recommendation to New ACT. I’m not a parent yet, but I sure felt like one during that process. Choosing a name is a huge deal. We sorted recommendations into various categories and gave each thoughtful consideration (well, except for my personal suggestion—“The Empire State Strikes Back Annual Conference”.)

There were suggestions using various names from our Native American brothers and sisters. The decision not to use such a name came down to this: do we want the desire to appropriate a name to be the reason for being in dialogue with these brothers and sisters?
There were suggestions using geographical features. They were actually really cool names, but then came the realization that our conference does not have a single unifying geographical feature. I’m excited that Niagara Falls and Lake Champlain will be within the bounds of our conference, but how would they relate to someone in Cortland or Mexico (as in Mexico, New York)? Yes, there is the matter of the Erie Canal running the width of the new conference, but again, how would someone in Alexandria Bay or Corning necessarily relate to a conference with that name?
There were suggestions using various church/religious language, as well as New York nicknames and mottos. The suggestions were also great, but as someone who grew up in the Wyoming Conference, I had a very different opinion of using such a name. Full disclosure: I am excited that in a few months I will longer have to spend fifteen minutes explaining the history of Wyoming—the conference and the state—every time I leave the bounds of the conference!
So in the end, it basically came down to two options: “Upper New York” or “Upstate New York”. Both these names dominated the suggestions gathered this spring and became our recommendation to New ACT (I was still not entirely thrilled with “Upper New York”, but ultimately had faith in New ACT to make a thoughtful decision.)

When I received word of New ACT’s decision, my immediate reaction was “thank God we finally have a name—even if it’s not the one I wanted!” Helping to secure some social networking sites brought a whole new appreciation for the name "Upper New York". No one else uses that name, so it’s been far easier to secure and use without having to add “ac”, “annual conference”, etc. to the end.

Something else helped transform my feelings on “Upper New York”. This past weekend, I travelled to New York City for the first time in years. An hour east of Binghamton, my friend and I were no longer in the boundaries of the new conference, but I’m guessing our friends in Roscoe would consider themselves as being from Upstate. (I had friends in college from Westchester County that believed that they too were from "Upstate"!) Alas, what exactly are the boundaries of Upstate New York? Whose definition would we subscribe to? And let’s face it, using that name would intentionally exclude some brothers and sisters. Is that really how we want to begin our new ministry together?

Over the past week, I’ve come to really like the name “Upper New York” and the opportunities it affords us. (Hmm…where have I encountered transformational stories before?) In many regards, “Upper New York” now becomes synonymous with United Methodism in the area to the north and west of the Catskills!

I am a hockey fan (having one NHL and four AHL teams in our new conference excites me.) As a hockey fan, I feel obliged to watch the movie Miracle at least once a year. In it, Herb Brooks tells the 1980 US Hockey Team right before their match with the Soviet Team in Lake Placid that “great moments come from great opportunities.” On July 1, 2010 we have perhaps the greatest opportunity to come to United Methodism in New York State. How great is that we—like parents—will be able to chose a brand new name for a brand new conference?

The opinions expressed in this piece are those of the author and are not necessarily those of New ACT, New ACT Communications, or any Conference body.

Imagine New York churches...

2009-10-15T07:07:00.000-07:00

The following statement of faith is based in the Vision Statement guiding the work of the New Area Conference Team (New ACT) in New York state. On September 19, both New ACT and the Critical Questions Teams used this as a prayerful affirmation in worship.
You may use this Imagine affirmation in worship, group devotional time or in your personal prayer for the conference and its churches. The document can be downloaded for print.

Imagine the people of God in Upstate New York:
Growing in our relationship with God,
Being nourished by vibrant spiritual practices,
Speaking the truth in love
Developing Christ-centered and spirit-empowered leadership, lay and clergy
Trusting in God’s abundance and guidance

Imagine the people of God in Upstate New York:
Being the body of Christ within the world,
Becoming a community where people WANT to be
Showing hospitality by welcoming, engaging and serving in love with neighbor
Being transparent in word and deed
Embracing diversity among all God's children.

Imagine the people of God in Upstate New York:
Living in the way of Jesus Christ
Opening to new ways of being and doing Church
Trusting the ambiguity and messiness of change
Seeking courage to take risks
Connecting with one another and the world
Making decisions and planning with prayerful discernment
Transforming the work of the Church into an act of worship.

* * *
What do YOU imagine?