Views from the Wide Open Spaces

Rich in Heritage, Looking to the Future

2011-09-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

The Central Yellowstone group of NU Places 4 NU Faces had our weekend retreat at Luccock Park in the paradise valley. It was a glorious weekend. For those of us that had never been to Luccock it was a God gift of wonder and mountains that took our breaths away in their powerful jut to the sky. For those that had been in this Holy place before, it was a heartwarming homecoming.

Most of our time was spent learning a bit about each other, but mostly coming to understand John and Charles Wesley a bit better. Coming to understand: "Why 'Methodist'". We thank Marvin and Kay Lansverk for their gentle questioning, information and historical perspective. I can now say I feel better able to respond to the question "What makes Methodist's different?' or "Why are you a Methodist?"

We ended the weekend in a shared church service with all the Park County United Methodists. This was their third annual All Park County church at Luccock. It brought together Grace, Holbrook, Pine Creek and Shields Valley congregations. The message felt like a commissioning to those of us of the NU Places 4 NU Faces group, as Reverend Fred Amborn III spike about "Rich in Heritage, Looking to the future".

His message was about the rich heritage we have in Jesus Christ and the call from God to each of each to be in service and mission in Jesus name, reaching out to reconcile others to God. Sharing the news that all are God's children. All are to be reconciled. And isn't that what we are exploring here in the NU Places 4 NU Faces sessions?

Our next meeting will be October 1st from 9-3 at the Evangelical United Methodist church in Billings. I, for one, am looking forward to the Journey.

Humbly submitted: Marie L. Hamilton

Ch-ch-ch-changes....

2011-08-29T12:44:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I have blogged...there were so many changes happening, that I needed the dust to settle before I could get a read on what this blog would be about. That may yet be in a state of flux, but I'm getting more comfortable with the ambiguity of these times...

I am getting used to being home more....that is one of the changes--no longer working full-time as Director of Connectional Ministry. I am working quarter time for the Yellowstone Conference on a one year project called NUPlaces4NUFaces. This is leadership training for lay or clergy/lay teams who want to start new faith communities and/or new ministries in their existing churches. You can find out more at NUPlaces.org.

September 9-11 will be our final "recruiting" session, so I will report more about how many people have signed on after that weekend retreat. Check out the website if you would like to signup.

A New Old Thing

2011-07-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

Nancy Flint is United Methodist in Columbia Falls, MT. She has long time roots in the United Church of Christ prior to her joining the Columbia Falls United Methodist Church. Nancy is also one of the members of our Design Team for the Nu Places 4 Nu Faces leadership initiative.

Nancy forwarded the following excerpt from an on-line blogsite of a group of UCC writers called Stillspeaking. She saw some parallels with what we are doing with our "New Thning" called Nu Places 4 Nu Places. you can check us out at http://NUPlaces.org if you want to learn more.

July 1, 2011

A New Thing

Excerpt from Acts 11:19-26

“Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and they spoke the word to no one except Jews. But among them were some men…who…spoke to the Greeks also, proclaiming the Lord Jesus.”

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

So here’s what happened. The Apostle Stephen had been preaching in Jerusalem. As good Christian preaching sometimes will, his sermon angered his audience. They stoned him, and that understandably scared many of the other apostles out of town.

Not being timid people, they kept on preaching. And since they were Jews talking about the impact of the Jewish Jesus on the Jewish faith, they naturally talked about their faith only with other Jews. This was a sensible course of action—in theory. Problem was, it actually didn’t work very well.

But then some of them started doing a new thing nobody had really thought of before: talking to the Greeks, the non-Jews. The story says that it worked so well that apostles came running from all over the Mediterranean to check it out.

There was nothing wrong with the apostles’ first instinct; it just happened not to work very well, and a new thing was called for. Is there a place among the apostles you know, in your church, where a new thing is called for? Is there a way of doing things that made sense at the time, but just isn’t working so well, but that you keep on doing that way anyway? And if so, what are you going to do about it?

Prayer

God, give me the courage and vision to do a new thing for your sake when the old things stop working. Amen.

About the Author

Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the just-published Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

The Daily Devotional is now on Facebook. Become a fan!

The Stillspeaking Daily Devotional is a free service and is supported by your gifts to Our Church's Wider Mission. Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America,adapted. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Start Something?

2011-03-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever started something new? Yes? Then, the people called United Methodist in the Yellowstone Conference invite you to experience New Places for New Faces peer-learning course.

The New Places for New Faces course invites and prepares ordinary believers to start new faith communities for the purposes of an extraordinary God!

Together, lay people (non-pastors) and pastor/lay person teams will grow their abilities to:

• share the stories of Jesus Christ,
• create new places for prayer, worship, justice and fellowship that are relevant for today, and
• respectfully engage our neighbors and our neighborhoods as people and places where God Spirit already dwells!

CHECK OUT our COME & SEE events...
May 14th, Saturday, 9am-4pm
Grace UMC, 1935 Ave. B, Billings, MT 59102
May 21st, Saturday, 9am-4pm,
Sidney-Lonsdale UMC, 205 3rd Ave. SE, Sidney, MT 59270

June 8th, Saturday, 9am-3pm
Evangelical UMC, 345 Broadwater Ave, Billings, MT 59101

June 25th, Saturday, 9am-4pm
First UMC, 300 East Main Street, Missoula, MT 59802-4721

Please share this opportunity by personal invitation to other people you believe are called and gifted for this work. Please post the posters that are on our webpage http://nuplaces.org/ in your church and around your community. Thank you! contact Sue King, sueking@yacumc.org. 406-403-1004

New Places for New Faces: learning how to meet our neighbors again!

2011-02-08T16:57:00.000-08:00

Jesus asked people to offer light to those who sit in the dark
Jesus asked people to be like salt, adding flavor and feeding a hungry world.

What does that mean in today's vernacular??
A lot of people don't trust the church--we know that. But, most of our neighbors will admit that they believe in God, whether or not they agree about God's name or God's level of engagement in daily life of people.
And, most people think the world would be a better place if we all actually followed Jesus's teachings!

So what would it look like to be the community that trusts in God's promises and follows Jesus in the ordinary, daily stuff of life. How would you offer that perfectly salted food? What would it be like to bring light to someone in despair? Maybe it is learning to have meaningful conversations and offering hospitality to our neighbors--even if we don't know them yet.

Come and See! We invite you to join leadership training about creating new faith communities--shaping new places of exploring life and faith and growing together.

It is not about coming with a hidden agenda. It IS about building a community that tries to live and trust God like Jesus did.
COME and SEE!

Saturday, May 14, 2011 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
at Evangelical United Methodist Church, 345 Broadway Avenue in Billings.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011 9:00 - 3:00pm
at location to be determined, Billings, MT

New Faith Community in Seattle

2011-01-26T19:39:00.000-08:00

This article was just sent to me by Beth in Oregon-Idaho United Methodist conference....

Southeast Seattle’s new Valley & Mountain Fellowship will hold its first service and celebration at the Rainier Community Center, 4600 38th Ave. S., on Sunday, Dec. 19, from 4 to 5:15 p.m. But this will be an unusual religious experience.
After a short welcome and song, congregants will choose one of four different activities that will occur simultaneously, including meditation, yoga, creative artwork or making sandwiches for the hungry.
According to the Rev. John Helmiere, “Unlike most traditional church services, this range of choices will help provide each person with the opportunity to connect with the Holy in a way they feel moved toward at that particular time.”

Core values
Belonging to the the Valley & Mountain Fellowship only requires honoring its two core values of deep listening and creative liberation, Helmiere said.

“‘Deep listening’ involves listening to yourself, to others and to the spirit. ‘Creative liberation’ recognizes the need to liberate ourselves and others from oppression,” he explained, adding that “oppression” means “systems and cycles of harm and hurt.”

Read more at:
http://www.southseattlebeacon.com/main.asp?SectionID=26&SubSectionID=248&ArticleID=28584

Back to the Future: House Churches

2010-11-19T13:39:00.000-08:00

Today, there is a new, "old" movement toward forming house churches (also called house groups or cell groups) that are much like the "classes" used by the early Methodist movement. This summer an nationally printed article featured in the Great Falls Tribune quoted one source saying that an estimated 6-12 million people are currently attending house churches in the US. The trend toward house churches started 30 years ago in Great Britian, and continues today. See Fresh Expressions weblink in the side bar.

Some questions have been raised as some of us talk about house churches forming in the Yellowstone Conference to reach out to those people who aren't currently attending a church:
"Is forming house churches going outside the existing churches?", "Is this going to work against the denominaton?", and, "how are we going to stay a connectional church with house churches?" These same questions are still asked even in places that have already started using house churches with denominational sanction. See sidebar link to Bishop Graham Cray's remarks about fears about Fresh Expressions of church.

These are good, relevant questions we will ponder together. I'd like to use the next few blog entries to share some of my ponderings, and more importantly, much information through statistics, websites and video'ed interviews with current United Methodists leaders and other mainline denominational leaders.
But first, I'd like to reflect back on our Methodist roots...
When John Wesley and a few other like-minded Anglican priests decided to go outside church buildings to meet with people in public places and began meeting in private homes, they didn't do it with the idea of being outside the Anglican church. They were not trying to start a new movement, let alone a new denomination. They just felt compelled to share the love of God with people who wouldn't hear this Good News unless they tried a new way. John Wesley et al. didn't begin knowing what would happen, but they acted in response to their understanding of their situations, in their time. And, it changed what Christianity looked like from then on.

Many Christians, including United Methodist denominational leaders, feel that we are in the midst of great global and cultural shifts, that like John Wesley's times, will require us to embrace new ways of being witnesses to God's love in our world. See Call to Action weblinks in the side bar.

What the effect of forming a some house churches or trying some other new expressions of Christian living will have on United Methodism is not for us to know. That is God's business. (See Acts 1:8) But, if we act with integrity upon what we see, hear and know of our situation, in our time....praying all the while that we are participating as partners of Jesus Christ in God's Mission, surely we will continute to be transformed through God's enduring grace.

surely the presence of the Lord is in this place...

2010-08-01T06:37:00.000-07:00

Written from downtown Nashville, Saturday night, after a Grand Ole Opry show...

In the last two days, I have been participating in workshops at this year’s “School of Congregational Development”, a conference about all topics related to church starting and church vitalization, hosted by the United Methodist Church. I have learned so much. See http://www.path1.org/ and http://www.gbod.org/ for starters…

I’m enthralled by the conversations with peers and experts, worship, classes and compilations of resources. Kevin Kloster lead a great seminar entitled “Discerning if you are a new church missionary”. I’ve been inspired by narratives of ministries attempted, disciples made, and lives and communities made again, anew. Yeah, he’ll tell you with passion filled voice and shining eyes, it’s hard and risky work. But, it’s central to faithful Christian living—sharing the word that God cares for us, God suffers with and for us; AND, God doesn’t intend for the suffering to be the last word! It’s the Gospel—the Good News—that audacious proclamation of God’s Kingdom happening on your doorstep!

Over two days, I had an opportunity to explore whether I might have the aptitudes and that compelling desire (call) to be a new church planter. As a DCM, I need to know what characteristics are common and advantageous for new church pastors. I need to know what the process of starting a new church looks like and how to foster success. Finding, equipping, assessing and deploying leaders—clergy and lay—for the future churches and faith communities is part of a DCMs portfolio. But, as a follower of Jesus , I have long been intrigued by the idea of starting a new church. I participated in the first phases of starting Living Waters UMC as a member of parent church, then launch team in 2005-2006. And, I’ve been thinking seriously about what it would be like to start a church or new faith community myself, since Jurisdictional Conference in 2008. How would I go about it? Where? And, what kinds of faith communities offer relevant witness to God’s vision of kingdom in today’s context? What holy places will create spaces for today’s people?

Almost literally on the doorsteps of our School of Congregational, is another place of holy presence—the Ryman Auditorium, the home of the Grand Ole’ Opry. Empty, with rows of wooden curved pews laddering up two levels from the scuffed, wooden floors of the lighted stage, with gothic windows filled with colored panes of glass, the Opry feels like a church…there is a sense of holy community within its old, red bricked walls. Filled with clapping, toe-tapping audience, it’s a revival meeting! (It turns out the Ryman actually had its start in revival. See www.ryman.com and Carousel of Time: Thomas Ryman on YouTube.com) In the strains of Del McCoury Band bluegrass gospel and Vince Gill’s haunting lyrics in “Red Words”, I heard Jesus "preached" into the daily commons of life, work and love.

Meandering through the main floor and balcony open spaces, I peered through glass-fronted cases at photos and read about founders of bluegrass, rock-a-billy, country, and country-n-western. And, reading these words by Bill Monroe, father of bluegrass, I saw my intuition about the Spirit of the place is a shared experience…[Bluegrass has] “a hard drive to it. It’s Scotch bagpipes and ole’time fiddlin’. It’s Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It’s blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound. It’s plain music that tells a good story. It’s played from my heart to your heart, and it will touch you. Bluegrass is music that matters.”

Music—all kinds—was, and is still, part of our Methodist roots. In the classes with Kevin Kloster, we heard it is one of the most critical pieces to get right in outreach to the unchurched, or "dechurched" folks, who are turned off by what is commonly seen as church culture? To be authentic and relevant, church music needs to be of the people, rooted in their place and their times. Its gotta tell their ordinary stories and God’s extraordinary story. And, how awesome that we get to be a part of singing this Song!

Well, in honor of our musical roots and Nashvilles heros of faith, including Miss Minnie Pearl, that faithful Methodist gal….How-dy until tomorrow!

Day One of School of Congregational Development-- from David Burt

2010-07-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

Music City lives up to its name. Our hotel is just a block away from the famed Broadway in downtown Nashville. Walking up and down the several blocks one hears bluegrass, country, blues and rock drifting from the many clubs, restaurants and even ice cream parlors.
Day One of the School for Congregational Development –

I attended the first of two Intensive Sessions focused on Managing Conflict that Blocks Change. What is being shared in this special class dovetails perfectly with what I am also learning in the Center for Pastoral Effectiveness, that many in our conference have already taken. Staying in relationship with those who may be at odds with us is crucial. It isn’t easy, but it is vital.

Our opening Plenary featured Bishop Larry Goodpastor sharing learnings he has gained from reading the latest biography of Francis Asbury. Four lessons in particular stand out.

1. Asbury’s piety and perseverance excelled.
2. Asbury connected with ordinary people.
3. Asbury understood and used popular culture.
4. Asbury was a great organizer, but understood organization is in service to the mission.

We reflected on the need to capture Asbury’s outlook in the church today.

But the highlight of the day, for me, was this evening when a special showing of the film “Lost in Woonsocket” was made available to us. In a nutshell, it is the story of a film crew helping two alcoholic men make some dramatic changes in their lives, and how those men in turn changed the film crew and continue to affect other’s lives. Following the film, the film producer, a pastor featured in the film and one of the two men whose lives were changed took questions from the audience. The United Methodist initiative Special Program on Substance Abuse and Related Violence (SPSARV) sponsored this showing, and is currently developing a Bible Study which will be available to download to churches this September. How can the church respond to the ever-increasing challenge of addiction in our churches, communities and world? The film left a profound impact on me.

Blessings

david

You come as you are, but you'll not leave the same...

2010-07-24T06:27:00.000-07:00

This morning, I am still catching up on emails that came in during my vacation...mostly deleting the promotional emails because I am so far behind and I just don't have the time...

Over one email, I hesitated as my finger headed for the delete button. The email in question was from The Work of The People.com. I learned about Work for the People from Marcia McFee at last year's School of Congregational Development and like their image-based, provocative worship videos. I decided to check out the FREE interview with Leadership guru Sally Morgenthaler.

In the clip, Sally comments on the resistant to change in many existing churches, the leaders' challenges, and critiques the worship in traditional, missional and emerging churches--stating that worship must drive spiritual formation for the congregation. She critiques our expectations of church--if we are creating places of comfort and escape, rather than communities of grace and transformation, we aren't offering the Gospel of Jesus Christ! She quotes Will Willimon, Walter Brueggemann and discussess te churches need to rediscover the Ancient Church worship and lamentations if we are authentic in our attempts to reach people outside the churches doorsteps-- if we want to be relevant and offer real hope in people's lives.

Enjoy it or Not--I hope to hear from you! Sue
Visit: http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/index.php?ct=store.details&pid=V00778

Communication Tools for reaching new people...tips from the top!

2010-06-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

Just in from the wide open spaces of Columbia Falls....

"Larry Hollon of UM Communications has written I thought you might be interested in:

http://churchcultureandmedia.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-media-new-reality.html "

This will help you know what the right medium is for the message you want to share. Thanks, Dave!

It is all changing...again

2010-06-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

I know I've used the heading "It's all changing" before in this blog (January 28, 2010)...but it came up again today in lunch conversation with another friend. My friend is new to Methodism, returning to church from years of rejecting the institutional church --just like me and some others my age (late forties).

We each expressed our internalized feelings of anxiety that revolve around our perceptions that "everything" is changing--particularly institutions that once seemed "permanent bastions of society" to us. Yeah, it's a cliche, but we feel buffetted by the winds of change blowing gale force around us. We see changes within mainline churches, government agencies (city, county all the way to federal, international), communications (newspapers, phone companies), and commercial interests (Big Three auto companies and more)--not to mention the overwhelming changes to our planet's species and climate! We watch what is happening within our professions, paths once certain and safe, wondering what the changes will bring to our families and future. We know we are on the cusp of a new context for society....we wonder what it might look like.

We started to talk about other times of major shifts in society..the industrial revolution in England came up, so naturally I started to talk aobut John Wesley. Since my friend is new to Methodism, he had never heard of the impact of John Wesley of the Anglican church and Englands society by his "enthusiastic" Gospel of Social Holiness and Personal Piety. It was brand new.

And, we talked about Wesleyan covenant groups--small gatherings of people committed to discipling with each other. These covenant groups once helped Wesley's "Methodists" navigate the unsettled waters of personal and social changes they were experienceing. My friend and I talked about our longing for that kind of small group in our lives--people you know "got your back" but are going to speak the truth to you, too, when you need to hear it.

I would like to hear more from people currently in small covenant groups...anyone out there? How's it going?

Staying strong side-by-side

2010-06-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

In the last hour, I have been talking with two Angolan friends, both young Methodists, by Instant Message. We have not talked for awhile--busy schedules and odd hours prevented connection. (Remember there is a 7-10 hour difference in time zone between Angola and US).

Towards the end of the conversation, one of my friends wrote "I feel very strong when I am by your side- don't let me be alone." The funny thing is, I feel that, too.

Isn't this why we value the connectional nature of our United Methodist church? Why we hold an annual meeting? In our hearts and our spiritual lives, we are stronger together than we are alone, though God is always present. Jesus knew this about us.

Reflecting upon this weekend's annual session of the Yellowstone United Methodist Conference , I feel stronger and more hopeful than I did. I believe we are in a place of promise with a promising outlook, though the labor will challenge every fiber of who we are.

What do you think? I invite you to share with your feedback--positive and negative.

Here are some other voices heard around the edges of the annual session....and, blog links on the sidebar, too...

"We all have two hands-one hand to give and the other to receive."

"It is the intersection of giving and receiving where mission occurs. We must relearn our story by finding our own stories, listening to others' stories, and knowing the stories of the Bible.

What will you do to find this intersection?"

"The local churches #1 missional responsibility is the missional costs. How are you going to ensure your church pays its missional funds in full?"

"Health is a social responsibility of ours."

"This budget is a compromise."

"We will do great things in the years ahead, and we still will stumble and fall and hurt each other."

"Come. Holy Spirit, come."

Learning for Leaders on the go....

2010-04-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Podcasts are wonderful learning resources of interest to those of us who drive long distances with great views....Here are some examples of the many podcast topics from Albin Institute, via this link: http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=4738
Download and Drive!

Time Management: Brad Agry, a consultant and coach, describes the challenges of time management for congregational leaders and offers some tips for changing the way you approach your day.

Conflict in the Congregation, What It Can Mean
Alban senior consultant Susan Nienaber discusses how conflict in a congregation isn't always a negative, plus, what she will cover in two upcoming webinars.

Strategic Leadership for Change
Ken McFayden describes the leadership challenges for congregations facing their losses, coping with change, and envisioning the future.
Know Your Story and Lead with It
Dick Hester and Kelli Walker Jones share what they have learned about clergy narrative groups and the power of knowing your story. They are the authors of Know Your Story and Lead with It: Narrative in Clergy Leadership.

Getting Unstuck in Turbulent Times
Alban senior consultant Susan Nienaber discusses what you can do to get "unstuck" as a congregation during turbulent times. What are the signs that a congregation is stuck? How do you talk about it?

Playing well together....

2010-04-19T11:34:00.000-07:00

Partnerships as part of growing missional churches...

Alban Institute recently hosted a gathering of church people most likely to NOT be gathered together. What was the common link that drew them together?

The reality of trying to be missional churches in a new age, with few of the traditional funding resources available created, unintentionality, a gathering of diverse Churches, each seeking ways to fund engagment of the Gospel in the life of communities. The intention of the meeting was not to see how similar the attendees were, nor to develop a diverse coalition of people of faith. In fact, the members were respectfully clear about who they were, but it just wasn't the focus of the training. They were there to learn how to form partnerships and become non-profit church organizations for benefit of the community they serve.

The possiblity of Partnership between people of broad differences for a common mission is described by Wayne Whitson Floyd in the article "Playing in the Same Sandbox:Why Partnerships are the Future of American Congregations." You can read that article at:
http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=9012

Methodists on Glenn Beck's warnings to "run for the door"

2010-03-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a great time to be a Methodist!

We get to talk out loud again in all sorts of media about social holiness and personal piety--the pillars of Wesleyan practice of Christianity--thanks to the fire storm touched off with Glenn Beck's comments--read them at http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/08/glenn-beck-urges-listeners-to-leave-churches-that-preach-social
(Yeah, I'm just now catching up thanks to an evening following some blogs and catching up on FaceBook! Does anyone else find themselves waaaay behind on FB?)

Here's a couple UMC responses...one official, one perfectly hilarious!
http://www.umportal.org/article.asp?id=6556 Bishop Sally Dyck on Social Justice
http://www.nathanmattox.blogspot.com/ While I searching for "U2charist" resources on YouTube, I found this tongue-in cheek letter to Mr. Glenn Beck from Rev. Nathan Mattox, UMC pastor in Morris, OK

Little Red Book being distributed to churches
Dear Mr. Beck,

I heard what you said about social justice being a covert word used by secret communists and nazis in the church to advance the common agenda of those groups. I am disturbed and alarmed. My own church uses that secret code word on their church website, which is umc.org . I feel even more threatened because I began to notice lots of "Little Red Books" around the church. I have heard that this is a famous communist book so I began to grow even more enraged and appalled when I noticed that it said things like "All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need." and "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you." These are only a couple of lines from that wretched commie tract, and it's chock full of stuff like that. I feel so threatened and alarmed and disturbed and appalled and enraged that my head is spinning. Please give me some orientation with your words of determination and resolve and purpose! You told me I needed to run as far from my church as I can, but where can I find a church without those Little Red Books in them? I'm beginning to notice that they are everywhere, even in motel rooms! They even put little pocket sized copies of them in the children's Sunday School classrooms to infect their precious little innocent minds.

Praise the Lord, and Pass the Ammunition!

Nathan Mattox
Morris, OK

Operation Resurrection: Haiti

2010-02-12T14:14:00.000-08:00

At Western Jurisdiction meetings last month, Bishop Elaine Stanovsky presented a proposal for the churches in our eight annual conferences to collaborate on Operation Resurrection: Haiti. Today, one church put a video on Facebook about their approach to Operation Resurrection: Haiti.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1375421030670,

Here's a summary of the proposal adopted unanimously by Western Jurisdiction Leadership Team:
GOAL # 1:     Plan to learn about Haiti’s history, culture and economy.
GOAL # 2:     Gifts totaling $100,000 for recovery and relief through UMCOR
     HOW CAN I HELP?
           Remember the people of Haiti in worship and receive a special offering
           Encourage a discipline of Lenten giving
           Make a personal contribution
           Host a Haiti relief fundraiser with your neighbors
For more information or to give on-line go to http://www.umcor.org/. Gifts through your local church should be marked for “UMCOR Advance #418325.”

GOAL # 3:     25 Volunteer in Mission (VIM) trips to Haiti over the next 5 years
     HOW CAN I HELP?
           Schedule and organize a team from your local church, district or conference
           Join a group that someone else is planning
           Sponsor a young person to join a VIM team
     Contact Heather Wilson, Western Jurisdiction UMVIM Coordinator at http://www.umvimwj.blogspot.com/

GOAL # 4:     Replace 23,000 Health Kits that have already been shipped from UMCOR West Depot
     HOW CAN I HELP?
           Ask members of your Sunday School Class, Youth Group, or UMW to assemble health kits and send to UMCOR West (1479S 700 W, Salt Lake City, UT, 84104) or send $12 per kit to UMCOR West marked #901440 for Health Kits
           Schedule a VIM team to travel to Salt Lake City to help assemble kits

A Crash Course on Social Networking to Reach New People, Younger People

2010-02-01T16:58:00.000-08:00

Want to connect with 18-35 year olds in your community? Want to know what they are looking for? Want people to know the ethos and location of your church?

Better do your homework!
Check out these links:
http://www.rethinkchurch.org/
http://www.find-a-church.org/
http://www.10thousanddoors.org/

Heard that social networking is essential to"Rethinking Church"?
Start with Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/login.php
Or, maybe you would like to express yourself on a blog? Go to http://www.blogger.com/
Thinking about getting started with Twitter or just want to know what it is, but not sure where to begin?
Check out this weblink to view a video how to twitter: http://www.howcast.com/videos/149055-How-To-Use-Twitter

Changes proposed from the Connectional Table

2010-01-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

Early Sunday morning, I take off to attend the annual meeting of Association of Directors of Connectional Ministry (ADCM) in San Antonio Texas. Among the work we will be doing together, listening to Adam Hamilton and other great speaker, we will be hearing from the Connectional Table about proposed changes in the United Methodist Church:

The seven recommendations of the proposal include:

1. developing metrics for effectiveness and accountability across the church
2. rebuilding a leadership development system with special attention to young people;
3. eliminating the guaranteed appointment;
4. recasting the quadrennial General Conference;
5. reordering the life of the church;
6. establishing a “global office” or central organizing center for coordination and efficiency; and
7. constructing a viable financial future.

For a full discussion of these topics, please go to Mary Brooke Casad's website http://abouttheconnection.blogspot.com/

It's all changing...

2010-01-28T11:53:00.000-08:00

January 22-24, 2010 I attended a United Methodist training about Creating a Culture of New Church Starts for leaders of eight annual (regional) conferences in the Western Jurisdiction of the United States. I enjoyed the enthusiasm, passion and excellant presentations by all of the panelists and speakers.

I was particularly struck by the frequent statement "it [starting a new church] is much harder now than it was." "Things are different now than they were 20 years agon, even 10 years ago." from those pastors who were formerly new church start pastor, now turned church developers for their annual (regional) conferences.

It's really not about being better or working harder at the same things we once did. I heard someone say... It's not about doing things right...it's about doing the right things. But, I wondered, do we even know what the "right things" are?

A pastor from Huntley sent this link out to those of us who are reading "Missional Leader" by Romanoff and Roxburgh...it's an article from the Lewis Center about quantifying some of the "discontinuous changes" we are all experiencing as we consider being church now and tomorrow.
http://lifelongfaith.com/assets/docs/FF2020-TrendsSummary.pdf.

What are the "right things" that you are doing?
How do you know that they are the "right things"?

God Next Door

2010-01-07T17:46:00.000-08:00

We live in a networked world, right? Don't we get to choose our e-neighbors by virtue of our "networked status"? Yes, though we gain much by those relationships, we are losing the fabric of our communities when we neglect those neighbors of proximity, says Simon Holt Carey, author of God Next Door.

Hear Alan Roxburgh's video interview of Carey in a two-part series at
part I http://vimeo.com/7526008
part II http://vimeo.com/8584659
(You may need to turn your sound way up, Carey is soft spoken.)

Leading Ideas: A Resource for Church Leaders

2010-01-06T13:59:00.000-08:00

Leading Ideas: A Resource for Church Leaders
This edition of Leading Ideas from the Leadership Institute has two articles worth reading for any church leader-clergy or lay. The first article, Planning for the Attendance Seasons in the Church Year, by Lovet H. Weems, Jr. talks about how the Seasons naturally create opportunties for welcoming new people--but you have to work at it!
The second article, by Dr. Robert Crossman, discusses several ways to foster greater attendance among current church members. The complete version is published as a free-download at http://www.churchleadership.com/pdfs/50_Ways_to_Increase_Worship_attendance.pdf

To subscribe to the Lewis Center’s free biweekly online newsletter, Leading Ideas, go to

http://www.churchleadership.com/.

More Resources on Missional Leadership...

2009-12-05T15:18:00.000-08:00

Are you wondering what all the buzz about missional church in the Yellowstone Conferenc is these days?

Me too, so I'd like to share what others have generously shared with me. Rev. Mark Calhoun sent this link to a multitude of resources on the missional church--even e-books to download.
http://www.pdfgeni.com/book/Missional-church-pdf.html

Here's one of my favorite links from the weblink above http://www.missionalchurch.org/pages/faq.pdf

If you've ever asked these questions, you'll want to check it out.

What is the difference between a missional church and a church with a mission program?
What’s so new about the missional church? Aren’t we already missional?
Is “missional” a real word?
Does being a missional church mean starting a lot of new activities? People in our congregation are already so busy.
Is this a technique to help our congregation grow?
Does being a missional church mean that evangelism is more important than Christian education?
What connection does the missional church concept have with the unique situation churches are facing in North America?
Can the church simultaneously be both nonconformed to the world and engaged in witness to Jesus Christ in the world? Isn’t that risky?
Where do we start to learn more about the missional church concept?

Missional Leadership--What does it look like?

2009-10-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

These last two weeks, I have been part of responding to the Western Jurisdiction Committee on Conferences proposal of merger of the Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain Conferences (http://desertsouthwestconference.org/wj/) with an alternative proposal that would retain traditional identities of the Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain Conferences (soon to be posted on http://www.yacumc.org/).

I find my reflections and work have been influenced by reading "The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World" by Alan J.Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk. This is the book that Bishop Elaine Stanovsky has asked all Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain Conference clergy and lay leadership to read--it will be the primary text for the Professional School of Ministry next spring.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the first two chapters...If any strike a chord with you, I hope you'll post your replies on my blog found at http://theviewfromthewideopenspaces.blogspot.com

"discontinuous change is dominant in periods of history that transform a culture forever, tipping it over into something new. The Exodus is an example
....Discontinuous change is disruptive and unanticipated....the skills we have learned aren't helpful in this kind of change....What do congregational leaders do when the skills that have been effective in drawing people in and building it up no longer get the same results because the growing numbers of emerging generations are no longer interested in being attracted into a church building or joining the church programs?
Congregations Still Matter...Through the Incarnation, we discover that God's future is at work not where we tend to look but among the people we write off as dead or powerless to make things different....But they need leaders with the skills to cultivate an environment in which the Spirit-given presence of God's future may emerge among the people of God.....A congregation must become a place where members learn to function like cross-cultural missionaries rather than be a gathering place where people come to receive religious goods and services

....the most important currency a congregation has to spend is hope.

"to all who boldly declare that the congregation has no future in an emergent, postmodern world, the biblical imagination has another response...God meets God's people with the bright light of the Kingdom in what appears to be the most hopeless and forsaken places....God seems to be present where there is little or no expectation.....

The biblical narratives are full of stories about places and people without hope who become centers of the Spirit’s creative, world-changing activity.....These stories demonstrate not some optimistic wishful thinking but a conviction about the God we encounter in Jesus....."There is nothing in these stories about getting the wrong people off the bus and getting the right ones on to accomplish great ends and become the best organization in the world."

Consider this story of God at work in this "re-think of church", started in a conversation over coffee with 3 missional people from a congregation of 11 that had dwindled from a "once bustling 1,133 members", http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.2042371/k.9D41/In_the_News.htm

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

I will be taking the weekend off to spend with my family. May all have time for refreshment and renewal in this last weekend before the bustle of the school and church cycles return. God's blessings are everywhere--take time to notice!

John Wesley's Health Care Plan

2009-08-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

"How are our congregations involved in healing?"

Dr. Scott Morris, MD, MDiv of of the Church Health Care Center in Memphis, Tennesee was our plenary speaker today at the United Methodist Training for District Superintendants and Directors of Connectional Ministry.

As pastor and medical doctor, he urged our leaders to reclaim the connection between body and soul. "We need to remember that there are three primary themes of Jesus' ministry--preaching, teaching and healing. And, we cannot just focus on the first two if we want to be Christ's people continuing Christ's ministry."

Morris reminded us that John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, was greatly interested in medical treatments for the common maladies of his times. He was advocating various cures and practices that were far advanced over the comman practices of bleeding patients or giving them oral doses of liquid mercury pills, a toxic metal! He expounded upon the virtues of drinking clean water (instead of gin), fresh air, getting exercise, and taking only one medicine per illness. Okay, he did advocate electrification, too, but maybe he was the father of "AEDs" as well as Methodist?!

Morris suggests the church might promote healing by...

reclaiming it's place in Society in talking about health as Wholeness (Body, mind and soul),
articulating and modeling excercise and healthier eating,
discussing Death as the natural conclusion of life and not as the Enemy that must be put off at any price,
discussing healthcare and end of life choices with a relevant message of Life, Death and Hope.

See more about the actions and the message that Dr. Scott Morris and others are offering at
http://www.hopeandhealing.org/ and http://www.churchhealthcenter.org/

Juggling as a Spiritual Discipline

2009-08-25T20:09:00.000-07:00

Today we spent more time learning about three important areas of our work as Directors of Connectional Ministry:

New Church Starts and Church Revitalization,
Understanding our and others Leadership Strengths
Managing Time to ensure Ministry and Self Care

And, we learned (or attempted) to learn to juggle.

Today at School for United Methodist Directors of Connectional Ministry (DCMs), I shared a little about the blog that I stayed up late last night to write when we met together this afternoon. My new DCM colleague, Dan Dick, who has done some excellant work about Church Revitalization has a provocative blog that I and many others enjoy. Dan connected me with this excellant and sobering study he did while with the General Board of Discipleship about the importance of self-care for lay and clergy, and the results of neglecting self care. He writes, "One of the main questions we explored was, “how deep is the well from which you draw?” We explored over 200 pastor’s prayer lives, engagement with scripture, worship lives, self-care, and personal relationships to better understand how pastors renew their spirit and stay grounded in Christ." The results are in this blog:
http://doroteos2.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/how-deep-the-well/

In reflecting upon today's main topics of DCM school I can't help but think that we can hardly talk about Church Revitalization and New Church Starts and Leadership without looking at the spiritual life and practices of the clergy-lay teams that lead our congregations.

This year, I hope to test my own thesis. I believe that we can transform our conference by becoming a transforned people--that intentionally focusing on developing deep committments to prayer, spiritual reading, worship and performing self-demanding acts of mercy and justice will transform our leaders, who will transform our small groups, who will transform our churches and their communities and the world.

I did not say change, but transform. Flora Slosson Wuellner writes, "Change refers to adaptation, reaction, without necessarily involving any newness of being....Transformation implies a new being, a new creative energy flowing from the center which acts with creative power upon surrounding events." (from Weavings, May/June 2009)

Learning something new, creating something new causes our brains to function differently and better. Life long learning has been shown to be a life-giving behaviour. We DCMs were asked by our coaches, "When will you make time to learn something new?" And, they gave us some practice--imagine more than a dozen people standing in a front yard of a sedate home in Lake Junaluska, NC, tossing one or two little bags over and over in front of them. Only a couple of people ventured on to three bags!

What do you make time for in your schedule that is life-giving? What patterns of behavior are transforming you and your part of the world?

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Paul writing to the followers of the Way in Rome

moving....and moving on to perfection

2009-08-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

"Vigilance, self-knowledge and discernment; these are the guides of the soul." --Abba Poeman

I am using two favorite publications for my morning prayer time that I refer to as "having coffee with God . They are "A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants", compiled by Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck, and the May/June 2009 issue of "Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life". The over arching theme of this issue of Weavings is "Cling Always to God". Both of these are published by the Upper Room publishing house. http://www.upperroom.org/

Today's scripture readings from "Guide", Psalm 18 and John 14:1-11, and the"Weaving's" first article by Dr. Roberta C. Bondi called "Traveling On" have been sticking with me throughout my day here at the School for New Directors of Connectional Ministry and District Superintendants. Maybe it is because so many of us are starting a new path of discipleship as leaders? Many of us are talking about how our lives have changed, how we have moved to new places, how we and our families are adjusting, and what it is that we think we need to do and ......Though we bemoan the stress of upheaval, we are feeling excited about what might be coming our way, too.

Bondi writes about moving as having the potential for good in our inner lives. She says that 5th century Christian monastics, the desert mothers (ammas) and fathers (abbas), made their lifestyle choice recognizing that "being uprooted from our ordinary ways of living in the world" can "make the invisable visable to us in a special way". She suggests "by looking at where we hurt when we move, we are able to see what we actually value most and evaluate what we see." Particularly revealing , she suggests, might be evaluating the patterns of relationship, feelings, and behaviors that repeat from move to move. We may find these are the places that most need God's healing power. I liked this particular story among those she shares from the abbas and ammas...

"A brother was restless in the community and often moved to anger. So he said, "I will go and live somewhere by myself. And since I shall be able to talk or listen to noone, I shall be tranquil, and my passionate anger shall cease." He went out and lived alone in a cave. But one day he filled his jug with water and put it on the ground. It happened suddenly to fall over. He filled it again and again it fell over. And this happened a third time. And in a rage he snatched up the jug and broke it. Returning to his right mind, the knew the demon of anger had mocked him, and he said, "I will return to the community. Wherever you live, you need effort and patience and above all, God's help." *

I still don't like moving, but I am pondering what I observe about my reactions. I know that the feeling of disequilibrium is natural and remind myself that "this too shall pass". But this time I sip and and ponder, thankful for that cup o' joe and Grace. I might just learn something before this is all through.

*quoted by R. Bondi (originally from "Of Patience, or Fortitude" 33, "The Sayings of the Fathers" in Western Asceticism, trans. Owen Chadwick (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1958), 92.)

SAME Cafe adds new twist to "Give Them Something to Eat"

2009-08-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Facebook friends have alerted me to a new dining experience at SAME Cafe, in Denver, Colorado. It is the intent of So All May Eat, Inc. to build a healthy community by providing a basic need of food in a respectful and dignified manner to anyone who walks through the door. SAME Cafe is unique in the lack of a set menu as well as set prices.

You can find SAME Cafe at:

Location:
2023 E. Colfax Ave.Denver, CO, 80206
Phone:
(720)530-6853
Tues - Sat:
11:00 am - 2:00 pm

United Methodists in Chester speak in Health Care Debate

2009-08-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

WIDE OPEN SKIES (AND POLITICS) is the headline for one of today's New Yorks Time video that voices the many voices in the health care debate in Montana. http://nytimes.com/ The voices of United Methodists in Chester, Montana are heard along with video clips from President Obama, Senator Max Baucus, Govenor Schweitzer, and activist on both sides of the health care debate in Montana.

Go to the New York Times website http://nytimes.com/ scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the "video"box, click on the politics tab of the "video" box, and there you'll see Grover Briggs, Margaret Novak, and Chester, MT.

2009-08-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

Monday was a day of Celebration for the Blackfeet Nation as they dedicated their new High School in Browning, Montana. The celebration was opened with prayer led by Chief Earl Old Person followed by ceremonial presentation of flags and and drumming by various Blackfeet groups before the ribbon cutting by the Board of Trustees at the front entrance. Then we moved into the gymnasium for welcome by the Browning high school principal and presentation of certificates for the trustees and the superintendent. We celebrated the gifts of art for the walls of the new high school presented by another band of Blackfeet and by the Native American Bank. The words of Tribal Chairman, Willie Sharp, inspired us to celebrate the good of the past, but to focus on bringing in a new era in Blackfeet community history. All of the speakers related the story of being a community that comes together to identify, plan and work together to achieve it's own goals for the good of the community.I was glad to be sitting in the back row of a gymnasium of people on folding chairs, seated next to Rev. Jim Barth, his wife Larissa, and lay leader Gail Hoyt and her daughter who is heading back to University of Montana later that day. We celebrated to clap and stand in numerous ovations for the people in the community of Browning, Heart Butte, and Babb who working together as a community to achieve their goal. In reflecting on the sometimes paternalistic role , at best, and opportunistic role of church and government institutions interacting with Blackfeet people and their education in the past, I was glad to see the day arrive when we sat in the back row and the majority of the dignitaries on the stage were Native peoples. Over lunch at the school cafeteria and later at their parsonage, I got to hear the story of Jim and Larissa. I heard how Jim came to choose a life of faith and commitment to Jesus Christ at age 14 while on a mission trip at Heart Butte. I heard how three years ago, Jim and Larissa were betrothed while on top of Heart Butte mountain overlooking the Nations lands. Upon finishing his MDiv., Jim was thrilled to find an appointment here in the place where God first called his heart, mind, body and soul. Jim and Larissa are from Pennsylvania, so they could use a few nw friends who want to hea more of their story and support the ministry that God is doing in the Blackfeet Parish. You can check out their website (they humbly and quickly excused it as "under construction") and find their contact information and about the Blackfeet Parish misnistry www.bumpmission.com

Day Four at the School of Congregational Development

2009-08-01T09:12:00.001-07:00

Music for new ears--and old, too!
A couple of times in the last three days, I have attended a session or workshop other than the one I was signed up to attend. Each time I was impressed with the timeliness and excellence of the information or insights I gained. This afternoon, I decided to sit in on a session called "Music for New Churches"...the presenter, Dr. Marcia McFee said she didn't choose the title. What she was presenting could be used for "old" churches as well as "new"!

"This isn't one size fits all!", said Marcia. "I'm not going to give you a list of songs for an "opening set". I'm not going to tell you how many songs/hymns should be in every service. I'm not going to tell you that you should have "one of this" and one of that" in your musical repertoire each week. I'm not going to tell you which genre will draw in which "crowd"--because that's an old paradigm for thinking about music..."

"Your repertoire of music is created in order to serve the other things you will be thinking about...
How do we create an environment in which we experience the Holy,
...in this particular way?
...on this particular day?
...in this particular context?
....with this particular message?
What "feel" is needed in this moment?
How will the music literally move us on this journey of communicating the message?
How will the music help us answer the need for ritual?

If we are going to start "a new thing", we need to ask, 'What is the ethos of the new thing?'"

Subsequently, Marcia took us through a full gamut of music styles, interspersing our singing with tips and ideas for creative ways to engage people in the ritual and tension of worship. She gave website links, showed music videos that could be part of worship or small group centering or focus prayer. Several links are on the right side of today's blog as Top Ten Take Homes. To learn more, visit www.marciamcfee.com and select "reflections" to see notes and weblinks for several music genre.

Day Three at School of Congregational Development

2009-08-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

We were brought to our feet and to the alter by Dr. Cecelia Harris prophetic message about how easy it is to forget that our work is not our work, but it belongs to God. We were inspired as a denomination to remember that our first calling is always the most central--that it is God who tells us to share his word with others, that we don't need to wait for "they" to give us permission to do what God has already called us to do. There isn't any chance that I can begin to recreate the worship experience that inspired 600 people here in Evanston, Il. So, I have signed up purchase all of the plenary sessions messages here and will work with Conference Office to get them on our website in a downloadable form when I return to Montana.

Path1 is our UM initiative to provide training to lay people and clergy in our conferences to start new churches. Today, I was invited to hear about pilot projects of 5 annual conferences to use Path1 new training resources for lay people to be leaders in new church starts. Some laity will be new church planters and some will be members of new church start teams working along side a new church clergy or an "Anchor church" partner clergy. www.path1.org

Equipping and assessing the spiritual gifts and maturity of lay people who have a desire to share their faith with others is the focus of the Lay Missionary Planting network training offered by PAth1 to annual conferences who have made a commitment to reaching out to new people. And, in many regions where there are not enough trained clergy or clergy of the majority ethnic identity, the lay planted churches are the only option for starting and growing faith communities of United Methodists. There is a viewing of a DVD on the path1 website at: http://www.path1.org/custom/index.php/home/listitems/117615/20080229120259EE487A/topic/date

More later!

Day Two at School of Congregational Development

2009-07-30T20:14:00.001-07:00

Living out the Wesleyan Way in the 21st Century was the theme of the day. My three favorite presentations were:
Plenary remarks by Rev. Dr Laceye Warner. She is an ordained elder in the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and serves as Associate Dean for Academic Formation and Programs and Associate Professor of the Practice of Evangelism and Methodist Studies at Duke University Divinity School. Rev. Dr. Laceye spoke with wit, humor, humility and truth-telling (she called it "meddling") about Wesleyan practices and modes of disciple-making and evangelism. The spiritual formation and the accountablity of the small groups, classes and bands, were central to making of disciples. The use of journals and sharing of journals within small groups were a way of tracking spiritual growth, service and accounting for use of time and money. She spoke about the difficulty of living out those same principles today in our frantic and wealthy society, and asked "How would it be if we share our checkbooks and our calenders with each other?"

General Board of Discipleship introduced two "Digital Diaries" featuring "Robby" and "Laura". "Exploration not Explanation" is the paradigm for "each open-ended short film that invites small groups to search, discuss and discover...pushing us to unwrap Jesus' teachings in a new way." I loved these 10-12 minutes film clips that felt much like the provocative "Joan of Arcadia" that I have found resonated with my entire family of four from the pre-schooler to the middle schooler and parents, too. It would work in small groups of young peoples as well as adults, or excerpts could be a leader into worship or bible study. The clips and study leader notes can be purchased as a download or hard copy from http://www.godfilms.com/ from $3.99 upto $9.99 for digital download options.

Growing Evangelism in our Disciples (Recovering our Wesleyan Roots) has my vote as the best, most practical presentations I've seen yet. Rev Doug Anderson, Executive Director of The Bishop Rueben Job Center for Leadership Development, Dakota Wesleyan University, Mitchell, South Dakota; http://www.bishopruebenjobcenter.org/ likened the process of growing a culture of outreach in the local church is a experiential, educational process, much like the education of a person from elementary school, to middle school, to high school, to college/tech school, to graduate school. His seminar and book called 'The Race to Reach Out' outlines the process to develop a culture of evangelism in congregations. Heres a brief synopsis of a section of his presentation.

Service Evangelism is elementary school for developing evangelism in your church. The best first step to get churches to reach out to others is through giving themselves, time and money, to others in service. It is important to start slowly, stretching people a little, but not 'up' folk out of their comfort zone too much. But, it isn't enough just to DO service, people need to hear from their leadership WHY they do service for spiritual formation to happen.

Faith Sharing in Small Groups is the middle school of evangelism. "How have you experienced God recently?" leads to group spiritual formation and peer-to-peer sharing and accountability. People develop understanding that God IS at work in their daily life, if they are just paying attention. And, they learn to feel comfortable thinking and talking about their own faith and understanding of God's presence in their lives. In a large group setting, having folks turn to their neighbor for one-to-one sharing will help make this sharing more comfortable at first.

Testimonies are equivalent to high school in evangelism process. A testimony is making the next step by publicly sharing your response to the question "How have you experienced God recently?" This is important to newcomers and to peers because it allows people to hear the word of God differently than they will hear it from the pastor.

Invitational Evanglism is college (or a good trade school, says Tim the Toolman Taylor). It is simply inviting someone you know to experience love, sharing, and maybe talk about God. And, this could be an invitation to a small group before extending an invitation to church. If you have taken your congregation from elementary school all the way to high school of evangelism than you may want to have a Invite a Friend to Church Day. (And, it doesn't count if you invite someone who already attends a church!! ) In the presentation, Doug outlined an intentional 7 week process to build support and participation in lay leadership and congregation through intentional prayer, intentional plan, and points of accountability and celebration. Discussion around questions about discomfort and push back and authenticity were lively and teaching moments in our groups. (I am looking forward to getting Doug's book 'The Race to Reach Out' to get more examples of practices used for outreach.)

Relational Evangelism is the graduate school of Evangelism. Yes, this is learning how to share my faith and experience of God with someone who isn't attending a church. This is done by 1) Listening to the person. Listening is best way to show someone you genuinely care about them; 2) Hearing each others stories and seeing how they connect; and, 3) Hearing and sharing how their story connects with God's story.

Top One Take-Home quote tonight....

" Events inspire; but processes transform. " - Rev. Doug Anderson

Day One at School of Congregational Development

2009-07-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

Bishop James Swanson opened the plenary with a message "Young People got Talent!".
Using the text of Daniel 1:3-7, Bishop Swanson spoke about the dilemma the Israelites found themselves in when the Babylonians carried the leadership away into exile. Specifically, King Nebuchadnezzar's plan to subjugate the captives was through demoralizing them by making them lose faith in Yahweh. His two pronged strategy was 1) to strip the temple of Yahweh and place the riches in temples for the Babylonian gods; and, 2) to change their names to eliminate that most basic reminder of their faith tradition and cultural identity. But, Swanson claims, the King made a grave error in thinking that the young would more susceptible to indoctrination and compromise than the older Israelites. It was the older folks wailing "How can we worship God when we can't go to the temple?!" But, the younger ones (Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) who understood that their faith in Yahweh transcended cultural norms and traditional temple practices about music and trappings. they understood that faith was about walking with God wherever they found themselves walking.
Many today are afraid of changes that need to be made in how we "do church" if we are to bring new people into relationship with Jesus. The old traditional practices may bring comfort to the old, but they do not reflect the only way to walk with God. And, the world is changing. Leaders of mainline churches need to rethink what church looks like for this new day and the new generations, and not be afraid to let our young people lead us 'cause they got talent!

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

2009-07-06T16:10:00.000-07:00

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is an icon of our popular culture. Some consider Baum's tale to be the first fairytale of post-settlement America, in the tradition of The Brothers Grimm or other folk tales. It's story of five friends on a quest for their hearts' desires. And, it has captured the hearts of people around the world... countless songs and movies refer to one or the other of the characters or lines of the movies. Mostly recently the epic movie Australia featured clips of the film and actors Nicole Kidman and Brandon Walters connect with each other thru the song "Somewhere over the Rainbow" which became the theme song for the 1930's Hollywood version of the classic story. [ How many movies, books or songs can you name? Send me ones you know about to post.]

In late March, I decided that I'd read the book "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" for the first time. Why? A friend had sent me a card that was the classic Hollywood figure of Dorothy (played by Judy Garland) in her blue-and-white checked jumper holding a picnic basket and the ever-scrappy terrior, loved and recognized around the world as Toto. Of course, inside the card were printed the pridictable words:

"There's no place like home!"

Yep, my friend sent me the card because I am returning home...home to Montana... home to Yellowstone Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church to become Director of Connectional Ministries for churches in Montana, N. Wyoming and a slice of Idaho.

Between March and July 1, the Dorothy figure was taped to my refrigerator offering hope and the promise of homecoming throughout the labor of transition. I began to meditate on the story of Dorothy and her companions, often struck by similarities with living in Christian Community as a Connectional Church. I think Dorothy and her companions show us what that looks like. I'd like to share some musings with you and hear your musings, too.

1) We all have needs that we can't fulfill by our own efforts. We need help from Someone who is bigger and wiser than we are. Dorothy, the Tinman, the Scarecrow and the Lion were clear about what each needed: a home, a heart, a brain and courage. And, they understood they lacked the power to get them on their own. They sought out the Wizard of Oz and later the Good Witch after Oz left by himself in the hot air ballon--see the book, not Hollywood version!

2) We need each other to learn that we do have gifts and talents we didn't know we posessed. If you read the book, you soon realize that the journey drew courage forth from the Cowardly Lion. Scarecrow was clearly the strategizer, while the Tinman was constantly at risk of seizing up with rust because of tears flowing freely when he was filled with compassion at the plight of others. We can't make the journey by relying just on our own talents--we need the leaders, the hearts, the brains, and all the courage we can muster together if we are going complete the journey to our goal. And, often we learn about ourselves and who we really are with the help and encouragement of our companions.

3) Leaders don't lose sight of the destination, even in the hard times, and they invite others to join them on the journey for the benefit of all. Dorothy was a leader, not because she was the strongest, the smartest or the bravest, though she possessed those qualities. She led because she was clear about who she was and where she belonged. She recognized the real needs of the others and offered the hope that they might all get their hearts desires if they traveled together.

4) If one of us in need, we have to keep on the journey together until that last one's need is satisfied. In the book, the Wizard of Oz leaves Dorothy behind when the hot-air balloon lifts off accidently, but the Good Witch doesn't come to the rescue with the secret about the power of the shoes. The Scarecrow has just been made Emporor of Oz, the Tinman has recieved his heart and the Lion has proof of his courage, but they all choose to risk more danger and hardship to continue traveling with Dorothy, seeking the Good Witch's help, so that Dorothy will also possess her heart's desire-- home. In the end, Dorothy does get home by the magical shoes. And, the Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Lion also receive additional, unexpected rewards and gifts that were never even part of their motives for staying with Dorothy. It's like that for Christians who venture out into risk-taking mission and service and radical hospitality, too. The blessings of Kingdom building along the way are unexpected and beautiful though the journey may be challenging and frought with hardship, too.

We in the United Methodist Church talk about being a Connectional Church--what does that mean?

It means our churches strive to work together, intentional in efforts to do mission and ministry together--even with our differences--that cannot be achieved by individual churches efforts. It means we believe in collective Wisdom to recognize God's plan for our churches and our ministry in this region called Yellowstone Conference. It means Jesus can change us and our world because we learn about Who we are and Whose we are as we journey together along Jesus' Way....
We are not alone. We belong to each other. And, we belong to God.