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The Alabama-West Florida Conference. CORE TEAM RETREAT “Thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” Philippians 1:5. We are the people of The United Methodist Church.
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The Alabama-West Florida Conference CORE TEAM RETREAT “Thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” Philippians 1:5
We are the people of The United Methodist Church We believe in – making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world
We live by two kinds of holiness Personal and Social
We follow three simple rules Do no harm Do good Stay in love with God
Acts 11:19-30; 13:1-3 • What does a New Testament Church look like?
Frontier Evangelistic Fruitful Disciplined-Teaching Generous Worshiping Fasting Missionary The “Signs” of A Great Church:
We have forgotten that our major work as a church isn’t increased attendance figures, dynamic programs, growing budgets, paying apportionments and expanded facilities – it’s spiritual formation. That is what the Great Commission is all about – making disciples.
Let’s Assume This is What God Desires for The Church Then a vision begins to emerge: Every congregation can be an obedient, healthy, missional, evanglistic congregation, regardless of size! The specifics of this are listed in Acts 11-13
The Face of Ministry Video Clip of how ministry often looks
This New Testament Church Becomes • The Target Toward Which We Move • The Goal We Aim To Achieve • The Picture We Hold Before Our Churches • As Conference Leaders how do we affirm this? • This is not the “Love Boat,” This is an “Ice Breaker.”
Think of our Conference as a “Ship” - we could not turn the ship 90 degrees without doing a lot of damage. As long as we are turning the ship toward the goal, we remain faithful and know eventually we will obtain the goal.
We need to develop more sensitivity to what the Spirit is leading us to be and do. You’ve heard this before, but sometimes we need to be reminded of the basics. We need to be reminded of God’s original intent for his church.
If we look at research and what is working elsewhere, we can find useful clues to guide our conference, district and congregational planning.
Planning Is Important All planning must be done under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and instruction of the Word. Even when we use models of ministry suggested by research, we must learn to be more dependent upon God and more open to direction from the Spirit.
Study looked at churches and asked why some were effective and others not effective. Spent One Million Dollars on the study About 85% were not considered effective Of the 15% considered effective there was one consistent theme: They took the Great Commission seriously They had answered the simple question: Is Jesus Lord and Head of the church, or are the members? The Alban Institute’s Study of Lutheran Churches
The UnStoppable Force: “The church became a refuge from the world rather than a force in the world. The cultural environment became comfortable, and the gospel shifted from a church ‘on mission’ to a church that supported missions.” p.30
Death By Meeting • What did you like about the book? • Did anything strike you as pertinent to their context and to ours? • How would you define the different types of meetings as used in this book?
Meetings • Good meetings provide opportunities to improve execution by accelerating decision making and eliminating the need to revisit issues again and again.p.250 • Basic challenges are not providing enough time, attempting to tackle too many items at one time, and failure to prepare. P.244
There are some basic needs if a team is to work effeciently • Providing time and communication for basic information, allowing everyone to understand priorities and needed action. • Time to allow everyone to focus on practical issues and immediate concerns. • Time to analyze, debate and decide all that will address the fundamental mission. • Time to evaluate and adjust decisions.
Death By Meeting • We can transform what is now painful and tedious into something productive, compelling, and even energizing.P.viii • What doesn’t work: • Trying to eliminate meetings • Avoiding conflict • Failure to shift from tactical to strategic issues • Thinking communication alone is sufficient • Duplicating the work of other teams • Failure to evaluate progress
Some Familiar Quotes: • “The group patiently and dispassionately discussed expense reports, expense policies, and anything else that had to do with the administration of expenses.” p.33 • “I’m sorry, but these meetings are amazing. You guys spend more time getting less done and avoiding anything remotely interesting.” p.85 • “We get so off track we don’t really come to any conclusions about what we should be doing next.” p.160 • “Meetings are the activity at the center of every organization. We will have to fundamentally rethink much of the way we perceive and manage meetings.” p.221
Here’s A Clue: • Do we throw every type of issue that needs to be discussed into the same meeting? • Or do we recognize there are different meetings for different purposes – each of which serves a valid function?
What does our Conference Expect? • Do we expect leaders to keep the “trains on the track?” Meaning to keep things running smoothly, as we have done in the past? • Do we expect leaders to lay new track? To take us in directions and places that are new, yet, fulfill the mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ?
Remember: • Conference Leaders are Spiritual Consultants and Interventionists • The interventions come at points of “disobedience” and are used to help others leave their “Egypt” • They take the word of God to the gentiles for the first time. • As Spiritual Leaders, we model the way
JOYFUL OBEDIENCE McManus, “When those who hold positions of leadership in the church of Jesus Christ stand opposed to the very heart of God and refuse to submit their lives to his Word, it is the death of the life of that church.” p.35 God does not appear nor bless us where there is disobedience.
The Biblical Roadmap • Jesus’ invitation to deny self and follow Him is the same invitation to our conference. It is the place we start. • We are a conference who first and foremost deny ourselves and follow Jesus. • Genuine change and “turnaround” comes when we learn to exchange a self-centered world for one where Christ and kingdom values are prioritized.
Do We Believe: Every congregation, and conference, can be an obedient, vital, missional, evangelistic congregation regardless of size? Congregational vitality is not about getting people to show up, it is insuring that God shows up? As Conference Leaders, what are we doing to make this a reality?
Question • When congregational leaders and ministers look at us, do they see Spiritual Leaders who model the way? • Or do they see someone who has been given a “job” and is “in charge?” • Do others see us as someone whom they can call on to resource their ministry? • Or do they see us as another group whom they are supporting through the apportionments?
Your Opinion • What is the best thing we can do to build a bridge between the Annual Conference and the Local Church?
Your Opinion • What is the primary conversation we should be having this quadrennium?
Your Opinion • If you could offer me any personal advice, what would it be?
As Spiritual Leaders We Must Ask: • What would God have us do? • Does the work of ministry really have the significance we attach to it? • What is more important, the political power that openly rules the world, or the kingdom of God that secretly consecrates it? (Richard Lischer)
The Primary Question: • The primary question is not whether we will provide spiritual leadership – it is whether it will be done well or poorly!
In Humility and Obedience, let us strive for excellence: • “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” • “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.” • Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2)
What is our Expectation? • Resurrecting Excellence, Greg Jones & Keven Armstrong, have pointed out: • “The clergy are not expected to be Christ, but they are expected to exercise leadership in a manner consistent with Christ.” p.98 • “Ministry both calls forth and demands the very best we can provide; it calls for excellence in all that we are and do.” p.20
Excellence in Ministry • Excellence in ministry is not a yardstick placed before us to “measure up.” • Excellence is an attitude. It is a matter of the heart to willingly give ourselves to the One we love - to do our best – always.
This Is The First Intervention • Obedience to God. • This means letting go of our personal preferences • This means embracing a commitment to Christ’s missional agenda • We invite God to take control and reign among us
Working As A Team • Offers the Power of Encouragement • Offers a Place of Accountability • Creates broader base of Influence • Generates Creativity • Models Christian Community
As Conference Leaders We Are • Developing SPIRITUAL LEADERS who model Christian community that learns and leads together • CreatingENVIRONMENTSthat foster transformation • Establishing PROCESSES that produce fruit
Casting The Vision • The Vision will not come to the entire conference at once. • Vision is often perceived by one person and then shared with others whose hearts resonate with the vision. • A Vision encourages the entire conference with an urgent passion for the hurting and the lost.
Strategy and Vision Video Clip on how strategy and vision are implemented
It’s like “good preaching” – you know it when you hear it Often lacks all the details on how it may be accomplished; it builds the bridge while we walk on it It touches the heart It has a sense of God’s heart It offers hope Creates a “picture” of the “not yet” Fulfills the church’s mission to “invite, grow and send.” Some Characteristics of Vision
Strengthening Ministry • Paul Tillich, “To carry the “Living Water” of the first century in twenty-first century buckets • As a CORE TEAM we balance both the tactical needs of our conference with the strategic needs of our mission • Develop a “Gift-based” Ministry through Lay Mobilization
CORE VALUES • The Church is the Body of Christ • The Work we are doing is the work of God • We make every effort to place our best people and resources in the places of greatest opportunity • We do not reward mediocrity • The needs of the Local Church are a priority • Dreaming, planning and evaluating are Critical • It is better to make “no” recommendation for new and emerging ministries than to make the “wrong” recommendations
A Possibility • Recreate the CORE TEAM to lead our conference into new and emerging ministries that keep faith with our mission. • To evaluate and reflect on our work regularly for the purpose of readjusting the “steering wheel”. • Align our resources and make realistic recommendations for financial assistance to embrace our ministry
It Might Look Like This: • A STRATEGIC Meeting, focusing only on the direction and purpose of our ministry. We would give priority to Vision, Mission and Values. • A Planning Meeting, focusing only on the new and emerging ministries needing to be implemented to reach our goals.
It Might Look Like This: • An EVALUATIVE Meeting, focusing on reflection, evaluation and adjustments related to existing ministries (those that have already been launched). • A BUDGET Meeting, focusing only on making recommendations for financial resources needed to be placed before our conference to both sustain existing ministries and launch new ones.
