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OUR PRAYER

OUR PRAYER. We are no longer our own, but thine. Put us to what thou wilt, rank us with whom thou wilt. Put us to doing, put us to suffering. Let us be employed for thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

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OUR PRAYER

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  1. OUR PRAYER We are no longer our own, but thine. Put us to what thou wilt, rank us with whom thou wilt. Put us to doing, put us to suffering. Let us be employed for thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let us be full, let us be empty. Let us have all things, let us have nothing.

  2. We freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Creator, Son and Holy Spirit, thou art our Lord, and we are your joyful servants. So be it. Amen.

  3. CALL TO ACTION Jesus came near and spoke to them, “...go and make disciples of all nations...teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 CEB)

  4. ORIGINS • Issues & Innovations Emerging Across the UMC - Congregations and Annual Conferences • Table of Agency Leaders and Bishops • Council of Bishops • Connectional Table • Two CTA Groups • Interim Operations Group

  5. the challenge from The Call to Action • For a minimum of ten years, starting in January 2011, use the drivers of vital congregations as initial areas of attention for sustained and intense concentration on building effective practices in local churches. • Dramatically reform the clergy leadership development, deployment, evaluation, and accountability systems.

  6. 3. Collect, report, review and act on statistical information that measures progress in key performance areas to learn and adjust our approaches to leadership, policies, and the use of human and financial resources.

  7. the challenge from The Call to Action 4. Reform the Council of Bishops, with the active bishops assuming (1) responsibility and public accountability for improving results in attendance, professions of faith, baptisms, participation in servant/mission ministries, benevolent giving, and lowering the average age of participants in local church life; and (2) establishing a new culture of accountability throughout the church.

  8. 5. Consolidate program and administrative agencies, align their work and resources with the priorities of the church and the decade-long commitment to build vital congregations, and reconstitute them with much smaller competency-based boards of directors in order to overcome current lack of alignment, diffused and redundant activity, and higher than necessary expense due to independent structures.

  9. The Adaptive Challenge To redirect the flow of attention, energy, and resources to an intense concentration on fostering and sustaining an increase in the number of vital congregations effective in making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

  10. IOT ASSIGNMENT Guide change management in order to: • Integratestrategic planning and utilization of resources for effectiveness and efficiency • Focus on a few strategic initiatives for greatest impact • Bring Council of Bishops (annual conferences) and agency resources (general church) into shared planning cycle • Increase peer accountability for outcomes

  11. Basic principles undergirding THE WORK The local “charge” or congregation is the primary venue for making disciples. We are focused on building and supporting United Methodist people & their witness on the ground, wherever they are in the world.

  12. Basic principles Annual conferences are the key venue for investment in organizing the work of supporting congregations and generating more vital congregations because they focus strategically on key levers for empowering vital congregations – including: recruiting, training and deploying gifted clergy.

  13. A healthy connectional system “A body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many.” (1 Corinthians 12:12 CEB) We can make our church healthy using the same approaches to make a human body healthy – measurement & interventions to promote health.

  14. KEY Recommendations within this Presentation • Creating clear expectations and metrics for all leaders • Creating a non-residential bishop to lead the COB and build collaborative work on the Adaptive Challenge

  15. Cultivating a new generation of young UMC clergy with education and support systems that focus on the Adaptive Challenge • Creating a unified UMC Center for Connectional Mission & Ministry constituted from 10 existing agencies and changing its governance.

  16. Recommendations Redirect Apportionments in 2013-1016 by up to $50 million for work on the Adaptive Challenge including: • Young clergy seminary scholarships • New faith communities for new people Redirect $5 million of the general church receipts for theological education in the Central Conferences Redirect $5 million of general church receipts for focus on developing young laity as UMC leaders

  17. CALL TO ACTION BACKGROUND

  18. Assessing the State of the UMC APEX RESEARCH • Key conclusions: 1. Creeping crisis of relevancy 2. Acute crisis of underperforming economic model

  19. ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT • Relevancy –Signs of Challenge • Sense of loss of mission/identity • Lack of mission clarity and congruency • Struggle with “global church” identity and mission • Institutional concerns block mission/purpose • Values and culture manifestations • Structure and process manifestations

  20. Environmental Context, Cont. • Declining US membership/attendance trends • Generation bound demographics of membership and clergy • Difficulty of attracting “young” generation

  21. REDUCING THE DISTANCEBETWEENANDAMONGTHECHURCH’SFOUNDATIONALUNITS Lack of relevancy linked to sense of distance Annual Conference and District Size • Annual Conferences and Districts often too large • Bishop and District Superintendant leadership ratios General Church Program Agencies • Distance aggravated by apparent autonomy and perceived redundancies • Varying views about accountability • Lack of alignment in fulfilling the Church’s mission • Lack of best practices in governance

  22. Mismatch of form and function of legislative and operating entities General Conference • Mismatch of legislative structure with tendency to attempt to oversee and direct operations • Tries to manage through legislation - increasingly rigid and rule bound culture and lack of flexibility in times of transition

  23. General Agencies • Primarily operating entities with confused legislative and operating governance structures • Boards are too large – 24 to 89 members – and meet too infrequently • Contributing to sense of “distance” and accountability issues • Autonomy causes issues of trust and protectionism

  24. WAYS TOWARD POSITIVE CHANGEAPEX RECOMMENDATIONS Reduce Organizational “Distance” – A major “lever” to improve Church operational effectiveness is to reduce the “distance” between and among its foundational units – the Local Church/Charge, the Annual Conference, and the General Church.

  25. Apex recommendations, cont. Strengthen Leadership and Management to Achieve Mission Focus: General Conference, Council of Bishops, Annual Conference and, later, Clergy Effectiveness

  26. Apex recommendations, cont. Address Agency Governance Structure Mismatch of Form and Function

  27. Turn, Turn, Turn Anatole FranceAll changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

  28. Church Vitality Research Conducted by Towers Watson • Comprehensive and robust research intentionally focused only on North America • Response & participation rates in interviews and surveys ensures the findings are reliable at a 95% level of confidence

  29. Church vitality research • Calculation was done for 32,228churches where data were available • Calculated three sub-factors of vitality –attendance, growth and engagement

  30. Church vitality research • Based on vitality index, we found that all kinds of UMC churches are vital –small, large, across different geographies, and settings (e.g., urban, rural) • We conducted regression analyses to identify drivers of the vitality index and four key drivers of vitality stand out –findings are actionable

  31. findings • Four key drivers of vitality are consistent across different types of churches

  32. An obvious key lever is passionate and effective clergy leadership We asked: What would make it possible to recruit, develop and deploy more gifted clergy leaders for connectional ministries to foster vital congregations?

  33. IOT CALLS FOR CHANGE IN clergy system • Foster consensus about the personal and professional gifts, skills and practices needed for effective clergy. • Congregations increasingly foster a "culture of call" in which they regularly invite and encourage persons with the needed gifts to consider if they are being called. • Make the recruitment of gifted young people to full time ministry a priority and devote resources to helping them complete their theological education.

  34. CLERGY SYSTEM • Expect & work with seminaries to train for the skills and practices most needed to revitalize existing churches and start new ones. • Continue to purposefully avoid deploying clergy based primarily upon seniority/salary and toward deploying persons where their gifts can have the greatest impact. • Improve ability and processes to more promptly exit low performing clergy from the system.

  35. Changes needed in the episcopal system • Greater consensus about leadership qualities needed for Bishops in the 21st Century. • Bishops have public accountability for improving vital indicators in their Residential Areas • One bishop dedicated and accountable for the encouraging and supporting others on the Council of Bishops • Align appropriate work of general church more closely with Annual Conference strategies for embracing the Adaptive Challenge

  36. Qualities of faith, life and practice for the non-residential Bishop • An engaging personality who promotes the traditions of the UMC while also promulgating a progressive and forward-thinking, 21st century vision for the church. • An inspiring leader who enthusiastically embraces and will help implement the Call to Action recommendations. • A demonstrated record for effectively leading change. • Excellent communication skills, including the ability to help others understand complex and transformational processes.

  37. Qualities of faith, life and practice for the Non-Residential Bishop • Ability to influence others, motivate and inspire them to achieve desired outcomes. • Creativity, vision and excellent judgment in implementing change management. • A team player who is also collaborative, accessible and sensitive to the cultural nuances typical in the global church which is comprised of diverse geographies and demographic groups.

  38. CONNECTIONAL TABLE ACTION ON IOT RECOMMENDATIONS

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