Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Leading Ideas: Lewis Center for Church Leadership of The Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, 18 April 2018: "Begin with Where | Podcast | Positively Urgent"

Leading Ideas: Lewis Center for Church Leadership of The Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, 18 April 2018: "Begin with Where | Podcast | Positively Urgent"
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
 
Begin with Where
Rev. William H. Lamar IV, pastor of the historic Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal church in downtown Washington, DC, considers what it means for an older urban church to thrive in a changing context while remaining committed to its history and values.
Many church leaders today are asking “What are we to do?” and “How are we to do the things we are called to do?” But to me, the preeminent question is not “What?” or “How?” but rather “Where?” “Where has God sent you?” It is for us to tend to the spaces where we have been called.
My forebears worked the land. They knew that the soil was rich. The soil was precious. And it produced fruit that could not be produced in other places. In any place, you have to know the soil — the people, the resources, the struggles, the joys. You have to invest time to learn the history of your space and the story of your congregants and community members.There is a recalcitrance and a stubbornness to us. We will not leave because our mission is not fulfilled in this city. Our God has not left this city. And our witness may well be more necessary than it was when we were founded.
On holy ground
When people come into Metropolitan AME’s sanctuary, the scripture that comes to mind is Moses being instructed to take off his sandals because he is standing on holy ground. Our church is the longest continuously owned property by African Americans in the District of Columbia. The people who dreamed of Metropolitan had a huge view of who their God was. They had a huge view of their potential and the potential of their progeny. The massive sanctuary was built with the support of annual conferences across our connection who sent dimes and dollars that came from the pockets and coffee tins and from beneath the mattresses of women and men who had been enslaved. They bequeathed the space to us.
To those who pass by our church today, it appears to be out of time and place, surrounded by towering office buildings in a part of Washington where property values rank among the highest in the world. But in the 19th century, this neighborhood was filled with tenement buildings, apartment houses, people walking, people hanging their clothes out to dry. Although many people now come a longer distance to be with us, there is a recalcitrance and a stubbornness to us. We will not leave because our mission is not fulfilled in this city. Our God has not left this city. And our witness may well be more necessary than it was when we were founded. Metropolitan AME was founded, in the midst of a culture that assailed and assaulted, as an ark of safety for anyone who believed in human equality, God’s justice, and that we are ultimately one family. And there hasn’t been a time in recent memory when that message is more needed than it is now.
What are we committed to?
People here would surrender all that we are for this space — not because we invest divinity in the brick and mortar, not because the building is an idol to us — but because the idea, the God, and the people who made this possible are worth living and dying for. The people in this church have been generous enough to allow us to stay and do the work that we need to do. If that were not the case, we would be dealing with a different set of questions — as many churches must. But now the question we ask is, “How do we preserve into the future this space and the ministry it is known for?”
As a practical reality, churches in urban spaces must ask, “Who are we and what are we committed to?” Maintaining a building built in the 1880’s is very costly. You can’t be unclear about your purpose in a place where every dollar is very valuable and every amount of time that you have together is very valuable. Based on our history, our prayer, and our engagement with God’s spirit, we have determined that Metropolitan is about worship, liberation, and service. First, we exist to worship and extol the one who made us. And from that space of worship, we are moved to liberation — to want to be free and then free others. And finally, once we have worshiped and been liberated and been liberating to others, then we serve others.
In doing that work, we have been surprised at how resources and people come to us. We don’t have a huge marketing machine. But when we show up for the people that God wants us to be in relationships with, and fight with and for them, people come to us. Churches in urban spaces that feel their strength slipping must ask, “Are we living for ourselves or our community?” Churches who prioritize the needs of the community will reap the support and regard of the community.
Salvation in the city
In the Bible, creation begins in a garden, but it culminates in a city, what John on Patmos calls the New Jerusalem. While God has a fondness for people in all spaces, there is something sacred about the metaphor of the city — where people of all races, backgrounds, creeds, tongues, meet, gather, share food, share ideas, make families. It is a glimpse of the universality of God’s salvation, of God’s love and God’s reach.
When I imagine this church in another 10 or 20 years, I envision it overflowing with people and energy, because for almost two centuries, we will have proven a commitment to this city and to the God of the universe. I imagine it lifting up Jesus by caring for those Jesus cares for; risking life, reputation, prestige, as Jesus did; telling uncomfortable truths in religious spaces and in political spaces, as he did. This vision springs not from Pollyanna-ish optimism, but from a serious commitment to Christian hope — what it means for the reign of God to be breaking into this time and space. I can literally see God dancing in this place and dancing in this city, calling us to dance with God and do the work of building beloved community.
Related Resources
  1. “Rooted in Place — Committed to the City,” a Leading Ideas Talks podcast episode featuring Bill Lamar
  2. 5 Key Practices for Connecting with Your Context by Mark Gornik and Maria Liu Wong
  3. Your Community is Your Congregation by Joe Daniels
Leading Ideas Talks Podcast: "Rooted in Place -- Committed to the City"
How can older churches thrive in changing urban contexts? In this episode of Leading Ideas Talks, Lewis Center Associate Director Ann Michel speaks with Rev. William Lamar, pastor of the historic Metropolitan AME Church in downtown Washington, DC.
Listen now.
Positively Urgent
Mike Bonem says a sense of urgency is necessary to propel change, but that urgency need not come from a negative sense of doom and gloom. Urgency can also be generated by a positive sense of hope and opportunity. Good leaders create positive urgency.
I have championed the value of urgency for over 25 years. It began when I read John Kotter’s seminal work, Leading Change (Harvard Business Press, 2012), and realized that to reach their full potential churches and ministries need to “create urgency” — the first step in Kotter’s eight-step change model. Urgency can sweep away complacency and get the organization moving again.
But there’s a problem with this concept. “Urgency” is often heard as a negative word. People don’t line up to have more urgency injected into their lives. A leader that uses the term too often might be pulled aside and encouraged to tone it down. That’s why leaders need to create positiveurgency.Positive urgency emphasizes hope and opportunity more than doom and gloom.
In its negative forms, urgency highlights downward trends and predicts the death of the church or ministry if these patterns are not reversed. While this may be accurate, and it may even generate an initial burst of energy, it can also produce blame, denial, and hand-wringing. Positive urgency doesn’t ignore these trends, but it focuses more on the opportunities that will be missed if change doesn’t occur.
Positive urgency …
  • Runs toward desired outcomes, not away from unwanted ones.
  • Emphasizes hope and opportunity more than doom and gloom.
  • Sees a community that can be reached, not the members who have left.
  • Highlights the potential of new outward-facing programs rather than the struggles of those that need to be canceled.
Positive urgency is not the same as dreaming. The latter often lacks specifics and a time line. Dreams tend to talk about “someday in the future” and can be disconnected from reality. Positive urgency is more concrete and is “now.”
In reality, we need both positive and negative urgency, as seen in Isaiah’s vision. The scene is frightening enough that the prophet’s first urgent reaction is, “Woe to me! … I am ruined!” But the positive experience of having his sin taken away prepares him to say, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:5-8, NIV)
Max Depree said, “The first job of a leader is to define reality.” If your tendency in “defining reality” emphasizes the negatives, you may need to be positively urgent.
This article originally appeared as a post on mikebonem.com. Used by permission.
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The Right Question
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
Lee Kricher tells about an important moment for his church when they realized they were working from an unspoken assumption: "If it was good enough for me, it is good enough for our children." They discovered that nothing changed until they went from an unspoken assumption to a stated question:
  • What will it take to reach our children?
Want more Right Questions? Read Right Questions for Church Leaders.
Plan Now to Partner with Your Local Schools This Fall
If your congregation is considering a school-focused initiative this year, start planning now with the Engaging Local Schools Tool Kit. Through videos, presentations, and supplemental materials, this engaging resource guides your congregation in considering questions that are critical to the success of a school-focused service initiative.
Learn more and watch introductory videos now.
50 Ways to Welcome a New Pastor
If a new pastor or associate pastor is in your congregation's future, be sure to check out "50 Ways to Welcome a New Pastor" prepared by Bob Crossman. This resource shares tips on how to say goodbye to your current pastor in a healthy way and offers helpful advice on how to welcome your new pastor.
Congregations can help a new pastor get off to a strong start with these 50 Ways to acclimate a new pastor and make that new pastor feel truly welcome.
Prepared by Robert Crossman
Prepare to welcome your new pastor
  1. Open your hearts and decide that you are going to love your new pastor.
  2. Begin praying daily for the new pastor and family, even as you continue to pray for your departing pastor and family.
  3. Invite church members individually to send cards of welcome and encouragement to the incoming pastor.
  4. Know that welcoming your new pastor in genuine and effective ways lays the ground work for a healthy and vital relationship and the development of stable, long-term ministries together.
  5. Plan for the transition. Occasionally important welcoming gestures are missed with everyone thinking someone else is handling these details.
  6. Appoint a specific liaison person to whom the pastor can go for help and information during the transition.
Say goodbye to your current pastor in a healthy way
  1. Show love, regard, and even grief, for your departing pastor. This is one of the best things you can do for the new pastor.
  2. Acknowledge the change in public ways. Especially in the case of a much-beloved pastor, this allows the congregation better to let go and receive the new pastor.
  3. Provide the congregation the opportunity to say thank you and goodbye to the outgoing pastor, even if things have not always gone well.
  4. Find appropriate occasions — in worship and at other times — to thank the outgoing pastor.
  5. Express appreciation in ways that are consistent with what you have done in the past.
  6. Consider giving the pastor the last two weeks off. This helps the pastor enter the new situation rested and gives an emotional buffer between one pastor’s last Sunday and another pastor’s first Sunday.
  7. Plan goodbye celebrations prior to the beginning of the two weeks off.
  8. Provide information to the local media about the outgoing pastor’s accomplishments and future plans.
  9. Do not invite the former pastor to return for weddings, funerals, or baptisms. This allows your former pastor to engage fully with his or her new congregation, and it establishes your new pastor as everyone’s pastor from the beginning.
Make things move-in ready
  1. Make sure the parsonage and pastor’s office are clean and ready. Offer to provide help or a cleaning service if needed.
  2. Determine if the parsonage is in need of repairs or painting. Consult the outgoing and incoming pastors about timing so as not to disrupt the lives of either party. Do not ask a new pastor to move into a parsonage “under construction.”
  3. Consult the new pastor on any paint, design, or furnishings issues.
  4. Offer to have someone cut the parsonage grass.
  5. Make sure the new pastor and church officials are clear on how moving expenses are paid and all matters related to compensation, benefits, and reimbursement policies.
Welcome your pastor on moving day
  1. Stock the parsonage refrigerator and pantry with some staples.
  2. Make sure there are kid-friendly foods and snacks in the refrigerator if children are arriving.
  3. Have a small group on hand to greet the new pastor and family when they arrive and to help as needed.
  4. Offer child care if there is an infant or toddler in the household.
  5. Invite children in the household to do things with others of their same age.
  6. Welcome any youth in the household by having church youth group members stop by and offer to show them around.
Continue the welcome during the entry period
  1. Take food over for the first few days. Many churches continue the practice of having a “pounding” for the new pastor when persons bring food items.
  2. Provide a map with directions to local dry cleaners, grocery store, drug store, veterinarian, etc., and information on local options for internet and cable television providers.
  3. Give gift certificates to several of your favorite restaurants in the community.
  4. Give the pastor and family a welcome reception on the first Sunday.
  5. Plan a worship celebration of the new appointment.
  6. Invite the new pastor to any social events held by Sunday School classes or other groups in the early months.
  7. Make sure the pastor’s spouse and children, if applicable, are invited to Sunday School and other appropriate small groups.
  8. Continue to remember your new pastor and family in your daily prayers.
Help the new pastor become familiar with the congregation
  1. Introduce yourself to the pastor repeatedly! You have one name to learn; your pastor has many names to learn.
  2. Wear name tags. Even if name tags are not a tradition, the congregation can wear them for a few weeks to help the pastor learn names.
  3. Provide a current pictorial directory of all the church members, if available.
  4. Provide an up-to-date list of all church committees and officers.
  5. Provide the new pastor with a tour of where things are kept inside the church and perhaps a floor plan of the facilities.
  6. Orient the new pastor to information systems and the way records are kept.
  7. Make sure the pastor has a list of home bound or nursing home members, a list of those struggling with long term illness, and a list of those still in grief over recent deaths in the family. Better yet, take the pastor for an introduction to each of these households.
  8. Have an appropriate person offer to go with the pastor for introductions and support if there are particularly urgent pastoral situations (a member near death or the family of a member who has just died).
  9. Have a lay official offer to take the pastor to meet church members in their businesses or other work settings, if they are easily accessible.
  10. Offer to help arrange small group sessions to meet and talk with the congregation.
  11. Create a “church yellow pages’” (a list of people in the church who have specific skills that a newcomer may find beneficial…. auto mechanic, doctor, dentist, dry cleaners, book store, office supply, etc.).
Help the new pastor connect to the community
  1. Provide local media with information about the new pastor.
  2. Provide a list of hospitals, nursing homes, and community service agencies.
  3. Introduce your new pastor to other clergy in the community. Provide information on any ecumenical activities or associations.
  4. Introduce the new pastor to public and community leaders.
  5. Ask church members in civic clubs to take the new pastor to one of their meetings.
Dr. Robert Crossman, Minister of New Church Starts and Congregational Development for the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church, is the primary author of this document. The Lewis Center staff and others provided suggestions and editorial assistance.appropriate for self study and for use with groups in your church.

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Quotable Leadership
Freedom is not a gift but an achievement. Historically and morally speaking, it is the fruit of struggles, tragic failures, tears, sacrifices, and sorrow. (Samuel DuBois Cook in a letter to Martin Luther King, Jr., during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1956)
Read "Leading Ideas to Reach Young Adults"
How can your congregation reach young adults better? Leading Ideas to Reach Young Adults, a curated collection of Leading Ideas articles plus discussion questions, is an ideal conversation starter for those who care deeply about reaching younger generations. This insightful and practical ebook is available for Kindle and PDF.
Learn more now.
Pastors Moving to New Churches Need the Right Start
Are you a pastor preparing to begin ministry in a new setting? With The Right Start Video Tool Kit, you'll learn how to end your current ministry well, develop a personal transition plan, and make the most of your first days, weeks, and months in your new congregation. The Right Start is available in both Pastor's and Group Training Versions.
Learn more and watch a video preview.
Connect with the Lewis Center:
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