The United Methodist Reporter ~ The independent source for news, features, and commentary about the United Methodist Church ~ Friday, 18 October 2013
The Edifice of Fear and Safety by Betsy Phillips, UMR Special Contributor
At the beginning of October, Historic Nashville Inc. named the five-story office building that houses the United Methodist Publishing House one of Nashville’s nine most threatened historical buildings. The group hopes to find some way to preserve the building, which the United Methodist Church is currently selling to a developer.
In the press release Historic Nashville put out announcing the building’s endangered status, they said, “Considered by many to be cold and unappealing, this style [mid-century modern] is representative of the optimism that followed the end of World War II for a better and brighter America.” “Cold and unappealing” pretty much sums up the UMPH building. It’s a bland gray box.
I will say this for it. It looks secure—impenetrable, solid, sturdy, self-contained. And I’m sure that for people who had lived through World War II, many of whom who had seen first-hand what people will do to the vulnerable among them, who witnessed how easily an unrelenting war machine can pulverize buildings of brick and wood, who saw how whole cities full of old buildings so easily crumble, buildings that look indestructible, that look like places you can be safe in, must have looked better and brighter than what came before.
It isn’t an optimism borne of “things will be better.” It’s an optimism of “we are better able to protect ourselves than our parents and grandparents were.” It’s an optimism rooted in fear, not hope.
Let me switch tracks for a second. I want to tell you about the moment when I knew I couldn’t be a church-going person anymore. I was in a United Methodist church and the pastor asked us to stand and greet one another. He then instructed the members of the congregation to be welcoming to the visitors—of which I was one. The people around me were very open and seemed genuinely excited that I was there. And then, two of them leaned over to me.
One said, “We’re so glad you’re here. You should know, though, that the pastor isn’t very good.”
“But,” the other one chimed in, “we’re looking to get rid of him, so don’t judge the church by him.”
Looking back on this, I can see how they thought they were being welcoming. They had identified a problem they were afraid might put people off and they were letting guests know they were working on solving it.
They had no way of knowing that my father is a United Methodist minister, no way of knowing that they were merely the latest in a long line of people who made comments about their terrible pastor where I could overhear them. Only this time, the pastor wasn’t my dad or the father of one of my friends. He was some stranger to me, whose children sat in a pew with their mother like I’d done every Sunday of my childhood. Did his young daughter hear us? The thought of it mortified me. Because I knew exactly what hearing that kind of stuff about your own parent does to a person.
And, on the one hand, it was a great relief to know that every congregation has someone in it who doesn’t like the pastor and isn’t discrete about who she tells. On the other hand, I just knew, then, that I couldn’t do it—continue to go to church, continue to be a part of it. Be complicit in trying to do other pastors and their families what people had tried to do to us.
Maybe that makes me a coward, for not staying and trying to fix things. I genuinely believe people are broken. And I believe, because I have seen it, the good work the Church can do with broken people.
But I swear, sometimes I think the Church represents words like “welcoming” or, more importantly, “love” the way Mid-Century Modern architecture represented “optimism”—not based in something vulnerable and open, but based in a “here’s how to keep safe” attitude. You love in cold and unappealing ways and then, when the people you are “loving” tell you they don’t recognize your love as love, you have all these great justifications, many of them Biblical, for why that is.
The truth is, though, that usually your love doesn’t feel like love because it’s rooted in fear.
And mine, too. Let me be honest about that. A lot of times, my love is rooted in fear. But I’m not claiming that a fear-based life is compatible with the teachings of Jesus, who says “Be not afraid” more often than he says anything else.
I won’t miss the gray box UMPH building when it’s torn down. It’s an unfortunate monument to a bad impulse in people and a terrible impulse in a Church—wanting to be safe more than wanting to be open. But it could be that when we wonder why we can’t be a whole community—the people who are actively Methodist and the people who grew up Methodist but aren’t anymore—that building is as good an explanation as there is.
Betsy Phillips is a UM preacher\’s kid and ethnic Methodist who blogs for the Nashville Scene\’s political blog Pith in the Wind. Her short stories have appeared in Apex Magazine, Betwixt, and Qarrtsiluni.
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Mission organization announces plans to start 600 new faith communities by Melissa Hinnen*
George Howard, head of Global Ministries’ Mission and Evangelism unit, addresses the denomination’s board of directors and staff during the Mission Initiatives celebration in New York.
Ma Limh, a local elder in mission in Vietnam who joined via live video, offered a message of encouragement for future mission initiatives. “We need to share the gospel,” she said. “We don’t do it alone – God is calling us to join in God’s mission and is with us from today until the end of days.”
Ma Limh, a local elder in mission in Vietnam who joined via live video, offered a message of encouragement for future mission initiatives. “We need to share the gospel,” she said. “We don’t do it alone – God is calling us to join in God’s mission and is with us from today until the end of days.”
The virtual global gathering was part of a celebration of the 574 new worshipping communities in 13 mission initiatives in Southeast Asia, Eurasia, Africa, and Latin America. That number far exceeds the original goal of 400 church plants for the 2008-2012 quadrennium.
George Howard, who leads the agency’s Mission and Evangelism ministries, announced a new goal to launch 600 new faith communities from 2013-2016. Global Ministries is exploring possibilities for new initiatives in Africa, Asia, and South America.
Howard noted that while several of the initiatives, such as Malawi, “are mature to the point of becoming integral parts of the United Methodist connection, others are yet to become provisional annual conferences or will go the path of church autonomy.”
Following a vote by the 2012 General Conference, Malawi has now transitioned from a mission initiative to a provisional annual conference. Director Daniel Mhone, who is a Malawi district superintendent, shared insights with the board about the success of the Malawi Initiative. He said, “The Church of God only grows when it is a movement, not an institution.” He continued, “But as the movement came together with the structure of the United Methodist connection, we continued to live into what God is calling us to be, and lives are being transformed.”
Howard pointed out that US churches can learn from the successes and challenges of mission initiatives. “Mission initiatives are where we remember and relearn how to be a movement,” he said.
Learn more about mission initiatives and how you or your church can partner “In Mission Together” with new faith communities around the world: www.umcmission.org/mi.
*Melissa Hinnen is Global Ministries’ executive in charge of News and Content.
The General Board of Global Ministries is the global mission agency of The United Methodist Church, its annual conferences, missionary conferences, and local congregations. A major responsibility of Global Ministries is to connect the various parts of the Church as United Methodists engage in global mission. The aim of Global Ministries is to be a biblically rooted, historically informed, and organizationally flexible means of spreading the good news.
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Bishop Wertz, uniting leader, dies at 97 by Heather Hahn for United Methodist News Service*
CARLISLE, Pa. (UMNS) – United Methodist Bishop D. Frederick Wertz, who led the West Virginia, Washington and Harrisburg (Pa.) episcopal areas, died Oct. 16 in Carlisle, Pa. His passing came less than two weeks after his 97th birthday.
Wertz was the longest-serving surviving bishop in the United States. Elected to the episcopacy in 1968 — the same year as the merger that formed The United Methodist Church — he played a crucial role in uniting former Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren members.
“He was a godly man, a strong leader, a good pastor,” said the Rev. Tom Maurer, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Hummelstown, Pa., about 30 miles east of Carlisle.
Maurer was pastor of Allison United Methodist Church in Carlisle when he got to know Wertz, who was then a retired bishop as well as the congregation’s pastor emeritus.
“He was in the first class of United Methodist bishops elected … and he helped a great deal in forging that union between Methodists and EUBs.”
Bringing members of the two denominations together in shared ministry could be a challenge in those early years, recalled the Rev. Bill Wilson. He was ordained an elder by Wertz in the West Virginia Annual (regional) Conference.
Wertz’s first appointment as bishop was to West Virginia, where the former Evangelical United Brethren Conference had been one of the few “no” votes to the merger. In 1968, Wilson said, many Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren congregations in West Virginia were across the alley from each other.
Wertz ended up serving the newly formed West Virginia Conference for 12 years, four years longer than most U.S. bishops serve in one episcopal area. During his tenure, he led a substantial fundraising campaign that helped to solidify the conference’s clergy pensions, support United Methodist-related West Virginia Wesleyan College and improve the conference’s camp and educational center.
“His episcopal leadership was about moving with a purpose together all these entities that could have been divided,” said Wilson, now retired as West Virginia’s director of connectional ministries and assistant to the bishop.
Wilson quoted the report of the West Virginia episcopacy committee when Wertz left in 1980 to lead the Washington Area that encompasses what is now the Baltimore-Washington Annual (regional) Conference. The committee, which advised the bishop, credited Wertz with leading a merger “without suffering losses of identity and purpose.”
From academia to the episcopacy
David Frederick Wertz was born in Lewistown, Pa, on Oct. 5, 1916.
He served pastoral appointments while a student at now United Methodist-related Dickinson College in Carlisle and later while earning graduate degrees at United Methodist Boston University School of Theology.
He was ordained an elder in 1942 in the Central Pennsylvania Conference — now the Susquehanna Conference. He served these pastoral appointments: Doylesburg (1940-43); Stewartstown (1943-46); Camp Curtin Memorial (1946-49) and Allison Memorial Methodist (1949-53). He then was a district superintendent for two years before becoming president in 1955 of United Methodist-related Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pa.
From there, the Northeastern Jurisdiction elected him bishop. After his service in West Virginia, he led the Washington Area until retirement in 1984. In 1990, he came briefly out of retirement to serve one year as bishop of the Harrisburg Area.
During his time as bishop, he also was the president of the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race from 1972 to ’76 and president of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries from 1976 to ’80.
“The impact he had on so many lives will not be forgotten,”said Zedna Haverstock, who got to know Wertz when she was treasurer and comptroller of the Central Pennsylvania Annual (regional) Conference. She is now the Susquehanna Annual (regional) Conference benefits officer. “He was well-respected by not just clergy but also laity.”
Influence on other bishops
Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton, who now leads the Pittsburgh Area, said in a Facebook post that Wertz had a profound effect on his sense of calling.
Bickerton recounted that he was a teenager with plans to become an optometrist when he was summoned to the then West Virginia bishop’s office. Bickerton, then president of the Conference Council on Youth Ministry, expected Wertz to discuss the conference’s youth work. Instead, Wertz told Bickerton that God was calling the teen to ordained ministry.
Bickerton, initially, disagreed. But two years into college, Bickerton changed his major and made plans for seminary. Shortly after being elected bishop, he visited Wertz who was now living in a retirement home. It was then, Bickerton said, Wertz looked him in the eye and said, “I told you so.”
“I thank God for the life of D. Frederick Wertz,” Bickerton said. “He was a bishop of the church who shaped the direction of a young boy who could not see what he saw. I thank God that I finally did.”
Bishop Marcus Matthews, who today leads the Washington Area, recalls that as a young pastor in Washington, he invited Wertz to visit his small church.
“Not only did he come to the church, but he stopped by the house afterwards, along with his wife,” Matthews recalled. “They stayed for dinner and played with the kids. I will always remember that.”
He added that Wertz “was a good, good spirit. He was gentle but firm when needed.”
Bishop Jeremiah J. Park, who now leads the Harrisburg Area, first met Wertz when the then 91-year-old bishop visited the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference in 2008. “I remember the whole conference enjoyed what he had to share with us,” Park said. “I remember it as very exciting moment — one of the highlights of the jurisdictional conference.”
Wertz married Betty Jean Rowe on Aug. 25, 1938. She preceded him in death in 1999. The couple had four children: Robert Gary, Joanne Rowe, Donna Jean and Elizabeth Barratt. The family has tentative plans for his memorial service to be at the Carlisle (Pa.) United Methodist Church on Saturday, Nov. 2. Other memorial plans still are being planned.
*Hahn is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. The Rev. Erik Alsgaard, managing editor in the Baltimore-Washington Conference, contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared at http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=5259669&ct=13370223 and is reprinted according to the terms of service of UMC.org
United Methodist News Service is the official news gathering agency of the United Methodist Church, and a division of United Methodist Communications. Mandated by the United Methodist Book of Discipline, UMNS provides news stories to communicators throughout the world.
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Central Conference pension initiative $25 Million fundraising goal met
Glenview, IL—The General Board of Pension and Health Benefits (GBPHB) today announced that the Central Conference Pension Initiative (CCPI) reached its $25 million challenge goal with a $217,000 “tithe” contribution from the General Board of Discipleship (GBOD) board of directors, making it possible to retire the fundraising initiative once all pledged contributions are received.
Following the contribution confirmation, GBOD General Secretary Karen Greenwaldt said, “What an honor it is to contribute funds to the CCPI. Providing for retired pastors and spouses across the Central Conferences is the right thing to do and GBOD is blessed to be able to contribute to this important fund.” GBPHB General Secretary Barbara Boigegrain commented, “We are so grateful to the thousands of individuals, local churches, conferences and others, and now the GBOD, who contributed over the years to make it possible for our United Methodist Church (UMC) clergy in the central conferences to also have hope for the future.”
All UMC Clergy Now Covered
The UMC central conferences are those outside the U.S. CCPI addressed the challenge to provide a long-term foundation for retirement security for dedicated pastors who would otherwise have little or no pension support when they retire from ministry. All clergy around the world, including every eligible central conference pastor, now have reliable pension support through their conference and/or government program. In January 2013, all central conferences seeking pension support through CCPI had met the necessary pension program start-up criteria. They now have their own pension programs approved and in place—two years ahead of schedule.
The UMC central conferences are those outside the U.S. CCPI addressed the challenge to provide a long-term foundation for retirement security for dedicated pastors who would otherwise have little or no pension support when they retire from ministry. All clergy around the world, including every eligible central conference pastor, now have reliable pension support through their conference and/or government program. In January 2013, all central conferences seeking pension support through CCPI had met the necessary pension program start-up criteria. They now have their own pension programs approved and in place—two years ahead of schedule.
Boigegrain commended the efforts over the years of the CCPI team—Managing Director Dan O’Neill, Director Paul Dirdak, and Chief Financial Officer Tim Koch—for their active engagement, personal commitment and dedication to this special program. The CCPI-established pension plans today cover 2,839 retirees and surviving spouses, and more than 8,000 active pastors. Bishop Ben R. Chamness (retired), a member of the initial Central Conference Pension Committee, kicked-off and led the fundraising effort in 2007; he expressed his delight at this accomplishment: “It is truly a matter of justice that our central conference ministers have support in retirement when their careers in ministry end. This is a significant effort that now recognizes and rewards a life of service to the Lord.”
CCPI Background
CCPI began 13 years ago when GBPHB and the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) laid the groundwork for sustainable pensions for central conference retirees. General Conference 2000 focused the UMC on this need, launching an inter-agency task force led by Bishop Joe Pennel. As a result, General Conference 2004 amended The Book of Discipline and authorized GBPHB to raise the necessary funds to provide pension support to the central conferences that need it. Several agencies collaborated to provide support for the fledgling effort including United Methodist Publishing House, United Methodist Communications and General Council on Finance and Administration, in addition to GBGM and GBPHB.
CCPI began 13 years ago when GBPHB and the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) laid the groundwork for sustainable pensions for central conference retirees. General Conference 2000 focused the UMC on this need, launching an inter-agency task force led by Bishop Joe Pennel. As a result, General Conference 2004 amended The Book of Discipline and authorized GBPHB to raise the necessary funds to provide pension support to the central conferences that need it. Several agencies collaborated to provide support for the fledgling effort including United Methodist Publishing House, United Methodist Communications and General Council on Finance and Administration, in addition to GBGM and GBPHB.
Wespath Investment Management (a division of GBPHB) invests the contributions—the earning on which make the initial pension payments possible. Pension plans are different from charitable-giving programs, because ultimately, they are funded by contributions from local churches and the ministers themselves. Over time, the central conferences will grow and manage the pension program funding with contributions from their active pastors.
To date, $3.9 million has been dispersed, providing a financial foundation while giving central conferences time to build their own contribution base for future retirees. In this way, conference pension programs become self-sustaining over time.
It is important to remember that this significant achievement was realized during the most severe economic downturn in recent memory—a remarkable testament to a great Church and its generous members. Thousands of donations and pledges have been received and will continue to be taken—to date, 94% of pledges have been realized.
A Special Thanks to the U.S. Church from Rev. Francisco Ferreira
Reverend Francisco Ferreira is a retired pastor in East Angola—he has led 10 churches during his 41-year career in ministry. He typifies many ministers in the central conferences—he is putting his pension payment to use to secure his future. Since he has already replaced his roof, he now buys cement blocks every month to improve his house. They are stacked neatly in his yard—1,500 of the 4,000 he estimates he will need. In most of the African central conferences, the gift of sheets of zinc (the material used as roofing) is common at retirement—essentially giving the retired pastor a “roof over his or her head.” Through CCPI, the UMC now provides longer-lasting, ongoing support.
Reverend Francisco Ferreira is a retired pastor in East Angola—he has led 10 churches during his 41-year career in ministry. He typifies many ministers in the central conferences—he is putting his pension payment to use to secure his future. Since he has already replaced his roof, he now buys cement blocks every month to improve his house. They are stacked neatly in his yard—1,500 of the 4,000 he estimates he will need. In most of the African central conferences, the gift of sheets of zinc (the material used as roofing) is common at retirement—essentially giving the retired pastor a “roof over his or her head.” Through CCPI, the UMC now provides longer-lasting, ongoing support.
Reverend Ferreira expressed his appreciation to CCPI staff during one of their recent visits: “When I first retired in 2003, we did not receive any pension but I was able to grow my own food. Now, I am older and unable to grow my food, so I am very happy that pension payments started in 2010 and come every quarter to help me survive.” He wanted GBPHB to thank the UMC in America for sacrificing for the central conference retirees.
Story provided by the General Board of Pensions and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church
This story was created by one of the crack staff members of The United Methodist Reporter. For over 160 years The United Methodist Reporter has been helping the people called Methodist to tell their stories. If you have stories that you think need to be told, please let us know at editor@circuitwritermedia.com
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I’m Done Fixing the Church: Turning the Future Over to God
A Ministry Matters special feature by Billy Doidge Kilgore
My friend and fellow young pastor slouched in his office chair and spoke in an exasperated tone. “In the past few years, I have tried everything I know of to help this congregation find a future. You name it and I have experimented with it. Yet, nothing has changed.”
As I listened to him, I knew that he was greatly frustrated. In his voice, I could hear feelings of failure and defeat. To say that he felt hopeless would be an understatement. After a lengthy conversation about the struggles he faced, he finally confessed to me, “I am the type of person who likes to fix things, and the problems this church is dealing with don’t seem to have a solution.”
Trying to Fix Things
Today, young clergy serving the historic mainline denominations are part of a generation shaped by an anxious church that is looking for quick fixes to address its decline. As members of a younger generation, we see church life from a different angle than our predecessors who served the body of Christ in a more stable and comfortable time. Over and over again, we have listened to the depressing statistics predicting the demise of the mainline church. In many ways, we have been told “the sky is falling.” I don’t pretend to speak for all young adults in the mainline church, but I know that many of us have felt pressure to fix this problem. We have experienced firsthand the concern in the congregations we love and in turn want to do something in response, even if we know we are taking on a challenge that has no easy solutions, if there are any solutions at all.
As ridiculous as it might sound, I took the bait and bought into the idea that I could fix the church and reverse its decline. You can call me naive, inexperienced, foolish, or whatever you like but I believed it was the right thing to do in my mind. After all, I thought this is the least I could do for God’s church. In addition to pleasing God, I believed it would make all the wonderful people in the church who shaped me very proud. Looking back, it is embarrassing to think about how grandiose my thinking was and still is in some ways. After all, who appointed me be to a savior? As a wise colleague recently reminded me, “Jesus already fixed the church. There is no need for you to go to the cross too.”
Misunderstanding Our Role
If you have fallen into the trap of trying to “fix” the church, I don’t write this article to make you feel guilty or to encourage you to beat yourself up. At best, we are all stumbling along on the journey of faith in need of God’s grace. Careful discernment is always necessary in serving the church, especially in times like our own when congregations are under tremendous pressure to find a way forward. The time is ripe for us to confuse our human needs with God’s desires for the church. In addition to confusion over God’s desires, I believe a major reason for our misguided attempts to fix the church is a misunderstanding of our role as clergy.
In an age that encourages and often expects clergy to be religious entrepreneurs boldly paving a way forward for congregations, it is easy to misunderstand our role. As church members turn to us with their concerns about decline, we feel the pressure to “fix” our congregations, which can quickly distort our understanding of ministry. We find ourselves easily distracted by things that do not relate to our pastoral identity.
When I find that I am spending my time and energy in ways that are out of sync with my calling, I find it helpful to dust off my ordination vows and reread them in a quiet place where I can reflect. I am always thankful to be reminded that my vows do not ask me to “fix” the church; rather, they ask me to be faithful to the church. Nowhere in my ordinations vows does it say that I am to bear the burden of saving the church from decline; instead, my vows call me to “give direction to the life of the congregation.” Understanding the difference between “fixing” the church and giving it direction is crucial at a time when clergy are burning out and exiting the ministry at alarming rates. Rereading our ordination vows allows us to set the boundaries we need to free us of the impossible task of “fixing” the church.
Dr. Bruce Epperly writes, “Boundaries reflect your calling and theology of ministry. Our beliefs set our boundaries.” If this is true, then it is worth asking the question, what do your boundaries in ministry say about your understanding of God’s call on your life? Some clergy might find a wide gap between their boundaries in day-to-day practices and what they believe God is calling them to do in their ministries. If so, there is a need to reconcile the two.
Letting Go
To be clear, discerning a pastoral identity that reflects the ministry of Christ is not an excuse to ignore the challenges the church faces in the 21st century. We must respond to them in faithful ways and “give direction to the life of a congregation.” It is important for us to seek God’s vision for our future but not to take things into our own hands and try to control outcomes. I can personally attest to the fact that trying to fix the church is a recipe for misery. It will suck the life out of you and leave you jaded, cynical, and burnt out. Instead of going down this exhausting and frustrating path, there is the opportunity to commit together, clergy and laity, to turning the future of the church over to God. We can let go and trust that the God who has been faithful to the church throughout the ages will make a way forward.
At this time, the congregation I serve is in the beginning stages of crafting a vision plan for the future. Looking at my role in this vision, I find myself discovering more and more there is no place for my feeble attempts to fix the church; rather, God is calling me to be faithful to the role of spiritual leader. Now more than ever, the church needs faithful pastors who are willing to be spiritual guides through the turbulent times we face as the body of Christ. The body of Christ needs clergy who are willing to lead the people to the spiritual resources they need and discern the direction the Spirit of God is leading the church.
Billy Doidge Kilgore is Senior Pastor of Immanuel United Church of Christ in Highland, Ind. He is a native Southerner, fan of good movies, avid reader, coffee connoisseur, bbq enthusiast, and is passionate about serving the church in the 21st century. Pastor Billy is an ordained minister serving in the United Church of Christ and a graduate of Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia. He lives with his wife, Cara, and their three year old sheltie who rescued ”them” from the Human Society of Calumet.
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Recently Read: Bishop takes on on-line ordinations
Last week Bishop Peggy Johnson posted an article on her blog addressing concern about UM’s taking advantage of on-line ordinations:
Furthermore, anyone who has an ordination certificate has joined another denomination and is no longer a member of the United Methodist Church. The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church (2012) reads as follows: “If a pastor is informed that a member has without notice united with a church of another denomination, the pastor shall make diligent inquiry and , if the report is confirmed, shall enter “Withdrawn” after the person’s name on the membership roll and shall report the same to the next charge conference.” Paragraph 241.
You will want to click on the link above to read the full post.
What do you think? Is this a problem that needs to be addressed?
Recently Read
Recently Read posts are stories the editors of The United Methodist Reporter have found interesting from other sites and wanted to share with our readers. The editors do not necessarily endorse the opinions shared in these stories, and referral here should not imply endorsement of that content.
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