Luke 9.23-27
23 Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. 25What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? 26Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.’

From Thomas Merton’s No Man Is An Island, On the Will of God
• Prayer must be first as we seek God’s will – not only to discover God’s will but above all to gain the grace to carry it out with all the strength of our desire.
• The will of God, which the Holy Spirit teaches us in the secrecy of our inmost being, must always remain as much a mystery as God Godself. Our desire to know God’s will implies rather a desire to recognize certain signs of the mystery of God’s will, than to penetrate the mystery itself. If I do not remember this distinction, we no longer revere the holiness and the mystery of God’s will in itself.
• When we speak of God’s will, we are usually speaking only of some recognizable sign of God’s will. The signpost that points to a distant city is not the city itself, and sometimes the signs that point to a great place are in themselves insignificant and contemptible. But we must follow the signpost if we are to get to the end of our journey. It is one thing to see a sign, another to interpret it correctly.
• To know God’s will (which is mysterious) we must be silent in the presence of the signs whose meaning are closed to us. Otherwise, we begin to incontinently place our own superstitious interpretation upon everything – the number of steps in a doorway, a card pulled out of a pack, the shadow of a ladder, the flight of birds. God’s will is not so cheap a mystery that it can be unlocked by any key like these!
• Nevertheless there are some real signs that everyone must know. They must be easily seen and read, and they are simple. The come sparingly and are few in number. They show us clearly enough the road ahead, but not more than a few paces. Once we take those steps, what then? We must learn to be poor in our dependence on these signs, to take them as they come, not to demand more of them than we need, not to make more of them than they really tell.
• If I am to know the will of God, I must have the right attitude toward life. I must first know what life is and know the purpose of my life. God does not need our sacrifices, God asks for ourselves – charity, divine union, transformation in Christ: these are the end.
• This is why the will of God so often manifests in demands that I sacrifice myself.
• God’s will for us is not only that we should be the persons God means us to be, but that we should share in God’s work of creation and help God to make us into the persons God means us to be. God’s will for me is that I should shape my own destiny, work out my salvation, forge my own eternal happiness, in the way God has planned for me. And since no man is an island, I cannot work out my God’s will in my own life unless I also consciously help others work out God’s will in their lives.

For the past 20 years, mainline churches have debated the most effective form of worship: traditional or contemporary. Traditional worship advocates argue that traditional worship is the only true means of worshiping God. The liturgy, the order, the formality, the colors, and the symbols all direct our faith toward a God of order and history. Contemporary worship advocates argue that contemporary worship focuses on the personal relationship that is vital to real faith and that traditional practices are barriers to a modern culture seeking authenticity related to their personal experience of faith. This is not a new debate. It goes back to the days of the early church. Different Christians in different cultures all sought to live out their faith by worshiping in styles that were heavily shaped by the culture more than the scripture.

Here is an example of how culture can shape our understandings of sincerity: In North American culture, one is seen as more sincere in their thanks if they say thank you with more emotion. If someone gives me a card for my birthday, I say, “Thanks.” If someone gives me a new Lexus for my birthday, I say, “You’ve got to be kidding me!! Thank you, so much!!” – as I fall to my knees with tears in my eyes! On the other hand, in some Middle Eastern cultures a thank you has more meaning if there is less emotion.

When you couple our cultural definitions of what is a meaningful expression of thanksgiving and add in a healthy dose of cold, uninspiring mainline traditional worship (because the truth is many mainline, traditional worship experiences have been lifeless), you find a culture longing for something with more meaning. Since contemporary worship seems to lead us to a more personal and emotional way of worshiping God, many feel that contemporary worship may just be the answer to our need for authentic faith.

Now for the curve ball: What if traditional worship could be life-giving, personal, authentic, emotional, and heart-centered? What if traditional worship could touch us in the same ways contemporary worship has? Contemporary worship is not going away. I believe it will continue to grow and adapt into new forms that we cannot even imagine now. But I am also afraid that Christians are losing the living tradition and history of the Christian faith that helps keep us accountable to the Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience of our faith. Traditional worship should never equal dead, meaningless worship. As Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, one of the world’s leading scholars in the history of Christianity, once wrote; “Tradition is the living faith of those now dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of those now living.” May we always flee from traditionalism!

However any church chooses to live out its life of worship, one thing must be central. It must be alive, vibrant, meaningful, and sincere while keeping a connection to the living tradition of the Church universal. Anything else is not true worship.

Over 1,400 United Methodists from across South Georgia gathered in Columbus, Georgia for the 2009 Annual Conference June 7-10. It was a great time of celebration and worship as Bishop James King led his first conference in South Georgia.

The opening clergy session on Sunday night is always a contradiction in terms. While everyone is excited to see each other, the actual report of the Board of Ordained Ministry (the main business item) is always a yawner. I ask myself, “All of these preachers have a copy of this 20 page report and they are all writing down the edits and typos. I wonder how many of them will actually keep these reports more than 24 hours?” I’ve never been able to figure that out. As a good friend said, “It gives us something to do.” Important work is not always enjoyable.

Retired ministers were given the opportunity to share a 3-5 minute speech after the clergy session on Sunday. My friend and mentor, Mike McAfee, was the class act – 1 minute and 15 seconds of pure gratitude and selflessness. If every retired minister followed his lead, people would actually look forward to the retiree speeches. Unfortunately, others spoke for 15 minutes about everything, including pee (yes, urine). Retiree videos are the way to go. Synthesize everyone’s comments down to the best highlights – they save a few of the preachers from themselves. The almost two hour retiree speech session caused the ordination rehearsal to finish at 11:00 p.m. – unfortunate for those who had to practice.

Monday morning, Bishop King opened conference and preached a great sermon in a white robe. Thank you Bishop King for breaking the “black robe mandate” in South Georgia – I hope we’ll see more diversity reflected in our vestments under his leadership. Let’s see some albs, colored robes, cassocks, etc. Spice it up a little – what are we, Presbyterians? It was a great sermon Bishop and special thanks on your choice of dress.

Tuesday’s Day of Service was another great success. Methodists spread out across Columbus to help those around us. Unfortunately, it looks like South Georgia will not continue the Day of Service in Tifton, Georgia –not enough places to serve. I guess we’ll fill that spot with retiree speeches.

I would close with the importance of the Constitutional Amendments, which one would think would have been the high point of conference. Alas, no. The “rub of the green” (as we say in golf), came from a resolution regarding pastors owning their own furniture. Thirty minutes of debate later and we had a divided house. Separated by only 11 votes, the conference voted to re-establish the older system of pastors not owning any furniture. It is a sad day to see the conference so divided on such a non-essential issue.

What shocks and amazes me is that we couldn’t bring some sort of compromise to the floor of the conference. Why are leaders of stature and good mind unable or unwilling to bring a compromise to the floor? People are already percolating about the “resolution-to-change-the-resolution-that-changed-the-resolution” for next year. We need to stop the madness. There are more important things that need our focus and our energy. Our denomination is in decline. People need to know Christ. And the leading, most fervent discussion at our conference is about furniture? Shame on us that we can’t lead change better than that. We all share some blame on this one.

Mainline denominations are in decline. That’s not a surprise. In the most recent American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) by Trinity College, the surprise is where the people have gone.

Like others, I’ve labored under the assumption that the United Methodist Church hemorrhaged members to new types of churches and new types of organized religious practices – nondenominational and emergent churches. People are leaving, but the truth is they are not leaving for other worship experiences. Something else is happening in America.

“Various Christian churches and groups gained 31 million adherents to total over 173 million but their combined numbers as a proportion of the population fell by 10 percent from 86.2 percent down to 76 percent over the past two decades.” (ARIS, pg. 3) Catholics and Baptists report gains over the past 20 years, but their percentage of the US population has decreased. Mainline churches (Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, etc.) have lost over 3.5 million members since 1990, and our percentage of the US population has decreased from 18.7% to 12.9%. Generic Christians (the term ARIS uses for non-denominational, evangelical, and unspecified churches) grew by 6 million adherents, but their percentage of the population declined by .6% overall. Every religious group, whether reporting an increase or decline, commands a smaller percentage of the US population. Where are the people going?

The ARIS survey found that Americans are becoming less Christian altogether. The challenges we face as United Methodists do not come from other denominations, other worship styles (let’s get over that, please), new religious movements, or even from other world religions. Our greatest challenge is an American rejection of organized religion altogether. The ARIS study “shows that the non-theist and No Religion groups collectively known as “Nones” have gained almost 20 million adults since 1990 and risen from 8.2 to 15.0 percent of the total population. If we include those Americans who either don’t know their religious identification (0.9 percent) or refuse to answer our key question (4.1 percent), and who tend to somewhat resemble “Nones” in their social profile and beliefs, we can observe that in 2008 one in five adults does not identify with a religion of any kind compared with one in ten in 1990.” (ARIS, pg. 3)

For years, mainline church leaders lamented the fact that members are leaving mainline pews for emergent and non-denominational churches. Many mainline churches have tried to become more like these churches to keep and attract members. According to the ARIS report, our focus doesn’t need to revolve around revamping worship styles to compete with other churches. Our focus needs to be on winning the rapidly growing number of Americans who are moving away from religion. One in five adults do not identify with religion of any kind. They are in the grocery line, on the golf course, at the movie theater – next to us everyday. It’s time to stop blaming other churches and worship styles. It’s time to get back in the fields – they are, and have always been, white for harvest.

On the album, Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder, there is a powerful track entitled, “Pastime Paradise”. In the haunting melody, Stevie sings;

They’ve been spending most their lives

Living in a pastime paradise

They’ve been wasting most their time

Glorifying days long gone behind

They’ve been wasting most their days

In remembrance of ignorance oldest praise

The young are naturally inclined to look toward the future – most of their life lies ahead. As we grow older, the largest portion of our lives is behind us, which calls us to look back. If we aren’t careful, we find ourselves trying to live in the past at the expense of losing a vision for the future.

The future is always moving toward us, calling us to re-creation. This re-creation is uncertain. It demands change. “The only constant in the universe is change”, Heraclitus of Ephesus said. God may remain the same, but God doesn’t want us to remain the same. God desires that we continue to grow and expand. Since God’s work on earth is done through the church, I think it is safe to say that God is calling the church to grow and expand.

The church must never get lost “glorifying days long gone behind.” It’s a hard lesson. After all, what is the church if not a collection of faith-filled friends who journey through life together? The memories of the past are our connection to the saints who came before us.

Jesus said in John chapter 4, “look around you, and see, the fields are ready for harvesting.” There is much work to do. We will not succeed in this work if churches fight to remain more like museums and less like mission stations. We must be open to change – we must look to the future.

Paul wrote, “What we sow does not come to life unless it dies.” (1 Cor.15:36) For people of faith, death is not the end; rather, it is the beginning of new life. We may need to bury some things in the dirt, allow them to die, and allow God to spring forth new life. Let’s bury inflexible minds and allow God to open us to new voices that cry out for revitalization. Let’s bury routinized worship practices and allow God to open us to revitalize our communal practices. Let’s bury unhealthy attachments to names and buildings and allow God to restore a right understanding that the church is the people.

In one of my favorite movies, The Outlaw Josey Wales, a bounty hunter approaches Josey, “You’re wanted, Wales,” he says. Josey replies, “Reckon I’m right popular. You a bounty hunter?” The bounty hunter says, “A man’s got to do something for a living these days.” Josey looks back at him and says, “Dyin’ ain’t much of a living, boy.”

I agree. Let’s not live in the pastime paradise. Let’s move forward to a new future in Christ. After all, dying ain’t much of a living.

I recently shared lunch with a friend of mine who is a pastor in another denomination. We shared ministry stories together and then the conversation turned to denominations. My friend did share a penetrating insight about the United Methodist Church with me.

He said, “You know, as I observe the United Methodist Church, my opinion is it has one fundamental weakness.”

I thought for a moment, “Here we go, I have no doubt he will point to the theological dissention.”

My friend continued, “You may think I believe the biggest issue facing the United Methodist Church is theology. But I don’t think that’s your biggest issue. The biggest issue I see is that the United Methodist Church is more concerned about the United Methodist Church than it is about the Kingdom of God.”

That stung. I spent a few moments in my defensive posture and we shared some give and take. As I processed my friend’s compassionate criticism, I started thinking, I’ve learned through the years that when someone says something to you that stings, we should ask, “What is true in what they said?”

The United Methodist Church is guilty of what many large institutions all struggle with – the creation of a large, bulky system that takes on a life of its own. This large system can do great things – reach more people, provide more mosquito nets, send more flood buckets. But a large system also demands more resources to continue its existence.

In the coming years, our denomination will need to do some soul searching. We are a great denomination and we are capable of impacting untold numbers of people in our country and around the world, but I believe two things will need to happen for that to occur.

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” – Robert McCloskey

“Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.”

– Karl Augustus Menninger

There is power in listening: Visionary leaders know this. When a leader listens, two important things occur: (1) the leader, with the Spirit’s leading, can craft a shared vision that reinforces focus on the big picture, and (2) the listening leader plays a significant role in decreasing the fear that comes with change.

When leaders discern a shared vision for what the church can become, the vision then serves “the function of providing the psychological safety that permit[s] the organization to move forward.” (Edgar Shein, Organizational Culture and Leadership) I think we can all agree that visionary leadership is vitally important. But we often lose sight of the importance of a shared vision – a vision shared by the entire organization. This type of vision comes from the bottom up rather than from the top down. A shared vision is a more powerful instrument for change. More people are invested in its success.

A shared vision is a picture of what life can be like in the future. A shared vision is clear and compelling. It creates an image of what is attainable, but not easily attainable. It is not filled with abstract language and unrealistic projections; rather a strong, shared vision creates a clear picture of what a church or conference can become. It is something to which the members can relate.

When a leader listens to the people, a shared vision with personal implications is constructed. These personal implications are critical to success. The members of the organization (church or conference) realize they can live into this new future (the new change) without losing their identity. This reduces the level of fear, empowering members to move into a new and challenging future.

Over the past two months, Bishop James King traveled across South Georgia leading worship rallies. More importantly, Bishop King spent the day in each district listening to pastors in personal interviews. Can you imagine the time demands on a new bishop? Conference and denominational meetings, getting to know an entire conference, moving into a new home, and attempting to spend time with family. With all of those demands on his time, Bishop King made it a priority to visit all nine districts in October and November – spending the entire day listening to a variety of United Methodists.

Actions speak louder than words. Are you curious about the new bishop of South Georgia? I can assure you he is a leader who listens.

“Deep listening is miraculous for both listener and speaker. When someone receives us with open-hearted, non-judging, intensely interested listening, our spirits expand.”

– Sue Patton Thoele

In the past few weeks, some of the largest companies in the United States have gone the way of the dinosaur. The U. S. government bailed out a few, but government (meaning taxpayers) can’t bail out everyone. Times are hard.

In many churches, congregational giving is down compared to last year. Finance Committees are meeting now to decide 2009 budgets. As they prayerfully plan for next year, they are currently struggling to meet their 2008 budgets. Missionaries, church agencies, and even church members are asking for help. Gasoline and utility costs are rising. Churches are making 2008 budget adjustments as you read this and the forecast for 2009 is not good.

Many church members will not receive pay raises, yet costs continue to soar. Companies are doing away with bonuses and saying no to charities. Synovus Corporation, in Columbus, Georgia, is a $34 billion financial holding company and one of Fortune’s Top 100 Best Companies in 2007. Two weeks ago, they announced 650 job cuts. They had to make a quick, yet painful, decision to stay solvent.

The local church is also making quick adjustments. Will we cut programs? The programming budget is usually targeted first – but ministry suffers. What about operational costs? The church can’t cut insurance, electricity, gas, and other vital administrative costs without serious consequences. What about mortgages? Churches with mortgage debt cannot refuse to pay. Staff and salaries? Cutting staff or salaries carries a heavy price and may lead to decline. These choices are difficult, yet churches are making these sacrifices everyday – right now.

Apportionments will suffer. Churches may desire to pay 100% of their apportionments, but the money may not be there. When resources are severely limited and the choice is a mortgage, utilities, salaries, or apportionments – apportionments lose. Churches face these tough decisions every week. Now, here’s the rub – while churches are brainstorming, adapting, changing, and reallocating, it seems to me the denominational budgets don’t flinch.

Unlike many corporations, families, and local churches, United Methodist Conferences seem unable make quick, reactionary changes to compensate for fluctuations in the economy. That puts added pressure on churches, pastors, and district superintendents to make sure apportionments are paid at all costs. After all, the Conference budget is suffering.

Here is one example: In June of 2007, The South Georgia Conference approved the 2008 budget of $11,505,287 – $1.3 million more than was collected on the budget in 2006 (www.sgaumc.com, AC 2007). In that budget, we approved several new conference staff positions for 2008 called Congregational Specialists. We’ve hired two so far, and another job is posted right now. Isn’t it peculiar that an organization which may end up being $1 million short of its budget, in a horrendous economic downturn, is hiring more staff based on a decision we made 15 months ago? The rest of the country is laying people off. Let me add that I voted for that budget in June 2007, but in September 2008, I have no vote – only the voice of this article.

There are no easy answers here, but I believe we need to help our Conferences become more nimble organizations, lest they too, go the way of the dinosaur.

Kevin and Edward Coyne, in an October 2007 Harvard Business Online article, discuss a new CEO’s role in shaping leadership and vision in an organization. In the first 60 days, personnel decisions are made by the CEO. Some executives are moved, some let go, some reassigned, and some promoted. The new CEO makes the call because the CEO gets the credit or takes the blame for the success or the failure of the organization.

In many Presbyterian and Episcopalian churches, staff members keep a letter of resignation on file. When a new senior pastor arrives, the pastor uses the first 60 to 90 days to evaluate staffing to see if they fit into their working style and vision. A few Presbyterian pastor friends of mine have used resignation letters – many times to the relief of the congregation.

The United Methodist Church is different. Pastors are appointed by Bishops, not interviewed by the church (most of the time). This promotes a culture where the new leader of the organization must tread carefully while negotiating relationships and leadership style. Granted, there are times when pastors come into healthy churches with no staff problems – but there are exceptions. Having served on staff at large churches, I have personally seen struggles between a new pastor and staff. In those situations, the struggle caused tension and led to the early delegitimazation of the new senior pastor’s leadership in the eyes of some members.

At one large church I served, a long time staff person walked into my office after meeting with our new senior pastor. The staff person said, “I’ve been here a long time and I’m not changing the way I do things.” The church supported the senior pastor’s vision and it wasn’t long before the long-time staff person departed – but it took time and it was a struggle.

The United Methodist appointive system is the best there is in my opinion. If you disagree, eat lunch with a Baptist preacher. But we do need more consultation between pastor and church in certain situations. Churches with full-time staff should be allowed a conversation between pastor and church/staff before the appointment is made. The new pastor needs to know if the staff and the staff parish committee are fully supportive. The church needs to know about the pastor’s vision and leadership style. Church and pastor may decide it is not a good fit, or they may decide it is a great fit. This in no way undermines the appointive authority of the Bishop – but it can make for more successful appointments. Actually, the process I’m suggesting was used previously in one United Methodist church I know and the result was a tremendously successful match of pastor and church.

I am not advocating turnover with every new pastor. Methodist preachers move too often for that to make sense. I’m just suggesting a conversation between church and pastor about leadership style, vision, and staff – before the appointment is final. Businesses, and the many mainline denominations, operate this way.