Transformation, Volume 3 Issue 2

Transformation Volume 3 Issue 2

Ministry Magazine

of

The Desert Southwest Conference

God’s Abundant Grace

Summer 2011 | Desert Southwest Conference Communications | www.desertsouthwestconference.org

Summer 2011

Contents

Contents Publisher’s Pen

3

What is grace?

4

Imagine No Malaria swings for the fences

5

pen Door and O the Coalition for Compassion and Justice

6

“Less is More”

15

Financial Growth

19

Finding new ways to do ministry

20

aking the most of M C-H-A-N-G-E

22

When it comes to church vitality, size is not as important as spirit Tempe First UMC shines Photo by Glen Simpson

Photo by Don Benton

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24 26

A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose

Special Features Our voice, your ears Gil Rendle: What if we have too much?

8

10

A Strategic Direction for The Desert Southwest Conference

16

M inistry M agazine

of

T he D esert S outhwest C onference

Summer 2011 Volume 3, Issue 2 Contributors

For general inquiries or subscription information, e-mail: communications@desertsw.org, call 602-266-6956, or mail Communications Department, 1550 E. Meadowbrook Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85014-4040.

Transformation is provided quarterly in Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter by the Communications Department of The Desert Southwest Conference. Transformation is also available online by going to www.desertsouthwestconference.org/ transformation. Individual articles and photos may be used by DSC churches and organizations. Views in Transformation come from representatives of official Conference groups or by request of Conference Staff. Viewpoints may only be those of the writer and may not be representative of the entire Conference.

Questions about the reproduction of individual articles or photos should be directed to Stephen J. Hustedt, Conference Director of Communications (602-2666956 ext. 220 or steve@desertsw.org).

I

t is easy to get bogged down in negative news about the state of The United Methodist Church or the denominational churches in general. It is hard to avoid words like decline, bureaucracy, inaccessible, and inconsequential, but when we look around at our own ministry settings we see countless vital and thriving ministries. The truth is that even in the midst of struggles and hardship the churches of The Desert Southwest Conference and The United Methodist Church are doing amazing things.

Indeed, we continue to do what The United Methodist Church has always done in helping those who most need help. From the homeless in the Desert Southwest to children dying of preventable diseases in Africa and countless other people in need, there are ministries at all levels of the church reaching out to and transforming the world. However, we know that is not enough, and we know it.

As hard as change can be in the Photo by Don Benton

Stephen J. Hustedt church, there is a movement to get better.

Be it the Call to Action coming from the highest levels of leadership in The United Methodist Church to hold up vital congregations, continuing to refine the Conference Strategic Direction, or starting countless new programs and ministries at local United Methodist Churches, the people of The Desert Southwest Conference and The United Methodist Church are standing up and saying that our story and our ministry is too important to fade away through complacency. There are challenges, but overcoming them may bring about ministry on levels never even dreamed about.

This issue of Transformation will focus on the great ministry that is taking place at all levels of the church and look at how The United Methodist Church continues to work towards the vision cast

by Jesus. It is full of stories about what is working, and stories about how our church continues to strive to get better. Through God’s abundant grace the future is very bright. †

The people of the Desert Southwest Conference are impacting the world through God’s abundant grace. At the 2011 Desert Southwest Annual Conference a check for $100,000 was presented to Bishop Lawrence McCleskey fulfilling the $500,000 endowment for the Joel Huffman Chair of Health Science at Africa University. The Chair will help prepare persons to provide health services especially in rural African areas where the killer diseases of HIV/AIDS and malaria most often go untreated.

Summer 2011 | Transformation | 3

By Stephen J. Hustedt, Director of Communications

Rev. Tom Butcher, Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño, Christina Dillabough, Stephen Govett, Stephen J. Hustedt, Doug Iverson, Dr. Don Nations, and Dakota Staren.

Publisher’s Pen

Transformation

Incredible ministry is happening through God’s abundant grace

What is grace?

By Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño

G

race is a word we use often in the Christian community. We use the word grace as a greeting in our communications with each other and when we are departing from each other at the end of worship.

We do it because scripture models it for us. The letters of Paul often both begin and end holding up grace as something we share with each other. It is a commonplace expression among us as people of Christian faith, but I wonder how others understand this word.

I looked up the word grace on my computer thesaurus and found a long list of words to explain grace.

I found 5 categories of words with each category having as many as 11 descriptive words! The categories were dignify, adorn, blessing, kindness, and elegance. With so many options, if I were trying to 4 | Transformation | Summer 2011

explain grace to someone else, how would I do it?

Explaining grace is not an easy task, but I am reminded of the fact that when we speak of the grace that Christ Jesus gives to us, the explaining and convincing is ultimately always the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit alone who can speak to those matters of the heart and soul in ways that make sense. You and I can only share what we have come to know. What I can share of what I have experienced and come to know about grace is that grace, true grace, is found in Jesus the Christ.

Jesus the Christ did dignify humanity in that being God, he chose to come and live among us and be one of us. He adorned our living with his incredible stories of mercy, justice, forgiveness, and peace. Jesus blesses us with healing

for our troubled souls and for our broken bodies. There is no kindness comparable to the kindness we receive when we come to Jesus from wherever we have been. And elegance, well, who can outdo the elegance of the one who comes among us as King of kings, and Lord of lords! The grace we know in Jesus Christ is true and abundant!

As Christians we believe that the abundant grace we receive through Jesus Christ is unmerited.

Who among us, in our right mind knowing all we know about ourselves, could ever think that we deserve such abundant grace! Grace is a gift, and one that just keeps on giving! Knowing that grace from Jesus is an unmerited gift opens the way to knowing how great God’s love is for us and to receiving that love! We don’t deserve the grace that Jesus gives us, but God loves us so much and desires our wellbeing so deeply that he goes right on ahead and gives us Jesus and the fullness of his grace!

It seems to me that such abundant grace has to be shared in more ways than a greeting or a farewell. Such grace is a gift for the sharing that will lead us to yet another place of blessing—that place where we live the fullness of the love of Jesus that binds us to him, to each other and in concern and care for the world. So let’s make every day a day of grace, sharing Christ Jesus with each other and especially with those who have never known the gift of Jesus’ abundant grace. Days of grace will surely be days in which we strive for love, perfect love, mercy, justice, and peace for all God’s children in Christ’s own good name.

Grace, abundant grace in the name of Christ Jesus, to you! †

hat can faith do in the fight against a global killer that has claimed hundreds of millions of lives for thousands of years?

Perhaps the better question is what can faith not do against this juggernaut of death and suffering? With innocent lives ending every 45 seconds from malaria, faith may be our last stand against this disease. Faith may be the home run in the bottom of the 9th inning that wins this critical game of life and death.

Malaria has brought together communities of faith in new and exciting ways. Faith is a fundamental part of life on the African continent. And, faith groups often have far greater credibility and trust in rural parts of Africa than other groups or government agencies.

More and more faith-based organizations are putting aside their theological differences in the name

A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose

Article courtesy of Imagine No Malaria

W

Imagine No Malaria swings for the fences

of saving lives. For The United Methodist Church’s (UMC’s) Imagine No Malaria program, these new partnerships range in scope from the Episcopal Church’s Nets For Life program to the Lutheran Malaria Initiative and also includes Jewish and Muslim faith communities.

“We may not always share the same belief system,” Rev. Gary Henderson, executive director of The UMC’s Global Health Initiative, said. “But, we are all on the same side of this fight—working together to save lives and ultimately eliminate death from malaria.”

Last year, The UMC, through Imagine No Malaria, participated in several major anti-malaria projects with inter-faith partners. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, The UMC joined forces with a group called CORESA (Partners combat malaria), an interfaith health alliance, to lead the effort to distribute nearly 30,000 insecticide-treated bednets.

In Sierra Leone, faith partners provided most of the 3 million mosquito nets that were provided in November 2010 (Anti-malaria campaign began in Sierra Leone).

This unique inter-faith approach was featured in the recent television special “A Killer in the Dark,” which provided an up-close look at how faith groups are leading the fight against malaria throughout Africa.

“Working in collaboration, we can achieve so much more than working in isolation,” Rev Henderson continued. “Great progress has already been made with expectations of much more to come.”

Just last year, the World Health Organization reduced the malaria death toll from 1 million to 800,000. With new treatments and greater accountability, the fight continues with more promise of success than ever before. † Musukula Lukulay is worried about her son Tommy Lukulay, 3, who has malaria. They are at the Koribondo Village Health Center near Bo, Sierra Leone, site of a mosquito net distribution by the Imagine No Malaria campaign.

Summer 2011 | Transformation | 5

Open Door and the Coalition for Compassion and Justice

By Doug Iverson, Prescott UMC

“I

am a member of Prescott Christian Church, where I tithe. However, I drive by Prescott United Methodist Church daily on my way to work, and see the many people who depend on your church for food. It bothers me every time, and I feel the need to contribute. I will be sending contributions to you to help feed these people.”

This communication to the PUMC office refers to Open Door, a service for homeless and low income people housed at PUMC. It began just over ten years ago, at the request of Pastor Peter Perry, because PUMC ministers were spending an inordinate amount of time talking to the homeless one-at-a-time, a common problem among downtown churches, and handing out meal tickets for a local café.

In response to the obvious need, the Church and Society Committee gathered seventeen faith communities ranging from Buddhist to Unitarian, from Nazarene to Jewish. Proselytizing by any one congregation presented obvious problems, so the mission centered on the idea that, “The sermon is in the soup.”

From a humble beginning, with four volunteers and $100.00 a week from the minister’s discretionary fund, Open Door now serves about 750 persons a week, Tuesday through Friday.

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From a humble beginning, with four volunteers the community, as well. and $100.00 a week from the minister’s discretionary Ten years later, Open Door is a program of the fund, Open Door now serves about 750 persons a Coalition for Compassion and Justice, a non-profit week, Tuesday through Friday. Clients may receive 501(C)(3). Under the coalition’s comprehensive hot meals, a box of government commodities, pantry programs, Open Door is tasked with meeting food and clothing. Clients may also use the facility for immediate needs. A second program, “Home Repair,” showers and telephone calls related to a job search, helps keep low income home owners safe in their and mail service. (How do you, for instance, receive a homes, by providing repairs and wheelchair ramps military pension if you are homeless?) Vouchers are they could not otherwise afford. CCJ also has a also provided for utilities, gas, and rental assistance. “mentoring” program where clients have moved This winter the doors were opened for over-night from volunteer to full employment, and a “work stays during Prescott’s coldest weather with the connection,” where employers can meet those looking blessings of the pastors and trustees. for work. The CCJ Thrift Shop offers affordable items It is in the individual stories told by those served, to low-income residents, work opportunities and however, that inspires the volunteers’ passion for income to support CCJ programs. serving “the least of these,” at Open Door. Causes of Finally, CCJ has a program called “Circles of homelessness and poverty are incredibly diverse and Support” where families wishing to escape poverty are meeting individual needs has led to other services. mentored by a group of 5-6 community members with “Fair Start” addresses the low level of education skills to share. that frustrates Though the many clients. In Coalition for It is in the individual stories told by those Compassion an attempt to break this multiJustice is served, however, that inspires the volunteers’ and generational now its own cycle-of-poverty, passion for serving “the least of these,” at Open non-profit, the backpacks filled Door. Causes of homelessness and poverty many services with school began are incredibly diverse and meeting individual provided supplies are within the faith provided at the community, needs has led to other services. beginning of on a Church each school year. and Society Children needing this “fair start” are identified by Committee at PUMC, and, coincidentally, many school nurses. parishioners now worship at PUMC because it Open Door (along with US Vets and other is known in Prescott as the “church that does concerned organizations) also hosts and provides everything.” † meals for the annual “Veteran’s Stand Down,” where a myriad of services are provided for homeless Veterans.

As with many churches, a number of PUMC’s parishioners were fearful of having “those people” in the buildings and near “our children.” However the church has discovered that these homeless and low-income friends are, in fact, a very diverse group.

They “self-police” a place that serves them well, and it is spiritually uplifting to see instances like the Open Door crowd singing Happy Birthday to a homeless boy who wanted to be with his friends at Open Door.

Without PUMC’s buildings, $15,000 from the general fund, volunteers, contributions of food and Prescott UMC inspires those inside and outside their clothing and the enthusiastic support of Pastors church walls with their compassionate ministry.

George and Nancy Cushman, Open Door may not Photos provided by Prescott UMC have prospered. It now has wide-spread support from Summer 2011 | Transformation | 7

Our voice, your ears

By Stephen Govett and Dakota Staren, based on interviews with DSC Youth

In addition to the address on youth to the Annual Conference delivered by Stephen Govett and Dakota Staren, a young person sat next to Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño for each Plenary Session to provide leadership and have their voices heard.

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T

he statistics are alarming. According to a recent article in USA Today “Seven in 10 Protestants ages 18 to 30—both evangelical and mainline—who went to church regularly in high school said they quit attending by age 23.” It is well documented and a lot has been written on the fact that young adults are dropping out of church at a dramatic rate. What we find to be equally alarming is the fact that less and less youth (high schoolers and junior high schoolers) are attending church in the first place. So not only do you have seven in ten stop attending, but the pool is shrinking. This tells us that something needs to change. We believe change must happen in both the local church and Conference in the way we do and perceive ‘youth ministry.’

When changes were made to how Conference-wide youth ministry would be supported, many initially feared that there would be less leadership and resources.

However, what emerged was the opportunity to really look at how youth Ministry is done in The Desert Southwest Conference. The movement was away from having a ministry for youth and towards being in ministry with youth.

Biblically speaking, we looked to Paul’s advice to Timothy, a young person, who was a leader in the church of Ephesus. “Don’t let anyone look down upon you because you are young, but set an example for the believer in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12) We want to look specifically at the set an example part. We believe that youth today want to set an example for the believer—for those in the local church. Take for example Carla (age 17) who said, “I think it is cool and all that we get to speak and do stuff on youth Sundays, but I want to do more. I mean, I think youth Sundays are important and all, but we want a voice at other times too. You would never see a church just having women participate only on UMW Sunday, or older people speak only on a special Sunday for them, or invite African Americans to participate only on MLK day, but many churches find it acceptable to treat youth this way, and that is wrong.” We believe that churches need to include youth in the total ministry of the church, not just relegate them to a room, a program, or a special Sunday and call it “youth ministry.”

We see the model of youth “setting an example” fitting nicely into our own Conference’s Strategic Direction, with

the priority being to develop and encourage an ongoing culture of Leadership Development. Developing youth leaders and having youth in leadership positions in the local church and conference is essential.

We decided to ask several youth what they thought of church and how it impacts their lives. Our findings are purely anecdotal and not statistical, but we found many youth are more interested in being in ministry than having a youth ministry. This is not to say that youth do not enjoy people of their same age, or ministries just for them, but they find it much more rewarding to be a part of the larger church, and to be in ministry across generations. For most of our interviewees, ministries of service and outreach to others was the most appealing to them.

Tyler (age 17) relayed the story of sitting in church and hearing his pastor talk about mission opportunities with Habitat for Humanity, but when Tyler showed up for the outreach ministry he was informed that this was not a youth mission. Tyler said, “part of what intrigued me is that I would be in ministry with the entire church, not just my age group.”

We also found that youth, in and out of organized religion, want to make a difference in the world. They want to be involved and be a part of something that makes a difference. According to Kristie (16) “Youth don’t necessarily want to sit in church, we want to get out and do!”

We discovered that youth want more than fellowship; they want to make a difference. According to Jason (14) “It is great to get together with my friends from church and all and do fun things, but let’s face it, we can’t do that anytime. We are here because we are part of the church, we want to grow in and focus on our relationship with Christ, not play silly games.” Although Jason admitted that the silly games and fellowship are fun, we believe that he gets to the heart of what youth want in a church. They want to talk about and explore issues of faith and grow in their relationship with Christ. We also discovered that youth today see service as a way in which their faith is lived out day to day. Brittany (age 17) said, “We want to embrace the community, and have more mission opportunities. I want church to be a place that takes serving others seriously.”

Nicole (age 16), attended her youth groups program on homelessness. After hearing about homelessness, she said, “I think it is great that we know about this stuff, but I want to do something about it. I want to get involved.” So Nicole encouraged her youth group to reach out to homeless men and women by planning, implementing and running URBANAILS, a homeless nail salon run by the youth of the church.

We believe that if what the youth are telling us is true, then The United Methodist Church, with our focus on Social Holiness, Justice, and Outreach, is uniquely poised to reach out and make a difference in the lives of our young people. †

Photos by Don Benton

Editor’s note: Too often the statement is made even among leadership in the church that it is just hard to know what young people are looking for in church. The church laments the dwindling number of youth and young adults in church and there is a sense of not knowing how to reach out to young people. Yet, there is an abundance of young people willing to talk about what they are seeking. This article and a video available on the Desert Southwest Conference YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/DSCCommunication are attempts to share these voices with the entire United Methodist Church.

Summer 2011 | Transformation | 9

Gil Rendle: What if we have too much?

D

enominations may not think they have enough to keep doing what they’ve done in the past, but they could have more than enough for what God calls them to do now, said Gil Rendle, a noted church consultant.

“The possibility is that we have enough or more than enough to do what God calls us to do next,” Rendle said. “It’s only if we trap ourselves into saying that we have to continue what we have that we run into this pessimistic kind of a moment.”

Rendle is a senior consultant with the Texas Methodist Foundation and an independent consultant working with issues of change and leadership in denominations and large churches. Previously, he was an author, seminar leader, and senior consultant for the Alban Institute for 12 years. An ordained United Methodist minister, Gil served as senior pastor of two urban congregations in Pennsylvania for 16 years and as a denominational consultant for the United Methodist Church for nine years. He has a Ph.D. in organizational development from Temple University and a Th.M. from Boston University.

Q: What is the biggest challenge for denominations and their leaders?

One is being able to clarify their identity and their purpose. In our United Methodist Church, who are we as United Methodist people? What is it we believe, and what are we committed to do?

Along with that, people are reinventing the covenant relationship with the denomination. How and why should a congregation relate to a denomination?

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Q: Could you talk about the changing relationships between denominations and larger congregations?

If you think about the denomination as a service provider, our largest congregations have very little need for the services of the denomination. Denominations are still trying to provide resources to help people do church, when our largest congregations are asking questions about how do you do mission or how do you do ministry?

The denomination still is trying to be a service provider. We want to give you resources. We want to give you programs. And that’s not really necessary with the large church. They can provide that for themselves.

The large church shares a purpose with a denomination, and so how can they begin to partner on that? There are places where the largest of our churches are stepping in to do either what the denomination can’t or to contribute to what the denomination does.

It’s no longer a subordinate relationship; it’s much more equal.

You’ve got younger congregations, particularly small ones, that want the connection; quite often what they want is a connection to the theology of the denomination, but they don’t want the constraints. In other words, one way of saying that is, “I don’t want to get too close.” They want the theology, and they want to be held accountable that there is a larger ministry beyond themselves.

You’ve got part of the church that is beginning to be equal with our denominational offices. You have others that want to be connected but not tied in. We’re at a point where denominations want more of a connection from congregations than the congregation often wants from the denomination.

Gil Rendle led the Day of Learning at the 2011 Desert Southwest Annual Conference.

Q: You have written that middle judicatories have an opportunity to leverage points of change. What does that mean and how might it happen?

Culturally, we’re at a time where change comes from the bottom up. And so the cultural change was first encountered by our congregations. As they began to go through their change, they pushed the change up.

At the moment, the change lives most directly at the middle judicatory level, with our conferences and our synods and dioceses. National church is starting to get uncomfortable with the change, and that change will eventually work its way up as well. The middle judicatory now has to ask new questions about itself, and they have much to do with mission, ministry, and purpose. What is

a conference? What should we expect a conference to do?

In terms of how the conference responds, they have a number of different leverage points. One is by shaping the story, by helping people to remember who we are as a people, not to remember what God called us to do at one time but what does God call us to do now, and then begin to direct resources toward that purpose—clergy deployment, financial resources, lay leadership resources. Being able to reshape purpose and align resources to it is a huge piece of the leverage that you get at that middle level. story continues on page 12 Summer 2011 | Transformation | 11

Gil Rendle | Continued from page 11

Q: Do you see opportunities for denominations and their leaders in the changing landscape, or do you see it as a story of decline?

There are some people that want to say that our clergy are clearly in crisis, and there are other people who look at the same data and say that our clergy are really in a developmental mode, and that they’re clarifying themselves.

Is this a crisis or is this an opportunity? And so, if you will, that’s an issue that has as much to do with our spirit as it does with the kind of the mechanics of an institution.

So clearly, I’m at a point where I think the opportunity far outweighs the crisis. Now a couple of caveats here: you don’t want to minimize the crisis, because if people don’t have some sense of urgency, the change won’t happen. And so,

if you will, we actually do want people to be uncomfortable right now. We want them to be uncomfortable with their present situation and acknowledge the fact that God calls them to be more than they are, that God calls them to be bolder than they currently are. One of the things I know about congregations is that they routinely tell very weak and safe stories about themselves, because if you tell kind of a weak, safe story about yourself, you don’t have to perform a whole lot. But if you tell a bold story about yourself, you have to risk. And so we’ve got a lot of congregations that have learned how to tell very weak stories.

Photo by Don Benton

Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño took a moment to say a prayer before Gil Rendle led the 2011 Desert Southwest Annual Conference in a Day of Learning that focused vitality and God’s abundant grace.

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Q: Are you an optimist or a pessimist about changes the denominations face?

I’m an optimist. The future and the possibility are still strong. A lot of the anxiety at the moment is driven by resources. Do we have enough money? Do we have enough people?

The bottom line is that we don’t have enough to keep doing what we’ve been doing, but the possibility is that we have enough or more than enough to do what God calls us to do next. It’s only if we trap ourselves into saying that we have to continue what we have that we run into this pessimistic kind of a moment.

I’m captured by Lynne Twist, her work on money out of a book called “The Soul of Money,” where she talks about scarcity, abundance, and sufficiency. Scarcity is feeling like we don’t have enough, and she points out that in the North American culture, we live in this culture of scarcity. Often we find ourselves saying, “I didn’t get enough sleep last night” or “I don’t have enough time to do what I want to do.”

We’re sitting in the middle of abundance, but we evaluate everything by measuring what we don’t have.

What does it mean to live out of a culture of sufficiency?

If you think about the future of the denomination, what if we have resources sufficient for what we’re called to do?

I’m forever having conversations about how we don’t have enough people and we don’t have enough money to manage the churches and the buildings and so forth. It’s hard to ask people to re-ask the question—what if we have too much?

What if we have too many buildings? What if we have too many congregations in that area? What if we redeployed our resources for mission? My colleagues want to always remind me not to undersell the crisis. Will our denominations come out looking exactly how we would have them? No, no, they’re going to be reshaped; they’re going to be re-formed.

what we’re trying to do here is to make sure that we have satisfied clergy and satisfied congregations, because that’s where members end up. So we want happy churches, with happy clergy, with happy members.

If you’re no longer making members, but if you’re making disciples, you’re trying to make changed persons who will change the world; then the mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

We’re no longer trying to make people happy. Now we’re trying to make people changed. Given that the output of the earlier model of making decisions was happy churches, happy clergy, and more members—well, clergy and churches are no longer the output. They’re now the input. They’re now the resources we use to make changed people.

This is a really difficult moment because so many of our congregations and our clergy have been nurtured in the idea that they are the center of attention of the denomination, because the denomination wants to make them happy.

Suddenly, we’re now in a place where the question isn’t whether or not they’re being made happy; the question is, are they being deployed appropriately to be used as a tool to get to this other goal of making disciples? That’s a substantive shift. That requires a shift in our identity.

That leads me to think about myself as an expendable resource. No longer am I going to be cared for. Now I’m going to be used. Well, that’s changing the rules halfway through, and for a lot of people, this is a huge challenge.

There will be many people—whether we’re talking about clergy or lay—who will simply have this deep sense of “That’s not what I signed up for.” There are some changes that are so fundamental that they drive much of the rest of what we’re looking at. story continues on page 14

Q: When you speak about change presenting opportunities or making people nervous, what specific changes are you talking about?

There are some changes that are so fundamental that they rest at the center of all the other things that we have to do.

In the United Methodist Church there is a pragmatic change. Our mission at one time was to make members. We have now changed to say that our mission is to make disciples. That’s a pragmatic shift; if the end product of our ministry is to make members, then the output of

Photo by Don Benton Summer 2011 | Transformation | 13

Gil Rendle | Continued from page 13

Q: Why does change seem to be so frightening?

Whenever we go into change there’s an experience of loss, and that’s even if the change is prompted by something that’s terribly happy. A young couple bringing a baby home from the hospital—that’s a change in their lives. They are very happy about it. But within two weeks, they have to face the loss of sleep, the loss of intimacy, the loss of private time.

This scenario that I painted about moving clergy or congregations from being the object of attention of the denomination to kind of an expendable resource—there’s a huge loss there. What if my needs of security aren’t met?

What if I lose my place on the clergy ladder? What if my congregation is not productive enough to get the kind of clergy leadership that we need? What if they disband some of the committees and I was a chairman of that committee?

Where do I go now? It’s this deep sense of loss that people intuit.

Q: Could dealing with the sense of loss shift the view of this change, or is there something real to be afraid of?

Of course there are some real things to lose. There are a number of our congregations that are not going to make the change. They won’t be able to do that. There is a natural loss there, that we know that congregation is going to go through its last stage of life. There are many conversations we can have about whether or not they’re going to leave a legacy of purpose or ministry to somebody else, but what they’re not going to do is get younger people to come in and do church like they like to do it.

Is there a real loss? You betcha. Is there a real loss for some of our clergy who are of an age that they don’t or even can’t retool? Sure. Where we lose the capacity to subsidize or to support some ministries, those are all real losses along the way, but those are tangential to that central change that we’re talking about.

It’s not going to be an easy trip, but the wilderness never is. You know? †

Gil Rendle

“It’s not going to be an easy trip, but the wilderness never is.”

Editor’s note: this interview was originally published on Faith & Leadership at http://faithandleadership.com, and was reprinted with permission.

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Photo by Stephen J. Hustedt

“Less is More” The Marshall Lindsay Awards were introduced at the 2011 Desert Southwest Annual Conference Session in response to the Call to Action as a way to celebrate vital churches in The Desert Southwest Conference. This year’s winners were Community UMC of Williams, Calvary UMC, and First UMC of Tempe. Calvary UMC was one of the first three churches to be recognized for church vitality through the new Marshall Lindsay Awards.

C

alvary United Methodist Church was founded in 1962 it is located in a mixed-use area in Phoenix, Arizona. Most of the homes are about 40 years old. This does not translate into membership security and recycled church programs and traditions. It is a neighborhood church where people could come and learn about God and find a safe place to experience the Christian faith. That same sense of neighborhood continues to guide us as we seek to be a church that passes God's love around in our homes, neighborhoods, and in the world. We're a casual congregation, a place where you're welcome to come-as-you-are. People who come to Calvary often comment that they have met Jesus here in worship and in the people they meet.

In the last 5-10 years, the community surrounding Calvary has changed. The economic depression has been particularly present in this community. The enforcement of Arizona SB 1070 and other measures have resulted in many losing jobs and homes. Newer residents continue to be blue collar and somewhat younger but this results in a rather transient community. Many homes are now rentals. People continue to struggle to keep their jobs. Calvary is partnering with others to meet the community needs and help their neighbors thrive. One of those partners is Jacob’s Journey, a private faith-based half-way house. Coordinating with Maryvale Ecumenical association, we are able to strengthen and seek new avenues of outreach to ex-offenders re-entering the community. Working with “The Treasure Box,” Calvary distributes about 80-100 food

boxes each month. Adding a health ministry expanded our outreach and evangelism opportunities. Calvary’s vision is to “Be a church passing God’s love around.” To that end, Calvary has embraced the presence of Amigos Center, an extension of the Wesley Center. Calvary has a Day Care Center where the focus is not only a Christian curriculum and family environment but is affordable in a neighborhood which has seen a per-capita loss of income of nearly $4,000 per year during the recent recession, keeping it one of the lowest cost centers in the west valley. To this end, Calvary sacrifices space, resources, and energy to serve the needs of the people in Maryvale in partnership with faithbased and community organizations to build connections and relationships with people outside the church campus. We have credibility in the neighborhood and people often refer to our church as the church that does stuff. This has resulted in an increase in younger families participating and becoming part of the life of the church.

Through the Grace of God in February of 2011, Calvary paid off the remaining debt on the Sanctuary building that was completed in 1999!

Amid the challenges, God has been at work in a variety of ways at Calvary UMC. We worked towards re-vitalizing our website and the youth group, mentoring new attenders, increasing the weekly study groups, and continue to work towards fully integrating our campus English and Spanish ministries. Our four worship opportunities reach many more people than those listed in our membership rolls. The Friday evening Spanish service continues to

grow in attendance. A web ministry was begun with updating our “place names” on Google and other web search engines so searches will result in higher placement for Calvary and photographs increase visibility and the likely hood people will enter the site.

An extensive web site was developed aimed at members, but primarily to be an evangelistic tool for those looking for a church or who are curious about faith. When the updating efforts were completed we tracked our web visitors and found nearly a thousand unique additional visitors to the web site with almost two thousand visits. Several thousand hits on web search engines have resulted in many visits to the web site and a number of new clients for our campus day school. Our Vacation Bible School was a hit with the neighborhood and our congregation.

New Bible studies resulted in an increase of new people participating in our group studies, and several new leaders.

Effective pastoral leadership including inspirational preaching, mentoring laity, effective management, multiple small groups and programs for children and youth, a mix of worship services, a high percentage of spiritually engaged laity who assume leadership roles are all signs of vitality.

They are also a clear path for any church to grow, regardless of economic resources or neighborhood vitality.

Our Conference Strategic Direction states, “We Believe God is calling us to participate in the transformation of the world through Jesus, thus, we commit to Making Disciples of Jesus Christ.”

Calvary UMC fully supports, and lives that statement. † Editor’s note: This article compiled from various notes and letters written

by Pastor John Fairchild

A Strategic Direction for We Believe

God is calling us to participate in the transformation of the world through Jesus, thus, we commit to Making Disciples of Jesus Christ.

Leadership Development

Priority: Develop and encourage an ongoing culture of Leadership Development.

1. Effective churches develop a defined leadership process for all ages to strengthen and multiply ministries for the transformation of lives. They also develop a defined discipleship process led by both Lay and Clergy to grow new people in personal and social holiness and integrate them into the active life and work of the church.

2. Effective Clergy and Laity model passionate and prophetic leadership by visioning, inspiring, and ordering the life of the church for faithful implementation of our Strategic Direction.

3. Together, we as the DSC will resource local churches with opportunities for continual, culturally-competent leadership development. Additionally, we will reform the Clergy development, deployment, evaluation, and accountability systems.

New Faith Communities

Priority: Develop and encourage an ongoing culture of starting New Faith Communities.

1. Effective churches start discipleship groups with new people each year and give witness to how lives are being touched and transformed by God’s grace. Some of these discipleship groups will become new churches.

2. Effective Clergy partner with spiritually engaged Laity in growing new groups into communities of faith.

3. Together, we as the Desert Southwest Conference (DSC) will multiply disciples by starting new churches every year in AZ, NV & southeast CA. We will give witness to the Church and the world how lives are being touched and transformed by Christ.

Social Holiness

Priority: Develop and encourage an ongoing culture of Social Holiness.

1. Effective churches equip members to identify and engage opportunities for ministry and justice to transform God’s world: our brothers, our sisters and ourselves. We also partner with others to identify and address local, global and systemic causes of injustice and human suffering.

2. Effective Clergy model prayerful devotion and personal and social holiness through their lives and ministry.

3. Together, we as the DSC will guide our churches in addressing prevalent social issues–consistent with our historic Methodist commitment to social holiness–through biblical and theological reflection, prayer, study and action.

We believe God is using our church to “save persons, heal relationships, transform social structures, and spread scriptural holiness, thereby changing the world.”1 May it be so!

16 | Transformation | Summer 2011

1 Book of Discipline, ¶121

The Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church

Editor’s note: In a continuing effort to improve and minister to all people in The Desert Southwest Conference, significant revisions were made to the conference-wide Strategic Direction during the 2011 Annual Conference Session. However, the same three areas of New Faith, Leadership Development, and Social Holiness are still the focus. These three areas are in line with the United Methodist Church-wide four areas of focus.

One with Christ, One with Each Other, One in Ministry to ALL the World.

Defining Critical Terms

Holiness. We recognize an intimate relationship between personal and social holiness. While not specifically mentioning a personal holiness priority, this entire plan is designed to facilitate the journey of personal and social holiness for ourselves and others in God’s plan of salvation. Specifically, new faith communities and discipleship groups reach new people, who haven’t yet experienced the love of Jesus Christ. Defined discipleship and leadership processes help new and existing participants deepen in faith and ministry. Social holiness puts faith into action and provides opportunities to grow in personal holiness.

Revitalization. We recognize many of our churches struggle to be vital. While we are aware that there is no formula that guarantees revitalization, we believe faithful implementation of this plan creates fertile opportunity for revitalization to begin. Attention to these priorities aligns our work with the key drivers of vitality identified by the United Methodist Call to Action, including effective pastoral leadership, multiple small groups and programs for children and youth, and a high percentage of spiritually engaged laity who assume leadership roles.

Effective. The Strategic Direction lists several action items that, when implemented, opens us to the movement of the Holy Spirit and enables us to faithfully strive toward the building of God’s reign among us. We intentionally chose the word “effective” to clearly communicate the need to accomplish these action items and to hold ourselves accountable to them.

Culturally-Competent. Cultural-competence is a developmental process of becoming more effective at interaction with other cultures, including: self-awareness of one’s own culture, knowledge of and openness toward cultural differences, and skill development in cross-cultural communication.

Where We Are Headed

Faithful Outcomes: New congregations. New disciples. More churches showing vitality. More churches attentive to their neighbors. More professions of faith. More people in worship. More people in mission. More people growing in holiness.

More signs of multiplication. Ultimately: the transformation of the world.

Accountability: It is important to evaluate the effectiveness of leadership of every area of our organization. To be accountable to the Strategic Direction, clergy and laity will implement action items 1 and 2 of each priority in their churches and ministries and Conference staff and leadership will implement action item 3 of each priority. We will all hold each other accountable to these tasks. Objective metric systems will be used to measure our fruitfulness, but even more, we will be looking for signs of God’s transformative powers among us.

Summer 2011 | Transformation | 17

UMNS photos

Call To Action

16 Ministries/Strategies Engagement of disciples in small groups and the number of ministries for children and youth 1. Vital churches have more small groups for all ages.

2. Vital churches have more programs for children.

3. Vital churches have more programs for youth.

Lay Leadership 4. Vital churches focus on increasing the effectiveness of lay leaders (understand their role and carrying these roles out effectively).

5. Vital churches have lay leaders who demonstrate a vital personal faith (regular worship, intentional spiritual growth, personal devotional life, and giving of financial resources).

6. Vital churches place an emphasis on rotating lay leadership in order to involve more people over time.

7. Vital churches call, equip, use and support more lay leaders than non vital churches.

(Twenty percent or more of their worship attendees describe themselves as current or past leaders in their church).

Pastor 8. Vital pastors give attention to developing, coaching, and mentoring lay leadership to enable laity to increase their ability to carry out ministry.

9. Vital pastors use their influence to increase the participation of others in order to accomplish changes in the church.

10. Vital pastors motivate the congregation to set and achieve significant goals through effective leadership.

11. Vital pastors inspire the congregation through preaching.

12. Vital pastors, when they are serving effectively, stay for a longer period of time. (Shortterm appointments of effective pastors decreases the vitality of a congregation).

Worship 13. Vital churches offer a mix of contemporary (newer forms of worship style) and traditional services.

14. Vital churches have preachers who tend to use more topical sermon series in traditional services.

15. Vital churches use more contemporary music (less blended music that includes traditional tunes) in contemporary services.

16. Vital churches use more multi-media in contemporary services (Some congregations in other parts of the world may have limited access or do not use multi-media to the same extent and therefore it may not be as important as it is in some cultures.)

Editor’s note: In preparation for major changes to how ministry is done in The United Methodist, an in-depth study of what leads to vital congregations was commissioned at the highest levels of the church. The study was released as the Call to Action report and was shared with leadership bodies across the denomination including the Council of Bishops. The sharing was punctuated by the Leadership Summit where thousands of United Methodists worldwide connected through technology to look at the Call to Action. As the Call to Action continues to spread throughout the denomination, it will likely spark sweeping changes across the denomination.

Financial Growth

By Christina Dillabough, Communications Designer/Editor

On December 31, 2010, TMM completed the fund raising component of its 4 year, $3.4 million Capital Campaign, and on this very last day of the year, a private donor’s $200,000 personal check cleared our bank, ending the Capital Campaign with $3,401,000!

Excerpt from 2011 DSC Annual Report

S

ince 1988 Rev. Don Strauch has worked as the Executive Director of TMM Family Services, Inc. (TMM). He comes with an impressive history of fundraising dating back to 1986 when he organized and built a $1.2 million dollar Ruthven Community Center, a licensed Intermediate Care Facility for elderly and disabled citizens. For TMM, Rev. Strauch secured over $7,000,000 in donations and $20,000,000 in government grants and partnered with The Board of Global Ministries, dozens of United Methodist Churches and hundreds of men, women and youth of our connectional system to serve the most vulnerable citizens of various southern Arizona communities.

He says, “the key for me to raising funds is clarity of the issue(s) involved, broad consensus that the need for funds exist, and a clear connection that giving is best when it is a response to sensing God's blessings individually and corporately.”

TMM provides housing for single women with children and children at risk who have been placed in foster care. They help with clothing, household items, parenting, nutrition, education, job training, money management, homeowner education, counseling, down payment assistance, and home repairs. Many people that have benefited from the help offered at TMM have transformed and ended up with a new outlook and virtually, a new life. This transformation has been largely made possible through generous giving.

“Frankly, I never preach tithing other than as a general guideline from the Old Testament. Rather, I underscore the New Testament principal of dedicated giving that is in "proportion" to how one has been blessed. Tithing, as important as the term and concept is, oftentimes comes across as too rigid and legalistic. Wealthy folks should do more than tithe if they sense the richness of Christ's love and forgiveness. Low income and moderate income folks may not be able to tithe, but they can and should be encouraged to give according to how they have been

blessed or how they understand God at work in their lives.”

TMM has evolved over the years since its official beginning in 1974. TMM’s Committee identified early on that its central purpose was helping UM churches, as well as other interested churches, in meeting many of the social and human needs of the various churches in an administrative manner that would cease “duplication” of services and provide ministry to and with the vulnerable of Tucson. Today, their ongoing, faith-driven mission is simple, to serve the “least of these among us.” This effort has resulted in a multimillion dollar ministry that has remained active and growing through good economic times and bad. In 2009 the United States of America experienced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. By the end of 2010 TMM was still able to meet and even exceed their fundraising goal of 3.4 million dollars.

People in general strive to make connections. It’s why Facebook became a giant in the communications industry almost overnight. People can just click to find a connection to anyone anywhere around the world. The root of that need for connection however, isn’t driven by a need for information. People have an innate need to find fulfillment, something that can only truly be filled by God’s presence in our lives. It is what happens to the soul when we get involved in helping others or “loving thy neighbor.”

When people donate their time, money, or talents for a cause they become the hands and feet of Jesus. People get a real sense of fulfillment and fullness in their soul.

Financial gifts may come from being thankful to God for his blessings and wanting to share them with the world or a need to make a difference and be a part of something special. Rev. Strauch says that people will give when they are presented with a clear opportunity to help others.

Struggling ministries or churches can find guidance and comfort in his words. When churches ask how can we meet 100% of our apportionments, cover our operating costs and grow in ministry when our membership is declining and we are in a midst of a failing economy?

Communications is the key! Develop dramatic sermon series, use visual aides, compose compelling articles, use Facebook, Twitter, your church website and speak to your community consistently about the church mission and how everyone can get involved. With a track record like Rev. Strauch’s, there is no arguing his methods. † Summer 2011 | Transformation | 19

Finding new ways

Photos by Don Benton

At the conclusion of the Lay Missionary Planting Network training graduates were congratulated by their District Superintendent and Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño during a graduation celebration.

T

Empowering Lay Missionaries to people that are too often missed

he Lay Missionary Planting Network was birthed from an idea that the Reverend Martin Lee had a couple of years ago. Martin has been a good friend and colleague (fellow developer) for the last fifteen years. He is currently the Director of Congregational Development in the Northern Illinois Conference. The demographics of his conference told him that there were over 2 million Hispanic/Latino persons living in the Chicago area. This was startling news since he didn’t have one qualified clergy person to even begin to address the spiritual needs of these folks. Martin is a very creative person and therefore decided to put an advertisement in a Chicago paper that read something like this: “If you have passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ, compassion for people and you have a job and want to help the United Methodist Church start some new Hispanic/Latino churches, please come to a special informational meeting about this.”

Not knowing for sure if anyone at all would respond to this invitation, Martin was pleasantly surprised when 68 bilingual Hispanic/Latino lay persons came to the meeting. After it was explained that they would train these persons on how to start Hispanic/Latino churches by putting them into small groups of 10-14 for one Saturday a month 20 | Transformation | Summer 2011

over a two year period, to their further surprise, 55 persons signed up to do it! Now almost 3 years later, the Northern Illinois Conference has started 10 new churches out of that group and most of them are growing and doing well!

When I heard what Martin was doing I was the Executive Director of Path 1 (our denomination’s national strategy team for starting new churches) and wanted to repeat this model in all of our five jurisdictions. Path 1 then applied for a grant from the Foundation for Evangelism using this format and calling it the Lay Missionary Planting Network (LMPN). We were rewarded with a $100,000 gift to develop this model. Path 1’s goal was to partner with one conference in each of the five jurisdictions.

Bishop Carcaño was, in fact, the very first Bishop to sign a partnership between the Desert Southwest Conference and Path 1 to develop a LMPN and because she was the first one to sign, the conference has received $30,000.

Naturally when I returned to this conference last July, I was given responsibility for staffing and developing our LMPN. Each of the District Superintendents worked hard to recruit 26 Hispanic/ Latino lay persons that had those same attributes as mentioned above; a passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ, compassion for people, a job, and a willingness to attend 10 six hour sessions of training

to do ministry

By Rev. Tom Butcher, Director of New Faith

Graduates of the Lay Missionary Planting Network were anointed by their District Superintendents at the 2011 Desert Southwest Annual Conference Session. over the course of 6 months. The Bishop and Cabinet also recruited 10 anchor churches and an additional 10 partner churches to be integral parts of the Network.

Anchor churches are where the new Hispanic/Latino churches are to be based with Partner churches’ roles to provide support to the anchor churches and the lay missionary planters in a variety of ways, including financial support.

Saturday, June 4th was a very special and important day for our conference’s LMPN as twenty graduating certificates were handed out to those that had completed the six month, ten session long equipping course.

The topics for the ten sessions included the following: “United Methodism 101,” “Basic Wesleyan Theology,” “Engaging the Community,” “Teaching and Preaching,” “Pastoral Care,” “Developing Leadership,” “Growing and Multiplying Ministries,” and “Christian Stewardship.”

These special sessions were taught by experts on these topics by persons from within our conference and throughout our denomination, including Bishop and Mrs. Vazquez, Sam Rodriquez, Javier and Alma Olivares, Saul Montiel, Eric Brown, Daniel Flores, Jim Perdue, and Victor Perez. There was an opening Orientation session in January and a closing Celebration session in June.

Bishop Carcaño was the facilitator for the tenth and final Celebration session. She taught on Jim Griffith’s book “The Ten Most Common Mistakes Made by New Church Starts.” Also all of our District Superintendents were there to hear each of the lay missionary planters make wonderful presentations on which of the sessions they liked best. This was a truly great day filled with passionate presentations, gratitude for all the great work

they had done, and excitement for the opportunities that were ahead of them.

On Sunday, June 26th, the final day of our annual conference session, the Bishop anointed each of the lay missionary planters—praying that the power of the Holy Spirit would fall upon each of them to do the work they were called to do. Many of these persons will be assigned and deployed in designated areas throughout our conference, including Las Vegas, Tucson, and Phoenix.

This means that over the summer six new Hispanic/ Latino churches are starting through the Lay Missionary Planting Network model and God’s abundant grace right here in The Desert Southwest Conference.

As you can see, the Lay Missionary Planting Network was birthed out of the firm belief that passionate, talented and trained lay persons can start new churches!

Actually, the LMPN draws us back to our roots with John Wesley in his use of competent and accountable lay persons who later became circuit riders that were instrumental in successfully developing and leading our earliest Methodist churches. Again today, we believe that this intentional multiplication of ministry enables us to respond to God’s call to love our neighbors as ourselves and to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Furthermore, we believe that truly gifted and called lay people can and will effectively lead new congregations. Being whole heartedly committed to the Lay Missionary Planting Network greatly moves the Desert Southwest Conference forward in its goal to reach more people, more young people and more diverse people for the Kingdom of God. † Summer 2011 | Transformation | 21

Making the Most

By Dr. Don Nations, DNA Coaching

Y

ou are different today than you were yesterday.

Your body has replaced some cells, made new blood, grown out your hair and nails and another 24 hours has been added to your history. The only way to avoid change is to die, but then of course that is just another kind of change.

Our communities are different than they were yesterday or ten years ago and they are very different than they were fifty years ago. Far more people live within the boundaries of the Conference than when it was established. The makeup of our communities has changed. They are more varied with people from more places speaking more languages.

The sidewalks are no longer rolled up at night and sporting events now happen on Sunday mornings. There are more choices for education after high school and it is needed more than ever before (and it is more expensive than ever before).

Our world is changing. Governments rise and fall.

Politicians are elected and replaced. Wars start and stop. Immigration happens (with or without successful integration). A smaller percentage of people attend church and other religions are clamoring to have their voice heard in the marketplace. Communication is instantaneous and knowledge is growing at an astounding rate.

Our congregations exist in the midst of all of this. Like many other organizations, they have not all fared well in this new world. You are aware of the numbers. The United Methodist Church has lost millions of members in the United States (it is growing in most places outside the US and Europe), worship attendance is down in almost every conference in the US, many churches close each year, half of UM clergy will likely retire over the next ten years and the rocky economy has not helped the financial situation of our churches.

Now one reaction to all of this would be to quit, to give up, to say that the day of the Church had passed, to simply return to our churches and seek to hold on as long as possible until the last person turns out the lights. But if the leadership of your Conference was willing to do that, then I would not be writing this article. You see, I believe there is another future which can await local churches—one that it brighter and, frankly, better than just waiting to die.

I envision a future in which churches see more professions of faith, more people in worship and more 22 | Transformation | Summer 2011

people involved in intentional spiritual formation. I see churches making a significant impact on their communities and changing lives. I see congregations full of people willing and able to share their faith. I see pastors preaching the life-changing message of Jesus and not getting bogged down in minor issues. I see all of the people in the church involved in small groups which care for each other. I see clergy leaders investing significant time with those who do not attend any church. I see new faith communities which are able to reach those our existing churches and worship services cannot. I see church life as revolving around things other than finances, facilities and the everyday operation of the church. I see young people with a faith so vital that they do not leave it when they graduate high school.

I see congregations more concerned with reaching new people than protecting their building, their name, their style of worship or the programs of the past. I invite you to open your spiritual eyes and look at the future that could be. Can you see this as well?

This, friends, is what transformation is all about. This is what the three year transformation process led by DNA Coaching is designed to help you produce. My task in the conference is simply to help you make your church into a vital and vibrant community of faith.

It is my privilege to begin working this Fall with about 40 churches in the conference for the next three years.

The churches will participate in four training events each year and four coaching sessions each year. They will also have access to me, their coach, via email and phone on an as-needed basis. In addition, they will have access to dozens of documents and over 1,000 pictures on the client side of the DNA Coaching web site (www.dnacoaching.com). Each church will also participate in an extensive consultation

of C-H-A-N-G-E process which results in a customized consultation report being prepared for each congregation.

If your church is part of the initial group taking part in this process, congratulations. If not, do not be discouraged, there are still some great options available to you. If you are interested in taking part in the transformation process, contact your district superintendent. You can also plan to participate in what we hope will be future rounds of the transformation process. In addition, every church in the Conference will receive a copy of The Church Transformation Workbook. This resource provides stepby-step plans for strengthening the key areas of ministry in the local church that are most directly related to transformation.

I believe that every congregation has the ability to move towards transformation. The journey is not always easy and it often involves sacrifice but it can be done. Key elements of this journey can be seen using the word “change” as an acronym. C-H-A-N-G-E means the following: C – Clarify the goal. What do you most want to do as a church? If you most want to reach new people then your decisions will reflect that. If you most want to protect what you have and replicate the past then your decisions will reflect that.

H – Help make it happen. Be the change you want to see. God has given every Christian at least one gift for ministry. Use that gift.

Consider it your job to do one thing every day that will move your church towards transformation.

A – Align the work of the church. Most churches make the mistake of trying to do too many things. Once you are clear on the overarching goal, then make sure that every decision moves you closer to that goal. Your church may have to stop doing some things in order to start doing even more important things.

N – Never settle for poor hospitality and guest followup. Make it outstanding.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression so make it a great one. Don’t just be a friendly church—be a church in which new people can readily make friends.

G – Go invite people to church.

Most churches would be well on the way to transformation if they would simply invite more people to church.

Dr. Don Nations What would it take for your church to receive three or four times as many first-time guests as it currently does? Do what it takes to make this happen.

E – Embrace new things. Transformation does not simply come from repeating the past. Instead it often requires new training events, new worship services, new small groups, new advertising plans, new preaching plans and telling the old, old story in new, new ways.

Your church can embrace change. God’s grace is sufficient for you, and for the other people in your church, to do what it takes to become all God has created you to be. Allow me to borrow two slogans from political campaigns to summarize where we are now: “Yes we can!” and “Let’s get to work!”

With God’s grace, all things are possible. †

C – Clarify the goal.

H – Help make it happen.

A – Align the work of the church.

N – Never settle for poor hospitality.

G – Go invite people to church.

E – Embrace new things.

Summer 2011 | Transformation | 23

When it comes to church vitality, size is not as important as spirit

By Stephen J. Hustedt, Director of Communications

I

n Northern Arizona’s High country there is a relatively small town of around 3,000 people and just over a thousand households. There are more than a dozen churches that base their ministry in the city of Williams and one of those churches is Community United Methodist Church. Community UMC is a vital congregation.

In Williams there is not an abundance of people looking for churches to minister to them, like can be found in some of the larger cities in The Desert Southwest Conference, but there is an abundance of spirit and God’s grace flowing through the congregation at Community UMC. The church clearly demonstrates the four key indicators of vitality that were introduced in the Call to Action and the Leadership Summit that took place in the spring, and Community UMC was recognized for its vitality when it received the Marshall Lindsay Award at the Desert Southwest Annual Conference.

The first area of vitality addressed by the Call to Action and demonstrated by Community UMC is effective pastoral leadership including inspirational preaching, mentioning laity, and effective management. “When I was appointed to serve Community UMC in July, 2005 I devoted myself to prayer and fasting to discern God’s heart as to what should be my primary focus,” explained Rev. Billy Martin, pastor of Community UMC “‘Preach and teach my Word,’ was the answer. Inspirational preaching begins with being true to the God’s counsel as portrayed within the living Word. People are inspired to learn and grow when they are taught,

24 | Transformation | Summer 2011

when, how, and why the original text was first written.”

Martin went on to say that mentoring relationships take respect and trust that are earned with time and patience, while effective management is usually achieved through exhibiting and modeling a servant leader role. “When major decisions need to be made we invite the entire congregation to participate in Christian conferencing,” Martin said.

“We make it abundantly clear we desire to hear from each person. We insist a spirit of love and mutual respect prevail. We lovingly limit speeches from our more outspoken members and encourage those who tend be less outspoken express thoughts. Experience has taught us that the more reserved members exhibit great wisdom and insight.”

Another indication of vitality is multiple small groups and programs for children and youth.

Community UMC openly admits that they have struggled with ministry to children and youth at times, but they also believe that this is a key area of ministry that they will continue to focus on.

“We have a great team who leads Young Disciples Worship which is held during our regular worship service,” Martin said. “Some of the youth assist the adult leaders in this ministry to our children.

We have not abandoned the hope of developing a relevant environment for youth and young adults!”

Although there is only one worship service it is a good example of another indicator of vitality because it is a mix of traditional and contemporary worship services. “We have one worship service

Award photo from Community UMCWebsite UMNS photos by Mike DuBose

which is ‘blended’ in design. We have a mix of traditional and contemporary worshipers,” Martin said. “Upon arriving at Community UMC the worship service was more traditional in its format. Slowly and gradually we have introduced contemporary music in worship. Some like it and some could do without it. Fortunately, each ‘camp’ has been respectful and willing to consider the desires of those who have different tastes in music.”

Martin also noted that the congregation of Community UMC is open to the idea of having another service that is fully contemporary when they are able to find the people with the musical gifts to lead such a service.

The final indicator of vitality addressed by the Call to Action as that a vital church has a high percentage of spiritually engaged laity who assume leadership roles. Martin agreed wholeheartedly that this kind of leadership is crucial to a vital congregation. “(At Community UMC) this has been accomplished slowly, but intentionally. I am truly blessed and honored to serve with laity who love Jesus and desire to serve him.”

Although not directly mentioned by the Call to Action a fifth crucial indicator, especially in the Desert Southwest, is for a congregation to have a culture of starting new communities of faith. “We do have a culture of starting new faith communities,” Martin shared. “New faith communities such as Recharge, Sisters-In-Spirit, Mission Teams, Young Disciples Leadership, Men’s Ministry, and Dinners for Six. We are also prayerfully considering

beginning a community of faith in Parks, Arizona which currently without any church.”

Of course, the vitality and spirit of Community UMC of Williams runs much deeper than what can be measured by these 5 key indicators, but it is clear that even with fewer resources than many others have Community UMC is transforming the world.

Through God’s abundant grace life Disciples are being made and life changing ministry is happening.

God is truly awesome, and by letting God lead them Community UMC is doing awesome things. †

Photo courtesy of Williams News Car Show along Historic Route 66

Summer 2011 | Transformation | 25

Tempe First UMC Shines

T

By Christina Dillabough, Communications Designer/Editor

empe First UMC is located in a vibrant downtown setting neighboring ASU and a residential, business, and political community. The neighborhood also has a growing poor and homeless population. Through eight years of pastoral leadership at Tempe First, Rev. David Summers reflects, “My focus has been to keep the church engaged with its mission and vision, defining our core work as followers of Jesus Christ, listening to God’s leading for our future, and nurturing and growing new leaders for ministry.” Pastor Summers, together with the other leaders of Tempe First UMC, have been able to create a vision and identity for the church that addresses the needs of the community by utilizing their congregants’ gifts. Tempe First UMC’s vision statement includes three principal areas of focus: Spiritual Formation, Urban Outreach to Poor & Homeless, and Campus Ministry/Wesley Foundation.

This leadership focus has maintained a growth pattern of two new programs/classes each year and an increase in membership by 40-50 people each year!

The Desert Southwest Conference, as well as the Global Ministries website, has a wealth of tools to equip churches for successful growth and fulfillment. One of the tools that Tempe First UMC attributes to their constant growth is the continual use of the “Invite A Friend” program. An increase in worship attendance of about 100 people results each time Tempe First UMC uses the program. Details about this program are available online at desertsouthwestconference. org/evangelism. Their “Invite A Friend” event is carefully scheduled to coincide with the end of a core formational class or experience from which a testimony moment can be shared during the worship service. According to Pastor Summers, witness or testimony moments during worship have the power to reach people in a way that even the most compelling sermons cannot touch. These witness moments provide many things.

First, they cause the speaker to reflect on what they have participated in, which helps them grow in their individual faith journey. When the person is ready, the story shared about their experience often inspires others to grow in their faith and inspires others to get involved. By following this schedule, the church has empowered new leaders, speakers, and a continuous growth of disciples for Jesus Christ!

During all of the four different worship experiences offered at Tempe First, people are asked to fill out a survey.

The information collected from these surveys is carefully 26 | Transformation | Summer 2011

reviewed and is instrumental in the selection of new or reoccurring programs. When guests from the “Invite A Friend” initiative return to the church for worship, they are encouraged to participate in a Spiritual Gifts class. In this class people are equipped to identify the gifts God has placed within them. Many new leaders have emerged from this intentional connection model. Rather than waiting to build programs after people make their initial visit to the church, Tempe First plans the programs so that they are in place when new people show up and are looking to make a connection.

Spiritual formation comes from small group work.

There are approximately twenty on-going groups that remain active year after year at Tempe First UMC. There are a variety of music groups for all ages. There is a “Living the Question” series, an “Alpha” course, College groups, Youth ministry groups, Children’s ministry groups, Discipleship Bible study groups, and other seasonal groups or experiences available through the church including the training events and retreats offered through the Conference.

The Sunday morning schedule includes traditional worship, Sunday school, adult education class, Communion worship, Contemporary worship, an evening youth group, and various events or seasonal study groups. Today’s young people are busier than ever. Contrary to popular belief, that doesn’t mean young people have dropped worship from their regular schedules. Often this means young people have begun participating in worship outside of the Methodist church where non-traditional worship schedules exist. Tempe First UMC understands the needs of this demographic and offers Wednesday night worship services geared towards college-age people and a Friday night Young Adult group. Both programs are well attended.

Tempe First UMC has a long history in its growing ministry of working with the poor and homeless in the community. Eighteen years ago, Tempe First was already offering showers for people in need. Today the church has four fulltime staff working in their homeless ministry.

Hundreds of people come through each week getting some type of assistance. People receive love, friendship, mental and medical care, food, housing assistance, and job search help. Some of the struggling people that come for assistance even participate in worship and study groups at

Editor’s note: Tempe First UMC was one of three churches honored with the Marshall Lindsay Award for church vitality during the 2011 Desert Southwest Annual Conference.

the church. This ministry keeps growing and improving with partnerships from the city of Tempe, other non-profit organizations and the help of over 90 volunteers which are not all from the congregation. Some of the volunteers are not even Methodists! People get face to face with the homeless population and are able to recognize the needs and issues in their lives. It generates a tremendous change.

Pastor Summers says, “The main thing we do for people that come here is radical hospitality. People have built relationships of trust with the homeless. It is a highly relational model. The overall culture is that homeless folks know they are welcome and are willing to get their services with us.” This ministry is life-changing both for those that come for help and those that work with the homeless. It is the start of new faith in the community. As Pastor Summers admits, he prefers the St. Francis model, “Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words.”

Evangelism has been an integral part of the growth in faith and community at Tempe First UMC. Getting the word out by means of an up-to-date and friendly website and constantly advertising upcoming events and classes in various communications mediums gets the information to the people, much like timely witness moments can be a great motivational tool. Tempe First UMC has been making use of the new and inexpensive forms of advertising that effectively gets their information to the people. They don’t focus on advertising in the yellow pages or the local paper anymore. They don’t spin their marketing efforts and money into post card mailings. Pastor Summers says they have found greater success in redeveloping their website twice over the last four years and installing a new electronic sign

in front of the church. They have upgraded their in-house equipment to enable them to produce better quality newsletters with color printing. A new blog is in the works to direct more traffic to their website. Events and classes are advertised continually through worship announcements and through face-to-face interaction from the co-leaders and Pastors to the congregation and visitors.

The annual planning done by Pastor Summers and the church leaders maintains Tempe First UMC as a strong and vital church. It is the same model that struggling churches can follow to turn things around. This doesn’t mean every church must focus on building a homeless ministry and worship services on Wednesday nights. Pastor Summers would recommend to any struggling church to begin building a bridge to the community by developing a vision for 2-3 programs or ministries that are already working at their church, where a step towards vitality is not a huge leap for the congregation. He believes a focus on formational work is necessary. Building a coalition of co-leaders and doers instead of individual leaders is vital. The co-leaders need to get excited about their work and should be mentored by the Pastor so that they feel equipped to talk it up. Telling the story as often as possible in as many ways as possible is the best way to get others fired up to participate.

People from Tempe First UMC are telling their stories of faith to their congregation, their friends, co-workers, and neighbors. Their communication and the work that is taking place at Tempe First UMC is changing lives. The St. Francis model that is followed there has continued to cause this church to thrive and maintain its vitality in the diverse community of downtown Tempe, Arizona. † Photos from Tempe First UMC Website

Summer 2011 | Transformation | 27

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ndividual subscriptions to Transformation Magazine are available for only $20 a year. Each subscription includes four full-color issues packed with stories of ministry from around The Desert Southwest Conference and The United Methodist Church.

Transformation is intended not only to serve as a tool to inspire current members of The Desert Southwest Conference, but also to help tell visitors the story of what it means to be United Methodist in the Desert Southwest.

Because of this the DSC Communications Commission is asking every member of The Desert Southwest Conference to prayerfully consider not only purchasing one subscription, but two. The first subscription would be for you to read before giving it away to a church seeker

in the spirit of evangelism. The second subscription would be for someone you know who may not otherwise become connected, or someone who may be looking for a means of evangelizing.

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