It's been two months

I honestly cant believe it has been six weeks since my last post.  Well, actually I can.  This has been an insane period of activity in our life, church and family.  All of it good, well except for the eighteen hour days for the last ten days or so. 

We held our Council Retreat on the first weekend after Easter and it wss a phenominal success for reorienting our mission and ministry. Will have a post on the coming week.

The balcony team has been established and they, I can not be present for that meeting, are meeting this coming Saturday and kick off our next eight montha plan.  Will fit that into the blog once i get the notes from the meeting.

We finished the hiring process for a new financial secretary.   We have had some conversations about our existing staff and Scott has successfully labeled our concern that we are overworking our staff while under utilizing their talents.   The majority of our staff is part time but they are expending a lot of hours that perhaps result in our under using their talents.    We need to get into the equipping mode where our staff is equipping our membership to serve.   Congregations generally hire staff to do ministry but this is an ineffective use of our staff.  Rather we should be using staff to help congregational members into service.  This 'staff' can be applies to both paid and unpaid (leadership of the church) folks.   I need to help, resource, both groups and the congregation to understand how we must all work together lighten the load particularly those who are leading our congregation.   Needs to start with me too.

I really need to get started on my theological systhesis for this paper and DMin project.  I am setting the last three qeeks of September at our Joel Study 'Dreaming Dreams and Seeing Visions"  i hope to create a study to compliment the.sermon series.

And i need rest.  Looking forward to getting to California to hug our Elisabeth and a giant Sequoias tree.  So taking a break from all email and work for the week.  I will pick up the blog next week.  Hopefully renewed vigor in this process as well. 

See ya.

Executive Meeting - Planning for the April 7th Retreat

God told Moses, "Get 70 community elders, ones whom you know are real leaders among the people, and bring them into the congregation tent where we meet. Tell them to stand with you there. 17 I will then descend among you. I will speak with you, and withdraw some of My Spirit from you and place it on them so that they can help you with the burden of this people. Then you won’t have to carry it all alone."   - Numbers 11.16-17 The Voice

Moses was feeling overwhelmed at the task of caring for the people of Israel and so God told him to select a group of trusted elders from the various tribes of Israel who will then be responsible for watching over the people.  Time and time again, I have asked members to assist in caring for the direction of any particular church that I have served.  Those chosen have generally been selected by the their leadership role in the church (lay leaders, church council chairs, staff parish as well as some staff.)  The "Executive Team" is an informal group (not approved by the Church Council) and they are most often the first line of "crazy ideas" and sounding board for me, and they to me, before we take ideas before the Church Council.  I believe that many pastors have these informal groups and use them in their own context for the same purpose.  If not, they should!  

Since my arrival at Westminster, I have trusted the advice and counsel of the Chair and Vice Chair of the Church Council Chair, lay leaders, Staff Parish Relations Team and the Associate Pastor.  Some of these folks have changed in and out as they retired from positions in the church and together they have collectively and individually been good sounding boards for the direction of the church. 

Most recently the Executive Team is looking to Saturday, April 7th for our Church Council Retreat.  We hare already met three times: January 13, February 3rd and 17th.  Our next meeting in on March 17th.  

In the January 13th meeting.  At this meeting, we discussed a variety of subject:

• How I was excited about what we were doing at Westminster that I was starting to see how our model could fit very well into a project for my Doctorate of Ministry program, see my first blog entry "Seeing Visions and Dreaming new Dreams" .  Specifically, we needed to focus on how the leadership was going to assess, evaluate, plan and then implement the mission, vision and values of our congregation. 
• We discussed holding Church council Retreat on February 3rd.  See my February 8th, "Council Retreating"  which subsequently got reschedule to Saturday, April 7th. 
• We agreed that a survey of our congregation was needed in anticipation of the February 3rd Council Retreat. 
• We discussed the need to establish goals for 2018, consider looking at our vision statement and our need perhaps to revise. 
• We realized that we needed to meet again to plan the retreat more thoroughly. 

On February 3rd, the Executive team met and we discussed the plans for the rescheduled Council Retreat.  Our meeting discu ssed the follow: 

• We will encourage every member to be in a small group.  A lot of conversation revolved around what a small group was and how it is to function.  This will be fleshed out in the upcoming meetings. 
• We also considered the manner in which folks became members of Westminster UMC and then how did we incorporate them into the community of faith.  I showed a chart of our current system and then we discussed ways that we could revise this process.  (ie. more regular Westminster 101/Orientation meetings, role of lay leadership to be mentors, incorporation of new members into small groups.  Scott agreed to take our notes and create some order out of them.  He presented two powerpoints slides from our notes at the next meeting
  
  
  
  
• We discussed the result of the Worship Survey conducted on January 24th.  See Blog Post dated January 31st, 2018, "How Effective are we at Casting the Mission, Vision and Core Values of our Congregation?" 
• We planned to meet again in a couple of weeks to allow Scott to pull together our notes and we would come together with plan for the retreat. 

On February 17th, we met again and in this meeting we discussed our format for the upcoming retreat.  It was agreed that we needed to try to keep focused on how our congregation handles and copes with change.  We also agreed that Small Groups and initiation in to the community of faith was essential but not just for those who are new to the congregation, we needed to have the long term membership also understand the process of joining and how they can participate in the process as well.  We agreed that we needed another meeting and that is set for March 17th.  At this meeting we have invited those staff and members who are looking at the Small Group Ministry of the Church to help us plan for sharing this with the congregation.  

On February 24th, a Church council meeting was held and at that meeting a lot of folks shared what is going on in their ministry area.  We also took a tour of the new Boy and Girls Club on East Main Street and became very excited about this new community leader moving into our five block radius.  Sally, United Methodist Women President, asked if we will be discussing ways in which we can support this new venture to our neighborhood and inquired if we could take some time at the Church Council retreat to discuss this.  We hope to including seeing visions and dreaming new dreams as part of the upcoming retreat.  

That's about what has been going on behind the scenes.  

In the next few days, I hope to consolidate a report from our McDaniel Interns who are participating in a class title, Wealth, Power and Prestige.  They have completed some surveys of our neighborhood and I think it will be good to see how these students view our neighborhood.  

 

"IT" Happened

Well, the inevitable "IT" happened.  The computer crashed.  IT was quite peaceful.  I went to start the computer up and was greeted by the prompt that informed me that "No bootable partition found hit F1 to reboot."  No number of hitting "F1" worked.  I consulted experts. Try this ... try that.  Google provided many options, I tried many; it was fruitless.  A new hard drive was needed, her keyboard died out long ago, and two USB ports didn't work.  Her peripherals kept her going for tge better part if a year ... but...  It was time to call "IT".   She was gone.  I pronouned "IT" on Saturday afternoon.  Her guts were strewn all over the the place. 

Surprisingly, there was a sense of peace.  We have spent three years together. I'm not what computer years that converts into. In a society where our cell phones are replaced every two years perhaps she was beyond her years.

Her replacement ordered and arrived over the next few days.   I was initially taken aback. I thought I ordered the same model.    But when her replacement arrived ...it was huge.  And heavy. And the keyboard was larger.  "Junior" seems slower.  The operating system similar ... but ....not.   My time spent trying to train the youngster to emulate her predecessor.  The youngster paired with my phone and now it is all different.  This has not been a fun couple of weeks.  I miss my old machine. 

My most recent back up was July 2017.  My project data was somewhere digitally stored on her predecessor's hard drive, perhaps it could be retreived.  Thankfully my Outlook has saved all my mail and there resides a good history trail.   For the rest of my work I have to move on from nine months back. It could have been worse, I could have been nine month in my ten month project.  That would have been tragic. 

Weird!  Why do we speculate the worse of a nonexistent future eventjust so that we can feel better about the tragedy of the present?  The current event precludes the reality of that future event happening.  It cant bw worse cause worse exists now. 

Then again, maybe there is something poetic about that nine months miasing.   New birth of ideas now that the old have been pronounced dead. Out of death comes new life.  Or I can hope that in the very least something that I don't yet phantom is out there before me and I have no choice but to live into that anyways.

Hope springs eternal....

oh ...

If you havent backed up your old girl laterly, you might want to do that before your "IT" happens cause this new birthing thing is painful business. 

Meet and Greet Sessions

First Impressions last.  And making a good first impression is vital.  Prior to returning to Westminster United Methodist Church,  the Baltimore Washington conference of the United Methodist church sponsored a clergy and Staff Parish Relations Committees retreat by region.  

Among the goals of the meeting was to focus on how the congregation can prepare for their new pastor and suggestions for first things to get accomplish.  It is intended to give pastor and church members the opportunity to meet and get to know each other and discuss those things that the leaders of the congregation are hoping to accomplish. 

The event was planned when many folks from the SPRC were obligated for other events so Westminster sent Frank, Chairperson of the Trustees.  I knew Frank and his wife Cindy from my time as lay person at Westminster.   In actual fact, when Jacki and I came to Westminster we assumed the responsibility of the youth group from them.  In a round about way, God put Jacki and I into youth ministry at Westminster and it was from this ministry service that I responded to God's call to full time ministry.   I guess, that in some small a way, (sort of as Longfellow's "way leads to way") it is cause of Frank and Cindy that I am where I am. 

Frank and I caught up in the twenty years apart. His thoughts of the state of church and particularly the challenges of the last few years.  It was a good day.

My first day at Westminster was midweek on July 1, 2015.  By this time I had met several times with the associate pastor who often spoke of the congregation as reeling with pain and grief.  I decided that my first action was to meet with the leaders on the church council in meet and greet sessions.   That day was spend calling and reintroducing myself to many and inviting them to our first gathering set for a week later. 

The call went something like this, "Good morning Greg, Pastor Malcolm here, i wanted to call you up on my first day and thank you for your service as the chairperson of Church Council and I am looking forward to working with you as we see where God is leading us here at Westminster.  Next Wednesday evening, I am hosting a meet and greet in the Martha Manihan room.  We will only be an hour and I hope that you can join me and other leaders of Westminster ."

I made a load of calls, left many messages but succeeded in contacting nearly all of those on the Council. 

The following week, I set out a gallon of store bought Ice Tea and Lemonade... a plate of assorted store bought cookies and cups and napkins and greeted the leaders as they arrived.  The Martha Manihan room has furnature set about the room and as I set the refreshments around a table with no chairs this kept our meeting to a standing up affair.  Almost cocktail hour-ish as we introduced ourselves.   We prayed for our church and the only thing I asked of them was to write on a 3x5 card one thing they would like to see accomplished in Westminster in the next six month to year and who should I invite to the next meet and greet.  As promised in my invitation the event lasted one hour.

This process was repeated nearly every week throughout the summer.  While not closed affairs, I made a special point to hold two open invitations to anyone who would like to come. 

Many wanted to know my vision for the church.  The answer to this question was often evaded with a response of let's see where God leads us, I have no agenda coming to Westminster than to meet as many folks in these sessions.  By the end of the summer, i had met with 147 folks.  And I had a list of their hopes and dreams for Westminster UMC. 

Next step will be discerning where these hopes and dreams mesh with God's. 

Dust to dust

Last evening we spent putting ashes on our foreheads as a sign of repentance.  It is in the baptismal water that God marks us and we become part of the church and a community of faith but when we leave the doors of the church the followers of Jesus Christ can then blend in with the rest of society. God's baptismal mark evaporates away and we look like everyone else.   One hopes that just perhaps our actions will be evidence of our distinctiveness in this world as a follower of Jesus.  

But on Ash Wednesday, a black smudge is there for all to see.  It is a visible sign that marks us as a follower of Jesus Christ and as we enter the season of Lent we commit to go deep with God pledging our love and disciplined devotion to pray and to serve.  There is an inward and outward movement that takes place in those who seriously take this forty-day journey.  We go inward with God and outward to serve others.  We breathe in God's Spirit and we exhale Jesus' words. 

Yesterday, I shared ashes with our preschool students in Preschool Chapel, it is the one monthly meeting that I love!  We talked about how we love God and can serve others and as a sign of that love and service, we accept the ashes which we marked on their hands ... and even a few on their heads.

  

Later that day, I see an image of a mother marked with ashes in the form of a cross holding a student who I assume to be her daughter outside of a Floridian school as other loved ones wait with empty arms. 

Last evening, people came forward, their eyes stoically fixed on my own and I wipe dark ashes, again in the sign of the cross on their heads and vary my comments, "Repent a believe the gospel" or "To dust you are and to dust you will return." 

In the lobby, I jump into a group picture of our confirmands who attended the Ash Wednesday service ... each bearing the mark of Christ for all to see.  

In the Friendly's, I join four of our senior-friendly ladies" for a scoop of ice cream, each of us bearing Christ's mark and folks quizzically glancing at our dark smudges.  

All images that flash across my mind this morning.  Each a profound image of Christians in our society ...  may Christ's actions and words be equally as present in our lives as the marks are washed away and we journey in the shadow of the cross. 

Partnering with Jesus!

McDaniel Intervarsity Christian Fellowship Campus Minister preaches at WUMC

Rachel Snack serves as the campus minister for McDaniel College's InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (ICF) and this past Sunday (Feb 11, 2018) she was our guest speaker at Westminster UMC.  In fact it was a youth-filled service on Sunday as Youth Repreentatives shared their experiences attending Rock 2018 in Ocean City. 

Rachel and her husband Jonathan are new residents to the City of Westminster but as graduates from McDaniel College they are not strangers to the Westminster area.  She shares in her bio that she and her husband had formative experiences in their faith during their time in the fellowship at McDaniel and she is excited to be see God at work.on the campus serve in ministry as they see students transformed by Christ!" (bulletin 2/11/2018)   Rachel steps into the role of Campus minister as her predecessor, Carrie Carey celebrates her last year at McDaniel.

For our part, Westminster UMC celebrates a long history with McDaniel College, formerly known as Western Maryland College.  The college was the dream of a teacher, a Methodist Protestant preacher and a railway man.  One hundred fifty years ago it was chartered and remained part of the United Methodist Colleges until 1972.  The college hosted Westminster Theological Seminary and I am told that each Sunday the professors would sit in the front pews ... a sea of black robes ... at Westminster UMC.  After 1972, Westminster would retain an informal relationship with the college as many Westminster UMC members served as administrative and support staff, sat on various boards of the college and even served as paid adjunct and full time.professors (Reverends Charlie Wallace  Sr. and Jr. Robert Hartman, and Ira Zepp.)  These maintained our connection with the college but of late, other than a good number of alumni, we had little to do with the college.  

Seeing Rachel speak at Westminster is the realization of a dream that God planted in the Spring  of 2017 while attending classes at Cambridge, England.  The dream became my spring class' final paper.  The dream involved the possibilty of our renewing our relationship and try new ways in which our members could partner with the students of the college (who lived in Westminster for nine months each year) and together we could serve the five block radius around Center and Main.  The goal isn't to get them to church, that may be a byproduct of our relationship, rather our goal is to get folks into the community.  The dream was hatched and shared with Carrie Carey and subsequently with Rachel Snack and this past fall when we partnered with ICF college students to make and prepare, and serve the fifth Monday Soup Kitchen.  Westmisnter UMC folks are providing snacks to their second Thursday evening worship service on campus.    

Rachel constructed and executed an excellent message.  She connected how Jesus selected a few of his closest companions to walk up a mountain that day and when they arrived at the top, they became witnesses of Jesus in all his divine glory, they even witnessed a visit between Jesus, Moses and Elijah.  Rachel shared how Jesus walks with us and in this case selecte strategic leaders and partners with them, coming along wide them to engage in the work of God together.  "Could we have any better partner than Jesus?" Rachel asks.  She pointed her own experience of having a mentor in Carrie and how at a later time, she had the opportunity to build a realitionship with a college student who comes from a Hindu background.  Rachel pointed out that at one point, the student changed colleges but the ICF ministry was active at that campus.  Recently, Rachel heard from the campus minister who shared that her friend had posted on Instagram that after conducting a through comparison between the gods of Hinduism and that of Jesus Christ, she had no choice but to choose Christ.  God planted the seed of interest in her friend, Rachel watered but Christ saw the reward!  Rachel is quick to point out that what we do is for God's glory!  With a sense of humility but confidence in Christ, she attributes ever gain for Christ and God's kingdom.  

WOW!

Campus minister Rachel Snack reminds us that Christ walks with us and that we can have no better mentor or partner in our life than Jesus!  

Crazy Busy ... Just an excuse to not write

It has been a few days since last writing and that means I'm failing at my 15 minutes a day goal.  Partially, I suppose, I could blame other writing assignments...sermons, too earlyin tge morning emails and text messages ... or like the final paper tgat I have to have in full draft by end of the day so I can hand in on the Feb 15 deadline ... and tgere have been tasks to finish like finally replacing Jacki's car after weeks of waiting for the insurance money to arrive snd several inquiries, visits and test drives replaced after a load of internet searches.  However it is only fifteen minutes and I am recommitting to spend the time moving forward to honor this goal.

Several items to cover in the blog this week: 
- McDaniel Campus Minister for the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship preaches at WUMC on Feb 11.
- BWCUMC Worship Workshop hosting Marcia McFee ... very powerful experience.
- Continuing the conversation of the Feb 3rd Core Leadership Meeting.
- Condensed history of Westminster UMC.
- first actions upon arriving at WUMC
- New interns from McDaniel College. 
- and most likely the experience of completing my last final paper for my class.  Obviously, my project paper still is in the works. 

Stay tuned.

Why and I doing this

Day 10a - You're probably wondering ...

You are probably wondering why I am writing down my transition from Mount Zion to Westminster.  Well, there is a reason.  I am working on my Doctorate of Ministry (DMin) Project and the process required that I write at least 15 minutes a day.  On most days, I am writing more than this as I am working on the material.  Intermixed with the transitions stories is data and information directly related to the project.  Not every day is there a story and that is because I may be working on a sermon or more material that needs my focus and isn't in any way related to this project. 

Will I use all these blog stories?  Most of what I am writing will not be incorporated into the final paper.  However, there will be some of the stories that will be brought into the introduction of the paper. It is my hope that I can provide a reasonable, concise history of my transition to Westminster and the discernment process of coming, setting up shop and them working with the congregation. 

Why am I jumping around from past to present? Hopefully, you are noticing that there is a back and forth between information directly related to the project and also my transition by now.  The project is the next ten months.  I will be sharing my thoughts.  The challenge is that not every day is there something directly related to the current timeline.  Hence the back story of how I got here. 

This forum is also going to be the place where my data resides. Complete transparency is important.  As Westminster UMC is in part a case study it is important for me to be completely transparent.  It keeps me honest and also keeps those who are interested in reading what is being drawn together.  The last thing I want to do is embarrass myself or the congregation.  If you feel that what is said isn't the true story or that my recollection is blurred or biased (I am sure that it is) then you can help clarify the story.  What I really want is something that is very helpful for us and also for other congregations who may be undergoing similar transitions.  Further, having information on a seperate forum provides a safe backup of my data.  I don't want a single place and considering my computer is nearly three years old and is showing wear and tear, I think that this is prudent to save the data and story elsewhere. 

I also wouldn't mind if you provided some thought along the way.  As you see fit.  Again to repeat what was said on the first posts, this is our story.   

The Introduction

Day 10 - The Introduction

It seemed like a film noir movie opening.  I was asked to sit in the car, in the darkened parking lot of a country church on the outskirts of Westminster, until the DS sent me a text to let me know that I could come in.  We decided to not meet at Westminster as the news of my introduction was to be kept quiet.  There is a mix of feelings as you wait for the "all clear" and then adrenaline kicks in.  The phone rang, "Ok, you can come in now."

The DS met me at the door and we walked into the hallway and the door on the left was a lounge of sorts and as the door was opened and I walked in there was a pause and then a cheer!  I recognized nearly all of the folks in the room.  No introduction was necessary but for the few that were wondering, the DS clarified who I was and shared for a moment my decision to return to Westminster.

We talked casually.  Lots of grins and good vibes.  I shared a little of my journey around the conference for the last twenty years and the news of my return to Westminster came as a shock to both Jacki and I.  We were asked if we were moving up to Westminster and at that time, everything was still in flux.  Jacki wanted to move and downsize our home while I realized that moving was going to involve a lot of extra work besides regardless, Jacki had already in conversation with a realtor friend and they were looking at houses.

As the DS shared the process moving forward, my current DS would share the news with the SPRC team at Mount Zion and then both churches would announce the appointment move on the same Sunday, the effective date for move was to be July 1, 2015, twenty years to the date when I entered my first appointment.

Meanwhile, we were to keep silent on my appointment to Westminster.  I left the meeting excited about coming home but also a feeling of dread as I knew that it wasn't going to be easy to step away from Mount Zion.

Day 9 - Back of Survey Responses

Group A- Leaders/Team Members

Responded “Yes”:  Serves on Team, MVV are important to an organization, MVV encouraged them to serve. (32 surveys – 15 with comments on back.   8:30 – 9, 11:00 – 2 and Undisclosed-4)

1. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the Mission, Vision and Core Values at Westminster UMC.

• -          Don’t know the vision and values.  Mission is inspiring.
• -          Love the Mission statement
• -          This is something important to accomplish so we can focus the Biblical scriptures to the context of our church.  Do we have teams focusing on each item?  ‘Ministry minute” quick updates on progress of one item each week.  Keep the congregation focused and engaged.  On screen, bulletin, verbal.  When people church shop is this on the website.
• -          They are good for WUMC.  Church must have dialogue about them. There is little opportunity for this to happen.  Congregation is not “illegible” enough.  Not enough involvement and planning.
• -          So I was a large part of this. I am drawing a complete blank.  I keep the emails in a foler on my phone.  Now, I am looking at myself, as a leader I am failing at my own work.  What is leadership not doing?  Why, as leadership, are we not engaged(ing)
• -          Need younger members to step up to serve. We have an older membership.  Aside: Make sure doors are locked.
• -          WUMC reaches out to people through its mission in their community around the world.

2. Please share how excited are you about the direction of our church?

• -          Somewhat – more encouraged
• -          What do I need to improve?  How do I project that I need others to look at what they need to improve upon as well. What needs to be undone/broken down?
• -          I wish I was more excited but don’t really feel it!  Where’s the enthusiasm? We don’t involve our people enough.
• -          Great progress and atmosphere.  I like not knowing what to expect.  Keep grounded, in tradition while stepping out in faith.
• -          On one level I am very excited about increased efforts to make a difference in our immediate community.  Like pastor’s willingness and courage to address difficult issues with the congregation--- those issues that are sometime viewed as political.  Concerned about large percentage of grey haired individuals in the pews and need to attract younger families.
• -          Believe it is moving in good direction. I am excited about the church’s future.  I want to participate in its future.
• -          Love the direction they are going!  Pastor Malcolm and Shari are helping us go in the right direction. 
• -          I believe the pastors and Church council are doing very many things to encourage growth in membership and serving those of us long time members to be involved.  We hare see a few more new faces in the 8:30 service.  I think we are headed in the right direction. Can we encourage more to come and join us?  That is huge question with many distractions.
• -          Very excited may it continue to grow.
• -          Very excited that we are moving into the community.
• -          Excited but Cautious.  I feel like we are moving in the right direction but we have been on the right road before and lost our way or just stopped, went back to the old ways that lead to stagnant ways, lost of new members, unwillingness for new people to join church or involve in ministries.  Because their new idea and enthusiasm are not used.  PS. I love and very excited with what Ashley is doing.
• -          Very excited. We are in a good place and ready to move in God’s grace and power.  Now – Let’s move!
• -          We are growing and fell a good family unity.  A very caring community.
• -          I love the way you have the sanctuary decorated for the seasons.

Group B – Engaged

Responded “No”:  Serves on Team.  Responded “Yes”: MVV are important to an organization & MVV encouraged them to serve. (27 surveys – 2 with comments on back.   8:30 – 9, 11:00 – 3 and Undisclosed-1)

1. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the Mission, Vision and Core Values at Westminster UMC.

• -          It is always nice to attend a church who cares about the community and one another.
• -          Need written references to when and where lives are changed.  Examples: VIM happenings local cold weather shelter folks.  What to hear from youth. Re: Rock Event. How it affected them. Stephens Ministry
• -          Need to move ministry into the surrounding neighborhood.

2. Please share how excited are you about the direction of our church?

• -          Great momentum on encouraging one’s faith and sharing with the community here and abroad.
• -          Very!.  I am very committed and support in collaboration and local partners to maximize resources and talents.  The musical program in this church is incredible. It was what drew me to WUMC. Hearing/Singing some of the old and familiar hymns of my childhood can life my heart and thoughts for “illegible” it so warms my heart to see some of our struggling (poor/homeless, etc.) appear in a Sunday service.  Great job!
• -          I love coming to services. I learn so much from the sermon and hope to be able to fill out the front of this paper in due time.
• -          Very Excited
• -          Need better advertising re: events.  Use front street sign more efficiently. Use before church slides more efficiently announcements, people to pray for etc.

Group C – Attending

Varied results in engagement with the church.  The following is the responses on the back of those who submitted them ( The Notes in the parenthesis are how the individual responded to the questions 4-6.  Do you serve on a team, Are MVV Important to an organization, Does MVV encourage you to serve.  Y-Yes, N-No, A-Abstained  )

1. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the Mission, Vision and Core Values at Westminster UMC.

• -          (N,Y,A) Don’t need “To make a difference.”  That is already addressed by “Changing lives.”  (This is in mission statement)
• -          (Y,Y,A) Too much to remember. Aren’t the mission, vision and core values of church universal? Staff doesn’t always reflect the mission, vision, and core values – esp. (redacted but will be shared with employee)
• -          (Y,Y,N) The vision and core values need to be reinforced through throughout the whole year.
• -          (Y,Y,N) Cant tell you what Core values/Vision is.  I knew the mission statement because it was in the bulletin. I read the bible daily and find the bible guides my activity and mission in life.
• -          (Y,Y,N) These provide an objection for unifying our identity.
• -          (N.Y.N) As fars I can observe WUMC has a very effective outreach into the Westminster Community – Food collection, Soup Kitchen, UMCOR, etc.

2.. Please share how excited are you about the direction of our church?

• -          (N,Y,A) I am not a member but I enjoy worship here.
• -          (N,Y,A) I love it!
• -          (N,Y,A) I believe the church is at a standstill as far as growth (common issue with most churches) When older people are no longer able to support and be involved in the church, the younger generation is not there in numbers (common in most churches) All said I look forward to coming to church.  I attendance known by age group?
• -          (N,Y,N) City churches always have an exciting and challenging direction.  We notice more young families and singles attending.
• -          (Y,Y,N)  I am fairly excited about getting the people lving in the immediate radius of WUMC to join us for worship and other church sponsored events, after having read “The New Parish” book.
• -          (Y,Y,N)  I enjoy our church for friendship, bible study and conversation on different biblical interpretation/ education.
• -          (Y,Y,N) Pretty excited.  I’ve been here over 30 years and I feel more willing to invite someone to our church than perhaps any previous time.  The 11 o’clock service seems to be ready younger families.  I enjoy the music at 8:30, would just encourage to minimize non melodic difficult to sing hymns that seem to be picked because the words fit the message (this was written before today’[s unusual hymn)
• -          (Y,Y,N)  Love it!  Feels good to be part of a church – I feel valued and cared for by my church family. I look forward to coming each week.    

DMin project Initial Survey of How Effective are we at casting the Mission, Vision and Core Values of our Congregation.

Day 8b -  "And the Results of Our Survey are ...."

On Sunday, January 28th, a survey was handed out to each person in worship and they were asked to fill them out to the best of their ability.  The Surveys were distributed and explained in the opening of worship.  We weren't grading folks father this was a measure of our the church leadership in our ability to effectively share the Mission, Vision, and Core Values of Westminster UMC with the congregation in such a way that people knew them by heart.  What we are looking at is a baseline.

The survey consisted of three fill in the blanks (answers in red) and three Yes/No questions:

• The Mission Statement of Westminster UMC is 
• Changing lives through Jesus Christ to make a difference!
• We celebrate Nine Core Values. They are:
• Bible
• Church Family
• Discipleship
• Evangelism
• Extravagant Hospitality
• Mission 
• Prayer
• Unity and Diversity 
• Worship
• We believe that God has given us four visions for our congregation. They are:
• No Lonely People 
• Establishing a Small Group Ministry 
• Encourage member to know and use their Spiritual gifts in meaningful places of Christian service. 
• Serve into the world starting with the five block radius around Center and Main.  
• Are you active in serving on a team in our church?  (Yes/No)
• Is it important for an organization to have mission, vision and core values statements? (Yes/No)
• Do the Mission, Vision and Core Values of Westminster UMC encourage you to serve? (Yes/No)

We had a 103 responses from a worship attendance of 275

Here are the results of the survey (The Abs = abstain from response) 

A general observation is that we are not currently effective in promoting and gaining ownership by our congregation. of the Mission, Vision and Core Values of Westminster UMC. It is interesting to note that 82 of the 103 responds reported that it is important for an organization to have Mission, Vision and Core Value Statements, however, only 59 felt that it motivated them to serve in some form. 

The back of each form provided a place where addtional comments could be written.  These responses will be provided in tomorrow's blog.  

As a side note, as the congregation left for the day, each of those who attended was given a brochure that details our Mission, Vision and Core Values.  The answer sheet to the questions that they filled out in worship.    

 

Saying Yes

Day 8 - Saying "Yes"

After I hung up, I called my DS,  "So what's up with the invitation when I didn't ask to move. And my current congregation didn't ask me to move?  You know that I wasn't interested in another local church.  Why would they ask me to accept this appointment?"

He shared that there was a conversation and when they looked at the list of current pastors interested in moving or those who are being asked to move by their current appointments it seemed that none would fit the profile for Westminster UMC.  That was when each of the superintendents offered up one person from their district for consideration. 

"And you put my name in the hat?"

"No, actually another district superintendent did!  Listen, consider the invitation, pray about it, you don't have to accept because you weren't asking for a move and the congregation didn't ask for a move."

All this was news to me, being part of the appointment system, there was little choice to stay no to a move when asked.  You moved.  It was also strange that I was offered the appointment, I knew that if I said no, then I would always be looking at the person they put into Westminster and wonder if I should have said yes. 

I called the pastor who left halfway through the year and asked him about the appointment and he shared that he left to pursue training in counseling. I spoke to the interim pastor.  I spoke to Jacki who was thrilled that her guess proved out.  By four o'clock, that afternoon, I decided to accept the appointment change.   I have always accepted the invitation of the bishop to take a new appointment.  I also realized that I was in my eighth year at Mount Zion.  We have had a productive run at Mount Zion and perhaps it was time for them to receive new leadership as well.  I figured that the church would continue to thrive and Westminster was struggling with the rapid change of pastors over the last five years or so.  I could go there and stay until retirement (about twelve years in total) and we could do some good work.   Finally, I reckoned that nine brains were more capable of considering the best options for Westminster and who was I question. 

I called the Frederick DS and he shared that he would call the SPRC chairperson at Westminster and set up a time for the introduction on Wednesday evening that week.  I wasn't to say anything to my current appointment if all things went well, then a subsequent meeting was set with the SPRC of Mount Zion.  I have never liked this part of the process.  It always seems sordid, not on the up and up, as if we are setting up an illicit affair ... there is excitement but also a supreme level of guilt as if I'm going to be cheating on my current congregation. 

Invitation to Westminster

Day Four - DMin Project

We left Costa Rica on time but our connecting flight in El Salvador's airport was delayed and we circled around Dulles International Airport several times before arriving and wading through the long lines in customs as there was a shortage of customs agents ... all due to the snowstorm.  The decision to call the Frederick District Superintendent got pushed to Sunday morning.  Several feet of snow resulted in a precarious drive home which in turn made the decision to not hold worship at Mt Zion that Sunday morning a pretty easy decision. 

 
When I woke up I called Edgardo who shared that the bishop in consultation with his cabinet would like to move me to Westminster UMC. 

At the time there were two open appointments.and Jacki had heard the that in the autumn Westminster was placed under Ken Humbert' s leadership as an interim.  She reflected how great it would be to move there but at that time, I questioned the tradition of never being appointed to your home church; I also recognized that Westminster and Mt Zion were pretty much alike in demographics and frankly I liked where we were so I seriously doubted the possibility of a move. 

I sounded like Moses raising objections to the DS invite:  

• "But I came.out Westminster UMC."  Yeah, they knew that they wanted someone very familiar with the congregation. 
• "But I have family in the membership" that was half true, my brother-in-law a member... my wife's sister used to be a member.   The DS assured it wouldn't be a problem. 
• "But I wasn't asking for a move, the congregation where I am wasn't asking me to move!"  "Pray about it, and give me a callback, you have twenty-four hours to consider the appointment change," the DS told me,  "The cabinet meets again on Tuesday, and at that time we will need to know your decision."

Pray, listen to.the Spirit, and make a decision ... twenty-four hours didn't seem like a long time. 

DMin - Nothing Like It

Day 3 - Don Marion - Saying Yes to Whatever

It was Friday evening (20 Feb 2015) and our Costa Rica Volunteer in Mission group gathered in the small dining hall at the top of the hill.  By this time, the anxiety of being asked to consider a move, albeit, I still didn't know where I was being asked to go where.  Don Marion was asked to come and join us and at one point he was given a microphone to speak to the group.  Now understand, for the most part of the week, Don Marion wasn't speaking and retaining very many conversations.  It was interesting that after the last couple of days when Jacki and I were retaining this information of being asked to move and the anxiety of the possibility of a move hung heavy.  I was sitting directly across from Don Marion in the front of the dining hall.  I had my phone out and I decided to record his speech to us.  

Don Marion shared his early journey arriving in Costa Rica on a United Fruit Company River Boat back in 1950.  He settled at that time in a predominantly Catholic country and started a mission to the people.  Over the years, group after group would come to Costa Rica as part of Volunteer in Mission projects.  Now at the age of 96, Don Marion reflected back.  I was able to catch the first six or so minutes of his speech that included humor, thoughtful reflection and a challenge and word from the Lord.  At the end of the speech, Don Marion's wife Mary shared that she hasn't heard him speak in such a manner for such a long time. Mary didn't know our struggle, nor did Don Marion, nobody but Jacki and me.  

I knew that the word that came from Don Marion was actually from God, it was God's way of saying it is time for something new.  I still didn't know what I was being asked into or where at this point, I only knew that I had to seriously consider the request from the bishop, particularly if I was going to buy into the saged advised from Don Marion, "There is nothing like giving your life, and meaning it when you say, here it is God, do what you want to do with it." 

I have uploaded the video which is about seven minutes long.  I've added subtitled to make it easier to read.  I hope that you will consider watching it. 

https://youtu.be/hiCxW2cmJOk

I had arranged to speak to the Frederick District Superintendent upon landing in Dulles International Airport.  A snowstorm was brewing on the East Coast of the United States and right now, it seemed questionable if we were going to make it back by Saturday evening. 

DMin Project

Day Two - Unnerving News.

It was a particularly rainy mission trip to Costa Rica in February 2015.  I had been told that we have had weeks like this our projects were helping to rebuild a camp workers home and step next door neighbor the nearby village of El Mirador. 

The camp hosts were Mary and Marion Woods.  Don Marion was much respected in this,area and has served the Costa Rica Methodist as a missionary for decade he now suffered from dementia and yet was often as we talked through the week he would ask where we were from and how many of us were present, etc.  Conversations were limited. 

On late Wednesday, Jacki received a message via Facebook Messenger that my District Superintendent (DS) needed to speak to me.  The next morning I reached out to him and he shared that I needed to speak to Edgardo Rivera, DS of the Frederick District.  I couldn't believe that they were chasing me down while on a mission trip and I was being asked to accept a new appointment.  I didn't ask to move, my local church didn't ask me to move.  I already decided that I wouldn't take another local church beyond my present appointment.  I didn't know what I would do, but I knew I wasn't interested in a new appointment so in a previous meeting I told my DS that that I would like to stay as long as the bishop desired me to but I wasn't going to take another local appointment. 

My head spun and ran through all kinds of scenarios... my attitude and focus turned inward and seemed to align with the dull rainy weather.  It takes so much effort and energy to move, meet new people, and I have moved enough in my years besides each time I had decided that God had something different for me than another  local church.  

It would be four days before Edgardo and I would connect and I would receive the bishop's invitation. 

Seeing Visions and Dreaming New Dreams

Day one - Doctorate of Ministry (DMin) Project

Two and a half years ago, following a succession of two lead, two interim and two associate pastors in five years, I was asked to return to Westminster United Methodist Church and serve as the lead pastor.  Return?  Yes!  It is unusual to be asked to return to the church you are called out from but it seems that resident bishop decided to set aside tradition and send me back home. 

Six months into my new appointment, I enrolled in a Doctorate of Ministry (Dmin) program at Wesley Theological Seminary which teamed up with Wesley House of Cambridge England.  The program is titled, "Creative Ministry for Church Renewal in Changing Times."  It seemed that the program's focus would work well with my opportunity to return to Westminster.

Last evening, I received word from Wesley's doctorate that my DMin project proposal was approved.  My coursework is completed (well, nearly completed as I have one more final paper to write) and now the work begins to work on my own project.  I have truly enjoyed coming home to Westminster UMC, we have seen God moving mightily as together we are seeing God's vision and we are dreaming new dreams in Joel-like fashion.  We have put into practice some time-honored techniques to revision our congregation and we are seeing 'a new thing' come to light.  I am so excited about what God is doing, the faithfulness of our leadership and congregation that I.have asked and sought approval for our story to become the basis for this DMin paper (more on this in future blog entries) In many ways this is a case study of our congregation and yet it is intended to provide a witness to God's action that may inspire other congregations that find themselves desiring to do a new thing for God and the community they are called to serve.
 

This blog is for the benefit of all of us.  For me to share with you our journey together, to share with you the work of our leadership and our congregation's continued work in our community.  You are welcome to comment on the way as this is our story.

Peace,

PM