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.