Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Reflection: "Appointment Making"
Last night I conducted an introduction for one of our most well prepared churches. In the midst of all the typical questions, they presented their church's vision, wanting the new pastor to see where God had been and seemed to be heading. What a great context to see if it was a good match with pastor and church. Too often, we see the appointive process as a negative. In the old days of the Methodist Movement, it was missional. As one pastor was "called" to another church for a very special purpose, so too was another "called" to the former church for just as important and special a reason. The conference didn't "take." God rather, "gives." Overall, as I have been now privvy to some of the inner workings of our shared appointive ministry, I have really been impressed with what all goes on behind the scenes. God is truly at work. Sure, sometimes we will miss the mark. We will in everything. Nothing though is irredeemable. God is Alpha and Omega: the Initiator of all good things and our Finisher. Looking forward to partnering together in Christ's mission.
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Great blog entry.
ReplyDeleteI believe that one of our big challenges in the UMC is to grow the
understanding and purpose of the connection and all that it has to offer, and in that begin to break down the walls of stereotypical ideas and misunderstandings. The appointment process is the crux of where I see most of the hurt and misunderstanding and in turn it has caused a breakdown and trust in the connection. As we continue to build up our church we have been able to rebuild the confidence in what God has given us as Untied Methodists in our structure and also see how to use the structure to accomplish our vision and mission.
There is much freedom to be living in this Church, people need to stop
looking at the polity of the UMC as static but living and adaptable to context and local culture. You can use the structure to accomplish much if we just allow God to be in the process.