Will Willimon on Major Cultural Shifts in the Ministry

Posted by bgosden on May 18, 2010 in God, Jesus, Kingdom of God, The Church | 1 comment

This is a very thought provoking blog entry from Bishop Will Willimon. You may agree or disagree with an number of these (I know I do). I invite conversation and debate as always. 

I want to offer a brief tease for my projected summer blog postings. First, I am very excited to share that I have invited 9 friends who are either in the ministry currently or studying to serve very soon. For everyone, the Church is both a major love and a notoriously frustrating entity. I’ve asked each person to offer a response to one of the theses offered by Will Willimon in a past blog entry he had. I’m very excited as I’ve invited a diverse cast of characters who both support and disagree with the points made. They are sure to offer insightful critiques in the hopes to spawn greater conversation on where the church is headed. Secondly, I have a series of biblical stories I will attempt to offer short sermonic essays on as practice for future writings-criticism is a MUST here and I appreciate any and all I can get. Finally, I have been experiencing (and will continue to experience) a great deal of change and I’ll offer some thoughts on that. So hang in there and enjoy this blog entry from Bishop Willimon: 

Major Moves in Ministry

All of the gospels depict Jesus and his disciples as people on the move. They never stay anywhere long. Jesus teaches or performs some wonder, then immediately moves on. A dead god is a god who locates, settles in, never surprises. A living God is a God on the move. 

We are privileged to minister in a time when ordained leadership is changing and adapting to be more congruent with the mission of Jesus Christ. After decades of floundering, thrashing about trying this and that latest scheme to renew the church, we are at last focusing and moving in a definite direction. 

Recently I was asked to identify some of the most significant moves that we clergy are making in our leadership. I believe in these moves we are not only becoming more effective leaders, but also we are being more faithful to our Leader, Jesus Christ and his peculiar style of leading his church. 

Today, the most effective, faithful pastors are making these moves: 

Move from caregivers to passionate, transformative leaders
Moving from mere maintenance of the congregations that we have been handed from the hard work of previous generations of pastors, we are daring to let God use us to rebirth, new birth, and to transform our people to more actively participate in Christ’s mission. Any church that cares more about itself and its inner life than it cares for the world is a church in decline. Pastors are ordained for more significant ministry than merely care of the congregation. 

Move from contented church of monopoly, to church in competitive, missional environment
We mainline Protestants have lost our monopoly on American religious life. We find ourselves in a mission environment in which our churches must compete with the lures of the world for our people’s faith. It’s a time when the church has the opportunity to recover the oddness and the joy of the peculiarity of ministry in the name of Jesus Christ rather than ministry as service to the infatuations of the world. 

Move from nonchalance about results to attentiveness to results
One of the most dramatic developments among the churches of North Alabama is the creation of and the almost 100% participation of our churches in the North Alabama Conference Dashboard. We are determined to notice the numbers and to interpret the numbers as valid indicators of what God is doing among us. God intends for us to bear fruit and promises to give us what we need to bear fruit. 

Move from preservation and sustaining to adaptation and supple, flexibility
Church observer Bill Easum told our Conference (the year before I got here) that the “seniority system is killing you.” United Methodism has no seniority system in our Discipline. We have put far too much stress on experience, wisdom, and continuity when we need more stress upon talent, adaptation, flexibility, and innovation. Our Conference mission statement states that our goal is to have, “Every church challenged and equipped….by taking risks and changing lives.” I am so inspired by the outbreak of innovative ministries among our congregations. 

Move from the pastor as head of an organization to the pastor as spiritual leader and congregational catalyst
Pastors are becoming more than efficient managers. Pastors are preachers, those who tell the story which is the gospel, laying that upon the congregation on a regular basis and then pastors get out of the way, leaving Jesus to deal with his people. Pastors are there not to do ministry, no really even to lead ministry, but rather to “equip the saints for the work of ministry.” 

Barbara Brown Taylor Sermon at Duke Chapel

Posted by bgosden on May 11, 2010 in God, Preaching, The Church | 0 comments

I am taking a short hiatus from blogging as I’m getting ready for the big transition into my first appointment at Mulberry Street UMC in Macon, GA in June. Also, I’m looking forward to a much-needed vacation with my wonderful wife to the Caribbean over these next few weeks as well. I’ll be back blogging once I get transitioned into the new job.

So here is a sermon from the always amazing Barbara Brown Taylor preached at Duke Chapel in February 2010. Enjoy!!!