Content by Katie Z. Dawson http://www.ministrymatters.com en-us Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:54:29 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/article/entry/3361/article-community-baccalaureate-service http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/article/entry/3361/article-community-baccalaureate-service <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>One of the ways that local churches can be in ministry with their community is to be aware of the transitions that others are experiencing. One of those &ldquo;endings&rdquo; my local church had already been marking was the yearly graduation of our high school seniors. Not only is this a significant event for teenagers in our community, but also for their parents and grandparents and teachers.</p> <p>In 1998, our community ministerial alliance began a baccalaureate service, held on an evening the week before students of our local high school graduated. While not a school-sponsored event, it was a chance for the churches in our community to celebrate our graduates and to give thanks for all they had learned.</p> <p>It has been a joy to participate in this service during the five years I have been serving in Marengo, Iowa, and an honor to share a glimpse into how we have made this service work.</p> <h2><strong>Preparation</strong></h2> <p>About two months before graduation, the pastors and/or education ministers from each church gather together to begin preparations. Our first task is to determine a host church for the event&mdash;which rotates every year&mdash;and then to select a speaker. Our baccalaureate speakers have ranged from folks we brought in and paid a small honorarium, to recent graduates, to pastors from the churches in our community. This last option is the most affordable and also helps ensure that the person speaking is a key player in the planning process.</p> <h2><strong>Invitation</strong></h2> <p>The next step is to get a list of graduates and their addresses. We have found that the secretary at the high school can pass along the information we need. While the separation of church and state might be an issue in some places, our school was willing to work with us, knowing that attendance was not mandatory nor would it occur on school property.</p> <p>One church (typically one who is not hosting the event) takes the responsibility for printing and mailing invitations to each senior and his or her family. For the class of 2012, our invitations read:</p> <blockquote> <p>We are very excited that you are graduating this spring from Iowa Valley High School and we want to celebrate this important moment with you.</p> <p>Each year, the Ministerial Alliance hosts a Baccalaureate Service. This big fancy word basically means that we are having a worship service in celebration of YOUR graduation and in thanksgiving for lives dedicated to learning.</p> <p>This year, our service will be held on Wednesday, May 16^th at 7:00pm. It will be at the First United Methodist Church, 895 Court Ave. You and your entire family are invited to attend and be a part of the celebration as well as stay afterwards for refreshments.</p> <p>As a graduating senior, you are invited to arrive no later than 6:45 pm. The senior class will meet in the Fellowship Hall at the church and will all enter the worship space together. This is your big day and we want to honor you in the process!</p> <p>We hope to see you there!</p> </blockquote> <p>Invitations are also sent to each faculty and administration member, as well as all of the members of our school board. Our high school secretary helped us distribute these invitations in the teacher mailboxes at school. Depending on the number of students your local school is graduating, the costs involved include stamps, envelopes, paper, and of course, time.</p> <p>If your church is located in an area with many local high schools, you may need to publicize the event differently&mdash;through posters or flyers, or word-of-mouth via the high schoolers from each participating church.</p> <h2><strong>Planning</strong></h2> <p>The next task is to plan the actual worship service. Based on the direction and scripture our speaker chooses, our worship follows a fairly simple format:</p> <ul> <li>A time of gathering and prelude music while family and friends are seated and the graduates gather.</li> <li>Processional hymn/music and entrance of the graduating class</li> <li>An opening prayer</li> <li>Scriptures and special music</li> <li>The baccalaureate message</li> <li>Recognition of the class that is graduating and (if possible) the reading of their names</li> <li>A prayer for the graduates</li> <li>A closing hymn</li> <li>A &ldquo;charge&rdquo; to the class and a benediction for all who have gathered</li> <li>Postlude and transition to the reception</li> </ul> <p>We try to include as many different churches as possible in the leadership of the service&mdash;from the reading of prayers and scripture to the offering of music. Our goal is to make the service meaningful and yet also be sensitive to those who are unchurched. The cooperation of many different styles of worshiping communities often helps us to find the right balance.</p> <h2><strong>Hosting</strong></h2> <p>Once the service is planned, the major responsibility falls to the host church. The week before the service, bulletins are printed and folded. On the day of the service, ushers are needed to direct guests to the sanctuary and hand out programs. Volunteers from the host church also donate desserts and staff a reception following the service. This past year, my congregation hosted the event and provided juice, coffee, and home-baked cookies for the reception.</p> <h2><strong>Recognizing</strong></h2> <p>A unique aspect of our community&rsquo;s baccalaureate service is that we also present two awards following the recognition of the graduating class. One is a scholarship of $400 that goes to the graduating senior whose life best exemplifies Christ. The student is chosen based on nominations from the pastors in the ministerial alliance. The second award is a gift of $100 to the faculty, staff, or administration member whose life best exemplifies Christ. All are welcome to make nominations for this award and the recipient is chosen by the ministerial alliance. It has been a powerful way to recognize the witness of students in our community and to encourage and support teachers who share their faith in their whole lives. The funds for the two awards are donated throughout the year by the member churches of the ministerial alliance.</p> <p>In five years, has anyone joined one of our churches because of baccalaureate? Probably not. Have they changed their faith commitment to Jesus because of baccalaureate? Maybe, but there are no great testimonies I have heard. What we have done is simply be present with members of our community during a significant moment in their lives. We have celebrated with them, given thanks to God for them, and have sent them on with blessings and encouragement. We are planting seeds and now each of the students who have passed through our doors knows that not only do we care about them, but God does too.</p> Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:30:00 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/article/entry/3123/article-community-labor-day-worship http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/article/entry/3123/article-community-labor-day-worship <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p align="left">I am meeting in a local coffee shop this morning with other area pastors to plan our annual Labor Day community worship service.</p> <p align="left">Our Labor Day ecumenical worship actually began as a sesquicentennial celebration on July 3rd a few years back. Every small town in Iowa has its special summer event&mdash;Watermelon Days, Fun Days, Beef Days&mdash;and my little town has always celebrated its birthday on the third of July with food in the park, bands, a parade, and fireworks at the end of the evening. When your 150th birthday comes around, however, you have to go all out.&nbsp; I was approached by the planners of the three-day event about helping to coordinate a community worship service in the park on Sunday during the middle of the celebration.&nbsp;</p> <p align="left">That first year, the city provided bleachers and a sound system on the stage in our town square... all set up already for the bands the night before and the concerts later that day.&nbsp; A local instrumental group had already been contacted about playing and the community choir was willing to sing.&nbsp; I contacted other pastors in town and we set to work creating a service to celebrate our community, give thanks to God for our long history, and to preach the word in the midst of people who might never set foot in our doors.</p> <p align="left">Our initial time of worship went so well that we were told we had to do it again next year!&nbsp; Not quite realizing all of the behind the scenes work, I said yes without hesitation.&nbsp; And then discovered what a job we had to do!</p> <h2 align="left"><strong>Choosing a Date and Time</strong></h2> <p align="left"><strong></strong>Iowa is hot in July. And August. And sometimes September. So the first thing we decided was to move our service to later in the summer to avoid one of the pitfalls of outdoor worship: heat. Plus, our town's annual July 3rd celebration would not always fall on a Sunday and we wanted to connect our worship service with an important time in the life of the community. We chose Labor Day Sunday in order to lift up how a secular holiday is also a chance to lift up the grace and power of God.</p> <p align="left">Another difficulty came in choosing the time to worship. In the previous year, we were given a limited time frame by the planners of the sesquicentennial, who had other events planned for the morning on the same stage. But with a morning wide open, we tried to plan the event at a time when the most people could come. Some churches decided to cancel their services that morning and worship with the community. Others wanted to worship as a body and then come out and join us. We chose a later time of worship, 11:00 a.m., in order to make room for all&mdash;including those from churches in our town that would not participate in the planning but might have members who were singing or playing or simply wanted to attend.&nbsp;</p> <h2 align="left"><strong>Music</strong></h2> <p align="left"><strong></strong>Once we set a date and time, we went about contacting the same groups that had led worship with us the year before: the Civil War Band and the Believers Choir. Both were willing to participate, but in their own way. The Civil War Band accompanied our hymns, which limited our selections to songs already in their repertoire. About a month before the service, they shared a list of about twenty hymns they regularly played in their concerts and we chose from those. The community choir works on a set list of songs each year and they offered to sing three songs all together near the end of the service. We chose to have this during the offering and time of communion so that there would be minimal transition time.&nbsp; Working with outside groups, flexibility is the number one requirement! We were blessed that both groups were able and willing to play for no cost.</p> <h2 align="left"><strong>Leading Worship</strong></h2> <p align="left">Our ecumenical ministerial alliance started planning the details of the service about a month ahead of time. We planned a liturgy based on the resources of our churches. We found liturgists from all four mainline Protestant churches and as the pastor of the United Methodist church, I volunteered to preside over communion.&nbsp;</p> <p align="left">The sharing of a sacrament in this type of ecumenical service can be controversial, but to be honest it was not a major discussion in our group. My tradition holds that all Christians are welcome at our table. We believe that anyone who desires a relationship with God through Jesus Christ will find a place there. With Labor Day being on the first weekend of the month, it was a communion Sunday already in all four of our churches. To celebrate that sacrament together seemed like a no brainer.&nbsp; We combined our time of offering and communion so that those who did not feel comfortable participating (especially our Catholic and LCMS brothers and sisters) could still come forward and give their offering without partaking.&nbsp;</p> <h2 align="left"><strong>Behind the Scenes<br /></strong></h2> <p align="left"><strong></strong>For the most part, planning this service felt like planning any other time of worship. As the point person, our church printed bulletins and simply printed more than usual. Each church was asked to provide two ushers to direct folks to the seating area, where people set up their own lawn chairs, and to hand out bulletins and help distribute communion.</p> <p align="left">But I quickly realized there were some new wrenches in this planning to discern. The use of the stage in the park was free, but the sound system had only been temporarily installed for the community event the previous summer. After asking around, I learned a church in the area could loan us a small portable sound system with two large speakers and two microphones.</p> <p align="left">We also needed to provide chairs for the band and the speakers as well as a table for the communion elements. I recruited a crew of five people to meet us at our church about an hour before the service to load up the back of a pick-up truck with the things we needed.&nbsp;</p> <p align="left">Worshiping outside provides its own challenges. You need to account for the wind and place all of your preaching and liturgy notes in a three-ring binder, and weigh down things like the napkins that cover the communion bread. You need to make sure that the sound carries to the back of the area where people will gather. And you need to have a plan for what will happen if it rains.&nbsp;</p> <h2 align="left">Getting the Word Out</h2> <p align="left">A successful event involves people showing up. Bringing together four churches in our community, we knew that we could count on between 100 and 200 people. However, this event is also about welcoming in people who do not regularly attend our churches. Our local paper ran a story in the paper the week before and we placed a small ad reminding people about the time and to bring their own lawn chairs. Each church was responsible for using its resources: newsletters, bulletins, etc. to pass along information, also.&nbsp;</p> <p align="left">But often, it is simply the gathering of people that draws a crowd. Last year, as we were setting up, a little girl was playing on the playground next to the stage. She came over to see what we were doing and helped us to catch papers that had flown away. And during the entire service, she sat on the edge of the stage and drew me a picture of God. She didn't belong to any of our congregations&mdash;she had simply been playing in the park. But our very presence in our town square caught her attention. And it caught the attention of people going in to breakfast at the three restaurants that surrounded us and the gas station, and those who were driving by.&nbsp;</p> <p align="left">Maybe they stopped, maybe they didn't. But if they did, they would have heard us singing the songs of praise and thanking God for another year of life and of work.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> Mon, 06 Aug 2012 16:37:57 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/3031/blog-turning-the-other-cheek-and-the-american-justice-system http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/3031/blog-turning-the-other-cheek-and-the-american-justice-system <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>Yesterday, the Tuesday morning small group at my church&nbsp;had an interesting conversation. Is it possible or practical to follow the commands of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in this world?&nbsp; Can we do it? And what barriers do we face if we try?</p> <p>We were focusing on the verses about turning the other cheek, giving someone the coat off our back, and going the extra mile. All of which are non-violent means of resistance.&nbsp; All of which take incredible strength to practice. All of which encourage you to treat an enemy, an oppressor, a perpetrator with kindness, gentleness, grace and love.</p> <p>We all extolled these virtues and talked about how we try to practice them in our daily lives&hellip; until one gentleman raised a serious question he was currently grappling with. My friend was hit by a truck while riding his motorcycle and he lost the lower half of his right leg. And between doctors and family and lawyers, everyone is trying to figure out how to get him what he deserves in the process. His question to us: <em>If we truly want to live like Jesus calls us to, then shouldn&rsquo;t we drop all charges and refuse to sue and not focus on what we &ldquo;deserve?&rdquo;</em></p> <p>How do you even begin to answer that question?&nbsp; Jesus didn&rsquo;t live in a time of health insurance companies.&nbsp; There are real financial burdens involved with the medical care that he has and will continue to need.&nbsp; My first inclination was to respond that within the system we live in, we need to ask how can I act in the most Christ-like and compassionate manner&hellip; but I found myself hesitant to say that we should subvert the process entirely.&nbsp; I realized that we tend to ask fairness and justice questions rather than thinking about mercy questions.</p> <p>In fact, later in the conversation, when asked what we would do if we were robbed, our first responses were to call the police. We instinctively favor what is &ldquo;right.&rdquo;</p> <p>Our society has built into it all sorts of structures that prevent us from living out the Jesus ethic.&nbsp; Yes, they provide stability and a process to follow when we are wronged, but they also immediately seperate us from one another.&nbsp; They incorporate a third party that will act and decide so that we don&rsquo;t have to deal with the mess of real relationships.&nbsp; That is not to say that life in our system is not messy&hellip; because it is.&nbsp; And yet, by using the system, we take ourselves out of the equation.&nbsp; By preventing abuses of revenge and retribution, we also have prevented forgiveness and mercy to have a say.</p> <p>Perhaps one way to navigate the problem is to try to act as Christ-like as possible in the midst of the structure. Let the insurance company/doctors get the money they need to cover your care, but don&rsquo;t ask for damages above and beyond. Act with compassion towards the perpetrator.&nbsp; Reach out in love.&nbsp; Overwhelm them with forgiveness. Be a witness to everyone that you refuse to get anything out of it for yourself.</p> <p>Another option is to simply forgo the system all together. Don&rsquo;t call the police when you are robbed.&nbsp; Refuse to file the insurance claim when the guy rear-ends your car.&nbsp; In doing so, we can extend grace and compassion&hellip; but this in itself can also be lazy discipleship. By not doing anything, we may never get the opportunity to build a relationship with the person who has wronged you. Simply looking the other way is&nbsp;not the same thing as facing someone and turning the other cheek. The ethic Jesus prescribes is active and personal and engaging.</p> <p>And his ethic is transformative. In each of those verses about how we should respond to oppression, we actually taunt the person who has harmed us to go farther.&nbsp;We don&rsquo;t just give our coats, but take off our shirts. We don&rsquo;t simply accept a slap in the face, we force them to hit us with the back of their hand. We don&rsquo;t simply walk one mile, we continue walking and put their own abuse into a category that becomes problematic for them. We force them to see us not as a faceless victim who can be used, but as a person.</p> <p>There is something about that&nbsp;response that is not very kind at all. We hold them accountable for their actions by forcing them to take their current line of abuse to an extreme. We make them realize that we are human beings, and in turn, they see themselves in a different light</p> <p>Perhaps this is&nbsp;where restorative justice can actually play a role if we&nbsp;work within our current systems. Through the building of relationships, through mandating that someone do community service in response to a crime of theft, or work to nurture life in the wake of a murder, we give them the opportunity to be transformed . . . to become more fully human themselves, while also helping them to see the humanity in other people. And, it gives us an opportunity to be transformed and healed as we navigate our way through anger and frustration to a place of forgiveness and hope.</p> Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:15:57 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2807/blog-thoughts-on-the-loss-of-guaranteed-appointment http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2807/blog-thoughts-on-the-loss-of-guaranteed-appointment <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>Tonight, my heart was stilled from its racing on the guaranteed appointment issue.</p> <p>I have felt the both/and of a desire for a clear, mission process for appointments AND the deep desire to protect my brothers and sisters who might unfairly be discriminated against in the process where homophobia, sexism, and racism still exist. I was not of one heart on the issue. When asked how I would have voted on the floor had I been seated, I honestly could not answer&hellip; perhaps I would have abstained.</p> <p>But tonight, a colleague of mine &ndash; Sean McRoberts &ndash; and I dove deep into the legislation to figure out what the actual implications are.</p> <p>1) this is not a simple power given to the bishop or cabinet to dismiss you to ministry&hellip; there are checks and balances all throughout the process. According to the legislation we passed and the BoD, either a lack of missional appointment placement OR an ineffective pastor who is not appointed has to be approved by the Board of Ordained Ministry AND the clergy session. Someone who recieves the status of &ldquo;transitional leave&rdquo; must be voted on by the order and so as clergy, if we feel uncomfortable with this process, we need to remember that we have the ability to vote and support one another if the process/boom/cabinet is acting discriminatorily&hellip;</p> <p>2) the appointive cabinet, Board of Ordained Ministry, and Clergy Session all have to agree for a person to move to transitional leave (it is a status change). Transitional leave has a two year maximum according to the discipline. A person cannot simply be returned to transitional leave again and again. If a person is being transitioned out of ministry due to ineffectiveness, that two years gives time for a process of healing, discernment, counseling, and new calling to occur. In Iowa, we currently have a three year process to counsel and support clergy who are ineffective so that they can either grow or discern a new calling.</p> <p>3) some important work was done in the legislative committee. They added a requirement for accountability that says statistical reporting on the people put on transitional leave and/or appointed to a less than full time position (age, gender, race) has to be sent to the executive committee of the BoOM and the conference and jurisdictional committee on the episcopacy.&nbsp; Committee on Episcopacy should then&nbsp;include those statistics in the annual evaluation of the bishop.&nbsp; (we also approved at this general conference a switch from bi-annual to annual episcopal review).</p> <p>Prior to this GC, bishops were not evaluated on their appointment making activities, only on the other areas of their ministry. If there were complaints, we could use administrative process to require remedial action and/or bring charges.&nbsp; This is still the case, only this way we have a process of statistical information to help evaluate if their are patterns, intentional or unintentional, that exclude persons from the table. The process already is in place for helping ineffective or discriminatory bishops transition out of ministry (we just never use it!)</p> <p>4) there is an important addition, also from the legislative committee, that calls for a group of four laity, two clergy, a district superintendent and the bishop of the annual conference to determine annually criteria for missional appointment making. These criteria are then to be used by the cabinet in their process of discernment. This adds the voice of clergy and laity into the process.</p> <p>So&hellip; with these four clarifications/implications&hellip; what do you think?</p> Fri, 04 May 2012 20:30:43 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2769/blog-a-day-in-the-life-of-a-reserve-delegate http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2769/blog-a-day-in-the-life-of-a-reserve-delegate <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>The morning starts at 6:45 with showers and hotel room coffee and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich made from groceries I picked up yesterday.</p> <p>As a reserve delegate to the United Methodist Church's General Conference, I get to observe most of the time, and so when I arrived at the conference at 8am, I made my way to the Superintendency committee.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m not sure why I picked it, but there I was.&nbsp; Devotions were led by the committee chair and then we got down to business&hellip; mostly.&nbsp; The group started with two easier ones &ndash; and chose to not support an item to allow for laity to become bishops and an item that would require district superintendents to serve outside of their annual conferences. And then the fun began.&nbsp; 5 proposals all dealing with term limits for bishops had to be dealt with.&nbsp; Which would they chose? How would it affect central conferences? Are term limits a sign of distrust or a tool for effectiveness? Is being a bishop different than being an elder?&nbsp; The process was long, and at one point, the group decided to return to language allowing central conferences to chose their own term limits for bishops (current practice).&nbsp; Which then left the question of what to do with US bishops.&nbsp; As the debate went on, and an amendment was made by a delegate from a central conference, a woman from Germany stood to speak.&nbsp; She gently spoke to the fact that the committee had allowed for contextual local control for the central conferences to make their own decisions and asked that other central conference delegates would refrain from editing the proposal that was before the body so that the US delegates could make decisions about their own context.&nbsp; It was a gracious act of kenosis.&nbsp;</p> <p>Lunch gave me the opportunity to sit down with other young adults and have a Q&amp;A with <a href="http://johnmeunier.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/after-the-dust-settles-at-gc2012/" target="_blank">Adam Hamilton about the Call to Action</a> and Interim Operations Team proposals.&nbsp; Adam was extraordinarily gracious and did his best to listen and answer what he could.&nbsp; There were still many questions and not enough time and not enough dialogue back and forth (the format and sheer number of YP who turned up &ndash; 50+) didn&rsquo;t allow for it.&nbsp; BUT &ndash; you could sense there was a change of feelings&hellip; it didn&rsquo;t hurt that the backdrop for the conversation were the words &ldquo;HEAL&rdquo; &ndash; our theme scripture for the evening.</p> <p>After lunch, I tried to catch up on some social media conversations.&nbsp; I sat outside in the sun, recharged my phone (which I used excessively b/c of the poor internet), talked with some other reserves and rested.&nbsp; Then I spent the rest of the afternoon session observing the Faith &amp; Order sub-committee which was discussing qualifications for ordination. One of the most interesting parts of their work was watching the difficult work of the translator and the difficulty of not only multiple languages, but the added language of Robert&rsquo;s Rules to complicate matters.&nbsp; It was an exercise in patience for all involved and they truly lived out the process graciously and beautifully&hellip; in spite of fumbles and human missteps.&nbsp; That happens&hellip; keeping the spirit is the hard part and they succeeded.</p> <p>The hardest part about the process is that you can&rsquo;t talk.&nbsp; You can&rsquo;t add information.&nbsp; You can&rsquo;t help to clear up problems.&nbsp; You can just be there.&nbsp; I tried to be available by offering to move chairs, by shushing folks next door who were being too loud, offering markers, etc.&nbsp; As a reserve you really are support.&nbsp; You can love and care and pray, but you can&rsquo;t really participate in the same way.&nbsp; For anyone who knows me, that is a difficult thing for me to do.&nbsp; I like to be actively engaged and twitter has been one way for me to communicate and share even though I cannot use my physical voice.&nbsp;</p> <p>Tonight&rsquo;s plenary greeted our Pan-Methodist brothers and sisters from across the globe and featured nominations for important general church positions.&nbsp; It also featured a point of personal priveledge that lifted up the <a href="http://salvagedfaith.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/standing-motions-gc2012/" target="_blank">failure of the process of holy conferencing</a> (not enough time, guidelines, compassion, importance) the day before &ndash; specifically in regards to LGBT issues.&nbsp; It was evident there was pain and hurt felt by many&hellip;</p> <p>but the beautiful thing about a church conference is that God is in our midst.&nbsp; Our theme for the day was healing and plenary led into worship where we sang Balm in Gilead and talked about the healing power of Jesus&rsquo; love in our lives and we were challenged to lift up to God the places where we have hurt or been unkind or have sinned&hellip; the places we need spiritual healing as well as physical healing.&nbsp; It was powerful.&nbsp; Tears freely poured.&nbsp; I prayed with one of the marshals for her sister who is ill.&nbsp; We sang, we prayed, and God moved in that place.</p> <p>10:00 &ndash; time to head back to the hotel&hellip; with stops for conversation, and witness, and sharing.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s nearly 1am now&hellip; the blogging is done, the mind is clear, and I can sleep.</p> Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:37:28 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2743/blog-a-global-church http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2743/blog-a-global-church <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>This Sunday, the African Ministry from a church in a nearby city came and joined our congregation for worship.&nbsp; Well, they didn&rsquo;t just join us . . . they led us. Their pastor preached, the choir sang, the little boys danced, and it was an exciting, uplifting time of worship.&nbsp;</p> <p>One of the things that really stuck with me was that Pastor Dieudonne kept reminding us that God is doing us a favor in worship, meaning that God is blessing us right now by allowing us to be here in this place. And it truly was a blessing to gather with brothers and sisters from around the globe and to remember what we are about and WHO we are about.&nbsp;</p> <p>My congregation was full that morning &ndash; not only with members of my church and our brothers and sisters from Cedar Rapids, but also from other churches in our community who wanted to come and worship with us.&nbsp; So we were not only global, but ecumenical, and all different ages were a part of our celebration, too! For three hours, we were a living embodiment of the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic church&hellip; the body of Christ, itself. It was awesome.</p> <p>And it got me very excited because this morning, I&rsquo;m in Tampa for the United Methodist Church's General Conference, which begins today. And delegates from every state and countries from all across this globe are gathering. And as we worship we will remember that we truly are a global church. We are a church that has listened to the command of Jesus Christ to make disciples of all nations . . . at least we are trying to do so.</p> <p>So far, I&rsquo;ve visited with folks from Michigan, Ohio, Alabama, Boston, Puerto Rico, Illinois, Korea, and the Philippines.</p> <p>But on the plane yesterday, I was also reminded that our global church has some work to do.&nbsp; We do not truly share our standards across the globe. We will make a lot of decisions these next two weeks that will only affect the United Methodist Church in the United States. We will employ practices that are very &ldquo;American.&rdquo; Our denomination does not represent the diversity of the very places that we live in, much less the world.&nbsp; There is work to do!!!</p> <p>For the next two weeks, I hope and pray that we might not only become empowered to truly be a global church, but to listen to our brothers and sisters, to speak out of the fullness of our hearts, and to be willing to change and expand and grow if that means welcoming someone else at the table and into the Body of Christ&hellip; or maybe even being willing to get up from our table and go to join someone else in creating the body of Christ where they are!</p> Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:24:58 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2714/blog-confessions-before-general-conference http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2714/blog-confessions-before-general-conference <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>In the past few weeks, between holy week services and fundraiser dinners and youth group and church meetings and the normal day to day business of pastoring, I&rsquo;ve been trying to get a handle on the General Conference legislation.</p> <p>It is actually difficult to try to digest it all.&nbsp; There are 1400+ pages in the Advance Daily Christian Advocate.&nbsp; There are different proposals about the same items.&nbsp; There are nuances.&nbsp; There are huge, crazy, dramatic statements.</p> <p>And my blood pressure has been rising.&nbsp;</p> <p>I have been focusing much of my effort on the materials related to restructuring and changes to the understanding of ministry. Which means that I put off the section on church and society.&nbsp; In part I was afraid to look.&nbsp; But I did.&nbsp; Monday night, I dug deep in those two sections and realized why I was so afraid to even look.&nbsp;</p> <p>One of the reasons that I am United Methodist is because we have such a rich heritage of taking progressive stances in areas of war, poverty, work, and relationships.&nbsp; And for the first time, as I read through legislation, I began to worry that we might take huge steps back this year in our areas of social witness.&nbsp; Now, I have very little historical perspective under my belt.&nbsp; This is my first General Conference, my first rodeo, so to speak, and so perhaps these are issues that have come and gone before.&nbsp; Maybe there are always people making waves and trying to take us back to the way things were before.</p> <p>But I do not have that history.&nbsp; And my shackles started to raise.&nbsp; I found myself wanting to yell at the pages and the proposals.&nbsp; I began to see familiar names repeated&hellip; legislation that would roll back some stances on worker&rsquo;s rights, the death penalty, our positions on war and peace, and they were coming from the same few people.&nbsp;</p> <p>Confession time:&nbsp; I started to feel bad thoughts towards those people.&nbsp; Until I realized that they were merely the secretaries of the conferences that those pieces of legislation were arising from.&nbsp; And then I really felt bad.&nbsp;</p> <p>If we are not even at conference yet, and I&rsquo;m feeling this defensive, territorial, angst filled&hellip; God help us all.&nbsp;</p> <p>I closed my files.&nbsp; I took a deep breath.&nbsp; And I prayed for forgiveness.</p> <p>In this particular General Conference, I get to travel on behalf of my conference as a reserve delegate.&nbsp; And this means that while I will not be voting on every issue, I will be in the midst of it all. And my prayer is that I can help remind us of the spirit of unity that brings us together as disciples of Jesus Christ.&nbsp; I want to surround my delegates with prayer and support. I want to be a calm, non-anxious presence for them and for all who gather.&nbsp; I want to breathe deeply and remember that this is the Body of Christ in action.&nbsp; I want to see the best in every person, hear their best intentions, and prayerfully discern together.&nbsp; I am going to lay aside my own anxiety, my own agendas, my own desires and truly hope that God will speak through us.&nbsp;</p> <p>My friend, Anna Blaedel, wrote on facebook today:&nbsp; &ldquo;holding the pilgrims making their way to Tampa in prayer&hellip; for courage&hellip; grounding&hellip; webs of care&hellip; for surprising in-breaking of Justice and Joy&rdquo;</p> <p>Amen, Anna.&nbsp;</p> <p>Instead of expecting the worst, I&rsquo;m looking for God.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m looking for where God surprises us, and breaks in to the ordinary time and the ordinary practices of debate and decision to bring holy unity and powerful witness.&nbsp; I&rsquo;m looking for joy and courage and stories of resurrection and hope.&nbsp;</p> <p>I repent of my divisiveness of spirit.&nbsp; I repent of my anxiety.&nbsp; And I pray that Christ would help us all remember &ndash; Peace.</p> Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:03:39 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2636/blog-call-to-action-for-the-us-church http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2636/blog-call-to-action-for-the-us-church <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>Taylor Burton-Edwards reminded me a few weeks ago that it is helpful to see the United Methodist Church's <a href="http://www.umcalltoaction.org" target="_blank">Call to Action</a> as a&nbsp;sort of vision that has been cast but that does not&nbsp;necessarily include specific proposals.</p> <p>In fact, when our Iowa&nbsp;Annual Conference&nbsp;delegation read the Council of Bishop&rsquo;s statement on the Call to Action, we endorsed the document for conversation because it does challenge us to think in new and creative and transformative ways about what it would mean to&nbsp;be the church in a new time and place. I think that this video put out by the Call to Action team also does this:&nbsp;</p> <p> <object width="620" height="341"> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /> <param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=36711767&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=0&amp;show_byline=0&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=ff9933&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;autoplay=0&amp;loop=0" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="620" height="341" src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=36711767&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=0&amp;show_byline=0&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=ff9933&amp;fullscreen=1&amp;autoplay=0&amp;loop=0" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed> </object> </p> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/36711767">We See A New Church</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user6975100">Call to Action</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p> <p>When I saw the video, I was mostly inspired and felt like I could find agreement with about 95% of what we were being called to live into. The vision put forth here is of United Methodists out in the world, sharing the good news, working for transformative change in our communities, and the call is to do something bold NOW&hellip; I agree.</p> <p>BUT&hellip; that doesn&rsquo;t mean we can&rsquo;t have serious conversation about whether some of&nbsp;these proposals are the best possible solutions for us to live out that vision. I actually am beginning to worry they aren&rsquo;t bold enough, that we won&rsquo;t have the courage to really make changes that will transform our church and the world.</p> <p>There is also a larger question that I started pondering after seeing this particular video.&nbsp; If we are doing something <em>right</em> globally&hellip; if we are making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world in places like&nbsp;Nigeria and Indonesia and Russia&hellip; then&nbsp;how will these proposals affect that work? Are we really talking about&nbsp;a problem with the UMC in the USA and parts of Europe? And will a focus on American lackluster Christianity actually harm our global impact as a church?</p> <p>What I see around me is not necessarily a problem only with United Methodism, but a problem with how <strong>American Christianity has been watered down and has lost its ability to truly claim a space in the world. </strong>Many young people my age have no interest in the church and do not believe it has any value or meaning for their lives. They can change the world without us. We have not articulated how we have something to offer. We have not connected with people in our country in a way that shares the true transformative power of a relationship with the church and with Jesus Christ. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean that what we are doing is necessarily wrong for other parts of the world.</p> <p>Maybe underlying this problem is another question:&nbsp;how can we contextualize the ministry of the church without losing our global unity? How can we continue to resource and support the amazing work we are doing on the African and Asian continents and at the same time make adjustments to our engagement with the American and European dechurched and unchurched?&nbsp;And will our current proposals hold up one at the expense of the other? Will our focus on vital congregations drift us towards&nbsp;congregationalism and isolationism?&nbsp; Or will it inspire us to learn from one&nbsp;another and from what is working in other parts of the world in a way that makes our connectionalism that much stronger?</p> Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:42:02 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2637/blog-restructuring-and-the-four-areas-of-focus http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2637/blog-restructuring-and-the-four-areas-of-focus <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>Over the past few months, conversations, posts, articles, videos, etc. have been flying around about the Call to Action and the Interim Operational Team proposals for restructuring. As a reserve delegate for General Conference, I probably won&rsquo;t be someone voting on this, but I&rsquo;m still going to be there. I am meeting with my delegation and we are looking at all of these pieces together. I did the Call to Action Study with my church. I&rsquo;m reading as much as I can. And I have to say, I&rsquo;m not sure how I feel about all of it. Soon, I want to talk a little bit about the need for distinction between CtA and the IOT proposals (because they are different things), but for now, I just want to think about the idea of restructuring our general boards and agencies.</p> <p>Most people who know me would say that I&rsquo;m not someone tied to the past. If something isn&rsquo;t working &ndash; by all means, scrap it and start afresh. I often work by trial and error until we find just the right fit. I like to take risks and push the envelope and be bold. So the fact that I&rsquo;m a little uneasy with all of the change proposed here means something.</p> <p>I&rsquo;ve had a few people ask me pointedly in the past&nbsp;month what I think about all of this restructuring. Here is my first response:</p> <blockquote>I&rsquo;m still pretty torn. I think there are some benefits to the ways they want to realign the boards and agencies, but talking with the boards and agencies folks, they have already made significant cuts and some of the ways they benefit the church would be severely restricted by having to cut more. I worry about our continued GBCS presence in the capital. I worry about whether we will have the resources in place to <strong>support</strong> the local churches if we diminish any more GBHEM and GBOD and the like. I understand the financial benefit to a smaller board, but think the diverse representation in so many places is one of the awesome things about the church and wonder if we couldn&rsquo;t use technology and more web conferencing to cut back on some of the cost. I worry that with only a 15 member board, we just will not have a diverse representation of the United Methodist Church as a whole. I&rsquo;m not necessarily worried about power consolidation or anything like that &ndash; but I would HATE to be on that board &ndash; that is a lot of responsibility and time, for such a small group to be overseeing all of the boards and agencies in that way. On the other hand, our own local church just consolidated all of our committees into one church board and its working just fine.<br /></blockquote> <p>That probably doesn&rsquo;t help.. does it? lol.</p> <p>My friend Gary&rsquo;s response: "Katie, help the Church think beyond either/or options. Thanks"</p> <p>*sigh* Gary&hellip; I belatedly, and with great humility and not a small amount of uneasiness&nbsp;accept your challenge.</p> <p>And as I think more about that restructure our own church just did, what I realized is that we did so because we didn&rsquo;t have enough people who could sustain that large of a leadership structure. To have four required committees that needed 6 people, plus our ministry committees of education, worship, outreach&hellip; that would be 6&times;7= 42 people!!! Not to include the chair of our council and our lay leader. We average 50 in worship on a Sunday. And so our large leadership structure certainly involved people, but people also felt like they were simply filling holes. There was a lack of engagement. Our structure was too big. I&rsquo;m not sure that with a global membership of 11-12 million has large problem with a leadership board and agency structure that involves&nbsp;around 650&nbsp;lay and clergy representatives on boards/agencies.</p> <p>Second, we did consolidate our work around three primary goals for our congregation. Which sounds a lot like the denomination consolidating around the <a href="/all/article/entry/2319/four-areas-of-focus-updates" target="_blank">Four Areas of Focus</a>. But in doing so, we have actually funneled MORE money into those three teams in our local church. They have more to work with now than they did in their respective disjointed committees. If we truly want those three things to be the focus of the life of our church, then we have to put our money where our mouth is. On the contrary, it feels like the UMC restructure proposals are in order to <em>save</em> money to be sent somewhere else &ndash; to local churches perhaps, to reduce apportionments so resources stay on the local level, who knows &ndash; to be honest I haven&rsquo;t seen anything about WHERE the extra resources will come from or WHERE they will go.&nbsp; That seems like an important piece of the puzzle that is missing.</p> <p>I completely understand restructuring for missional reasons to help us refocus our attention on the Four Areas of Focus that we as a global church have named as important: global heath, ministry with the poor, new places for new people and revitalizing existing congregations, and developing (young) leaders. But have we actually given these four areas time to settle in with our churches yet? And will a restructure help us to focus on them if we do so at the expense of diverse and abundant representation (when we have so many capable and talented people we can use in our global church) and with cuts to the funding for said ministries? In fact, we might be chopping the legs out from underneath ourselves if we do not provide the resources in people and dollars and institutional weight behind those four areas of focus.</p> <p>So if I&rsquo;m thinking both/and, I want to ask the questions:</p> <ul> <li>What would a restructured church look like with larger boards than the proposal entails?</li> <li>What could it accomplish with the resources to really make a difference?</li> <li>What kinds of bold risks could our boards and agencies take if they felt like we as the church trusted them and didn&rsquo;t see them as an excessive growth that needed to be trimmed away?</li> <li>What would we say to the world if we not only realign our church around these four areas of focus, but back it with our time, energy and resources?</li> </ul> <p>I&rsquo;m not saying that vital congregations are not important&hellip; in fact, the other materials we have been given by IOT and the Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table and Call to Action all seem to point to the idea that we need to develop more young leaders and create new places for new people and that a vital congregation is defined by its fruits &ndash; which includes its participation in the redemption of the world (global health and poverty seem to fit here). If we continue to focus on these four areas and put both our larger institutional AND local resources towards this focus, I think we are heading in the right direction.</p> Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:02:49 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2514/blog-call-to-action-study-part-2 http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2514/blog-call-to-action-study-part-2 <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>As I mentioned in <a href="/all/blog/entry/2505/call-to-action-study-part-1" target="_blank">Part 1 </a>of this post, I am going through the Call to Action Study put out by the Council of Bishops with my congregation.&nbsp; In our first session we covered sections 1-3 and in the second session we examined 4-6.</p> <h2>The Call to Grow More Vital Congregations</h2> <p>My folks noticed that the definition or criteria for being labeled as a &ldquo;highly vital&rdquo; congregation was based on the three things mentioned:</p> <ol> <li>Congregational growth over a five year period</li> <li>Engagement of members in ministry/mission</li> <li>Outward forcus by making new disciples and generous giving</li> </ol> <p>Many of them said that they absolutely agree with those second and third critera because engagement means that members are taking a role and living out their discipleship, but they are not sure that growth in numbers is a good indicator for vitality in this day and age. In any case, they were confident that growth would not occur if engagement and outward focus were not also happening.</p> <p>A large chunk of our conversation around this point was asking if growth is possible when the culture at large is working against us. We are fighting sports, working parents, family time, school activities, and&mdash;on Sunday mornings at least&mdash;we are losing the battle. We live in a community that has not experienced any real growth according to census figures at large. The folks who are not currently involved in church seem to have little interest in being involved. We believe we have something important and vital to offer, and can share that, but people do not always respond. Does that mean that we are not being faithful? Is our faithfulness being based on the response/hardheartedness of the culture surrounding us?&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>This led us into questions about how we can help to change the culture around us. What is it that we offer? Fellowship, ways to actively live out our faith, studies, we are the body of Christ and don&rsquo;t have to be on our own, we share with our brothers and sisters and find value in that kind of community centered around Jesus Christ. I found a tension in their answers that ranged from a firm desire to get more kids in Sunday School to an emphasis on saving souls; from reclaiming/changing culture to being a set-apart entity that might NOT be popular, but still can be faithful.</p> <p>This section also included five ways that the &ldquo;adaptive spiritual challenge&rdquo; is defined&mdash;that is, the problem behind the numbers. They sensed that division and mistrust is a problem&mdash;not so much on the larger levels, but they experienced how they lost people in their church when there was conflict amongst themselves. They agreed that we are not comfortable with setting goals, because then that means we might have to actually do something about it and follow through. They absolutely feel like they are not always connecting with the nominally and non-religious people in their community, but in many ways struggle to imagine what they might have to do differently. They see the issue as a two-way street.&nbsp; We need to invite and connect with new people, but there are also many who are burnt out from continually asking and inviting and always being told no.</p> <p>Then, this section layed out the challenge: to grow more vital congregations.&nbsp; We really liked the definition here of a vital congregation as a community of believers under the lordship of Christ. We had talked earlier about the need to get back to basics &ndash; talking about salvation, following the Holy Spirit, prayer, and that if we did that, everything else would fall in line, so we liked that it was part of the expanded definition in this section. But we also really dove into the idea that we have to live that out in our lives.&nbsp; We have to participate in the redemption of the world.&nbsp; We have to smile more, greet people more, be a Christian every moment of the day.&nbsp; We have to forgive a little more and be people of grace in everything thta we do.&nbsp; Someone told a story about how their son had a bad experience with another church and came back saying &ndash; &ldquo;if those are Christians, I don&rsquo;t want anything to do with them.&rdquo;&nbsp; Someone also made note that it was ironic there were pruning shears on the picture &ndash; if we are pruning back in order to grow, sometimes that means people who aren&rsquo;t committed will leave the church, and sometimes that is a good thing for the overall growth and spread of the gospel.</p> <h2>16 Drivers of Vital Congregations</h2> <p>I was disappointed there was NOTHING to explain the drivers, how they were arrived at, what they meant in the context of this study.&nbsp; Knowing what I do from our orders event and reading I have done for General Conference, I explained that these 16 drivers were characteristics that those 15% of congregations that were vital had.&nbsp; So compared with other churches they had more of this, and more of that, and these were descriptors that pointed at what made them vital.</p> <p>We looked at them by sections, starting with children and youth.&nbsp; Someone asked if having a preschool helped a congregation to be more vital and connect with the community.&nbsp; We talked about our youth group at the church and outreach into the community in that area. In a small church, we don&rsquo;t have the people to have a lot of programs &ndash; so will we always struggle with vitality? Does it count when we are doing these things in partnership with other churches?</p> <p>Lay leadership we found to be very important.&nbsp; Our congregation has not had a history of lay leaders understanding their roles very well and this is something we are working to change.&nbsp; We also have not challenged our lay leadership to really grow in their personal faith journey and are trying to focus on that as well.&nbsp; They were astonished at number 7 which said 20% or more of their worship attendees describe themselves as current or past leaders.&nbsp; I pointed out, however, that since our average worship attendance is only 50, that would mean only 10 people see themselves that way.&nbsp; We currently have 12 on our church council, which is more than that.</p> <p>We had a lot of discussion in the &ldquo;pastors&rdquo; category about how long the pastor stays being an indicator of effectiveness.&nbsp; This is a congregation that has had a lot of short term pastorates and feel like when they finally get something going with a pastor, he/she is pulled away.&nbsp; They feel like longer appointments would help them to have a better cohesiveness.&nbsp; Someone compared it to dating and talked about the importance of chemistry.&nbsp; When you find the right fit, you can&rsquo;t always replace that right away, if ever.&nbsp; There also is sometimes a lame duck time. They are used to pastors leaving after a few years and expect them to move and give up working and expecting things to change.</p> <p>In the last category of worship, we talked about the reality of small churches.&nbsp; We do not have multiple services, so is a blended service okay?&nbsp; The drivers only talk about contemporary OR traditional.&nbsp; We do have wonderful multi-media capabilities in our church and celebrated that.</p> <h2>Call to Action for Laity</h2> <p>As you can see&hellip; we had a lot of conversation!&nbsp; And so with the time constraints, we skipped ahead to what is the Call to Action for laity in the church.&nbsp; I wanted them to see where they specifically were being challenged to grow/act.&nbsp; Their initial perception was that it sounded good and really called them to take action.&nbsp; We felt like a lot of what we are already doing with our &ldquo;Co-Missioned&rdquo; process fit into this naturally (we are finishing up a two year church revitalization and missional focus process thingy).&nbsp; Several talked about how they felt like they need to personally take action.&nbsp; They realized that coming to church and sunday school is fine, but that they need to get up and do more in the church.&nbsp; One person said that they would if they knew what they could do, if someone personally asked and invited them to do something.&nbsp; We talked about how we need to encourage and ask people to serve more.&nbsp; This is something that has been a natural outcome of that Co-Missioned process for our church and in fact is the next step on our journey, so it was good for them to hear we are already working on that.</p> <p>As I process what they have said, one of the realizations I had is that there was a lot of explaining and background work that I needed to do.&nbsp; We do not do a good job of talking about the structure, mission, vision of the church, the four areas of focus, the larger goals of the denomination, new people and new places, etc.&nbsp; When we can make those connections, great, but it is not something that is readily known to every lay person.&nbsp; It can all get very confusing because there are so many different things to focus on.&nbsp; But people were eager to learn, connect, and overall were very supportive of our denominational connections.&nbsp; The level of mistrust we sometimes talk about between local churches and the denomination just wasn&rsquo;t there.&nbsp; This is a congregation that is on the cusp of &ldquo;vitality&rdquo; &ndash; they are growing spiritually, they are deepening in their engagement with the church and community and are extraordinarily generous&hellip; yet, compared with these drivers and indicators and definitions, they aren&rsquo;t sure quite where they fit.&nbsp; They know they haven&rsquo;t arrived and aren&rsquo;t sure if they will ever grow in the way this is asking them to.&nbsp; They know they will never be a large church, but they are determined to be small but mighty.</p> Tue, 06 Mar 2012 01:43:19 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2505/blog-call-to-action-study-part-1 http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/2505/blog-call-to-action-study-part-1 <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>I am leading my congregation through the Council of Bishop&rsquo;s study guide on the Call to Action.</p> <p>We started last week with sections 1-3 and an overview of how the United Methodist Church is actually set up.</p> <p>It was important for me to bring this big picture and important discussion to my rural county seat congregation.&nbsp; It was important to hear what they are thinking, hoping for, and what they, in fact, simply don&rsquo;t care about. None of what we decide at General Conference will make any difference if the folks who make up our church have no idea what is going on and no ownership of the process.</p> <p>So to start with, here are some of their responses to the questions the study guide raises:</p> <ol> <li><em><strong>What do you experience in the world and the church that calls for urgent action?&nbsp;</strong></em> Declining membership, need to have young people and kids in the church, political unrest &ndash; especially in the Middle East, and to be the hands and feet of Christ to a hurting world.</li> <li><em><strong>What is the role of the congregation in helping United Methodists practice personal piety and the means of grace?</strong> </em>attending local worship, bible study, to pass on the word about opportunities to grow, a reminisence&nbsp;about the song &ldquo;I Surrender All&rdquo;; <em><strong>the conference?</strong></em> education opportunities, district leadership events, retreats, resources and support (financial and persons), connection points to ministries we do together; <em><strong>the denomination?</strong> </em>we hear about the controversial things that GC discusses and how they take a stand on issues of justice, they give us rules and guidelines for how to live, resources and support, Upper Room</li> <li><em><strong>What church leader do you know today who has been a turnaround leader and what did they do?</strong> </em>They talked about how in our local church people ARE stepping up to lead.&nbsp; They were a bit dismayed by the piece in the study guide that said &ldquo;the next anticipated significant decline is in the field of mission giving and mission engagement.&rdquo;&nbsp; This is an area where they have seen HUGE growth as a congregation because we are taking risks and stepping up. They credit me with this because I have brought some energy and have been willing to take risks, but it also has to do with laity taking up the reins on those projects.&nbsp; They also mentioned that we are not afraid to show the community we are in it for the long haul and to dedicate ourselves to projects. Someone asked what would happen if we worshipped outside in the park for a whole month during the summer and built relationships with folks who were unchurched &ndash; great question and one we are going to look into!&nbsp; The conversation drifted to how to engage younger folks.&nbsp; Someone asked if there was a way to encourage youth to give back &ndash; musically, in worship, etc. so that they could get to know them better. While I think there are, I also lead into the next question&hellip;</li> <li><em><strong>What should we sacrifice to embrace God&rsquo;s unfolding mission for the church?</strong></em> I asked what they could sacrifice to in turn reach out to the youth?&nbsp;joining them for dinner on Wednesdays? going to their events outside of church? We talked about sacrificing our comfort with worshipping inside the church in order to meet people out in the community.</li> </ol> <p>Overall, they are grateful for the opportunity to think about these things and really looking forward to continuing on to the second half next week.</p> <p>One of the frustrations that I had with the first part of the study guide is the focus on &ldquo;turning around&rdquo; the sinking ship.&nbsp; While sections 1 and 2 call for deeper discipleship and re-claiming our mission as the United Methodist Church, section 3 shifted the focus to what they see the biggest problem is: decline in people and money.&nbsp; Down-ward sloping numbers&hellip; that is what the Call to Action is all about.&nbsp; It is not framed in terms of the true missional need in our communities &ndash; ie: the number of people around us who don&rsquo;t know Christ.&nbsp; It is not framed in terms of the great opportunities for ministry around us.&nbsp; No, the urgent call is in direct response to decline.</p> <div class="mceTemp"> <p>I actually think it is kind of trivializing to compare our reductions in people and dollars with the &ldquo;stiff winds of oppression&rdquo; that Esther and Mordecai were confronted with facing the genocide of their people.&nbsp; The &ldquo;stiff winds&rdquo; of indifference and fatigue and a lost sense of purpose are NOT the same as massacre.</p> </div> <p>Yes, we need some forward-thinking leadership.</p> <p>Yes, we need adaptability.</p> <p>Yes, we need courage.</p> <p>And yes, we need to make sacrifices and take risks in the process.</p> <p>I know that the declining numbers are not the problem in themselves, but merely symptoms of larger &ldquo;spiritual and systemic issues.&rdquo;&nbsp; But I wish that this study guide and in fact, the Call to Action in general, would talk more about those larger spirtual and systemic issues and less about the numbers.&nbsp;&nbsp; (if any of you can point me to a resource that does address what CTA thinks those larger spiritual/systemic issues are&hellip; please tell me!)</p> <p>Instead, we are left with the impression that the problem is that people aren&rsquo;t coming to church and that people aren&rsquo;t coming to worship and that people aren&rsquo;t giving enough.&nbsp; And at least my congregation doesn&rsquo;t know what it is going to take to change that.&nbsp; They can&rsquo;t necessarily give more.&nbsp; They keep asking their neighbors and friends to come and they won&rsquo;t.&nbsp; They are working on building relationships and reaching outside of the walls of our church and my prayer is that as they do that&hellip; as they are the hands and feet of Christ in this world&hellip; that people will come to know Jesus through them and will find a place within our church family.</p> <p>Preparing for our Lenten study on Romans 12 (our vision scripture) I came across Chip Ingram&rsquo;s work on the text.&nbsp; In <a href="http://r12online.livingontheedge.org/r12online/#ooid=VqdmRuOn0mRz-qs6Q-78sGMaesKic_0r">this segment</a>, he answers the question: if God doesn&rsquo;t measure faith by activities, why do people and churches?</p> <p>I think it&rsquo;s a good question.&nbsp; We are called to make disciples.&nbsp; And I suppose that if we are making something, we want to see numerical growth.&nbsp;But I understand discipleship as a process.&nbsp; A process that requires inward growth, deep growth, lifelong growth.&nbsp; If I can take the 50 people who regularly attend my church each week and spend my whole life working with them and at the end of that time those fifty people have learned to follow Jesus more closely, to surrender their lives to him, to serve others through him,&nbsp;and have planted seeds in the lives of others, have I done my job? I tend to think so&hellip; but I&rsquo;m not sure that CtA would agree I have been very effective.</p> Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:15:45 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/video/entry/2091/video-preparing-messages http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/video/entry/2091/video-preparing-messages <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>Katie Dawson talks about how she puts together her weekly message&mdash;and how the pieces of the puzzle come together.</p> <p><strong>WATCH MORE FROM KATIE:</strong></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1800/young-pastor-in-a-small-town">Young Pastor in a Small Town</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1802/who-is-katie-dawson">Who is Katie Dawson?</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1803/creative-worship-on-hope">Creative Worship on Hope</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1807/with-the-time-katie-saves-using-ministry-matters">With the time she saves using Ministry Matters&hellip;</a></p> Thu, 24 Nov 2011 21:38:52 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/video/entry/1806/video-bigger-than-the-small-church http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/video/entry/1806/video-bigger-than-the-small-church <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>Here, Katie explains how ministry in a small church is really ministry to the wider community, and how small church pastors can make connections far beyond their own circle of colleagues.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong>WATCH MORE FROM KATIE:</strong></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1800/young-pastor-in-a-small-town">Young Pastor in a Small Town</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1802/who-is-katie-dawson">Who is Katie Dawson?</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1803/creative-worship-on-hope">Creative Worship on Hope</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1807/with-the-time-katie-saves-using-ministry-matters">With the time she saves using Ministry Matters&hellip;</a></p> Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:10:54 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/video/entry/1803/video-creative-worship-on-hope http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/video/entry/1803/video-creative-worship-on-hope <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>Here, Katie describes the creative worship that followed Iowa's major flooding in 2010. Using the story of Noah and some participatory artwork, the worship brought hope and comfort to a community in crisis.</p> <p><strong>&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><strong>WATCH MORE FROM KATIE:</strong></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1800/young-pastor-in-a-small-town">Young Pastor in a Small Town</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1802/who-is-katie-dawson">Who is Katie Dawson?</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1806/bigger-than-the-small-church">Bigger than the Small Church</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1807/with-the-time-katie-saves-using-ministry-matters">With the time she saves using Ministry Matters&hellip;</a></p> Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:25:24 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/article/entry/1855/article-sermon-starter-keep-awake http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/article/entry/1855/article-sermon-starter-keep-awake <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p><strong>Scriptures for November 27: Isaiah 64:1-9; Ps. 80:1-7, 17-19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37 </strong></p> <p>Isaiah thinks that we need a dramatic wake up call. &ldquo;O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,&rdquo; we hear in the first verse. Mark, too, seems to be drawing our attention to signs and wonders in our readings for this first Sunday in Advent. Get ready! Be prepared! The signs are all around you!</p> <p>Maybe we are too distracted by the Christmas music that has been playing in stores since the end of October. Maybe we have let politics and the ever-lengthening campaign season steal our attention. Maybe our church has been so preoccupied by a building campaign that we forgot to notice the gospel right in front of us. Whatever it may be, Advent is the time of year when we get slapped upside the head with the challenging images of the heavens shaking and the earth trembling and voices crying out prophetic words from the wilderness. Advent isn&rsquo;t a time for the soft and cuddly, but a reminder of the ever present Kingdom of God that is about to fully break into our midst &ndash; whether we are ready for it or not.</p> <p>I&rsquo;ve been thinking a lot about the signs and wonders, but unlike Isaiah; I don&rsquo;t necessarily believe that God has hidden from us. Maybe we just aren&rsquo;t paying attention. Barbara Brown Taylor wrote in her sermon, &ldquo;Late Bloomer,&rdquo; (found in <em>Gospel Medicine) </em>&ldquo;&hellip;what better way to live than in the grip of a promise&hellip; to wake in the possibility that today might be the day. To remain wide awake all day long, noticing everything.&rdquo; What if the call to keep awake was not a call to be prepared for catastrophic billboards from on high, but to simply notice every day where God is present around us?</p> <p>Yes, Christ promises to return, and in the Advent season we eagerly await the return of Christ. But Advent is also the reminder that God has already come down and made his life among us, and that while there may have been a star in the heavens, the presence of God was found in the ordinary. An infant born and laid in a manger of hay. Smelly shepherds coming in from the fields. A life lived among the people of God. A holy meal of wine and bread.</p> <p>We claim and proclaim a Kingdom that is already here and not yet fully realized. To live in that tension is a call to be always aware of where God is active and moving among us, and also to be aware of where and when God is about to do a new thing in our midst.</p> Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:40:15 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/video/entry/1802/video-who-is-katie-dawson http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/video/entry/1802/video-who-is-katie-dawson <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p><strong>This week in Ministry Matters' video series featuring pastors and ministry leaders across </strong><strong>America</strong><strong> is Katie Z. Dawson, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Marengo, Iowa. She blogs about the joys and challenges of being a solo pastor in a small church in a small town at <a href="http://www.salvagedfaith.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Salvaged Faith</a>. </strong><strong>Check back next week to see featured video of Pete Wilson, lead pastor of Crosspoint Community Church in Nashville, Tenn., and author of <em>Plan B.</em></strong></p> <p>Here, Katie introduces herself and her ministry context--which may be a lot like yours!</p> <p><strong><br /><em>&nbsp;</em></strong></p> <p><strong>WATCH MORE FROM KATIE:</strong></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1800/young-pastor-in-a-small-town">Young Pastor in a Small Town</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1803/creative-worship-on-hope">Creative Worship on Hope</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1806/bigger-than-the-small-church">Bigger than the Small Church</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1807/with-the-time-katie-saves-using-ministry-matters">With the time she saves using Ministry Matters&hellip;</a></p> Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:02:18 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/article/entry/1784/article-christian-unity-through-social-media http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/article/entry/1784/article-christian-unity-through-social-media <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>October 2, 2011 marks the annual observance of World Communion Sunday.</p> <p>This special Sunday in the church is observed by many denominations in order to celebrate our unity in Christ. The day connects people to the global Christian tradition through liturgy, music, and the sacrament, but ironically, we often do so in the isolation of our own church buildings.</p> <p>Technology has opened up new ways to realize that unity. We have the entire globe at our fingertips through social media like Facebook and Twitter. A colleague of mine here in Iowa, Rev. Sean McRoberts, and I started talking about what a shame it would be to let that potential for global connection go untapped on a day like World Communion Sunday,&nbsp; so we dreamed up &ldquo;One Bread, One Body.&rdquo;</p> <p>One Bread, One Body envisions churches large and small, from all across the globe, joined together in prayer and celebration. With cell phones in hand, the prayers, tweets, pictures, and thoughts of people all across the globe will be gathered together in worship by using the hashtag: #1bread1body.</p> <p>There are ways for both individuals and entire congregations to participate in this global prayer experience through the conferencing capabilities of Twubs, a site that aggregates hashtags in a user-friendly way. Join the One Bread, One Body Twub at <a href="http://twubs.com/1bread1body">http://twubs.com/1bread1body</a> &nbsp;</p> <h2><strong>Individuals</strong></h2> <p>Individuals are invited to share prayers, pictures, thoughts, and responses on Twitter using the hashtag &ldquo;#1bread1body.&rdquo; Follow the live feed of everyone&rsquo;s prayers at <a href="http://bit.ly/1bread1body" target="_blank">bit.ly/1bread1body</a>.</p> <p>If you do not have or want a Twitter account, you can sign up for a Twubs account and post your thoughts either directly through the Twubs interface at <a href="http://twubs.com/1bread1body">http://twubs.com/1bread1body</a>, or by e-mailing or texting in your contributions. (Once your account is set up, go to &ldquo;edit my profile&rdquo; and &ldquo;edit my settings&rdquo; to enable posting by e-mail or text.)</p> <h2><strong>Congregations</strong></h2> <p>Congregations can use this resource in a couple of different ways.</p> <p>You can broadcast the live feed from <a href="http://bit.ly/1bread1body" target="_blank">bit.ly/1bread1body</a> on screens and monitors during worship on October 2, and encourage worshipers to contribute during worship. (Many will appreciate the permission and encouragement to tweet during worship!)</p> <p>If your church doesn&rsquo;t use screens in worship and isn&rsquo;t comfortable setting one up just for the day, you can still participate by sharing the information in your bulletin and setting up a computer, TV monitor, or screen somewhere outside the sanctuary to show the live feed of prayers coming in from all over the world. The live feed will continue throughout the day on October 2.</p> <p>To improve access, you can set up a Twubs account for your church so that participants can interact without having to sign up individually. Once the church&rsquo;s account is created, go to &ldquo;edit my profile&rdquo; and &ldquo;edit my settings&rdquo; to enable posting by e-mail or text and share the address the site gives you with your congregation. Any text messages, emails, pictures, etc. that are sent to that address from any phone or computer will be posted in the Twub under your congregation&rsquo;s user name.</p> <p>We encourage you and your members to contribute prayers and thoughts before World Communion Sunday and/or bring their phones with them to church for worship.</p> <p>As we approach World Communion Sunday, we want to invite everyone to spread the word &ldquo;that all may be one.&rdquo;</p> Fri, 16 Sep 2011 21:20:40 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/1674/blog-a-church-that-agrees-too-much http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/1674/blog-a-church-that-agrees-too-much <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>After a few years in my congregation, I realized I had a major, however, hidden problem...</p> <p>My church didn't know how to disagree.</p> <p>This may not seem like a problem on the surface.&nbsp; What pastor wouldn't be thrilled by a church that jumped right on board with every request and was quick to respond in the affirmative to a query?</p> <p>The problem is . . . not all my ideas are that great.&nbsp; And instead of really tackling an issue and building consensus, a quick yes with no discussion was getting us no where.&nbsp; No one gained ownership.&nbsp; The formation of better and stronger ideas through brainstorming was not being accomplished.&nbsp; I learned a quick yes was far worse than a toughly battled over no.</p> <p>There was an underlying issue that was at the root of this "problem."&nbsp; A church with a history of conflict was finally in a place of peace.&nbsp; No one wanted to rock the boat.&nbsp; No one wanted to disagree for fear of starting a whole new season of problems.&nbsp; It was easier to say, "okay," than to step up and take the risk.</p> <p>A culture of yes, however is just as harmful as a culture of no.&nbsp; I could never be sure if people really agreed with an idea or were just too unsure of themselves to say anything.&nbsp; It is eerie having an administrative board meeting that only takes 15 minutes because everyone votes up the agenda items without discussion.</p> <p>This past winter, I gathered our leadership together to begin tackling the problem.&nbsp; I wanted to let them know it was okay to disagree.&nbsp; It was okay to have an opinion.&nbsp; This was a safe place to raise questions and bring up different ideas.&nbsp;</p> <p>So we played a little game: Early Bird vs. Second Mouse.</p> <p>I had found the game on a site full of ice-breakers, but I knew instantly that it would be helpful.&nbsp; The group was divided into two opposing sides and each was tasked with defending a statement.&nbsp; One half of the room had to prove "The early bird gets the worm" and the other half had to support "The second mouse gets the cheese."&nbsp;</p> <p>Each statement has its own merits.&nbsp; And it wasn't anything that any of our folks would take personally.</p> <p>First, each group had to discuss amongst itself and figure out why their statement was the best. This took brainstorming, conversation, and creativity.</p> <p>Second, each group had to figure out how to present their position to the other half of the group and myself, the impartial judge.&nbsp; I was amazed at their energy, their humor, and their abundance of good and thoughtful responses.&nbsp;</p> <p>At the end, we asked if anyone had been swayed by the other side's argument.&nbsp; One or two did say that they naturally felt like the other side fit more in line with their own life philosophy, so it was hard to defend their own statement.</p> <p>It was a good conversation, but then I took it a step deeper.&nbsp; I asked them why they thought we were playing this game.&nbsp; And I asked them to think of the last time they disagreed in a meeting.&nbsp;</p> <p>In the end, we laid out some ground rules for future conversations and I think we instilled a sense of safety and comfort for some of the hard decisions we would face later in the year.&nbsp;</p> <p>It was a fun morning of disagreement.&nbsp; And I say that because I firmly believe that conflict is not in and of itself a bad thing.</p> Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:43:58 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/video/entry/1807/video-with-the-time-katie-saves-using-ministry-matters http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/video/entry/1807/video-with-the-time-katie-saves-using-ministry-matters <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>Katie Z. Dawson is pastor of First United Methodist Church in Marengo, Iowa. She blogs about the joys and challenges of being a young, female, solo pastor in a small church in a small town at <a href="http://www.salvagedfaith.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Salvaged Faith</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>WATCH MORE FROM KATIE:</strong></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1800/young-pastor-in-a-small-town">Young Pastor in a Small Town</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1802/who-is-katie-dawson">Who is Katie Dawson?</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1803/creative-worship-on-hope">Creative Worship on Hope</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1806/bigger-than-the-small-church">Bigger than the Small Church</a></p> Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:14:16 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/video/entry/1800/video-young-pastor-in-a-small-town http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/video/entry/1800/video-young-pastor-in-a-small-town <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p><strong>This week in Ministry Matters' video series featuring pastors and ministry leaders across </strong><strong>America</strong><strong> is Katie Z. Dawson, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Marengo, Iowa. She blogs about the joys and challenges of being a solo pastor in a small church in a small town at <a href="http://www.salvagedfaith.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Salvaged Faith</a>. </strong><strong>Check back next week to see featured video of Pete Wilson, lead pastor of Crosspoint Community Church in Nashville, Tenn., and author of <em>Plan B</em>.</strong></p> <p>Here, Katie talks about the isolation pastors in her position can feel, having few young adults in her church and in her circle of pastoral colleagues.</p> <p><strong><br /></strong></p> <p><strong>WATCH MORE FROM KATIE:</strong></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1802/who-is-katie-dawson">Who is Katie Dawson?</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1803/creative-worship-on-hope">Creative Worship on Hope</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1806/bigger-than-the-small-church">Bigger than the Small Church</a></p> <p><a href="/all/video/entry/1807/with-the-time-katie-saves-using-ministry-matters">With the time she saves using Ministry Matters&hellip;</a></p> <p><strong><br /></strong></p> Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:54:48 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/864/blog-born-this-way http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/864/blog-born-this-way <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>A good friend shared with me a post by Brian Kirk called "<a href="http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Lady-Gaga-Lent-Teens-and-Original-Sin-Brian-Kirk-03-16-2011.html" target="_blank">Lady Gaga, Lent, Teens, and Original Sin</a>." It is a good read, but there are a few tweaks that I might have made to his argument.</p> <p>In his article, Kirk shows how Lady Gaga's latest song "Born This Way," helps teenagers to claim their own place, their identity, in a world that sometimes tells them they have no value.&nbsp; He connects this message with the Jesus that loves the unloveable and who reaches out to those others have deemed unworthy.</p> <p>Kirk also spends a bit of time thinking about the counter for this argument, "what about sin?" Kirk responds by talking about while Lent has traditionally been a time in which we confess all that is wrong with us and look to Jesus for salvation, there are some that don't hold that to be true.&nbsp; He writes:</p> <blockquote><span style="color: #38761d;">For those of us who do not literalize the story of Adam and Eve, there is no need to literalize the Christian interpretation of Genesis in which humankind fell from a perfect creation into an imperfect one and thus had to wait, mired in sin, until a savior could come and pay our ransom. This theological perspective that sees all persons as born into sin is not persuasive for those Christians who acknowledge that we now live on this side of Darwin.</span></blockquote> <p>I read Kirk's response as: "what sin?"</p> <div style="border: medium none;">I may not read the story of Adam and Eve literally, but I do recognize that this world we are born into is <em>far</em> from perfect.&nbsp; The institutions we inhabit are tinged with sin.&nbsp; The choices we make from the very beginning lead us into temptation.&nbsp; While I might not ever consider an infant to be riddled with original sin that taints their very existence, sin is an ever present reality that surrounds us.&nbsp; If there were no sin, there would be no violence, no war, no destruction, no oppression, no bullying, no shame, no guilt, no hate...</div> <div style="border: medium none;">We each have a personal role and responsibility in the systems of sin that surround us.&nbsp; From the things we purchase, to the food we eat, to the ways we treat one another, we participate in sin.&nbsp; Sometimes that sin is a conscious rebellion and turning away from God and neighbor... other times it is subtle, hidden, and ignorant.</div> <div style="border: medium none;">No matter how much we might ignore sin, it has consequences in our lives.&nbsp; When we act recklessly, we hurt people. When we ignore the cries of the needy, they suffer.&nbsp; When we waste and pollute, our environment is damaged. The cup of coffee I purchased this morning has implications and consequences from people I have never met and will never see. The length of time I spend in the shower this morning has financial, social, and environmental implications. Sin is real. Consequences are real. We were born this way, too.</div> <div style="border: medium none;">The song calls us to remember:<span style="color: #a64d79;"> </span></div> <div style="border: medium none;"><span style="color: #a64d79;">&nbsp;</span>The real question is how we hold these two things together.&nbsp;</div> <div style="border: medium none;"> <blockquote><span style="color: #a64d79;">I'm beautiful in my way</span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;">'Cause God makes no mistakes</span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;">I'm on the right track baby</span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;">I was born this way</span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;">Don't hide yourself in regret</span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;">Just love yourself and you're set</span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;">I'm on the right track baby</span><br /><span style="color: #a64d79;">I was born this way</span></blockquote> </div> <p>How do hold together the fact that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14) with the reality that we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)?&nbsp;</p> <div style="border: medium none;">I recently began reading N.T. Wright's <em>After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters</em>. He talks about the process of developing virtue in our lives by the thousands of choices and decisions we make in our lifetimes. In the process of doing so, he talks not only about following the rules, but also following our hearts.</div> <div style="border: medium none;">This is the same divide that&nbsp;I see between these passages in Psalms and Romans.&nbsp; If I am wonderfully made, if God loves me, then I can do what I want and follow my heart.&nbsp; But if I am sinful, then I need rules to tell me right from wrong and to save me.</div> <div style="border: medium none;">Wright reminds us we need both.&nbsp; We need to form our character through the "rules" and to hold one another accountable to what is good.&nbsp; But we also need to let who we have been created to be shine through... not the "me" that does whatever the hell I want, but the "me" God intends me to be - loving, compassionate, serving one another, humble.&nbsp; The reality is, that "me" is inside of us.&nbsp; We were born to perfectly love God and serve our neighbors.&nbsp; God didn't make any mistakes in doing this.&nbsp; But we get off track.&nbsp;We let the world tell us who we should be, instead of our creator.&nbsp; We turn our backs on that reality. We sin. Christ takes all of those missteps, all of the sin inherent in our structures, the reality of evil, death, destruction, greed, power... he takes it ALL onto the cross, he dies, and he takes it all down with him.&nbsp; In Christ, we are finally free from all that which holds us back, from all that prevents us from <em>being</em> who we were truly created to be.</div> <div style="border: medium none;">Kirk gets so caught up in sacrifical atonement that he forgets there are other metaphors for the work of Christ on the cross.&nbsp; Christ liberates our true selves from all that prevents us from being Godly.&nbsp; Christ shows us how we were supposed to live our lives, according to Abelard.&nbsp; Jesus is also the Cosmic Christ who transforms all of creation.&nbsp;</div> <div style="border: medium none;">This time of Lent reminds me that I was fearfully and wonderfully made <em>and</em> that I have fallen short of the glory of God that lives inside of me.&nbsp; It challenges me to claim the work of Christ in my life and to be better, to grow, to allow God's grace to continue to transform me.&nbsp;</div> <div style="border: medium none;">Lady Gaga's lyrics say: I was born this way, hey! I'm on the right track baby.</div> <div style="border: medium none;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="border: medium none;">Maybe we should take that as a question.&nbsp; Who were you born to be?&nbsp; And are you on the right track?&nbsp; Are you living the way God intended?&nbsp; And if not, how do you get back there?&nbsp;</div> <div style="border: medium none;">You are fearfully and wonderfully made.&nbsp; No matter how it is that you were made - black, white, outcast, bullied, gay, straight, male, female, rich, poor - you were fearfully and wonderfully made.&nbsp; Are you on the right track?</div> Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:08:03 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/681/blog-who-is-god http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/681/blog-who-is-god <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>I realized recently how theologically illiterate my congregation is.</p> <p>That may seem like a slam, or a critique, but it is a simple reality.</p> <p>And it is a reality that is not their fault.</p> <p>As we began our discussion of Max Lucado's <em>Outlive Your Life, </em>we focused for a bit on a very simple question:&nbsp; If someone who didn't know much about the Bible and was not a Christian asked you to describe what God is like, what would be your answer?</p> <p>The room went silent.</p> <p>They all stared at me... or their navels... for a few seconds.</p> <p>And then someone confessed it was a really hard question.</p> <p>As a religion student, as a seminary student, as someone who has prepared intensely for ordination examinations... it was an easy question to answer for me.&nbsp; I had taken some time to think about it. I've wrestled with what I want to say.&nbsp; And depending on who I am talking to, I can talk about what God is like in a variety of ways.&nbsp; I talk about incarnation... about God taking on flesh.&nbsp; I talk about love.&nbsp; I talk about grace and mercy.&nbsp; I talk about a God who blesses us with a way, a path, a rule of community to follow.</p> <p>I don't have to sit and think for thirty minutes about what I might say.&nbsp; It's right there.</p> <p>But it is because I have taken the time, already, to think about the answer.</p> <p>That room full of people had not.</p> <p>Throughout their religious life, they had learned to read the bible.&nbsp; They have found comfort in the words of scripture and strength for tribulations.&nbsp; Devotional texts inspire them for daily living. Sermons have given them morsels to chew on. Some of them may have memorized catechisms... although many probably don't remember them. They have been given some very excellent tools for theological reflection... but they have not been taught how to use them <em>for</em> <em>theological reflection</em>.</p> <p>There was a critical step missing.&nbsp;</p> <p>In the realm of reading we might call it comprehension or application.&nbsp; You move past the ability to read the words on the page and learn how to apply them, how to expand upon them, how to use them in different contexts.</p> <p>My congregation has learned to read and study and listen... but they have not yet learned a theological language.</p> <p>I'm not talking about big and fancy words.&nbsp; As Lucado points out, Peter and John spoke very effectively about their faith while at the same time coming across as "unschooled, ordinary men." (Acts 4:13)&nbsp; We don't have to have an storehouse of knowledge... we just need to know how to apply and consolidate and process all it is that we have been learning.</p> <p>Theology at its root is simply words about God.&nbsp; How do I teach my congregation to speak in words about God?&nbsp; How can I teach them to answer a simple question like, "who is God?"</p> <p>I don't want to give them "answers."&nbsp; I think that our movement away from memorized catechisms and wrote learning can empower us to think for ourselves, to develop the skills necessary to learn even more complex things.</p> <p>But how do you begin to teach critical theological thinking?&nbsp; How do you begin to encourage congregation members to draw conclusions, to speak out loud words from their hearts about God?</p> <p>My first step is to simply have this conversation.&nbsp; To point out that this is tough work, but that as Christians, we are called to be able to articulate what we believe.&nbsp; We need to do the work.&nbsp;</p> <p>My second step is to stop providing answers all the time.&nbsp; I was asked point blank how I would answer by someone in the course of our discussion.&nbsp;At that point, I realized any answer by myself would limit their ability to begin down this path of wrestling.</p> <p><strong>What has helped your congregations to develop this kind of language?&nbsp; Do we simply have to wait for the Holy Spirit to show up when we open our mouths?&nbsp; Can it be taught?&nbsp; Where do you begin?&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Read more from Katie Z. Dawson at her blog, <a href="http://salvagedfaith.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Salvaged Faith</a>. <strong><br /></strong></p> Wed, 18 May 2011 20:18:55 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/1050/blog-how-can-we-laugh-at-a-time-like-this http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/1050/blog-how-can-we-laugh-at-a-time-like-this <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>I'm sitting at my computer, looking out the 24th floor window of my hotel in Des Moines.&nbsp; I am currently attending our annual School for Ministry and learning all sorts of neat things about capital campaigns and what kinds of fonts to use on worship slides.&nbsp; We've had some good practical teaching this year... with some good theological underpinings.&nbsp; It usually is.&nbsp; I'm glad Iowa does this!&nbsp;</p> <p>Anywho... here I sit, looking out the window at 12:26am at the quiet streets below.&nbsp; I'm still up because I'm trying to plan worship for Sunday so that I can send my organist the hymns.&nbsp; I'm exhausted.&nbsp; Both from Holy Week and now these days of sitting in a conference room with no windows for hours upon hours.&nbsp; I do not want to preach.&nbsp; I have two funerals ahead of me in the days to come.&nbsp; And someone mentions <strong>"Holy Humor Sunday."&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>I've heard of Holy Humor Sunday... but never actually done one.&nbsp; <strong>It's this tradition (a very old tradition) of laughing on the Sunday after Easter as we celebrate the cosmic joke that God plays on sin and death when Jesus Christ is raised from the dead.&nbsp;</strong> It is a day to laugh, to lift up our hearts, to thank God that we know already the end of the story.&nbsp;</p> <p>I'm loving this idea.&nbsp; I've spent about an hour already looking up hymns and liturgy and of course, jokes to tell.&nbsp;</p> <p>And then I realize that since I've been holed up in a conference room for the last two days that I have no idea what has been going on in the world.&nbsp; I check CNN, and I check weather.com... 72 dead from tornadoes in one town in Alabama... friends freaking out on facebook over tornadoes that barely clipped their own homes and the severe weather alerts that have them shaking in their boots every time the sirens go off.</p> <p>I start to think about these two funerals that I have coming up this very weekend.</p> <p>I start to remember the brokenness so many people in our communities are experiencing right now.</p> <p>I start to look out on that quiet street before me and wonder who is sleeping in an alley tonight, instead of in a king size bed at the Marriott.&nbsp;</p> <p>I know in my bones that God has already won.&nbsp; I know that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead.&nbsp; I understand.&nbsp; I believe.&nbsp; But I find it so hard to keep that Easter joy in my heart because we haven't reached the end of the story yet!&nbsp; We are inbetween times... in between the empty tomb and the new creation.&nbsp; It's here, but not fully.&nbsp; It's already, but not yet.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>How on earth can we laugh at a time like this?&nbsp;</strong> How can we laugh as cities are ravaged by deadly winds and little ones go to bed hungry tonight?&nbsp; How can we laugh when people are staring death in the face and losing?&nbsp; How can we laugh when the disparity between the haves and the havenots is so stark?</p> <p>Maybe the question is... how can we not laugh?&nbsp;</p> <p>How can we not just take a deep breath and remember that God is in control... not us.</p> <p>St. John Chrysostom preached in his famous Easter sermon:</p> <blockquote> <p>If anyone is devout and loves God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If anyone is a wise servant, let him rejoice and enter into the joy of his Lord.</p> <p>He gives rest to him who comes at the 11th hour, even as to him who has worked from the first hour. And He shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first.</p> <p>Let all then enter into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, keep the feast. You sober and you heedless, celebrate the day.</p> <p>Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast&hellip; Let all receive the riches of loving-kindness.</p> <p>Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free.</p> <p>O Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Christ is risen, and thou art overthrown.</p> <p>Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and the tomb is emptied of the dead. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.</p> </blockquote> <p>This world is broken and imperfect and horrible things happen all around us.&nbsp; But if we cannot laugh in the midst of our sorrows, then the Devil has already won.&nbsp; If we cannot laugh and lift up one anothers spirits, then there is no hope.&nbsp; If we cannot laugh and rejoice, then why keep going at all?&nbsp;</p> <p>Christ is risen. Death is overthrown. Life reigns.&nbsp;</p> <p>We don't have to be afraid.&nbsp; We don't have to be scared.&nbsp; We know the end of the story and we can laugh in the face of all that tries to hurt us.</p> <p>Those words are so powerful...&nbsp; and so hard to believe in.</p> <p>But maybe... just maybe... if we get together as a community and we laugh, we will find the faith we need to trust.&nbsp; Maybe together we can find the strength to laugh in the face of sin and death and to really and truly mean it.</p> Sat, 30 Apr 2011 18:17:47 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/863/blog-potluck-worship http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/863/blog-potluck-worship <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <div> <p>A colleague of mine recently forwarded an email about potlucks and banquets.&nbsp; It was written by Dr. Ed Robinson, the president of MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kan.</p> <div style="border: medium none;"> <p>Dr. Robinson asks us if our worshipping experiences are more like banquets or potlucks. And by that he means: do you come to worship and wait to be served, or do you bring something to the experience and try what is offered by others?&nbsp; (You can read the full article <a href="http://www.youthministryacademy.org/eng/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=162&amp;Itemid=33" target="_blank">here</a>)</p> </div> <div style="border: medium none;"> <p>I think it is a fascinating metaphor for both our worshipping life and our experience as the church.&nbsp; Is the church a place and a program that&nbsp;meets your needs&nbsp;or are you an active participant with something to contribute?&nbsp; Are you being served or are you serving? Are you a person in a pew or a part of the body of Christ?</p> </div> <div style="border: medium none;"> <p>I happen to love food.&nbsp; And I love potlucks even more.&nbsp; I'm not sure that you can be a good Methodist <em>without</em> loving these two things!&nbsp; So, it's probably obvious where I fall and where I encourage you to land in the choice between a banquet church and a potluck church.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div style="border: medium none;"> <p>But how do we turn our churches into potlucks?&nbsp; How do we encourage folks to bring something to the table?&nbsp;(or the sanctuary?)</p> </div> <p><strong>First, I think we need to create opportunities in worship for folks to be active.</strong>&nbsp; Participation in a responsive liturgy is not enough.&nbsp; We need to ask people to get up, move around, think, respond, speak, and do things in worship.&nbsp;</p> <p>This can be scary for churches that are accustomed to stand-and-sit worship.&nbsp; But what I have found is that people are hungry for the chance to be stimulated mentally, physically, and spiritually.&nbsp;</p> <div style="border: medium none;"> <p>In my own congregation, we have interactive worship every so often. It is never something that is forced upon folks; people can stay seated if they want to.&nbsp;What is important is that whatever we are doing directly is related to the message for the day.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div style="border: medium none;"> <p>One of the first pieces of interactive worship we used related to the Lent 1 text from Genesis in cycle B.&nbsp; As we remembered God's promise to Noah after the flood - we affirmed, as a congregation, that we are blessed by God.&nbsp; We proclaimed that&nbsp;God desires not the death of a sinner, but that we all repent and live. We celebrated that God promises&nbsp;&nbsp;to be, and has been, with us through the storms of our lives.</p> </div> <div style="border: medium none;"> <p>Our youth group prepared the canvases by painting them red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.&nbsp; Then, following a brief mediation on the texts, I invited people to come and paint on these canvases signs of God's promises to us.&nbsp; We remembered how God has shown us grace and mercy.&nbsp; We wrote words of hope and life.</p> </div> <div style="border: medium none;"> <p>Those canvases still hang at the front of our sanctuary.</p> </div> <div style="border: medium none;"> <p><strong>Second, worship needs to connect with the congregation on a deeply personal level.&nbsp;</strong> It is not enough to simply preach a sermon that talks about the world around us - it needs to apply to what they are daily struggling with.&nbsp;</p> </div> <p>I have borrowed and adapated resources from a number of different locations, but one of my favorite sites is <a href="http://creativeprayer.com/" target="_blank">creativeprayer.com</a>.&nbsp; One Sunday for worship, we talked about the sins in our own lives and used this idea for "confession with sand." All around the room we place two-gallon buckets filled with sand and handed each person a brown paper lunch sack.&nbsp; As we wandered around the room, we read the questions above each bucket and if that sin applied to us, we put a scoop of sand in our bag. They got heavy.&nbsp; It was a personal journey for each of us - and yet no one could see how much we were carrying.&nbsp; It was between us and God.&nbsp;</p> <div style="border: medium none;"> <p>Near the end of worship, we took those heavy bags and we laid them before the cross.&nbsp; It was one of the most powerful worship experiences we have had in our church, because the message hit you personally.&nbsp; You carried the weight of your sin to the cross and left it there.&nbsp; Literally.</p> </div> <p><strong>Third, the voices of the congregation need to have a space to be heard in worship.</strong> You cannot participate if you are not allowed to speak, to sing, to respond, to question.</p> <div style="border: medium none;"> <p>While we don't do this every Sunday (and sometimes I wonder, why not?), every so often our worship takes on a form of lectio divina.&nbsp; We ask folks to reflect on the scriptures and to share with one another what they think. There are other days when I ask folks to respond with their own questions. Even hymn sings provide the opportunity for individuals to share their favorite music and why it is a meaningful selection from their own experience.</p> </div> <p>I have also realized that there are some people who will never speak up during church.&nbsp; They don't feel comfortable in front of large groups.&nbsp; I have attempted at various times to engage in "Roundtable Pulpit" sessions where a small group of folks help me to reflect on the text for the coming week.&nbsp; Those questions and ideas are then woven into the sermon.&nbsp; It provides an opportunity for voices other than my own to be heard<img style="border: medium none; padding: 0px ! important; margin: 0px;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=amomono&amp;l=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=0687011426" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" />&nbsp;and included.&nbsp; I love the concept, I have just had a difficult time getting a diversity of people to show up for the weekly gatherings.</p> <p>Just as we have fantastic cooks in our local congregations, so too do we have people who are gifted in word, song, dance, creativity, passion, experience, and dedication.&nbsp; Just as we celebrate the good eats that come to the table when we feast together, so too should worship be a feast to God with all people offering of themselves together.</p> </div> Thu, 28 Apr 2011 21:16:42 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/680/blog-compassion-reserves http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/blog/entry/680/blog-compassion-reserves <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p>Everyone I talk to has their own take on how to best provide real financial resources to folks in need and in the past few weeks I have whittled the different approaches down to three categories:</p> <ol> <li> Contributions to a community fund that pastors then refer folks to.&nbsp; This method is very connectional, allows for a sharing of resources, and takes the burden off of any one congregation or pastor... especially if they are not the ones actually managing the funds.</li> <li>Congregational "Love Funds."&nbsp; This money is held by a particular congregation, folks make donations to it and disbursement is at the discretion of the pastor.</li> <li>Connections to outside agencies and networks of support.&nbsp; This takes a lot of legwork and knowledge by the pastor to have these contacts built up in the first place when the need arises.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li>Personal time/energy/money.&nbsp; Every now and then there is someone who needs a tank of gas or a meal and when we can and are able, pastors are extremely generous folks.&nbsp; As a colleague wrote me:&nbsp; what is needed and is it within my capacity to meet that need?&nbsp; I know of a lot of folks who go above and beyond and their mental health, energy and family suffer for it... your capacity is a lot different than your wallet.</li> </ol> <p>These past two months, I am realizing how small the tanks actually are when it comes to financial assistance in our area.</p> <p>I recently became the treasurer for our county ministerial fund and as soon as the cold weather hit, our funds went out faster than they could replenish themselves.&nbsp; We are at the point now where we can only provide assistance when we receive a new donation, and the need really is great out there.</p> <p>Our local community fund has resources, but we have limitations on how those resources can be used.&nbsp; Time and energy need to go into revamping our guidelines and extending our reach... yet at the same time, as soon as we do so, I know that they will be used and gone. Used for good of course, but used all the same.</p> <p>My congregational fund is not yet a separate and distinct account from the rest of our finances... I am not entirely sure how previous pastors handled the situation, but since I have been there I have budgeted for a set discretionary assistance amount.&nbsp; I think we exceeded the amount budgeted halfway through the year and asked for a bit more to be set aside... but even if we had ten times the amount of money, we would still have folks we would need to turn away.</p> <p>I reached the point recently where I almost cashed in my paycheck and gave half of it to someone who really needed it... I'm young, I have a roof over my head, I thought... but I also have a marriage to think of, and my own bills to pay (higher now that our own heat is turned on), and setting myself behind isn't going to help anyone in the long run.&nbsp;</p> <p>I felt so guilty that we couldn't do more as a church or as a community.&nbsp; I felt personally guilty.&nbsp; I didn't want to call and say no.&nbsp;</p> <p>I think I was feeling convicted by the idea from James that if you say you will pray for someone who is hungry but don't give them any food, then you aren't doing anything for them.</p> <p>But I think I reached a place this past week where I realized that we already were giving so much.&nbsp; Even if it wasn't the money needed to pay the bills, we were giving of our time.&nbsp; We were praying.&nbsp; We were listening.&nbsp; We were connecting.&nbsp; We were building relationships.&nbsp; We were doing what we could with what we had.&nbsp; And even extending ourselves beyond those points.&nbsp; We were sharing the love of Christ with folks as much as we could.</p> <p>Money isn't everything.&nbsp; Sometimes it feels like that, but its not.</p> <p>The hope of the world is Christ and Christ alone.&nbsp; Not a bank account.&nbsp; Not a fundraiser.&nbsp; Not a paid bill.&nbsp; But Christ.</p> <p>And things out there are tough - all around they are tough.&nbsp; People are hurting because of broken relationships and they are struggling because of a lack of work and lack of funds.&nbsp; They are angry with systems that fail them and they are disappointed in the outcome of their work.&nbsp; And we sit and wallow in this muck and in the words of Rob Bell, "yell at the darkness for being dark."</p> <p>Sunday we preached texts that told us to wake up.&nbsp; To stop lingering in the dark and to look towards the light.&nbsp; To remember that our salvation does not lie in these things.&nbsp; To live in the light of Christ right now.&nbsp; To be a community.&nbsp; To walk together.&nbsp; To live right now as if Christ had come again.&nbsp;</p> <p>And when we do that... we have the strength to answer the phone call when the next creditor calls.&nbsp; We have the peace in our hearts that enables us to hold the hand of a loved one and tell them goodbye one last time.&nbsp; We can let go of the guilt and simply love the best we can, right here and right now.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Read more posts from Katie Z. Dawson at her blog, <a href="http://salvagedfaith.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Salvaged Faith</a>.</p> Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:10:08 GMT http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/article/entry/785/article-blogging-for-pastors http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/article/entry/785/article-blogging-for-pastors <p>By Katie Z. Dawson</p> <p><em>Some UM pastors are serious bloggers, writing daily for thousands of readers. Some don&rsquo;t even know what a blog is (it&rsquo;s short for &ldquo;web log,&rdquo; like an online journal). But many have found that blogging is a great way to connect with colleagues and congregants alike, sharing insights, news, and a little piece of themselves&hellip;</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>I am a pastor who blogs. But I&rsquo;m not a &ldquo;blogger&rdquo; per se.</p> <p>I don&rsquo;t make a living writing things online. I only have a few consistent readers of my musings. My calling is not to write, but to share the love of God with others through the ministry of the church. So most days I am spending my time with my congregation and my community, walking them through life&rsquo;s ups and downs. Blogging is something I do on the side. One among many things that I do on the side.</p> <p>But I have come to realize that it is an important addition to my ministry.</p> <p>I wandered into the world of blogging (AKA the &ldquo;blogosphere&rdquo;) in seminary. During my years in Nashville at Vanderbilt Divinity School I was surrounded by deep thinkers, both in class and in my local congregation. We could spend hours having long, intense discussions about faith and church and culture. And in the process, I grew and stretched and matured in my faith.</p> <p>I worried that when I went back to my home conference of Iowa to be in ministry, I might find myself very alone in some tiny rural church and I would miss those types of interactions. So blogging became a vehicle for community. My blog, <a href="http://salvagedfaith.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Salvaged Faith</a>, was a way to hold on to those nuggets of insight that I discovered, to pull out of the past those pieces of our tradition that we needed to remember, and to keep wrestling with what was happening in my local context.</p> <p>I was pleased to find in Iowa that a community of colleauges surrounded me. My local ministerial alliance has proved invaluable. Facebook has been an amazing way to stay in touch with seminary classmates. We have a strong effort to keep young clergy connected in our state through monthly lunches. I found that I did not &ldquo;need&rdquo; my blog for community and connection like I thought I might. But I have found that it still serves a valuable purpose.</p> <p>In the world of ministry, there is a very fine line between being someone&rsquo;s friend and being someone&rsquo;s pastor or colleague. And when you enter the world of technology, it becomes difficult to separate the two. I have done so by simply taking seriously the fact that my blog is not my pulpit. And that&rsquo;s a good thing.</p> <p>There are many conversations that I do not feel comfortable having with people in my local congregation: politics, the latest episode of &ldquo;Dexter,&rdquo; what it feels like to be a pastor who has doubts and makes mistakes, and sometimes a deep wrestling with what a word in Greek or Hebrew really means.</p> <p>While I don&rsquo;t go out starting conversations about these topics in my church, occasionally these topics find me. If someone comes in and asks what I think about the latest policy decision in the White House, on a personal level, I will respond honestly and pastorally. But I won&rsquo;t walk into Sunday school and cry out, &ldquo;Whew, did you see that State of the Union address last night?!&rdquo;</p> <p>On my blog, however, I will explore these complex issues, because my blog is not my pulpit. My blog is a place for me to start conversations. My blog is a place for me to seek out community and to engage with people who both agree and disagree with me. My blog is a place for personal wrestling and thinking. Most of the time, this is with friends and companions from all around the world. A network. A connection, in the best Wesleyan sense of the word. Together, we seek one another&rsquo;s wisdom and advice and creative impulses.</p> <p>I know many colleagues of mine have created pseudonyms that they blog under to protect their personal/professional boundaries. But for me, that artificially splits me into separate personalities. And just as folks from the church occasionally want to know what the pastor <em>really</em> thinks and come into the office to ask me a question, sometimes I have church visitors on my blog, too. I gently remind them that my office is not my pulpit, that my blog is not my pulpit, and that I am human like everyone else. So take my thoughts with a grain of salt and let&rsquo;s have a conversation.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Where Do I Begin?</h2> <p>If you&rsquo;re interested in starting a blog, start by reading other people&rsquo;s blogs and learning about this genre of short-form writing. Then check out these popular blog-hosting sites to choose the one that&rsquo;s right for you!</p> <p><a href="http://www.blogger.com/">www.blogger.com</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.typepad.com/">www.typepad.com</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.wordpress.com/">www.wordpress.com</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Tips for a great blogging experience:</h2> <ul> <li>Write frequently&mdash;at least several times per week. New content is key to building your readership.</li> <li>Keep posts short and readable&mdash;500-750 words is ideal</li> <li>Interact with readers by reading and responding to their comments. Ask questions in your posts to encourage reader interaction. </li> <li>Read other people&rsquo;s blogs and leave comments. </li> <li>Be yourself, but exercise caution. Remember that the Internet is a huge, open forum and anyone could find what you write.</li> </ul> Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:03:02 GMT