June 10, 2013 · 10:11 pm

No Prayer, No Power. Little Prayer, Little Power. Much Prayer, Much Power!

“No prayer, no power.  Little prayer, little power.  Much prayer, much power!” – Bishop Julius Calvin Trimble, Bishop for the Iowa Conference UMC.

The above statement was repeated several times this week by our Bishop during the Iowa Annual Conference as we participated in holy conferencing this week in Des Moines.  This simple statement speaks volumes about the spiritual strength and focus of our Bishop who is obviously a man of deep faith and prayer.  Bishop Trimble often reminded us and brought as back to our faith just as it might appear we were being bogged down in the business of being a conference.

The idea of the connection of prayer with the power of the Holy Spirit reminded me how much prayer was central to my decision to become a United Methodist.  More than three years ago when I felt led to follow my heart and my growing Wesleyan spirituality into ministry in the UMC I felt compelled to be in constant prayer about God’s direction in my life.  During this time I believe I prayed more and more often than I had previously in any other time in my life.  I needed to the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit to help me to make the right decisions about the future of my ministry and calling.

The more I prayed, the more I read, the more I studied United Methodism the more I became convinced that this is where God wanted me to be.   Wesley’s descriptions of God’s grace captured me and would not let go, even as I continued to serve in another family of faith for quite a few years.

I started this blog in July of 2010 as I was starting my first appointment in the UMC.  This weekend at the Iowa Annual Conference of the UMC I because an Elder in Full Connection in the United Methodist Church.

While this is opportunity to celebrate God’s work in my life it is also just a beginning.  Now and in the future, with God’s help, I will have the opportunity to continue living out the itinerant ministry of a United Methodist Elder.  It is a ministry that I have just begun.  It is a ministry that I am experiencing with great joy, and it is a ministry that I have now dedicated the rest of my life to.

Now that I have reached one of the goals I set which prompted the beginning of this blog, I will be changing the direction of my blog to posts about my impressions of ministry and mission in the UMC, the work of my current appointment at Grace UMC in Sioux City, and the day to day issues of ministry and faith in a world that still needs to hear about the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

It was Prevenient Grace, as described in the Emmaus Walk and by John Wesley, that first started to transform me into a Methodist Christian.  It is God’s grace that continues to lead me onward as I am blessed and honored to serve as a United Methodist Elder within the United Methodist family of faith.

Thanks be to God!

 

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Filed under Blogging, Grace United Methodist Church, Growth, John Wesley, Prevenient Grace, United Methodist Church, Walk to Emmaus

May 5, 2013 · 2:21 pm

125 Years Sharing God’s Grace

125thToday Grace United Methodist Church in Sioux City kicked off its celebration of 125 Years serving God in Sioux City by announcing three mission.

As the anniversary committee thought about all we could do to celebrate our anniversary as the first church in the Morningside neighborhood of Sioux City we decided that the best way to celebrate was not just to throw a party for ourselves. The committee decided that the best way to share our commitment and love for the community we have been serving in for 125 years was to seek to raise significant funds for mission and ministry.

Beginning today Grace will seen to raise $12,500 for our anniversary with the goal of $10,000 going to two vital mission projects. We are going to raise funds for the United Methodist Imagine No More Malaria campaign, a world wide mission of the UMC to save millions if lives in Africa. We are also going to raise funds for a weekend backpack food program at Spalding Park Elementary School to feed children who are in need of food assistance. Additionally we are going to recruit 125 walkers for CROP walk this year to raise money to feed hungry people around the world.

I am so excited the Grace UMC has chosen to make ministry and mission the focus if our celebration remembering that our church isn’t a gathering place for already redeemed but a launching pad for the transformation of the world beginning in Sioux City and beginning with each of us.

Faith in Christ is not so much a destination as it is a journey. After 125 years Grace UMC is still on the journey!

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Filed under Grace United Methodist Church, imagine No Malaria, Missional Church, United Methodist Church

April 8, 2013 · 7:53 pm

Milestones of God’s Grace

I started this blog almost three years ago to talk about God leading me to change the direction of my ministry and became a pastor in the United Methodist Church.  For those of you who have read my posts you probably have noticed that my posting has been much less frequent in recent months.  Well, life has just been both good and busy.  

I have been blessed these past nine months to serve in my new appointment at Grace UMC in Sioux City.  It has been a lot of fun getting to know the people of Grace, learning my way around Sioux City, and working in ministry with my new charge.  As the same time I have been continuing the process of working with the Board of Ordained Ministry of the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church to complete my transfer of orders to the UMC and seek recognition as an Elder in Full Connection.  

Part of the requirements of receiving such a recommendation involved me completing courses in UMC history, doctrine, and polity.  I completed all of those classes in February of this year.  Also in February I had what will probably be my last meeting with an examining committee of the Board of Ordained Ministry.  And I am pleased to say that the BoOM has recommended me for full membership in the Iowa Conference!

This means that my name will come before the Clergy Session of the Conference in June for a vote.  If I receive an affirmative vote from those eligible to vote in the Clergy Session I will be an Elder in Full Connection in the UMC.  

For me this is a milestone in a lot of ways.  It is a milestone in completing the process with the BoOM.  In that process I felt very encouraged and affirmed while the examining committee members continued to ask good questions, seek understanding of my ministry and calling, and make decisions about my progress in the process.

It is also a milestone for me because, as I’ve shared many times now, I have felt for a long time that God wanted me to be a United Methodist serving God in a UM local churches.   I’ve shared here in this blog how I believe God nudged me and guided me over the years into a Wesleyan understanding of the Christian faith which led me to seek out the UMC as my church home.

Each Christian tradition has its strengths.  But what has continued to attract me and continues to pull me into the UMC has been John Wesley’s teaching and understanding of Grace.  God’s gracious love, described by Wesley as Prevenient, Justifying, and Sanctifying continues to capture my heart and my imagination.  What Wesley called the scripture way of salvation with its emphasis on the work of God’s grace in each of our lives throughout our lives colors and enriches everything that is best about United Methodists.  

I am also empowered and enriched by the sacramental theology of the UMC.  I was reminded again this Sunday in Communion how much my heart is warmed by the liturgy of the Great Thanksgiving and in the breaking of the bread and sharing of the cup.  There is something so right and so heavenly to bend down on one knee so that a small child can take a piece of bread and dip it in the cup with a joyful smile on her face as she is told that the body of Christ was given for her!  There is such Holy Spirit power in the voices of the congregation declaring as one that “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!”  Some Sundays I can only think to myself, “it just doesn’t get any better than this!”

Yes indeed, I am deeply honored that the clergy of the Iowa Conference will consider my credentials this June, and I am deeply blessed to be serving the Lord in the Iowa Annual Conference of the UMC and here in Sioux City at Grace Church.  I am very glad to be a United Methodist!

May each of you be blessed as we continued to celebrate the Risen Christ in these Great Fifty Days of the Easter Season.  ”Christ the Lord is Risen Today!  Alleluia!”

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Filed under Christian Doctrine, Connectionalism, Discipleship, Easter, Grace United Methodist Church, Growth, Itinerant Ministry, John Wesley, Justifying Grace, Prevenient Grace, Sacraments, Sanctifying Grace, Transformation, United Methodist Church, United Methodist Doctrine, United Methodist Polity, Worship

February 6, 2013 · 12:03 pm

Mea Culpa!?

Confíteor Deo omnipoténti et vobis, fratres, quia peccávi nimis cogitatióne, verbo, ópere et omissióne: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa.  Ideo precor beátam Maríam semper Vírginem, omnes Angelos et Sanctos, et vos, fratres,oráre pro me ad Dóminum Deum nostrum.

Translation in English

I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters,that I have greatly sinned,in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault,through my most grievous fault;

Thus we find a prayer of confession used in the Roman Rite of the church and the originas of “Mea Culpa.”

Lately I feel like the Church is being asked to say “Mea Culpa” about a lot of things in our society, some of which can be honestly placed at the feet of the Church but also many of which the Church has no control over.

Right now the Church and the culture are in a time of huge social changes which may have the greatest changes on the ministry of the church since the Reformation.  Phyllis Tickle, author of “Great Emergence” sees the Church as being in a cycle of change which happens about every 500 years.

The culture is changing around us at an astounding pace and the culture of the Church is having a very hard time keeping up with it.  So it has become fashionable in some circles to blame the Church for these changes.  You hear phrases like “the church isn’t relevant,” “the church is behind the times”, “if they 1950s ever come back my church is ready!”

Yes, I do believe we are in a time when the Church has to look hard at its ministries and make changes to continue to be able to share the loving gospel and grace of Jesus Christ with an every morphing and changing world.  Yes, sometimes the church is resistant to that change and Christians are distressed by the need for change in a social structure that they have come to depend on and are comfortable with.

But, it is not fair to blame the the good people of the Church for the changes that are happening in our society, nor is it fair to make hard working, God loving, people serving, ministry active, self-giving, self-sacrificing Christian people feel guilty or bad about themselves because they are having as much trouble as anyone else in this world figuring out why the world is so very different than they knew growing up in the church.

In Iowa Conference’s most recent Orders meeting the speaker, Peter L. Steinke the author of “Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times: Being Calm and Courageous No Matter What” talked about the importance of non-anxious leadership.  He talked about how tough it is for people to deal with the fact that they rules of the game have changed for them mid-ministry.  He talked about what he calls “leadership in anxious times.”

Well it appears to me that one of the first steps in being a leader in anxious times is to quit trying to place blame for what has changed in world and instead look to how we can work to be the best witnesses of our faith for Jesus Christ that we can be in a world that is confusing not just for Christians but for everyone.

Gil Rendle, another Alban Institute author, taught in a course on Appreciative Inquiry that I attended a few years ago that the way to plan for the future of the Church is to work from our strength, to work from our positives in ministry, to find out what we do well and seek to emphasize, grow, and expand on our strength until those strengths fill in the weak gaps.

Appreciative Inquiry is based on the idea that we can do more when we look at our growing edges rather than obsess about our failures or about our inadequacies.   While there are some places where the Church can honestly say “mea culpa” there are many places where the Church has helped the poor, fed the hungry, ministered to the needy, visited the sick, helped the dying, administered the sacraments, taught our children, worshiped the living God and met the needs of its members and the community.  For these things we have nothing to apologize for!

Let’s stop expecting the Church to say “Mea Culpa” and start asking where we can best grow to share the gospel to a world that still needs it.

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Filed under Christian Living, Discipleship, Transformation, United Methodist Church

December 4, 2012 · 2:15 pm

Know Your Limits

It has been quite a while since I’ved blogged.  Sometimes when I’ve been away a while I’ve felt almost compelled to apologize for not writing.  (As if very many people read my musings anyway!.  :-)  )  But you won’t get any apologies this time.  Why?  Because I’m reminded that we all need to learn to know what our limits our.

We just started the Advent Season, one of the busiest times of the year for many pastors and lay persons in the church.  During the seasons of Advent and Christmas most churches have extra services, additional programs, expanded or unique worship experience, special children’s programs, music and more.  Add to that Sunday School class parties, additional events available in your community, and all that goes with Christmas shopping, Christmas travel, and visiting family at Christmas and you have one very stress time of the year!

All this is compounded because most of us are really bad at saying the word “no.”  Also some of us don’t find this season enjoyable at all.  Some of us have lost loved ones in the past year and the holidays feel a bit empty or depressing.  Some of us are no longer able to have the family gatherings we remember as children because we are all too spread out living in different parts of the country.  Some of us have never had a good experience of the holidays because family is not a good experience.  Not everyone gets along with their family.  Not every child or parent is close.  Not all siblings enjoy each other’s company.   So for those of us who find this season a time of joy and celebration and for those of us who don’t, we need to be sensitive to each other at this time of year.

Often expectations for the holidays are set impossibly high so that no one can meet the expectations place on them or their family in this time of year.

So one of the hardest lessons is to learn to know what our limits are and to learn to leave some time for ourselves in these busy seasons.  Sometimes it just means letting something go.  So maybe you don’t blog during Advent.  Or you choose not to attend every party you are invited to.  Possibly you choose to scale back the huge family celebration for something a little more modest, a little less work and a bit less stressful.  Sometimes just honestly admitting you aren’t enjoying the holidays this year can feel better than a false cheerfulness.  

The Season of Advent is a season of preparation for the coming of Christ, both a Christmas and Christ return.  How we choose to prepare ourselves for the presence of Christ may need to be different for each person.  This year some of us may need to prepare by doing more for Christ and Christ’s kingdom.  But some of you may need to say “enough!” the best way you can prepare is decide what you will and won’t do in this season and that your best preparation may be spending some quiet time alone in the presence of God and get off the holiday merry go round.

Whatever your need is for the Advent Season as you prepare your heart for the healing work of Christ in your life, remember that all God is really looking for is an open and receptive heart.  If you don’t like the tinsel it isn’t required.

In Christ’s Peace

Tim

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Filed under Advent, Clergy Health, Holidays

October 16, 2012 · 10:25 pm

CROP Walk, Those in Need, and Social Holiness

ImageI was really proud of Grace UMC this week!  Every year we participate in the annual CROP Walk to raise funds for Church World Services and the work they do with those who are hungry and needy here in Iowa and around the world.

The past several weeks we’ve shown video clips about CROP and the need to participate.  We had both a very strong turn out of walkers and, as of tonight, we raised a new record amount from our church for CROP!  Thanks to the Grace family for stepping out in faith and stepping out for those in need!  Joan Holh our CROP Coordinator worked very hard this year to make participation a priority and she deserves a big thank you too!

Our work this month on CROP reminded me of the importance in Wesleyan faith on Social Holiness.  John Wesley believed that there is no personal holiness without social holiness and even went so far as to say that there is no holiness OTHER than social holiness.

Often we think of holiness as my own personal devotional life or my personal walk with God.  Just me and God enjoying each other’s company.   There has hardly ever been a man more committed to rigorous study, worship, and confession as John Wesley.  Yet John believed in a “Practical Divinity” that taught that the Christian life isn’t just about what I do in my prayer closet.  It is about how I live my life in the world, how effect the lives of my neighbors and how I make a difference in my community and the world.

Because of his passion for social holiness the United Methodist Church has a passion for social needs and ministries of justice as well!  Your faith and my faith has to make a difference not just to you and me but to those around us.

The United Methodist motto is “Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World.”  We aren’t Christ’s follows for our own benefit only.  We are making disciples and becoming disciples to change our world and bring in the reign of Christ!

So again to all of you who hoofed it down Morningside Ave. this Sunday and to all of you who contributed in our special offerings for CROP thanks  and remember you were walking on holy ground!

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Filed under United Methodist Church

October 10, 2012 · 11:13 pm

URL for New Forum

The forum I started this week for Methodist/Wesleyan  Christian discussion now has its own url at methodistsonline.com.  (Notice I didn’t end up with the .org domain at least at this time.)

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Filed under United Methodist Church