November 16, 2011

Academy of Parish Clergy – Conversations in Ministry Series

I am excited share with you that the Academy of Parish Clergy is moving forward with a new and exciting venture.  The Academy will be publishing a book series titled “Conversations in Ministry” which will focus on important issues facing clergy today.  You can find information about the new series at http://energionpubs.com/academy-of-parish-clergy-conversations-in-ministry-series/

I have been honored to be asked to be part of the editorial board for the series and I am looking forward to having the opportunity to read great manuscripts for upcoming books!

Also if you are clergy and have not checked out the APC, it is a wonderful ecumenical organization of clergy who support each other and also promote high standards of excellence in ministry and service.  Check out the Academy website at http://www.apclergy.org/ for more details.

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Filed under United Methodist Church

October 22, 2011

How Much Social Media is Enough?

With the proliferation of Social Media sites I am starting to wonder how many are enough, or how many are too many to keep up with.  I’ve noticed Tweetdeck will now follow Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Buzz (which is going to be discontinued by Google), Linkedin, and Foursquare.  So far Google Plus is not supported.

But with so many Social Media sites I find that I have looked for means to cross post and read more than one site at a time with something like Seesmic or Tweekdeck to name two.  But I have begun to wonder which of these sites I intend to keep following.
Some already are no longer getting much attention from me.  I find that while I was initially excited about Google Plus I just can’t get that excited about it now.  It seems like a poor cousin of Facebook and most of my friends are there.

I certainly find following Facebook and Twitter have been good means of communicating with colleagues.  Twitter has worked well for conversations about events I’ve attended with fellow attendees.  But I’m finding less use for the others.  What do you think?

How many social media sites do you try to follow?

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Filed under United Methodist Church

October 20, 2011

Something Worth Saying

I’ve done a fair amount of blogging over the years.  When I started this blog my primary purpose was to blog about my experiences in becoming a United Methodist.  So I’ve shared some of the theological reasons for my move from Baptist life to UMC life.  And I’ve shared some of the process that I have been following in transfering my ordination to the United Methodist Church.

Right now I am in one of those in between times when the next step depends on me completing the next set of requirements.  During the minimum of two years I am serving as a Provisional Member of the Iowa Conference I am required to complete three courses covering UMC history, doctrine, and polity.  I am near finishing the UMC history class and hope to start on the doctrine class as soon as I can get signed up for it either through the GBHEM or a seminary in my area.  That’s all very important to my moving forward in my desire to become an “Elder in Full Connection” in the UMC.  But it does not make for exciting blogging.

In my previous denomination sometimes I blogged about internal denominational movements and denominational politics.  But as I’ve considered what to write about in my current blog that subject matter has lost its appeal for me.  It is not that I’m not interested in what is going on nationally and conference wide in the UMC.  I am certainly interest in the future of the connection I am giving my life and ministry to.  But there are a lot of bloggers writing about the Call to Action report who have been United Methodists much longer than I have.  And yes I am interested in the outcome of legislation at General Conference.  But I am not sure that I have anything new to contribute to that discussion with a world wide web of UMC bloggers already discussing GC at great length.

Instead, in my quest to find something worth saying, I want to use this blog to continue to talk about my pilgrimage of faith as a pastor serving in a new church family.  I’d like to keep talking about it because I have come to believe that faith in Christ is a journey and not just a destination.  And I believe the journey is a lot more interesting when you don’t act liked you’ve arrived already!

As I have been reading about the life and teachings of one of the founders of United Methodism, John Wesley, I have been struck time and time again that Mr. Wesley was a man on a journey of faith.  In his early life he preached the gospel with a fervency and zeal that made him well known even in his younger years of ministry.  He worked harder than most at seeking to living a life of holiness.  He journaled in great detail about his spiritual walk in the hope that he would find an assurance of salvation.

And yet despite his many hours of zealous prayer, fasting, writing, journaling, preaching, and teaching he despaired of gaining that assurance.  (United Methodists already know where I’m going with this story!)  But Wesley didn’t find that assurance in his own work, as remarkable as it was, he found that calm heart warming assurance when he was struck by God’s grace.  He was bowled over by an abiding assurance that God did indeed love him, that is was by grace that would be redeemed, and that this assurance (his Aldersgate experience) was a free, unmerited, unearned gift from the loving heart of Jesus Christ!

Like Wesley we all know we should work hard for the sake of the gospel.  And particularly Mr. Wesley’s children in the faith hope to emulate his desire for the entire world to be his parish.  Yet the greatest gifts we have received, a loving and caring God, the gifts of family, churches to serve in, Christian friends to enjoy, the beautiful creation that God has given us, are all pure unmerited gifts of grace.

John Wesley loved to write about grace, Prevenient Grace, Justifying Grace, Sanctifying Grace, grace in all its forms.  Because he himself had experienced its power, its comfort, and its peace.

After Wesley’s experience at Aldersgate he found the next path that he was to follow in formation of the Methodist societies and their unique system of classes and bands.  It was after his Aldersgate experience that Methodism caught fire and burned brightly with the flames of the spirit of which has touched the lives of millions!  But it wasn’t John Wesley who accomplished this task.  It was God’s grace, grace greater than our sin, marvelous matchless grace, amazing grace how sweet the sound…!

Now that is something worth writing about!

“8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. 9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. 10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.” Ephesians 2:8-9 CEB

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Filed under United Methodist Church

September 28, 2011

Leadership Institute – Church of the Resurrection

This week I am attending the Leadership Institute at the Church of the Resurrection. The COR is the largest UMC by attendance in the US. I’ve never been in a church complex quite like it. Today is the pre-conference day which includes additional workship opportunities.

This morning I attended a workshop on evangelism and this afternoon I was in a worskshop on contemporary worship.

The Senior Pastor of COR is Adam Hamilton who has written a number of books about practical issues of the Christian life. I believe I will be hearing him speak this week among other excellent featured speakers.

Tomorrow they are expecting over 2,000 participations here at COR with participations from 47 states as well as internationally.

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August 26, 2011

Tech Detox or Generation Gap?

The August 8, 2011 of the Christian Century had an article about young people, church camp, and technology called “Tech Detox.”  The article largely bemoaned teenager hyperconnectivity and expounded on the importance of praying cell phones and gadgets out of the hands of young people while at camp so that they can meet God.

I’ve read several articles in recent months which seem to complain or give advice about the need to disconnect in order to experience God, reconnect spiritually, etc.  The more of these articles I read the less I believe that this is really about toxic technology and the more I am convinced that this is actually about a generation gap.

We all know what a generation gap is.  As each new generation is born, grows up, and comes into adulthood there are generational differences that due to changing culture, technology, life experience, and circumstances that cause misunderstanding and mischaracterization of younger generations by older generations and older generations by the younger.   One of the areas it seems to me that is misunderstood is in the area of technology.

Because people are living longer we find that we have not just one or two generations living together in our society but as many as five generation.  My Grandfather was a rural mail carrier who began his work with a horse and buggy and retired delivering mail in a jeep.  Baby Boomers and Tweeners like myself and many Millenials remember times with much less technology before email, before the internet, and yes before VCRs, and DVDs.

Changing technology is a facet of the larger subject of “change.”  Different people adapt to change at different rates, some are slow to change, and some out right oppose any change to the lifestyle they are comfortable with.  So when it comes to the use of technology by our teens there are some things we have to recognize and adapt to:

1. Change is inevitable.  The way people live today is a far different than it was in my Grandfather’s day and also different than the society my parents grew up in.  So why should we expect that our children would live and interact the way we do?

2. The purpose of church is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”  It isn’t to make young people experience church, camp, or life they way we do or did.

3. If we insist that young people experience God the way we did following our own culturally bound ways of doing things we are just as likely not to reach them at all, and not to make disciples of them.

So what does this mean?  Does it mean we never tell young people not to use their cell phone in a church venue.  No I don’t believe it does.  But I do believe at all costs we must stop treating and talking about changing technology and change in general as if change is “toxic.”

When it comes to camp I don’t care if young people are making wood carvings and shooting arrows or sitting in a room playing video games.  What I do care about is that we give them a contextually relevant message about the love and grace of Jesus  Christ and God’s love for each of us.  When we go onto the mission field we seek to meet people where they are with their own culture, their own language, and in their own context.  We don’t expect them to dress like we do, talk like we do, or have a culture like ours.  We better be doing the same thing with those around us here in the US as well if we ever hope to share the gospel message with them.

How can we speak about the transforming power of Jesus Christ if we are sharing the not so subtle message that change is bad?  My reading of the gospels gives me the impression that Jesus was never about us staying the same.  In fact Jesus was about radical change, radical hospitality, radical commitment, and transformative life changing world shaking grace and love.  If anything is toxic it is stagnation.

So lets stop singing that old song “What’s the Matter with Kids Today” and instead let younger people share with us the changing technology they love and we can share with them the transforming and changing gospel that we can all love together!

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Filed under Change, Christian Living, Grace, Hyperconnectivity, Social Media, Technology, Transformation