Imaging a greater future, instead of settling for the status quo in the local church

• By RJ Walters, Editor •

No one was seen jumping off cliffs at Bishop’s Day 2011 at Grand Rapids FUMC, but hundreds of attendees were encouraged “to learn how to dance in dangerous places,” including stepping over the proverbial cliff’s edge in imagining what church can be.

The theme “Imagine” was communicated through everything from video clips of a couple dancing gracefully on the side of a mountain to contemplation of the simple power of a blank sheet of paper and economy writing instrument in the timeless kids book Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton enlivened the crowd in the morning with a stirring rendition of Jesus the Light of the World on the piano, following a proclamation that the church is alive and well with a significant amount of dreamers leading it into the future.

“Ever since I’ve been in the (United) Methodist Church it seems people have told me the church is dying or it is going to die and I said, well, I’m not going to believe in that,” he said. “I’m going to spend my time believing the church is going to grow and the church is going to develop because even the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church!”

Keynote speaker the Rev. Bobbi Kaye Jones, the district superintendent of the Austin District in Texas — who filled in admirably when an emergency arose for scheduled speaker Bishop Thomas Bickerton —invoked a series of questions for lay members and clergy when she approached the pulpit.

“When you imagined Bishop’s Day, did you imagine that in our global context people all over the world in country after country would be putting their lives at risk for liberty and freedom and that many of them would be succeeding, but some would not and they would be getting shot and strafed by their own government?” she said. “Did you imagine that when you imagined this event?”

“Did you imagine the budget woes sweeping our nation would bring teachers out of the school house and into the state house?”

“When you imagined this day, did you imagine the United Methodist Church would still be in our, let’s call it a downward trend, and that all of us would be asking the question, ‘What do we do?’ in looking toward a faithful future?”

She then paused, allowing the levity of her questions to sink in.

“This morning from Japan to Haiti we can literally hear the craving of all creation for compassion and community and I believe the United Methodist Church brings a world of hope.”

As an active proponent of denomination-wide initiative Imagine No Malaria, Jones said raising $75 million to eliminate deaths caused by malaria in sub-Saharan Africa is a substantial example of how bold imaginations can bring the church closer together.

“I have never experienced anything like this program. This program has just popped churches open. When neighbors found out about it (in the Austin District), even if they didn’t go to the church, they wanted to know how they could help,” she said. “Imagine No Malaria will expand the capacity of your congregation to have compassion. And as it says in Ephesians, ‘God can accomplish more than any of us can imagine.’”

It is estimated that a child in Africa dies of malaria every 45 seconds and Imagine No Malaria’s goal is to eradicate the suffering and disease by 2015.

Jones said the project reverberates within the walls of UMC’s because people “badly want to be connected” and to “feel vital.”

People can donate money to Imagine No Malaria or learn more about the project at www.imaginenomalaria.org.

Donations of $10 can also be made via cell-phone by texting “Malaria” to 27722.

Read More

The ethical dilemmas associated with social networking within the church

• By RJ Walters, Editor •

“To Facebook or not to Facebook?” is no longer really the question with 500 million active users spending over 700 billion minutes a month on the online community as of March 1.

The more appropriate question for United Methodist Church leaders and spiritual mentors in the 21st century is: “How do we responsibly deal with the social and ethical dilemmas that arise in the local church through the use of mediums like Facebook and Twitter?”

It’s a question that brings with it hundreds more questions, but a continuing dialogue and fervent prayer is a good place to start, according to the Rev. Tommy Boutell of Marne UMC, a computer network engineer in his previous career.

Boutell led a workshop looking at online scenarios that regular pop up in the life of church leaders as part of Bishop’s Day 2011 at Grand Rapids FUMC.

With everyone from young 20-somethings to 77-year old retired pastor the Rev. Dick Youells joining the discussion, the message was clear: there’s no avoiding social media in executing the mission of the United Methodist Church, but there is more gray than black and white to the matter.

The connectional aspect of social media

“As a pastor you almost just want to be on Facebook to see what’s going on in your church community,” Boutel said. “But also consider that people use Facebook as a place to dump their emotions without the regular verbal consequences or normal cues an adult might offer.”

One adult leader of a youth group at a West Michigan church said he has more contact with the youth through Facebook than any other medium, including face-to-face.

He said many times he will only physically see youth once or twice a week, but Facebook allows for ongoing conversations.

“Facebook is the only way to communicate with all my kids at youth group. I could spend all day calling and texting and would get nowhere near the response I get on Facebook,” he said. “Without using Facebook I would just be sitting by myself at youth group on a Saturday night.”

Wading through virtual storms

It only takes one off-color comment or concerning online post to take social media from fun and informal to complex, for clergy in particular.

Boutell asked those attending the workshop to consider their responses to several very palpable scripts everyday social networking can follow.

One example he used was a 32-year old youth leader going through a messy divorce, who feels his spouse is lying to him. Boutell said maybe he’s had a “glass of wine or two, so he’s giving the world a glimpse of his feelings on the Internet.”

Another example showed a 16-year old parishioner with no regular church attendance lamenting the pain of a recent breakup with harsh expletives and a firm exclamation to be left alone.

“We as caregivers see these everyday. What if someone really was ready to put an end to all this and they had a plan and the means, and we see something that might signify that online?” Boutell said. “How do we try to be the light of Christ and how with 700-plus friends do we determine where to draw a line and try to determine an online post should be an alarm or is purely cathartic?”

One youth leader said they always try to remember that youth and young adults communicate with a distinct online jargon that sometimes appears more intense than the true emotions behind it.

“I also do everything in a context with a paper trail so there’s something to go back to as a situation arises,” she said.

Another youth leader suggested responses should always be tied to an existing relationship with someone because “you don’t want to push someone away by diving into deep before you have the right relationship with them.”

When to hold your keyboard stroke

Boutell said he tries to keep the wisdom of Matthew 18 close to heart when choosing whether or not to get involved in a potentially delicate online dialogue:

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’” (Matthew 18: 15-16, New International Version)

To illustrate his point, Boutell referred to fictional online posts from pastors that could be portrayed as sarcastic or frustrated toward a particular sect of his/her congregation. He also mentioned how simple things such as event invitations that church secretaries post on a church’s website or Facebook page should be moderated because they could unintentionally have political or theological undertones that may throw coals on a fire.

“I think a dialogue has to be started in our churches so we can be educated and understand how to react,” Boutell said. “Church staffs should set boundaries and rules and teach about the role of online media and social networking in their congregation.”

Read More

Bishop Sally Dyck invites Saginaw Bay District to radical hospitality

• By Rev. Briony P. Desotell, Oscoda UMC •

Bishop Sally Dyck challenged people of the Saginaw Bay District to return to the roots of the gospel by developing a culture of radical hospitality at the March 12 Bishop’s Day at Midland First United Methodist Church.

“It’s not an easy time to be the church,” she confessed, “and yet it’s also an exciting time to be the church.”

The challenge and opportunity of ministry in the world today is that we as the church are asking the right questions and getting back to the basics as a community of faith.

Dyck, who currently serves the Minnesota Area, titled her address “An Inside Out Church.” Challenging insular Christian mindsets, Dyck encouraged listeners to stop looking inward and shift their focus outward.

She challenged attendees to take the good news at the heart of their faith – that is, the love of Jesus Christ – out into the world.

She said radical hospitality means returning to the basics of scripture and tradition, recovering the heart of Jesus’ teaching. The biblical model for hospitality involves meeting the needs of our guests rather than our own.

“If we as the host still expect to be served,” she cautioned, “then we’ve turned upside-down what our faith is all about.”

If we as hosts are focused on our own wants and needs, we miss critical opportunities to share God’s love by welcoming the strangers in our midst, just as Christ once welcomed us.

Radical hospitality is first and foremost about the attitude with which we encounter others.

“You can have all the gimmicks – mugs, pens, gift baskets – but if you don’t have love,” Dyck cautioned, “it’s nothing.”

Drawing on the example of a saint in her own life, Dyck challenged the United Methodists of Saginaw Bay to develop “Betty Eyes.”

“Hospitality begins with the eyes, with how we see people,” she said.

“Betty was a woman who had the gift of hospitality. Whenever she encountered anyone, the look in Betty’s eyes exclaimed, ‘You’re just the person I was hoping to see today.’”

Dyck encouraged the listeners to ask themselves, “Who does your heart break for?”

The fundamental problem in the United Methodist Church today, by her assessment, is that our hearts have stopped breaking. When church members are more concerned with perpetuating an institution, when churches cling to traditions rather than looking beyond themselves, then faith loses its heart.

When, on the other hand, people of faith practice hospitality, reaching out and welcoming others not just in word but in reality, then the attitude of love and care will be contagious.

Rather than bemoaning the church’s dwindling numbers, or agonizing over how hard it is to change the direction of an entire denomination, Dyck encourages us to start at home, with ourselves.

The way to open our hearts, minds, and doors as a church is to start by opening our own lives and inviting others in.

“Think about what you do,” Bishop Dyck urged, “and how you can do it differently; others will catch the spirit and follow suit.”

From the practical questions of signage, potluck seating, and accessibility to the difficult questions of our unspoken prejudices and unconscious assumptions, Bishop Dyck encouraged the church to wrestle with the hard questions.

“How open are our doors, really?”

Bishop’s Days attendees proved to be open to sharing the spirit of Christ, evident by donations of more than 2,600 disposable diapers for the “My Brother’s Hope” free store ministry of Harrisville UMC, which serves Alcona County the second Saturday of each month.

Read More

The Bishop's Column: How Bishop's Day is teaching us how to be children of God

• By Michigan Area Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton •

As I write this reflection Bishop’s Day 2011 is almost over.

Nine of the 13 Districts have conducted their events and so far 2,615 clergy and laity have attended.

Our major focus for 2011 emphasized “Engaging in Ministry with the Poor.” Over and over, I have emphasized Bishop’s Day as a Continuing Education Event, as it’s another way to position the Michigan Area for growth.

Read 1 Corinthians 3. When the apostle Paul talks about factions in the church that belong to him or Apollos, he offers this description of their work. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”

Here’s my point.

Bishop’s Day Attendees in every district have worshipped, prayed, discussed and laughed, learned and fellowshipped under the leadership of 13 District Superintendents.

They have planted and they have watered. And God will provide growth — in His own time. Evidence of this watering and planting has appeared in the excitement created, convictions restored and new ideas accepted for making disciples of Jesus Christ at the local church. Laity and clergy in Michigan want to live into the Great Commission. And so we’ve focused our attention and learning about the “least of these” and reminded ourselves of our responsibility to care for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned.

Still, “engaging in ministry with the poor” has proved sobering. Ministry to the poor focused on circumstances some of us knew years ago, never knew or don’t want to know. In every society, the poor are a permanent class.

My pastoral letter and YouTube video Bethlehem’s Got a Hold on Me says as much, especially the last two paragraphs.

Is the essence of our mission making disciples of Jesus Christ centered on “the least of these” for the transformation of the world? Excerpts of a prayer used in the worship service for Detroit East District Bishop’s Day has the answer.

“We pretend not to hear your children crying out for food. We choose not to see our homeless neighbors in our communities, in our nation and around the world. Forgive us too, for ignoring those who struggle to stay warm in the winters, who are left orphaned because of disease or war, and who are persecuted because of race or ethnicity. Guide us to reach out to the most vulnerable, sharing the gifts of your creation and wrapping them in your protective love. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.”

Not seeing hunger, homelessness and destruction, in Japan became impossible on March 11; the same for Haiti on January 12, 2010, or Louisiana and Mississippi on August 23, 2005 when earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and flooding ravaged through these areas.

Poverty, human squalor, disease, sadness, hunger and homelessness became their life circumstance in the twinkle of an eye. Have mercy, Lord!

Muse on this March 13 Yahoo.com headline; “Japan’s death toll estimated as over 10,000.” It suggests this glaring fact of life: All of us are one paycheck, one catastrophic illness, one hurricane, one flood, one tsunami, one tornado, one earthquake, one nuclear meltdown or one act of violence from poverty.

Ask Job, Joseph or Japan. What keeps hope alive when such things come is God and the children of God. For we teach and train ourselves with acts of kindness and mercy which our Lord inaugurates with a vision statement during a teaching moment in the synagogue in Nazareth; namely “the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:17-19)

And so must we, so must we.

Read More

One Michigan Area leader loses his head at Bishop's Day 2011

•By Eugene Blair, Flint District Superintendent •

The Flint District had Bishop's Day this past Saturday, with a theme of: "Part Two — ReThink Bishops Day, ReThink Church."

We wanted to move out of the classroom and into the streets. We gathered at Fenton UMC for prayer, instructions, and work site assignments.

About 150 people set out for about 10 different work sites and evangelism ministries.

About 300 people participated in both parts of Bishop's Day, including free car washes, free hot dogs, coins for laundry, free coffee distribution, pumping gas and free windshield washing.

Some formed a choir and sang at nursing home and others went shopping to make Easter baskets for children who would not get one otherwise.

Some worked at Meyers Lake Camp, preparing it for the season ahead.

All of this took place in the small rural communities of Byron and Argentine, places not known for poverty, drug overdoses or child abuse. yet these things do exist here. Pastors Dave Lieneke and Michael Mayo-Moyle coordinated for their churches. We wanted to make an impact and let people know that God loves them and the church is not afraid to share that love.

There were many stories of "God moments" during the day. At the free car wash, one woman rolled down her window and had a long conversation with Rev. David Flemimg (Juddville-New Lothrop).

She had a small child and wanted to know where she could go fro a baptism. Rev. Fleming gave her his card and invited her to come the next day for the baptism. At the gas station where windshields were being washed, a man came up with about $2.80 worth of cans to redeem to buy gas. A participant gave him $10.00 for his tank. As he left he pledged to help someone else that day because of the good that was shown to him.

Rev. Jeremy Peters was one of the organizers of the event. "Our hope was that churches would take this event back to their local congregations and hold a similar program for themselves as we ReThink Church," he said.

The day ended with he church with the most people getting to shave the head of the Flint DS. The winner was Seymour Lake with about 15 people. They joyfully shaved the cross and flame and the letters UMC in the head of the DS, a great sport through it all. The head shaving may or may not be a part of Bishops Day in 2012.

Read More

Video: Bishop's Day 2011 address by Bishop Jonathan Keaton

The continuing education tool Bishop's Day has been inspiring Michigan Area pastors and congregants the past two weekends and more events are planned for March 19 and March 26. Check out the remaining schedule of events in the West Michigan Conference and the Detroit Conference.

In the meantime check out this video of Michigan Area Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton sharing his passion and wisdom with people in the Port Huron District on March 5.

Read More

Bishop's Day 2011: Detroit Conference events to focus on ministry with the poor

Minnesota Area Bishop Sally Dyck
will be speaking at the Saginaw Bay
District  Bishop's Day event on March
12 at Midland FUMC.  

By Paul Thomas, Detroit Conference Director of Communications

Churches and leaders in the Detroit Conference will be learning about "Ministry with the Poor" in March during the annual Bishop's Day events, which will take place at seven district sites across the conference.

Each district has arranged for keynote speakers and workshops to highlight Michigan Area Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton's annual continuing education event.

"Faith Stories: A Transformation Experience" is the title of the Ann Arbor District Bishop's Day, which features the Rev. Faith Fowler as the keynote speaker.

Fowler, the pastor at Detroit: Cass Community UMC (casscommunity.org) and the executive director of Cass Community Social Services, will speak on ways to help congregations see the needs of those who live in their communities, and how the local church can engage those needs in a way beyond just writing checks.

United Methodist Communications will be also be presenting on the “Change The World” event, which will take place on May 14-15.

The Ann Arbor Bishop's Day will be held on Saturday, March 12, from 8:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. at Dexter UMC.

Fowler will also be the keynote speaker for the Detroit East District Bishop's Day event, which takes place on Saturday, March 5, from 8:30 a.m.-2:15 p.m. at Troy: First UMC. In addition to Fowler, at least 12 different workshops dealing with ministries with the poor, stewardship, urban ministries and missions will be conducted.

The Rev. Dr. Walter L. Kimbrough will be highlighting the Detroit West District Bishop's Day, which will explore the theme "Seeking Jesus in the Least of These."

For more than 40 years evangelism, pastoral care, teaching, preaching, and community service have characterized Kimbrough’s ministry. He has provided leadership at all levels of the United Methodist Church in the Northern Illinois and North Georgia Conferences.

After successfully leading Chicago congregations through racial transition, he was appointed to the Cascade Church in Atlanta in 1974 where he moved Cascade from a dying congregation of less than 100 members to a vibrant one of more than 7,000 members. He retired from this pastorate in 2006.

The event will also feature workshops designed to encourage, equip, and excite local church leaders about developing ministries that address the needs of the "least of these." Southfield: Hope UMC will be the host of the event, which will run from 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 5.

Read More