mayo-moyle

Category: church

  • this week’s round-up (june 11)

    Check out the staycation ideas for churches from UM Communications. One of the things I’m excited about with the congregation I’ll be serving in July is the connection we have with Myers Lake Camp; they already to VBS at the camp, and many people stay at the campground during the week, but I’m already starting to think how else we might be able to utilize the space for mini-retreats that can foster fellowship, fun and spiritual development over the summers.

    Friend and colleague from just down the road, Aaron Kesson offers some nice thoughts on the spiritual practice of confession. Another DAC Metho-blogger has joined the ranks, welcome Sherry Parker!

    Jeff Nelson hits another one out of the park*. Donald Miller also addresses the subject of the Tigers game where Jim Joyce made the wrong call, costing Galarraga a perfect game. Like Jeff, Miller reminds the reader of the power of apology, in part, he writes:

    If you’re a leader and you’re wrong, admit it. People will respect you. Admit it and show remorse. And if you follow a leader who struggles admitting they are wrong, DO NOT FOLLOW THEM. We all make mistakes, and people who admit their mistakes are in touch with their humanity, and those who don’t are simply delusional. And if they are not willing to pay for their mistakes, you better believe they are going to make those around them pay.

    Rick Dake gives a few words on his experience of church as a youth versus the church of today. I’ve occasionally thought about how our “home” church experience can shape and influence our expectations of how we give leadership to the church today, sometimes to a negative degree, wanting to recapture a past imperfectly remembered. Rick’s post is a nice celebration of the positive changes that have taken place. Like Rick, my missional experiences were pretty limited – collecting for UNICEF was about it; the “big trip” we took was to go skiing in Minnesota, but in these last seven years of ministry I’ve led youth to serve others in Alabama, Washington DC, and Mexico; plus had the opportunity to be among the first to bring youth and adults to do flood recovery work in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This isn’t the church of yesterday, and that is something to be thankful for.

    Kem Meyer asks, “Are you leading a movement or managing an institution?” It’s a good question to consider – especially within Methodism which was always intended to be a movement instead of an institution.

    Great meditation on transitions from The Art of Non-Conformity, that is especially meaningful given an work transition, now less than two weeks away:

    I say: hold on to the moment as long as you can. Fight for it if you have to. Get up early and stay up late. Be brave. Choose the raw emotion, even the awkwardness if necessary. If we must go on to something else, let’s at least think about what was and what could have been.

    The more intense the feeling, the better. If synchronicity and the feeling of being part of something meaningful comes with sadness, loneliness, and disappointment, so be it. I just know that I don’t want the alternative—mediocrity, routine, the safe and the comfortable.

    Len Sweet on the need to adapt to and adopt the new digital language… “the devil is already learning the language of Google, are you?”

    The Google Language from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

    Lifehacker offers an excellent guide to escaping from office clutter. Much needed advice in my case, hopefully I can just commit to actually following through with it.

    If you have the time (about 16 minutes), I’d also encourage you to check out this TED talk from David Byrne (you can also download it from itunes, for playback at another time). Byrne speaks to how the setting influences the form in the creation of music. Might the same be true for preaching? Is it possible that where we preach, subtly changes how we preach, and where we write influences what we write? I think it was Adam Hamilton who once suggested that if you write your sermon in the church office it will come out sounding like it was written for “church people,” but if you write it outside the church (coffee shop, restaurant, etc.) it will more likely speak better to people outside the church.

    In preparation for the move I’m making in a little less than two weeks, I had to make the difficult decision to part with a part with a portion of my music collection that I still had on cassette tape. Admittedly, they weren’t great works of art, and can be easily replaced with better quality digital versions, but it’s still hard for me to part with those pieces of plastic and magnetized tape. Here’s one of the songs I had to part with:

  • this week’s round-up (june 4)

    Some friends are really bringing it this week on their blogs:

    Not a personal friend, but Jeremy Smith also has some good comments regarding Willimon. While I haven’t gone in-depth on the subject, I have mentioned the dilemma before – I think Willimon does have a point in that in the end you do need some kind of metric to help examine what is happening in the life of the congregation. He also has a point in that we take all this time and energy to collect the data, so we should be using it as well. But, as Steve and Jeremy point out the numbers (of baptism, membership, attendance) don’t always tell the whole story, and even that data can be abused and manipulated. Furthermore, when the numbers are taken to specifically measure clergy effectiveness, with the assumption that all areas are the same, problems will emerge. A congregation that is serving an area facing negative population growth simply can’t be expected to do as well as an area that is growing. Likewise, while the clergy leadership is an important element in congregational growth, it is not the only element and sometimes other factors (resistance within the congregation, “cleaning up” after another person’s mistakes, etc.) will limit growth, at least in the short-term.  Having said all that, though, I will concede that Willimon does have a point that sometimes in the face of the hard numbers before us, all we choose to offer is excuses, instead of actually doing something to bring about change and growth. What also needs to be understood is that the denominational authorities can’t just command this to happen: vision, training, support, and resources are needed for this change to take place – the entire church culture has to change, not just the performance of individual pastors.

    Scot McKnight shares some interesting data suggesting that people who hold to a concept of a benevolent and engaging God are significantly more committed than those who primarily understand God to be wrathful and judging.

    Both Eric Bryant in his post, Seinfeld as a Drama?, and Dan Kimball address the issue of context. The videos they each link to are great, and an important reminder that a story can be told and manipulated, by how it is presented and removed from its original context.

    Similar to Dan Kimball’s discussion, but with different take on the issue, Fred Clark has some interesting things to say about the emphasis Christians give to sexuality versus money relative to the amount they are discussed in Scripture. Clark is writing in a multipart series, check it out: Part 1 and Part 2.

    It didn’t make it in my posting last week, but I did enjoy the piece from David Byrne on The Architecture of Fear. (Warning to the easily offended: Byrne uses some objectionable language).

    Lifehacker posted the recommendations for essential Windows software. Quite a few things on the list I already use and can vouch for (Chrome, Skype, Thunderbird, VLC, Picasa, Microsoft Security Essentials) and a couple I’ve been meaning to check out (Mozy, Dropbox). If you use Windows, I’d encourage you to check it out and download the pack. (Of course I’m considering converting the Windows box in my new office to Ubuntu, just because I am a big nerd).

    Interesting article suggesting we can all expect an increase in traffic tickets as state and municipal revenues remain tight. It especially hits home because I just received my first ticket after 20 years of driving, just two months ago.

    If anyone wants to send me to Portland so I can hang out with Donald Miller for a couple of days, sign me up here.

    My friend Eric mentioned how he just discovered The Black Keys this week, so in Eric’s honor here’s they are:

  • Circuit Rider

    Good stuff in this month’s Circuit Rider –

    From Nathan Kirkpatrick:

    “Too often, when young leaders are discussed in meetings it is with a certain institutional desperation, as if clergy under 35 will fix all that presently ails the insitiution. Given the tone and tenor of many of these conversations, it would be understandable if young clergy came to see themselves as either the emerging leaders of an intitiution that is limping into its last days or as those who must change everything about the church if there is hope for its survival…

    “It is tempting for young clergy to believe that we will make our ‘real’ contributions to the church’s life when we are serving as the senior pastor of the big steeple church, as a district superintendent, as a staff memeber of a general board of agency, or as a dean of a seminary. After all, these are the people we have been taught to see as ‘having power in the insitiution,’ and in many ways, these are the people who do have power. Often they feel more like bosses to us right now than partners with us. Yet, if we as young leaders believe the myth that the only meaningful change happens at these levels in the life of the church, we delude ourselves and abdicate our responsibility” (emphasis added)…

    “Finally-It is essential that we have communities of accountability and support as we lean to lead in our own ways.”

    And from Sara Thomas:

    “I desire a church that claims our connectedness, embodies organic systems, and continually cultivates opportunities for people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus. We have a network buit into our nature as a connectional church; unfortunately, we do not use it well. I see every opportunity to create meaninful networks of churches, collaborating as teams to leverage influence for the kingdom. A tension exists when the competition with the church down the road becomes our primary connection. While healthy competition competition can motivate uswithin our connection creates both accountability and kingdom opportunity. I am not willing to sacrifice either.

  • what is the church for?

    i’ve started reading N.T. Wright’s book Simply Christian and have already come across this gem:

    The point of following Jesus isn’t simply so that we can be sure of going to be better place than this after we die. Our future beyond death is enormously important, but the nature of the Christian hope is such that it plays back into the present life. We’re called, here and how, to be instruments of God’s new creation, teh world-put-to-rights which has already been launched in Jesus and of which Jesus’ followers are supposed to be not simply beneficiaries but also agents. (from Introduction pg. xi)

  • social networks

    Seth Godin on social networks:

    His key point is that social networking (ie facebook, twitter, etc) is only valuable to the degree that it fosters real relationships; if it’s not building conversation, trust and a willingness to serve and do for others it simply becomes a meaningless time waster.

    This summer I’ve also been reading Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky and came upon this quote:

    “We don’t often talk about love when trying to describe the public world, because love seems too squishy and too private. What has happened, though, and what is still happening in our historical moment, is that love has become a lot less squishy and a lot less private. Love has a half-life too, as well as a radius, and we’re used to both of those being small. We can affect the people we love, but the longevity and social distance of love are both constrained. Or were constrained – now we can do things for strangers who do things for us, at a low enough cost to make that kind of behavior attractive, and those effects can last well beyond our original contribution. Our social tools are turning love into a renewable building material. When people care enough, they can come together and accomplish things of a scope and longevity that were previously impossible; they can do big things for love.”

    One small example of how I’ve recently seen this at work was in a simple status update my friend Jeff posted on facebook a couple weeks ago. He made a quick reference about meeting a homeless family in the park, and asked if anyone knew of some resources that might help them. People came through, and within 48 hours the family was in a hotel room. It was a quick appeal on Jeff’s part a few years ago getting that kind of support might have meant spending a few hours on the phone; now all it took was a simply status update (2-3 minutes of his time). But also, the response was based on this network of people who actually know Jeff and know his judgement and insight can be trusted, leading them to step up and assist this family. There is beauty and power in social networking, but we must always be careful that the medium always be a medium for that larger work of love – helping others and changing lives, instead of becoming an idol of love unto itself.

  • seven things ted cambell hates about the umc

    ted was at garrett after i had graduated, so i never had the chance to meet him, but he has some pretty interesting things to say here. in particular pay attention to: too many words, procedure for organizing a new congregation, and the “welch republic”.

  • edifice complex

    mike slaughter has some good thought on “church as building” here

  • the church needs heritics

    seth godin’s latest ted talk on tribes is now out, and worth viewing:

    in addition my friend, scott, recently reviewed douglas rushkoff’s latest book, below are some of the key points he highlighted:

    • self-sufficiency was part of the myth of the self-made man in his private esate, so community property, carpools, or sharing of almost any kind became anathema to the suburban aesthetic 51
    • conformty shouldn’t be confused with solidarity. the houses and families within these subdivisions were equal but separate. 61
    • going into debt, distancing ourselves from our neighbors, and striving for conformity became equated with freedom 63
    • the more disconnected people became from one another, the more easily they could be manipulated… and more dependent on central authorities to create both value and meaning  89
    • the invention of the printing press turned reading, lit, and bible study from a group activity to an individual one 92
    • if the oats were bad, you’d know where to find the man responsible. you knew his face… if his oats were bad he’s lose more than a customer, for you lived and worked in the same town… had had more at stake than your business. you were more than just one another’s customers; you were interdependent members of a community 98
    • christian branding turns a religion based in charity and community into a personal relationship with jesus — a narcissistic faith mirroring the marketing framework on which it is now based 142
    • kids want to be bill gates or to win american idol without wanting to be sw engineer or caring about singing … the money & recognition they envision for themselves is utterly disconnected from any real task or creation of value 181
    • adam smith’s theories of the market were predicated on the regulating pressures of neighbors and social values 182
    • credit card companies market credit as a lifestyle of choice 183
    • things can feel — or be made to feel — novel or revolutionary, even though they still consistute biz as usual 193
    • we’d rather send a donation to a middle east peace fund than engage directly with violence-endorsing extremists at our own place of worship 229
    • the surest path to global change in a highly networked world is to make an extremely local impact that works so well it spreads… shared with or copied by other groups in other communities around the world 235
    • by restoring our connections to real people, places, and values, we’ll be less likely to depend on the symbols and brands that have come to substitute for human relationships.
    • the best reason to begin reconnecting with real people, places and value is that it feels good. happiness doesn’t com from the top down but from the bottom up…. real people doing real things for one another — without expectations — is the very activity that has been systematically extracted from our society 244

  • Pew Study

    The Pew Forum Religious Landscape Survey has been released and has been getting some attention. Here are a few different looks at it:
    Brian McLaren
    Adam Hamilton
    Marta Aldrich (UM News Service)

    I haven’t had a chance to study the survey numbers myself, and the fact is there are people much more knowledgeable than me who can make better sense of what they actually mean, but I think as United Methodists the bottom line is we can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing. As McLaren notes the question that needs to be before us isn’t “What do the customers want?” but “What does God want?” and how will the church be in mission to make that happen?

    There is a big challenge before us, because it means a significant shift in the mindset of the institutional church. While the data is sobering in terms of what it could mean the future of the UMC (or potential lack of), I also think there is great opportunity. Part of what the data seems to imply is that people haven’t given up on God (atheists and agnostics only account for about 4% of the population); they are just dissatisfied with church. How we address this dissatisfaction is a tough question and I’m not even going to try to suggest an answer, but there is room for hope. We can hope, as long as that hope entails a willingness to seek out God’s will and a commitment to doing God’s will, especially as it calls us to ministry with the least, the last and the lost.