Justice in Churches

My friend, the Rev. Jacob Breeze, has a phrase that describes the absence of a critical element that defines an institution. Jacob says, “it’s the thing without the thing that makes the thing the thing.” An example would be decaffeinated coffee: It’s the thing without the thing (caffeine) that that makes the thing the thing. So you may ask me, “What is the role of the social justice in the church?” The answer is that it is one of the things that makes the thing the thing.

Praising America More than God

With the U.S. Independence Day holiday coming up, many churches will be holding patriotic worship services extolling the virtues of the nation. However, other congregations and pastors struggle with what kind of relationship the church should have with the nation. How should we acknowledge our gratitude to a country that allows us to worship freely without fear of persecution or censorship without abandoning our prophetic call to proclaim God’s kingdom on earth? There is no easy answer, and every situation is unique, so let me share about how it came up in my ministerial context one time.

Got Your Six

You can’t hang around a church for any length of time without hearing someone use the term missional. It’s hard to believe that this mainstay of our lexicon was introduced to us less than twenty years ago when a group of six professors and pastors published their research in a book called Missional Church: A Vision of the Sending of the Church in North America. Since then, the majority of churches has become more focused on the theology of mission work and has created flourishing ministries, reaching out to all the sub-cultures of their communities . . . all, that is, but one. The military.

”Maybe its the ‘can’t-see-the-forest-for-the-trees’ type dynamic,” says Gary Sanders,

founder and president Military Missions Network (MMN), a non-profit organization in Chesapeake, Virginia. “But the majority of churches do not have any kind of organized ministry for the military. That’s been surprising to me.”

Passing the Baton in the Changeover Zone

 

History tells sad stories of good churches that are calcified as monuments to former pastors.

–Colin Hansen

 

When is the right time to begin thinking about pastoral transition? From day one, when a pastor first begins her or his tenure as the pastor of a local church! While the life of a local church may well be seen in terms of a long marathon, the pastoral leadership—regardless of how long any one pastor serves a particular church—is best seen as a relay race, in which the current pastor prepares to pass the baton on to a successor in that crucial segment of time and space called the changeover zone. That is why Bruce Miller says, “Pastoring a church is not getting a trophy to keep; it is getting a baton to pass.”
Biblical history is a testimony to leaders of God’s people moving through changeover zones, passing their batons to successors. Whether it was Elijah passing the mantel to Elisha or Moses giving way to Joshua, wise leaders know their leadership won’t last forever, nor should it. Belief that ministry is a journey into God’s future compels us to pass the baton in a way that makes possible even more success under the leadership of the successor.

When Jesus handed off the baton to Peter, it was with an ultimately victorious church in mind. When pastors—from day one—begin to pray for and prepare their successor, it does not lead (as supervisors sometimes fear) to shortsightedness, or lack of total commitment. Rather, it leads to a cultural mindset that, as the pastor, one of my main jobs is to prepare the church to do even greater ministry when my successor arrives.

Pastoral leadership is a relay race. In The United Methodist Church, bishops, and cabinets invest long hours and a lot of emotional energy to match a church and its mission field’s needs with the right pastor. They pray about, agonize over, and deliberate on how to successfully make appointments. Ironically, the time demands and myriad duties of district superintendents allow them far less time to make the appointment successful.

We wrote our book, The Changeover Zone, to help streamline and provide some tools to improve the transition process—to pass the baton in a smooth, seamless transition that allows the successor to get off to a running start. We took our experience from working with dozens of transition situations and distilled them into best practices for pastors, supervisors, and churches to help create a culture and common language to plan and execute a successful transition. There are many pitfalls and mistakes that can derail a new pastor from getting off to a running start, but there are many techniques and strategies that can help churches go beyond “surviving it” to actually accelerate growth during the transition.

Each role plays an important part—supervisors, judicatory leaders, exiting founder, new pastor, and the church—in the execution of carefully thought-out, prepared-for, practiced roles coming together. Perhaps you are that new pastor, or the exiting founder. Perhaps you are in a supervisory role, or are a member of the church going through its first pastoral change. Whatever part you may be playing in the transition, understand that this is a momentous—and often fragile—time in a congregation’s life; help everyone navigate through the imminent changes and changeovers that ensure your church gets it right.

 

Excerpt adapted from The Changeover Zone: Successful Pastoral Transitions
Copyright 2016 by Abingdon Press All rights reserved.

In addition to coaching, consulting, and conducting workshops in more than thirty annual conferences of The United Methodist Church, Jim Ozier has served on the Appointive Cabinet of the North Texas Conference for seven years. Jim (Griffith) has worked with hundreds of churches and a multitude of tribal judicatories and independent churches and nondenominational churches for over twenty years. Their book, The Changeover Zone, provides insights and strategies to help churches prepare for smoother pastor transitions.

 

Retiring With Grace

Grace is at the heart of the Gospel. It should be at the heart of retirement as well. But unfortunately, that is not always the case. Despite our best intentions, the closer we get to actually retiring, the greater the struggle can be. For some, this is so much so that they continue postponing their retirement, with some ending up working longer than they should have and/or until their health breaks. This is unfortunate and unnecessary.

Welcome Your New Pastor, Bed & Breakfast Style

 

If you’ve experienced what it’s like to stay in a really nice Bed & Breakfast (B&B), you know that the best proprietors are hospitality experts. You’re a complete stranger and yet, within minutes of checking in, you immediately feel at home. Their attention to detail and the way they create a welcoming, hospitable environment . . . there’s much we can glean, especially when it comes to receiving a new pastor and his or her family.

When It Isn’t a Happy Mother’s Day: 10 Ideas That Can Help

Mother’s Day is May 8^th. Founded in 1908 by Miss Anna Jarvis and first celebrated at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia, the holiday was created as a way to honor Anna’s own mother and thus, every mother.

And today, we still celebrate our mothers with breakfast in bed, glittery Sunday-School crafted gifts, and a little well-deserved pampering. It’s a sweet occasion all right; every mother loves to be embraced by her children. . . . unless she can’t be. For the mother of a deceased child, Mother’s Day—and all its wonderful traditions—can be bittersweet.

I’m Not a Mother

It’s Mother’s Day, and the preacher asks for every mother to stand up and be recognized for all they’ve meant to their family. As the congregation begins to applaud, someone leans over and whispers excitedly into your ear, “Why aren’t you standing up? C’mon! It’s Mother’s Day!” Your greatest dream is to be a mother and your dream has not come true. The tears you’ve blinked away all morning are now streaming down your face. “I’m not a mother,” you weep.

It’s All About Tradition

Spoiler alert coming: Ask a Methodist to tell you how Christians honor and celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ, and you’ll hear pretty much the same thing from all of us. Traditions like waving palm fronds on Palm Sunday and having sunrise services on Easter morning are so familiar to so many of us, it may have never entered our minds that there are Christians whose services and rituals are completely unlike our own. And guess what? They’re just as traditional—and important—as ours.

Social Media For Churches 101

Whether you avoid using the Internet or spend all your free time on Facebook, being put in charge of your church’s social media accounts is a major responsibility. Let’s go over some social media basics and give you a few ideas about how to best use these networks for your church’s benefit.