Does the UMC Have a God Complex?

by Robert Rynders on July 18, 2011

in Ministry, United Methodist Church

A few days ago the official “Vital Congregations” website was launched and will serve as the home base for resources, links, stories, and videos that, in theory, will help United Methodist congregations achieve the signs of vitality.

Not long after the site was launched I came across the above TED video called “Trial, Error and The God Complex.” During this talk, economics writer, Tim Harford, explains that we too often resort to what he calls “the God complex,” when it comes to solving problems. Too often, he argues, we believe that we have all the answers to our greatest problems, that if we can just find the best and the brightest people we can solve any problem we come across. The issue, however, is that sometimes what we think will work doesn’t. Harford argues, then, that we need to spend more time using trial and error to solve difficult problems. If Harford is right, then not only can we find solutions that work, we will learn more and we are going to inspire more creativity throughout the process.

There are two companies that have shown trial and error can be an extremely valuable way to innovate and create. Disney actually encourages mistakes and failure, so long as its employees learn from their errors. Google also practices trial and error in a little different way. Google employees are encouraged to spend 20% of their time working on a project of their choice, so long as it is Google related, but does not have to be related to their area. This allows employees an outlet for creativity that is not bound by job descriptions or in the box solutions. More than occasionally, these projects actually turn into successful products from Google (ever heard of Gmail?).

All of this has lead me to thinking, what if we threw out the Call to Action report as the solution to all our problems? Don’t get me wrong the CTA is a valuable study that has helped us measure where we are and has given us some general markers of the things that make up vital congregations. The CTA, however, really does nothing to help us spark new and creative ministry in the UMC. So what if we got over our “God complex” and admitted that we have no idea how to save The United Methodist Church. What if we also admitted that God may be done with the UMC and is moving us towards something new? What if instead of looking for one size fits all solutions we encouraged everyone, clergy and lay, to think of new ideas, share those ideas, and try those ideas out, no matter how crazy or unproven they are? What if we allowed space for as many of these ideas to fail as needed, with the caveat that we will do what we can to learn from those failures and continue to build and improve on those ideas?

So let’s throw out the top down, one size fits all solution, let’s stop pretending that the results and recommendations of a study will save us, and let’s stop pretending committees and reports are going to save us.

In the spirit of TED, a group of us are hosting a conference called LEAD, in February 2012. This conference will focus on sharing ideas related to ministry with young adults in The UMC. The scope of our conference is only related to one specific area of ministry, however, we hope LEAD will inspire other clergy and lay folks across the denomination to hold similar gatherings on topics that cover all the various ministries of the UMC.

So what are we waiting for? It’s time to stop fooling ourselves and it’s time to remember there is only enough room for one being in this universe to have a God complex.

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“LEAD” Conference To Inspire Renewal In Ministry With Young Adults In The United Methodist Church

by Robert Rynders on July 1, 2011

in United Methodist Church

LEAD Conference Logo

I have been working on a little project with some other friends and young adult leaders in the UMC. It’s called “LEAD” and we are ready to go public with it.

LEAD will be a four day conversation focused on converging, innovating, and transforming young adult ministry in the church. LEAD will be a gathering of one hundred participants that includes young clergy, young lay leaders, and others who are working with young adults in the UMC. LEAD will bring together the collective wisdom of those that want to transform and grow young adult ministry in the church for the ultimate transformation of the world with the love of Jesus Christ.

LEAD will take place in Las Vegas, NV, February 16-19, 2012 at University United Methodist Church, located across the street from the campus of UNLV and just minutes from Downtown Las Vegas and the world famous Las Vegas Strip.

Participants will hear from six speakers, in a “TED” like format, offering new and innovative ideas for ministry with young adults. Participants will have multiple opportunities for conversation and reflection with speakers and other participants as every portion of the LEAD schedule will be structured to encourage the exchange and sharing of ideas during meals, in small groups, during large group gatherings and even after hours.

Glen Simpson, director of Relevance, the official young adult ministry of the Desert Southwest Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church believes that, “this will be an opportunity for young adult leaders to look forward to the future growth of our churches and to inspire creativity and revitalization in the denomination. It is imperative that we not only explore but put into action how we will make disciples for the transformation of the world in the 21st century.”

The official LEAD website will be available this summer and registration for LEAD will open on September 12, 2012. Until then, information about LEAD can be found on http://facebook.com/RevLEAD.

This is an exciting event and if you would like more information, please contact me!

Click here to download the official press release

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Elected to Jurisdictional Conference

by Robert Rynders on June 29, 2011

in United Methodist Church

At this year’s Desert Southwest Annual Conference session I was elected by my colleagues to be a delegate to the Western Jurisdictional Conference being held in San Diego, July 18-21, 2012. For a while it looked like I was also going to be elected as the alternate to General Conference, ultimately, however, I lost that election by one vote. My very, very, good friend, Rev. Anthony Tang was elected as the alternate and former ASU Wesley Foundation director, Rev. Jane Tews was elected as our voting delegate. Rev. Sharon Ragland was elected as our other jurisdictional delegate.

I am humbled and honored to have been elected as a delegate for jurisdictional conference and I am very excited about our delegation as a whole. I pray that we all are able to represent the Desert Southwest Conference well!

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The Most Interesting United Methodist In The World

by Robert Rynders on June 22, 2011

in United Methodist Church

Yesterday, Brian McLaren posted about who he thought were some of the best, exciting, and most interesting leaders in the UMC today. McLaren, however, made a potentially fatal error. He left off the most important United Methodist in modern day history: The Most Interesting United Methodist in the World. Never heard of her, you say? Don’t believe she exists? Well, she believes in you. Here are some interesting facts about her:

  • Even Bishops are blessed by her.
  • Everyone, even atheists, cross themselves when they hear her name.
  • At General Conference they elect delegates to attend her conference.
  • Don’t ordain her, she’ll ordain you.
  • When she speaks the Bible becomes apocryphal.
  • DS’s are now called District “intendents,” because nothing is more super than she is.
  • At 32 she is already an elder among elders.
  • At 32 she is only 29.
  • She’s the president of the president of the council of bishops.
  • The Call to Action study was necessary only because she has been on vacation for the last forty years.
  • Her sermons make Mark Driscoll cry tears of joy.
  • Cokesbury was originally started to catalogue all of her writings, but she decided to put them on the internet instead. That’s how the internet was invented.
  • Rob Bell has a new book coming out titled, “She Wins.”
  • She once served a 20 point charge, covering three states, on horseback, in the middle of winter, and preached an original sermon at each church, on the same day.
  • Whenever she sneezes a new church is started, and it’s immediately awesome.
  • The Book of Discipline is about what happens to you when you anger her.
  • The Book of Resolutions is about all of the conflicts she has helped solve, including but not limited to: the ending of apartheid, the fall of the Soviet Union, and right before Osama Bin Laden was killed she had almost convinced him to turn himself in. She will also soon resolve the NFL labor dispute.
  • She invented Robert’s Rules of Order, but they were so boring she didn’t want her name associated with them.
  • The General Conference is the only official body that speaks for the UMC… except when she speaks.

Have you heard anything else about the most interesting United Methodist in the world? Feel free to share in the comments below!

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Should Annual Conferences Require You to Let Them Monitor Your Social Media Activity?

by Robert Rynders on June 15, 2011

in Ministry, United Methodist Church

I just learned that the Kentucky Annual Conference requires clergy to sign an agreement requiring them to let Board of Ordained Ministry and other officials to monitor clergy Facebook, Myspace, and any other blogs or websites a clergy-person might own. Here is what you agree to:

I, ________________________, agree to allow the Kentucky Annual Conference to examine any and all MySpace, Facebook, or other blog and website accounts that I may have. I have added the Kentucky Annual Conference as a friend on these sites. If I do not have a MySpace, Facebook, or other website account at this time, if at any time I should create one of these accounts, I agree to add the Kentucky Annual Conference as a friend. I agree that access to any part of these accounts will not be blocked to the Kentucky Annual Conference. I understand that any information of a questionable nature on these sites that are written and/or posted by me, could affect my status as a Candidate/Resident in the Ordination process with the Kentucky Annual Conference. Further, I also understand that my Barnabas Team will regularly check these sites for inappropriate content. I agree to and understand that material that would be deemed questionable in light of the Social Principles and Doctrinal Standards of the United Methodist Church or that would show lack of judgment in understanding the standards and ethics of a United Methodist clergyperson will be determined by the Board of Ordained Ministry and my assigned Barnabas Team.

I’m having a hard time finding anyone who thinks this is really awesome. I agree that if you say or post something that could get you in trouble on a social media site, you deserve to get called on it, but I don’t think you should be forced to “friend” your supervisor(s) so they can monitor you.

Do any other annual conferences require similar agreements? What do you think about it?

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Can Local Church Based Campus Ministries Work in the UMC?

by Robert Rynders on May 25, 2011

in Campus Ministry, United Methodist Church

Post image for Can Local Church Based Campus Ministries Work in the UMC?

Last week I had a chance to spend three days in Denver, CO with twenty-five young UMC clergy and other leaders of the church. I had two very passionate conversations with District Superintendents, from two different conferences, where they are moving away from Wesley Foundations and towards having mostly local church based campus ministries. This concerns me since, usually, “moving to local church based campus ministries,” means putting the burden on churches who are already stretched thin, have no interest in campus ministry, or are ineffective at doing it. Let me be clear, I’m not in support of ineffective campus ministers either, and I hope I have the humility to step down when I am no longer effective. I would insist, however, that my replacement be someone who could take the ministry to the next level. And no, you may not use this post against me when my membership has dwindled and I am trying to justify my ministry by claiming I pray for the football team before every home game (and yes, I have heard similar things used as an excuse). My bottom line is that we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I work as the UM campus minister at The Wesley Foundation at Arizona State University, otherwise know as Valley Wesley (because we technically serve all of the colleges, universities, and technical schools in the Valley of the Sun). Our ministry has historically been based on the property of Tempe First UMC and through the years our ministries have had a wonderful and unique partnership. In many cases, Wesley Foundations and local churches do not play nice together. This has not been the case in Tempe, and I feel truly blessed by the community of TFUMC and many other UMC’s in the Phoenix area, for their support of campus ministry. It is important to note that Valley Wesley is an independent ministry that is not a fully connected ministry to any one church, however, our partnerships with local churches enable us to do some exciting things with college students.

Many times I am asked how churches can be supportive of Wesley Foundations or how they can begin their own campus ministry, particularly at a community college or technical school nearby. While I believe stand alone Wesley Foundations (or local churches who are in a very short walking distance from campuses and invest full-time resources into campus ministry, when a WF is not present) are the best way to reach students on large university and college campuses, I think local churches have an amazing opportunity to be in ministry with smaller campuses, like community colleges.

So how can churches support Wesley Foundations? The selfish answer is through financial support and letting us know about WF alumni. The bigger picture answer, however, is that churches can focus on having strong United Methodist youth programs and strong young adult programs. We need to bridge the gap on either side of campus ministry if we have any hope for the future of the UMC. Part of the way we encourage this is to have Wesley students continue to attend their local churches on Sunday mornings, if they have transportation and their home church is nearby. Regardless, we hope and pray that our graduates will find a local UMC to be a part of when they leave our program. My goal is not to steal college students from local churches, but to put them through an intensive four-year discipleship and leadership program, then plug them right back into a congregation that will embrace them, value them, and use them to make more disciples.

However, does that transition have to be into a traditional faith community? Or are local churches ready to lead our denomination into creating new, creative, and innovative ministries and faith communities with young adults? Can these new communities even be beyond the church campus? Perhaps they are even new communities that may never even have a physical building… on purpose! My challenge, then, to local churches, is to to invest additional staff, leadership and financial resources into creating the best young adult ministries amongst all the denominations. Our task as United Methodists should not be just about increasing our own congregation’s statistical numbers, but should be about leveraging our denominational resources and connectional system by starting new faith communities and making disciples of Jesus Christ so we can make this world a more loving, just, and peaceful place. I can’t speak for every campus ministry, however, Valley Wesley will covenant with local churches to continue to reach college students to make disciples and develop leaders for Jesus Christ. Will local churches then covenant with campus ministries to offer college students a relevant place to continue their journey of discipleship after they graduate? Time is running out, we can’t afford to ignore being in ministry with this generation and future generations of young adults.

 

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