Back to Zero: The Search to Rediscover the Methodist Movement (Adaptive Leadership)

Back to Zero: The Search to Rediscover the Methodist Movement (Adaptive Leadership)

The lifeblood of the United Methodist is passion rather than organizational neatness, entrepreneurial freedom rather than denominational restraint, and agility rather than staid institutional dependence. But if United Methodists want to change and be the church we say we want to be, what must we risk and how can we challenge current practices? At the heart of becoming a spiritual movement once again is the requirement that we develop a new understanding of connection as Christians and as United Methodists. We are currently at a time in which United Methodists are reinventing denominational connectionalism. One way of framing the issue is to distinguish between members and disciples, or consumers (those who wait for the institution to care for their needs) and citizens (those who are willing to commit themselves to and be held accountable for the whole of the community). United Methodism has nurtured generations of leaders and congregations that see themselves as consumers of the resources and attention of the denomination. The impulse toward movement is challenging spiritually purposeful leaders and congregations to risk becoming citizens who fully expect to make a difference in the lives of individuals and also in the world through an encounter with Christ. To rediscover the movement that became The United Methodist Church, we must break the rules. Gil Rendle serves as Senior Consultant with The Institute for Clergy and Congregational Excellence of The Texas Methodist Foundation in Austin, Texas, and as an independent consultant working with issues of change and leadership in denominations. An ordained United Methodist minister, Rendle served as senior pastor of two urban congregations in Pennsylvania for sixteen years and as a denominational consultant for The United Methodist Church for nine years. In training workshops and conferences, Rendle has led Back to Zero The Search to Rediscover the Methodist Movement By Gil Rendle Abingdon Press Copyright © 2011 Abingdon Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4267-4039-8 Contents 1 We've All Got Skin in the Game, 2 What Holds Us Together, 3 Breaking Rules, 4 It's Time to Testify, 5 Citizenship in the Movement: Voting Against One's Self-Interest, 6 Can David Live with Goliath? Can a Movement Live Inside an Institution?, 7 The New Wesleyan Movement, Notes, CHAPTER 1 WE'VE ALL GOT SKIN IN THE GAME This book is written for everyone within The United Methodist Church: members, clergy, district superintendents, bishops, and denominational, seminary, and agency staff—even people who are in sister mainline denominations—because we've all got some skin in the game. Having skin in the game means being invested, having something to lose. To have some skin in the game means that your own future depends upon the outcome. That pretty much describes all of us who are part of the mainline church in North America in a time of great and deep change. Some of us committed ourselves to be participants or members in a local church because we sought change and health in our lives, families, and communities. Some of us answered more formal calls to ordained ministry because of how our own lives were challenged and changed in ways we also hope for others. Some of us prepared for or were elected to specialized positions that we intended would help the church and therefore the people of the church. We've all got skin in the game. When faced with great and deep change, we are all suddenly part of the same story. As a member or participant, I can no longer think only of my own personal questions and hopes. I am part of a larger community. As a clergyperson, I can no longer wait for my district superintendent or bishop to make things right, or at least better and more secure for me. As a bishop or denominational leader, I cannot wait for polity to be changed, for local church clergy and leaders to step up to new missional risk. The change in the mission field has already happened and is all around us in a postmodern world which is now global, deeply diverse, and rife with competing beliefs and value systems. As part of the same story, the same bigger picture, we all need to be in the conversation to address overall change and the need for a missional future within our established denominations and established congregations, despite the constraints of current rules and past practices that have until now allowed us to neglect responsibility for new ways. One of the first responses to baffling constraint, complex change, and dwindling resources is for us to shrink back into the part of the system where we have most control. Members and local church clergy find it increasingly tempting to become isolated, weakening the connection with the denomination, waiting for district superintendents and bishops or the general church to get it right for them. Bishops and conference staff find it tempting to shrink back into institutional problem solving and creati