Associates in Advocacy
Dear Colleague,
This is one of the three times of the year when pastors “disappear.”
You probably have not seen them at clergy meetings or cluster Bible studies or any of the usual places you see UM ministers. The last month or two, they have stopped coming and probably have not called you for anything. We are so busy we do not always notice, especially the ones who are quieter, less assertive, and/or female.
This is appointment time and the Cabinets tend to cull out the pastors that church folks are complaining about. It may be the fifth time in five years that those same complainers have wanted to run off the pastor. But now that the Discipline is more ambiguous about the right of appointment of conference members, some DSs will tell vulnerable pastors that they are no longer appointable, to tell no one about it, and to be out of the parsonage by July 1. In those conferences which have transition-out-of-ministry programs, the DS may or may not get them enrolled.
Once the pastor no longer has any hope of appointment or of legitimate critique or of positive alternatives, they tend to stop relating to other ministers, especially when they are told not to.
So, get out the map of your area (district plus others that you know nearby) and ask yourself when was the last time you saw this pastor or that one. If you haven’t seen them since February, call and make sure they are all right.
When you find one such “disappeared” pastor, check the articles in our website:
http://www.aiateam.org/. Click on the “Practical Help” and then scan for articles which are the most pertinent given the “disappeared’s” circumstances in the sections for “Pastors,” “Advocates,” and “Care Givers”. Not all can be changed, but some can.
Call me (941 743 0518) if you have any questions.
Your friend,
Jerry
PS to the bishops – I send out this warning every year to the people on my AIA mailing list all over the country. I’ve been doing it for over twenty years. Same massage. Same problems with Cabinet members who are lousy at personnel work. It is usually first year DSs, but not always. I hope it does not come up in your conference. Feel free to call me if you want to talk about it. - You’d think by now someone training DSs would have figured out how to prevent this kind of persistent travesty.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Spring AIA letter
Dear Bishop,
Bill Stevens passed away recently, according to the postcard from the conference. Bill must have been 160 years old! He was a bright spot in the Wisconsin Annual Conference for as long as I can remember. I believe he became Conference Secretary just before I joined the Conference in 1962. I think he kept that job into the 1980s.
Those who had the responsibility of checking the journal, Bill’s minutes of the previous day, were amazed at his accuracy and completeness. That was especially remarkable because in those years, some of our sessions began at 8:00 a. m. and continued until 10:30 p. m. We actually had conferencing in those days.
Bill used a typewriter with three copies using carbon papers. Remember, to correct an error meant erasing all four sheets and typing over. During the years I was on the journal committee, I do not remember there ever being more than a single letter error correction.
And the copies were always ready by 8:00 a. m. so the committee could review them very early in the next day’s session. When we asked him how long it took, he said he was usually to bed by 3 a. m. And he never seemed tired, even after four or five days of Conference. His minutes were as error free and clear the last day as the first.
He was a hard-worker in the churches to which he was appointed. He went wherever the bishop sent him and got to serve in small, medium, large, rural, small town, and urban churches during his first forty years.
At conference in 1976, six years before his first retirement, he was unusually sad. It didn’t last long, but he still felt it deeply. “Jerry, I was looking forward to this year because it is when I expected to become a superintendent. I’ve been a pastor for thirty-four years and think I learned a thing or two that I wanted very much to use to help the younger pastors. It has been a great system we’ve had in the past where an experienced pastor became a superintendent for the last six years of his career, what with all that experience and no longer any reason to aspire to a higher office. I was all ready and they passed me up. Actually, they passed up several of us and appointed young, inexperienced pastors to be on the Cabinet. I understand the desire to move our ethnic and women clergy along more quickly but none of them are really ready yet. Everything has to happen now, I guess, before they have a chance to learn patience and maturity. Being superintendent will be just another career move instead of its culmination. What a shame.”
Bill went on to serve local churches another 21 years before retiring again in 2003. Eveready should have named the energizer bunny after him.
In the covenant of the clergy,
Jerry
Bill Stevens passed away recently, according to the postcard from the conference. Bill must have been 160 years old! He was a bright spot in the Wisconsin Annual Conference for as long as I can remember. I believe he became Conference Secretary just before I joined the Conference in 1962. I think he kept that job into the 1980s.
Those who had the responsibility of checking the journal, Bill’s minutes of the previous day, were amazed at his accuracy and completeness. That was especially remarkable because in those years, some of our sessions began at 8:00 a. m. and continued until 10:30 p. m. We actually had conferencing in those days.
Bill used a typewriter with three copies using carbon papers. Remember, to correct an error meant erasing all four sheets and typing over. During the years I was on the journal committee, I do not remember there ever being more than a single letter error correction.
And the copies were always ready by 8:00 a. m. so the committee could review them very early in the next day’s session. When we asked him how long it took, he said he was usually to bed by 3 a. m. And he never seemed tired, even after four or five days of Conference. His minutes were as error free and clear the last day as the first.
He was a hard-worker in the churches to which he was appointed. He went wherever the bishop sent him and got to serve in small, medium, large, rural, small town, and urban churches during his first forty years.
At conference in 1976, six years before his first retirement, he was unusually sad. It didn’t last long, but he still felt it deeply. “Jerry, I was looking forward to this year because it is when I expected to become a superintendent. I’ve been a pastor for thirty-four years and think I learned a thing or two that I wanted very much to use to help the younger pastors. It has been a great system we’ve had in the past where an experienced pastor became a superintendent for the last six years of his career, what with all that experience and no longer any reason to aspire to a higher office. I was all ready and they passed me up. Actually, they passed up several of us and appointed young, inexperienced pastors to be on the Cabinet. I understand the desire to move our ethnic and women clergy along more quickly but none of them are really ready yet. Everything has to happen now, I guess, before they have a chance to learn patience and maturity. Being superintendent will be just another career move instead of its culmination. What a shame.”
Bill went on to serve local churches another 21 years before retiring again in 2003. Eveready should have named the energizer bunny after him.
In the covenant of the clergy,
Jerry
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
AIA annual meeting
Associates in Advocacy will hold its annual meeting on May 19-21, 2009, at the Super 8 OHare Motel in Elk Grove Village, IL from noon to noon. It will be a two day event.
Re: May 19-20: - We will be looking at Judicial Council Decisions, study on verification of a complaint, some case study work, and our annual business so we will have our hands full that first twenty-four hours.
Re: May 20-21 - The second twenty-fours will be spent reviewing the Griffith proposal and identifying the weakest sections of the complaint process (one of the reasons Tom has developed what he has!). From there, we will discuss next steps for expanding the dialogue and getting the best ideas into the systems from where have come past petitions which have been accepted at General Conference.
Starting our work for the 2012 General Conference this early!
Because we hope to keep the two days’ activities separate, you don’t have to be there both days to participate. In fact, feel free to come in for parts of any days. Those coming in for partial days may not have overnight charges for the motel but we hope you will contribute toward the use of the meeting room. Don’t forget, meals are your own expense. Those who stay at the motel do get a continental breakfast.
Dues are usually due at the meeting but we will have some extra expenses for this year’s meeting. Paying ahead will help us. Send anything you can, though $50 is the standard annual dues. Send your check to Rev. Michael Brown, 158 Saxony Court, Vallejo, CA 94591.
To reserve your room, call the motel at 847 827 3133 and tell them you are coming for the Associates in Advocacy meeting.
Re: May 19-20: - We will be looking at Judicial Council Decisions, study on verification of a complaint, some case study work, and our annual business so we will have our hands full that first twenty-four hours.
Re: May 20-21 - The second twenty-fours will be spent reviewing the Griffith proposal and identifying the weakest sections of the complaint process (one of the reasons Tom has developed what he has!). From there, we will discuss next steps for expanding the dialogue and getting the best ideas into the systems from where have come past petitions which have been accepted at General Conference.
Starting our work for the 2012 General Conference this early!
Because we hope to keep the two days’ activities separate, you don’t have to be there both days to participate. In fact, feel free to come in for parts of any days. Those coming in for partial days may not have overnight charges for the motel but we hope you will contribute toward the use of the meeting room. Don’t forget, meals are your own expense. Those who stay at the motel do get a continental breakfast.
Dues are usually due at the meeting but we will have some extra expenses for this year’s meeting. Paying ahead will help us. Send anything you can, though $50 is the standard annual dues. Send your check to Rev. Michael Brown, 158 Saxony Court, Vallejo, CA 94591.
To reserve your room, call the motel at 847 827 3133 and tell them you are coming for the Associates in Advocacy meeting.
Monday, February 16, 2009
February letter to the Bishops
Dear Bishop,
Hawai’i is the site of a three week Elderhostel Ann and I attended in January. It was my gift to Ann for hanging in there with me for 50 years. We heard about geology, culture, history, and botany. I strongly recommend that you consider going yourself, if you have not already had the privilege.
Let me share one small bit of Hawai’an history. The Tahitians brought the Kapu (taboo) system when they populated the islands. The previous Marquesan migrations were overwhelmed by the size, arrogance, and technology of the kings from Tahiti.
No matter who your ancestors were, as one of those early Hawai’ians you headed for cover or fell on your face when one of the rulers came around. Warnings by use of conch horns and a colorful standard leading the procession let everyone know the leader was coming. Anyone found standing, let alone trying to engage the fine personage in conversation without his permission, was immediately slain.
Kapu was used to maintain the power of the leaders and its values swept throughout all Hawai’an human interaction, to the benefit of those rulers. For example, it was Kapu (forbidden) for the women to eat with the men (that rule went both ways) or even for women to touch the food prepared for the men. Violation meant instant death.
But the Kapu system came to an end in an odd way.
The death of King Kamehameha in 1819 was unexpected. The heir, Kamehameha II, was too much of a tippler and was three sheets to the wind when the banquet honoring his ascension was held.
Queen Ka’ahumanu carefully guided the new king past the men’s table and sat him AT THE WOMEN’S TABLE. Since the king was the primary enforcer of Kapu, that drunken act led to the unraveling of the religious and political grounds for the unfettered life-and-death authority enjoyed by the privileged leaders.
I’m sure you’ll enjoy thinking about the possible lessons that this story provides.
Mahalo. (Thank you.) Aloha. (Blessings on you.)
In the covenant of the clergy,
Jerry
Hawai’i is the site of a three week Elderhostel Ann and I attended in January. It was my gift to Ann for hanging in there with me for 50 years. We heard about geology, culture, history, and botany. I strongly recommend that you consider going yourself, if you have not already had the privilege.
Let me share one small bit of Hawai’an history. The Tahitians brought the Kapu (taboo) system when they populated the islands. The previous Marquesan migrations were overwhelmed by the size, arrogance, and technology of the kings from Tahiti.
No matter who your ancestors were, as one of those early Hawai’ians you headed for cover or fell on your face when one of the rulers came around. Warnings by use of conch horns and a colorful standard leading the procession let everyone know the leader was coming. Anyone found standing, let alone trying to engage the fine personage in conversation without his permission, was immediately slain.
Kapu was used to maintain the power of the leaders and its values swept throughout all Hawai’an human interaction, to the benefit of those rulers. For example, it was Kapu (forbidden) for the women to eat with the men (that rule went both ways) or even for women to touch the food prepared for the men. Violation meant instant death.
But the Kapu system came to an end in an odd way.
The death of King Kamehameha in 1819 was unexpected. The heir, Kamehameha II, was too much of a tippler and was three sheets to the wind when the banquet honoring his ascension was held.
Queen Ka’ahumanu carefully guided the new king past the men’s table and sat him AT THE WOMEN’S TABLE. Since the king was the primary enforcer of Kapu, that drunken act led to the unraveling of the religious and political grounds for the unfettered life-and-death authority enjoyed by the privileged leaders.
I’m sure you’ll enjoy thinking about the possible lessons that this story provides.
Mahalo. (Thank you.) Aloha. (Blessings on you.)
In the covenant of the clergy,
Jerry
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Younger New Pastors
Our colleague Danny Burttram has some helpful thoughts in reaction to a United Methodist News Service daily summary. First, the summary:
Young clergy numbers rise, bucking leadership trend
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)—For the first time this century, the number of United Methodist clergy under the age of 35 has surpassed 5 percent. In 2008, the number of young elders increased from 876 to 910, and the percentage grew from 4.92 to 5.21 percent. The increase is “modest good news” for the church, said the Rev. Lovett Weems, coauthor of an updated study, “Clergy Age Trends in The United Methodist Church from 1985-2008.”
Now, here's Danny:
My thinking, for what it is worth, after reading the ‘full story’.
The problem with the article is clear enough. It assumes that if you increase the percentages of young ministers you will automatically increase the degree to which ministers are able to challenge the ‘established way of doing things.’
In reality, the young clergyperson gets wrapped up in the progress down the path of ‘how to be and appear successful.’ Progress down that path is easier if you don’t raise questions with authorities.
The real issue is not how many young clergy you have, but how they learn that it is a part of their calling to raise questions with the ecclesiastical institution in which they exist.
Who teaches them this? What examples are there for them to learn from?
An essential part of Christian ministry—and especially United Methodist Christian ministry – is ministry to the institutional church. Part of this ministry involves pouring balm on the rough edges of the institution that are rubbing sore spots on its members and its clergy. But part of this ministry is to raise questions with the authorities in such a way that they feel the pain they are causing others – and are willing to admit their mistakes, repent, and work on problems.
We never finish this task. It is a lifelong process – a dynamic process that shifts from one area to another. And the ‘religious right wing’ makes sure that it is a dangerous task to pursue. How do we learn to do it and where do we begin?
By the way, this is an issue not confined to the UMC. It is pervasive in many of the institutions we have come to embrace in our society.
Young clergy numbers rise, bucking leadership trend
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)—For the first time this century, the number of United Methodist clergy under the age of 35 has surpassed 5 percent. In 2008, the number of young elders increased from 876 to 910, and the percentage grew from 4.92 to 5.21 percent. The increase is “modest good news” for the church, said the Rev. Lovett Weems, coauthor of an updated study, “Clergy Age Trends in The United Methodist Church from 1985-2008.”
Now, here's Danny:
My thinking, for what it is worth, after reading the ‘full story’.
The problem with the article is clear enough. It assumes that if you increase the percentages of young ministers you will automatically increase the degree to which ministers are able to challenge the ‘established way of doing things.’
In reality, the young clergyperson gets wrapped up in the progress down the path of ‘how to be and appear successful.’ Progress down that path is easier if you don’t raise questions with authorities.
The real issue is not how many young clergy you have, but how they learn that it is a part of their calling to raise questions with the ecclesiastical institution in which they exist.
Who teaches them this? What examples are there for them to learn from?
An essential part of Christian ministry—and especially United Methodist Christian ministry – is ministry to the institutional church. Part of this ministry involves pouring balm on the rough edges of the institution that are rubbing sore spots on its members and its clergy. But part of this ministry is to raise questions with the authorities in such a way that they feel the pain they are causing others – and are willing to admit their mistakes, repent, and work on problems.
We never finish this task. It is a lifelong process – a dynamic process that shifts from one area to another. And the ‘religious right wing’ makes sure that it is a dangerous task to pursue. How do we learn to do it and where do we begin?
By the way, this is an issue not confined to the UMC. It is pervasive in many of the institutions we have come to embrace in our society.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
AIA letter for January
Associates in Advocacy
http://www.aiateam.org
January 6, 2009
Dear Bishop,
At the end of my first year at Perkins (1959), I visited the North Texas Annual Conference to see how they operated. Despite the thousand delegates present, the bishop granted the floor to only ten people during the plenaries I observed. Albert Outler, of course, four big church pastors, and five DSs. No laity. No other clergy.
The June before I left for Perkins (1958), I was ordained Deacon at the Wisconsin Conference whose delegates numbered about 500. I spent a day observing there before the ordination. During the course of business, a friend who had been ordained Deacon the year before was recognized and rose to speak to the matter on the floor. A few minutes later, following a report by one of the DSs, a minister rose and in a diplomatic manner, severely criticized the report while the DS was still at the podium. I saw the two men laughing over lunch together an hour later.
Rev. William Blake, my pastor during high school and college, was conference historian and I asked him about the difference between the two conferences.
“I can’t tell you how that Texas conference operated during the 1930s. But let me tell you what we did during the Great Depression. Even before President Roosevelt took office, things were very bad in the rural and small town areas of our conference. The churches serving those areas were really struggling to pay their bills and to pay their pastors. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be serving churches whose incomes were still fairly strong set up a fund which was then distributed to help pay the salaries of the pastors in the struggling churches.
“The best thing about that was the collegiality that developed in our conference among the ministers. The relationships between the older better-off pastors and the younger struggling ones continued as some of those younger ones received more financially solid appointments. They continued the sharing with the new pastors who joined late in that decade.
“That program ended in 1945 as the war economy improved everyone’s lot. But those last ones who benefited never forgot and passed along the collegiality to this day.”
My conversation with Rev. Blake was in the early 1960s.
By 1980, nearly all those pastors were retired and with them went that memory of the close bonds they had experienced because of the grace shown among clergy during the Depression. That memory’s impact lasted fifty years.
In the covenant of the clergy,
Jerry
http://www.aiateam.org
January 6, 2009
Dear Bishop,
At the end of my first year at Perkins (1959), I visited the North Texas Annual Conference to see how they operated. Despite the thousand delegates present, the bishop granted the floor to only ten people during the plenaries I observed. Albert Outler, of course, four big church pastors, and five DSs. No laity. No other clergy.
The June before I left for Perkins (1958), I was ordained Deacon at the Wisconsin Conference whose delegates numbered about 500. I spent a day observing there before the ordination. During the course of business, a friend who had been ordained Deacon the year before was recognized and rose to speak to the matter on the floor. A few minutes later, following a report by one of the DSs, a minister rose and in a diplomatic manner, severely criticized the report while the DS was still at the podium. I saw the two men laughing over lunch together an hour later.
Rev. William Blake, my pastor during high school and college, was conference historian and I asked him about the difference between the two conferences.
“I can’t tell you how that Texas conference operated during the 1930s. But let me tell you what we did during the Great Depression. Even before President Roosevelt took office, things were very bad in the rural and small town areas of our conference. The churches serving those areas were really struggling to pay their bills and to pay their pastors. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be serving churches whose incomes were still fairly strong set up a fund which was then distributed to help pay the salaries of the pastors in the struggling churches.
“The best thing about that was the collegiality that developed in our conference among the ministers. The relationships between the older better-off pastors and the younger struggling ones continued as some of those younger ones received more financially solid appointments. They continued the sharing with the new pastors who joined late in that decade.
“That program ended in 1945 as the war economy improved everyone’s lot. But those last ones who benefited never forgot and passed along the collegiality to this day.”
My conversation with Rev. Blake was in the early 1960s.
By 1980, nearly all those pastors were retired and with them went that memory of the close bonds they had experienced because of the grace shown among clergy during the Depression. That memory’s impact lasted fifty years.
In the covenant of the clergy,
Jerry
Friday, December 5, 2008
St. Martin of Tours Award
Associates in Advocacy
www.aiateam.org
Dear Bishop,
Postponing the St. Martin of Tours Award was reinforced after my letter honoring past Bishops Dodge and Tuell and episcopal candidate Harvey Potthoff who gave up his last chance to run again because of age. Bishop Tuell corrected a bit of the information. Joining Dr. Potthoff was Richard Cain who also dropped out in deference to Wilbur Choy. I had counted five European American (EA) men elected since, but Bishops Tuell and Wheatley had been elected in the quadrennium before. There have been only three since, Bishops Dew, McConnell, and Paup. Not only is there no glass ceiling in the Western Jurisdiction, there are no EA men among the active bishops now.
One reason, of course, is that Bishop Paup resigned as a bishop in order to fulfill a program ministry to which he felt called. He chose to become an executive secretary unencumbered by any potential conflict of interest.
Some bishops I have met should have stayed involved in program agencies because that is really where their hearts lie. The self-defining nature of Ed Paup’s choice is hereby recognized as co-holder of this year’s St. Martin of Tours Award.
The other co-holder of the award is Bishop William Hutchinson.
The choice is based on not only on his incredible leadership following the twin catastrophes known as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit Louisiana, but also on his passing over retirement after four exhausting years in order to fulfill the ministry of working on key issues he felt called to address.
His path was not smooth. After working with the district structure Louisiana had when he arrived, he felt it important to make a controversial decision to reconnect the churches in New Orleans with north shore churches. Following the shattering of the New Orleans churches and parsonages, the district realignment proved to be a Godsend in re-establishing the denomination in the city during the earliest reconstruction phase.
Bishop Hutchinson’s personal involvement in restoration of our ministries in the traumatized areas was an example of the highest order. No one would have blamed him if he had retired in 2008. But his concern for the other ministries to which he was committed when he was first appointed to Louisiana led to his staying on for four more years.
Then came Hurricanes Gustav and Ike! Whether he intended to be or not, Bishop Hutchinson was the right one for that time.
In the covenant of the clergy,
Jerry
www.aiateam.org
Dear Bishop,
Postponing the St. Martin of Tours Award was reinforced after my letter honoring past Bishops Dodge and Tuell and episcopal candidate Harvey Potthoff who gave up his last chance to run again because of age. Bishop Tuell corrected a bit of the information. Joining Dr. Potthoff was Richard Cain who also dropped out in deference to Wilbur Choy. I had counted five European American (EA) men elected since, but Bishops Tuell and Wheatley had been elected in the quadrennium before. There have been only three since, Bishops Dew, McConnell, and Paup. Not only is there no glass ceiling in the Western Jurisdiction, there are no EA men among the active bishops now.
One reason, of course, is that Bishop Paup resigned as a bishop in order to fulfill a program ministry to which he felt called. He chose to become an executive secretary unencumbered by any potential conflict of interest.
Some bishops I have met should have stayed involved in program agencies because that is really where their hearts lie. The self-defining nature of Ed Paup’s choice is hereby recognized as co-holder of this year’s St. Martin of Tours Award.
The other co-holder of the award is Bishop William Hutchinson.
The choice is based on not only on his incredible leadership following the twin catastrophes known as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit Louisiana, but also on his passing over retirement after four exhausting years in order to fulfill the ministry of working on key issues he felt called to address.
His path was not smooth. After working with the district structure Louisiana had when he arrived, he felt it important to make a controversial decision to reconnect the churches in New Orleans with north shore churches. Following the shattering of the New Orleans churches and parsonages, the district realignment proved to be a Godsend in re-establishing the denomination in the city during the earliest reconstruction phase.
Bishop Hutchinson’s personal involvement in restoration of our ministries in the traumatized areas was an example of the highest order. No one would have blamed him if he had retired in 2008. But his concern for the other ministries to which he was committed when he was first appointed to Louisiana led to his staying on for four more years.
Then came Hurricanes Gustav and Ike! Whether he intended to be or not, Bishop Hutchinson was the right one for that time.
In the covenant of the clergy,
Jerry
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