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Bishop tells ordinands to be human and let God's power show through
2 Corinthians 4:7-12
Bishop Mike Coyner told the 1,200 worshippers during the Saturday commissioning and ordination service that he "was ordained a probationary deacon on this stage with this stole 30 years ago," as he showed conference members the stole. He said the text says we have this treasure in clay pots, so that the extraordinary powers of God might be revealed.
Coyner said he read on an Internet blog a piece from Pastor Scott Williams, who is quitting ministry. Williams said pastors live in the limelight and it's hard not to disappoint people. Pastors feel pressured to put numbers on the role. Everything that goes wrong seems to be the pastor's fault. Pastors vacillate between the drive to do everything and to do little. It's hard to be who we (as pastors) are, he said.
"What I would like to say to Scott Williams is that all the reasons to leave ministry are the same ones as those to stay in ministry," Coyner said.
He said the more we stay the more the truth of the Gospel is revealed. Being commissioned and ordained doesn't make you're less human but more human. He said, "It's an honor and privilege and how human we are. The Gospel humbles us. Being ordained or being commissioned makes us more humble. Do any of you feel worthy to be a minister of God? That's why it is always a calling and not a choice. Who would choose it? It's a humble calling."
Coyner said 30 years ago being ordained, he thought it would be easier to be a Christian. It isn't. It's an honor and privilege to serve God. He said we are checked out by everyone - committees, boards, physicians, counselors. The hoops don't mean we are worthy of ministry. It's a privilege (to serve as a minister) for human folks like us.
Knowing we are human helps us keep going. We are knocked down but we aren't knocked out. The more human we are the more God's power shows through us, he said. The treasure is the Gospel. Our secret weapon is that this (what we do) is by the power of God.
"If we can accomplish all of this on our own, how will anyone see through us the power of the Gospel?" The more we are human, the more the power (of God) works.
He assured those to be commissioned and ordained that "ministry on our own will not work. When you do it on your own bag of tricks, it won't work. But the more we are open to God, the more God will act. We are the vessels, the clay pots, the cracked pots. The power is the Gospel."
He closed by saying, "the more I focus on being the vessel and allow God being the power, the more my ministry is possible. Be real. Be human and look for the ways you can be a clay pot so the power of almighty God might be revealed through you." - DG
Conference moves forward with administrative legislation
Indiana Area Foundation
Jim Gentry, the incoming director of the Indiana United Methodist Area Foundation, was introduced. He is a retiring clergyman of the South Indiana Conference. Gentry said one new strategy of the foundation will be getting out to more people with an emphasis upon stewardship and tithing. Clyde Fields, current Indiana Area Foundation director, will be retiring June 30.
North Indiana Foundation (see packet section 36)
The foundation asked each congregation to consider:
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Forming a permanent endowment fund or foundation
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A special "Planned Giving Sunday" and
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Receiving an offering the third Sunday in June as "Retired Ministers Day."
Assets stand at $24 million.
Indiana Area United Methodist Loan Fund accepts deposits from any United Methodist and loans money to churches in either North Indiana or South Indiana conferences.
CFA proposes Tithes and Offerings
No budget was approved. CFA proposed a new form of meeting the needs of the North Indiana Conference through a Tithes and Offerings of each local church by asking each church to give ten percent (a tithe) of their monthly income in place of a conference apportionment. Each pastor and lay member of the annual conference also was asked to tithe one tenth of their income to the church. In addition to the tithes to the annual conference, an amount will be apportioned to each congregation according to the local church's 2004 apportionment for the general church apportionment. The conference approved this plan to support the 2006 income to the conference's Shared Ministry. General church apportionments will be asked in addition to the conference tithe. The 2006 conference budget will be considered during an Oct. 8 special session at Granger UMC following June listening sessions.
CCOM restructure plan approved
When approving the legislative items on the consent calendar, the Conference restructured its Council on Ministries into four ministry groups: leadership development, church development, mission and outreach, and peace and justice advocacy. United Methodist Men and United Methodist Women will relate directly to the whole CCOM and not to one of the ministry groups. Conference Communications will help facilitate communication among the four ministry groups.
Saturday morning Bible study highlighted administration and stewardship
1 Corinthians 12, 2 Corinthians 9
Bishop Coyner asked potter Russ Harris if he had any problems with administration. He said about 55 percent of his time as a potter is doing something administrative. "I was glad the Bible says something about administration," Harris said.
Coyner then read from 1 Corinthians 12 about administration being is one of the gifts of God. Administration is one of the ways we order the church.
Karen Greenwaldt said that if you are a potter you have to pay attention to your studio. Silica can become dangerous to your health. The things Russ doesn't like to do in the studio, he hires it out. This passage says that God gives us gifts. Part of our role as leaders is to help people identify their gifts.
Harris said, "Karen is a professional meeting goer. She has a marvelous gift of administration to lead the Board of Discipleship. My gifts are in cleaning up, that's what I can handle."
Coyner explained how a woman in one of his congregation described what it meant to her spiritually to prepare communion elements for the church. This was her gift.
Greenwaldt says we need to receive our gifts as a blessing to the community. We need to watch for the people in our community and their gifts.
Coyner said that in 2 Corinthians Paul boasts to the Macedonians about the giving of the Corinthians. He is asking churches hundreds of miles from Jerusalem to receive an offering for the struggling church in Jerusalem. He is saying I want you to give money because it is the right thing to do because they need our help. You Corinthians want to do better than the Macedonians.
Greenwaldt said quantum physics talks about how the universe works. Physicists say when a butterfly flaps his wings the effect is immediate to what happens on the other side of the world. I think we need to let the people in our churches know that our offerings are for the whole of the created order. We need to expand our imaginations as to what it means to give.
Coyner then offered what he called the Bishop's Challenge about tithing. He said, "I would like to see ever pastor and ever lay leader in the conference tithe. I have all the salaries of the pastors and the retired pastors. Just the pastors in our conference made $35 million last year. A tithe of that would be a third of our conference budget. This is enough for our general church apportionments. Churches could tithe to pay for the conference.
"We are not poor people. In many churches, pastors are one of the top givers of the church. This is a witness to our connectedness as a church. Tithing all the way through the system makes it work. It's not about money but about our witness," Coyner said.
Harris said we learned it from our parents. "You need to teach it to your children. When we got an allowance, a tithe went to the church. Our giving begins after we give our tithe."
Greenwaldt said, "All our charitable gifts are beyond our tithe. We are caretakers of the gifts God has given to us. Money is a gift from God."
"We are all a witness of what God has given to us. These are all good gifts from God," Coyner said. - DG
UMM gathering
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