|
May 5, 2009
“Ministry Clusters and Covenant Groups”
On the last Sunday of April, I preached at North UMC in Madison, and I was
greeted by that local congregation and pastor, but I was also greeted by
representatives of their Ministry Cluster. That group of congregations has
chosen a name for themselves – JUMP – which stands for Jefferson (county) United
Methodist People. They quickly told me about how much they are enjoying their
Ministry Cluster, and they even shared a story about one of their smaller
churches helping one of their larger churches with a new ministry. I was
impressed by how far they have come already as a Ministry Cluster – even before
we have the training this summer and fall for Cluster Leaders. As often happens
to me, I was tempted to say, “Wait for me, I’m your leader!” Actually I love it
when folks get ahead of our best plans for the new Indiana Conference.
In the same way, I recently was forwarded an excellent description of Clergy
Covenant Groups which was written by Gerald Frye, a Local Pastor on staff at
Shiloh UMC in Jasper, who is serving on the team of Clergy Orders coordinators
in each district (an Elder, Deacon, and Local Pastor) to help launch our Clergy
Covenant groups. Gerald has given me permission to quote him and to share his
words about Clergy Covenant groups, because he says it better than I could:
I met with a group of people, who will be “District Coordinators for the
Orders” or, “Coaches” to help lead Pastors into covenant groups where they
are comfortable and enriched. The model is not molder yet, but the
excitement around the design is invigorating. When this model is ready I
believe without a doubt you will all be blessed by what you will receive
from a true covenant group. I believe our “Song” should be, “have thine own
way, Lord” because we certainly are molding it in clay at this time and I am
hoping God will do the modeling, bronze will come later.
Yes, I know, your first response is, “That is all I need, another
meeting” and yes, I heard that this week, but look at it this way: a
covenant group, designed correctly and used correctly, will help you be
accountable for your time and eliminate some of the other unimportant
meetings and, help you not feel guilty about delegating those meetings to
the chair of the committee and having them report back to you, this would
giving you more time to concentrate on your own spiritual life, your family
and other important things.
In our first meeting with all the Conference Coordinators, as regional
teams, we came up with several different ways of forming a covenant group.
At our table, our region, (South West and West Districts) we came up with
John Wesley’s perception of “Holy Living” 1) Wellness of the Soul, how is it
with your soul, where have you experienced God in your life, where have you
felt alone or forsaken and why. 2) Relationship, continuing on in our call,
relationship with God, with Family, with Church and with community and in
that order, we felt that for many pastors one of the greatest missing link
in our lives was proper relationship with our families, our wrestling with
giving our family proper time against giving our all to the church or
community. We need to be aware those relationships. 3) Affirmation,
discussions of our strengths and how we can best use them in our ministry
and honest discussions of our weaknesses and acknowledging those weaknesses
and determining that there are others with strengths where we are weak and
using others strengths (Spiritual Gifts) to do better ministry for God and
receiving confirmation about who we are as a person and as a minister of God
and the United Methodist Church.
This was our first meeting and like I said earlier, no bronze model has
been made or for that matter no clay model is made, I am not even sure if we
have enough clay yet but we have started and like a NASCAR race or a foot
race the excitement is there, the engines are revving, the adrenalin is
pumping, and we are off.
If you are already in a covenant group, great, I know you are getting
help. If you are not in a covenant group now would be a great time to
contact some fellow pastors in the United Methodist Church or other churches
in your community and start sharing with them.
Thanks for listening.
Gerald Frye
Associate Pastor
Shiloh Church
Jasper, Indiana
I think you can hear the enthusiasm from Gerald and from the JUMP Ministry
Cluster. Something new and something powerful is building in our new Indiana
Conference. From my perspective, we are rebuilding our connection from the local
ministry perspective. It will take a while to get all these groups going, and it
will take some risk on everyone’s part to engage with one another in ministry,
but it is exciting to see this momentum building. I am reminded of the words of
Hebrews 10:24-25 which says,
“Let’s consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not
neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
from Bishop Michael J. Coyner
Indiana Conference of The United Methodist
Church
"Making a Difference ... in Indiana
and around the world"
|
