Bishop Mike Lowry

The governmental structure of the United Methodist Church is broken and yet glorious ministry is still taking place (in spite of or around the broken structure).

Observing the legislative committee process of General Conference one gains a deep sense that the way we are governing ourselves just doesn’t work.  Two illustrations:

1. There is a widespread strong conviction that we need to reform our organizational structure to be more effective (faithful & fruitful).  Yoked with the conviction of need is passionate disagreement as to how.  After confusing and convoluted debate, the Legislative Committee on General Administration brought up and then turned down every proposal for reform.  Come Friday night we were back where we started and left in chaos.

2.  The pension program in the United States needs change to remain fiscally sound.  There is a growing (thanks in part to the wonderful work of my predecessor Bishop Chamness!) pension program for Central Conference clergy (i. e. those outside the U.S.).  While bright able and wonderfully committed, delegates from the Central Conferences (40% of the total) were voting on a program that doesn’t apply to them or their churches and that they instinctively do not understand or follow.  We desperately need to have regional conferences (i. e. US, Africa, Asia , etc.).  The system is broken.

I cannot help but remember the famous biblical scholar Leander Keck lecturing on Paul’s letters to the churches in the New Testament.  Pastors were peppering him on the problems their churches were facing.  Finally the great Dr. Keck replied, “You think your church has troubles.  When is the last time you read the letters to the Corinthians?”

Conversely, Sunday night we held a great plenary session of celebration for our Connectional ministry.  Glorious ministry is taking place!  As a sample, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of women’s ministry leadership; we learned that well over 300,000 lives have been saved through Imagine No Malaria (Nothing But Nets); we rejoiced at new churches all over the globe including 612 new churches in the United States; we lifted up significant leadership development through SBC 21 (Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century); we embraced a new initiative in young persons’ leadership called Spark 12; we highlighted incredible mission work all over the globe & great ministry with the poor.  The list goes on.

The ministry is glorious!  And yet, our structure is hurting not helping our outreach.  Our governmental structure is broken!

The roller-coaster ride continues.

Easter morning I found myself listing to the sermon in our son’s church in Arlington, Massachusetts.  Preaching on the great resurrection text from John 20:11-18, the pastor commented that we are invited to overhear a conversation with angels.  The phrase has stuck with me.

Biblically speaking, angels are messengers from God.  The question to Mary is addressed to us.  “Why are you crying?”  In our confession, ““They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve put him,” (John 20:13) comes the encounter with the risen Christ.  He meets us by our tombs and in our wanderings.  For me, this is continuing great good news!

The Monday before Easter I spent some of my off time serving at the First Street Mission (First UMC Fort Worth’s mission to the homeless.)  As seemingly is always the case in such events, I was the one blessed by an encounter with the risen Christ (before Easter no less!).  Surrounded by the saints who volunteer regularly, I was taken in and educated.  Christ for me came while pouring coffee and handing out clean underwear.

I’ll call him Jim to protect his identity.  He was homeless, handicapped and hurting yet the smile was genuine and his faith real.  Christ was carried in his person (not his perfection).  Folks like Jim aren’t referred to as the homeless or clients but as friends and such was he for me.

There is wisdom and grace in this ministry.  Disciple Church on Sunday is a banquet for Christ.  Rev. Page Hines tells me that the greatest need is for more volunteers.  If you have the opportunity, try it.  You will be blessed!

Faith conversations and witnessing slip in on a slant angle.  I was the one witnessed to far more than the witnesser.  Christ is present.

My time since then has taken me to the tornado wreckage of St. Barnabas (and its neighborhood), a speech at a Texas Methodist Foundation gathering in Austin, a Healthy Church Initiative PLD group (Pastors Leadership Development group) in Whitney, two Cabinet meetings, a lectio divina spiritual formation, preparation for General Conference, and a Habitat for Humanity build.  Sunday will be a trip to the South District for worship and then back to Austin for another speech at TMF on Monday.  Tuesday Jolynn and I will fly to General Conference in Tampa, Florida.  The conversation with angels lingers because the risen Savior is present. It gives me strength for the journey.

The tree protrudes massively through the wall of the preschool classroom. Just before the tree’s impact in the swirling tornado winds, Pastor Will Cotton (with an outstanding Children’s Ministry and Preschool staff) had led 82 children to safe interior rooms singing Jesus Loves Me.

There is so much to say in thanksgiving even as we surveyed the wreckage of major segments of the church (including parts of the sanctuary) on Wednesday morning.  We thank God that all were spared; we thank God that an outstanding staff placed the welfare of the children above their own; we thank God for the wisdom of a thought through and practiced (!) disaster plan; we thank God for cool heads and calm hearts in the face of a disaster; we thank God for the ongoing faithfulness of the pastors and members of St. Barnabas.

In the face of the storm’s damage, the great United Methodist Connection is at work bringing healing and recovery not only to the church but to the community as well.  Shortly after news was broadcast, we received a call from Rev. Cynthia Harvey, Associate General Secretary of the General Board of Global Ministries and head of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) offering support and help.  Wednesday morning (before heading over to St. Barnabas) under the guidance of our Center for Mission Support (a huge thanks to Dawne Phillips and Randy Wild), I sent off the necessary paperwork for an immediate $10,000 grant from UMCOR for rebuilding the community.  Rev. Laraine Waughtal, pastor of Bluff Dale/Morgan Mill and Disaster Relief Coordinator for the Central Texas Conference, was already on the scene assessing damages and coordinating volunteer efforts.  Our Conference emergency relief has joined with UMCOR to provide another $10,000 for immediate aid and assistance.  Truly, the godly connection of the United Methodist Church is at work.  Apportionment dollars and special relief offerings (both volunteer and financial!) are life-giving offers of divine love and hope!

I offer my thanks to all who have lifted prayers, offered support, or volunteered in disaster relief.  If you feel called to do so, you can make a financial contribution to any upcoming relief effort via your local church. Please reference Fund No.4495 and/or Disaster Relief on your check or donation envelope. Fund No. 4495 of the official conference remittance form is for aid, assistance, relief, rebuilding and ministry within the Central Texas Conference. During this emergency response phase, only trained Emergency Responders are allowed into the areas of damage.  To find information about training to become an ERT or to sign-up to be involved as a volunteer after the emergency stage has passed, please go to the Central Texas Conference web-site.

This may feel like a Good Friday world but Easter is coming!

The more I live into the office of bishop the more convinced I am of the claim to work with those who are willing.  We are building a coalition (or should I say coalitions) of the willing.  Allow me to explain.

Recently a District Superintendent reported to me a comment from two pastors in a PLD group.  (PLD groups are Pastors Leadership Development groups that are connected to our conference-wide Healthy Church Initiative offered by the Center for Evangelism and Church Growth.)  Complaining, the two pastors individually asked their DS “do I have to participate in the PLD group.”  Loud and clear, the answer is NO!  Pastors (and lay leaders) choose how they will engage in missonal learning and growth.  All of us are ultimately accountable to God and, in the covenant of the United Methodist connection, penultimately accountable for the choices we make to each other.

Our focus as a Conference is to energize and equip local churches to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.  Different people and churches will engage (spiritually, missionally & numerically) in different ways.  The Bible’s got it right, “the fields are white unto harvest.”  I want to work with the willing.

On a related subject, an exciting new resource just crossed my desk.  Debi Nixon, Adam Hamilton and the team from Resurrection UMC in Kansas City have introduced a great new resource in witness and evangelism entitled Catch: A Churchwide Program for Invitational Evangelism.  As I have said over and over again, we will not turn this great church around from its decadal decline without embracing again evangelism and witness.  The two (evangelism and witness) must be intimately connected to sacrificial service for the hurting, homeless and hungry (again – spiritually, physically or emotionally … or for that matter, all three!).  “The entire program is built on being outward focused and finding ways to attract visitors, connect them in meaningful ways with your faith community, and help them learn how to know, love and serve God.”

Do you have to use it?  Absolutely NOT!  But … for God’s sake and for the sake of hurting and hungry people do use something that is faithful and fruitful!  Don’t sit on the sidelines; join a coalition of the willing.

The stated mission of the Central Texas Conference is to energize and equip local churches to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.  Local churches make disciples who engage (both individually and collectively) in world transforming ministry. The Conference energizes and equips.

There is good news, really good news on how we are doing.  Randy Wild, Executive Director for Mission Support, developed the following report:

Every category save one is up!  They are not only up but up substantially.  Well done thou good and faithful servants!  The member churches, both lay and clergy leadership, are to be congratulated.  Represented within this report are the five practices: radical hospitality (profession of faith, baptism), passionate worship (worship attendance), risk-taking mission (mission team & community ministry in Outreach, Justice and Mercy), intentional faith development (baptism, confirmation class), and extravagant generosity (Connectional Mission Giving).  It is worth noting that 285 of our 305 chartered churches have completed their Vital Congregations sign up.  Narrative is crucial and must be yoked with metrics.  The two go together like salt and pepper.  I am proud and blessed to be the bishop of the Central Texas Conference!

“There is one looming adaptive challenge that we can address only through major learning, innovation, and the wisdom of everyone through Christian conferencing. The United Methodist Church in the United States has a future only to the extent that it can find ways to reach more people, younger people, and more diverse people” (Dr. Lovettt Weems, Jr. Focus: The Real Challenges that Face the United Methodist Church, pp. 74-75).

In a provocative chapter under the above title, Lovett Weems focuses our attention as a church and a missional movement of the Lord back to the future. There was a time when Methodism’s reach was breathtakingly evangelistic, young and diverse. To a large degree, the current strength of Methodism with older adults is a reflection and a testimony to this fruitfulness and faithfulness. Our future will be a both/and: that is to say, it will involve continued ministry excellence with and for older adults. It will also engage us with a younger and more diverse population of faith seekers.

Dr. Weems is right when he asserts that reaching more people involves reaching younger people, which necessitates reaching more diverse people. The three are inextricably linked!

There are many elements to such a forward claiming missional movement for Christ. A few (but only a few) are:
1. New places for new people – the development of new churches and faith communities
2. Recovery of an ability and willingness to engage in evangelistic witness – sharing the good news that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior
3. The growth and development of large congregations
4. Strengthening of ministry that directly impacts a new generation – children, youth, camping and campus ministry
5. An emphasis of professions of faith especially among younger people of color
6. Development of a new generation of leadership

The list could go on. Tomorrow (Leap Year Day – February 29th) I will be in Nashville with the Four Focus Area Bishops (New Places for New People, Leadership Development, Ministry with the Poor, and Imagine No Malaria) preparing for General Conference. No Christian group in the 2,000 years of the faith has grown without a determined emphasis on new church development (“New Places for New People”). None!

It is my joy and calling to help us engage more deeply in Reaching More People, Younger People, and More Diverse People.

Over the weekend I read Lovett Weems little book Focus: The Real Challenges that Face the United Methodist Church. I have long been a fan of Dr. Weems’ work. His insight and leadership first as President of St. Paul’s School of Theology and now as Director of the Lewis Center for Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary are a blessing to the whole church. I have ve an app for the Lewis Leadership Center website, Leading Ideas, on my iPad (www.churchleadership.com).  All this is preface to the assertion that Focus: The Real Challenges that Face the United Methodist Church is an outstanding read.

Delegates to General & Jurisdictional Conferences should make it a mustread  (!) prior to attending. But the book goes beyond simply dealing with larger church issues. Different chapters deal with different areas: The New Context, Resetting the Financial Baseline, General Church, Annual Conference, Congregations, Reaching More People, Younger People, More Diverse People, and What is Ahead for the UMC. So impressed am I that I have asked John McKellar, Chair of the Conference Council of Finance and Administration, to have the entire CFA read the 2nd chapter on finances. Every delegate to the Central Texas Conference (Lay and Clergy!) would greatly benefit from reading chapter 4 on Annual Conferences. Likewise congregations would be well blessed by reading and discussion time of chapters 5 & 6 on congregations and reaching more, diverse & younger people.

I could go on. I will write further blogs on subjects raised in Focus. For now, read this book!

John Milton wrote: “Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.”

Recently President Neil Alexander of the United Methodist Publishing House (whose Board I am privileged to serve on) opened a speech entitled “Embracing Change” with those words. They have stayed with me as I move around the Conference. I am deeply thankful as I take in so many incredible ministries happening through the members and churches of the Central Texas Conference. In a host of ways, large and small, seen and unseen, we are together living as the body of Christ, the hands and feet of Christ in the world.

I am conscious that bad news crowds out the good. The current Republican presidential primary race is not only exhibit A but actively exacerbates the process. I hardly mean this as a critique of one party. If we were engaged in a Democratic presidential primary race, the same would be true.
Rather, in the midst of all this, Milton’s quote calls me back to an awareness of God’s presence. Recently I visited with someone about teaching confirmation and awakening faith in young middle school age kids. It is a holy work with transcendent moments that can easily be missed. Later I had got to investigate our mission outreach to the homeless in two different cities. “Everyday epiphanies” are common place in this grace filled work. Quietly, powerfully, we are living the focus area of ministry with the poor.

When I pause, I am in awe of the ministry and work God is doing through the Central Texas Conference, its churches and members. We are surrounded by everyday epiphanies; in gratitude they provoke reverence in me. May we, guided by the Holy Spirit, take time to notice.

A special event is coming up on faith sharing. Most readers of this blog know my deep passion for us to reclaim a Wesleyan way of faith sharing. One of the great leaders in this movement is Dr. Bob Pierson. Bob was a tremendously faithful and fruitful pastor for many years in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since retiring he was led Leadership Nexus, an organization providing training and leadership in recovering the Wesleyan way of faithfulness.

First United Methodist Church of Brownwood is hosting the “Tell Conference” on February 11-12. “The conference-wide event for clergy and laity is on Saturday, February 11. For those that attended the Needs Based Evangelism Conference [that First UMC Brownwood] held in 2009 that name will sound familiar. Dr Pierson has a new book entitled Tell, and it has quickly become one of the top resources around the world in regard to helping disciples of Jesus Christ to know how to tell their faith story to someone else. On Sunday, February 12, Dr Pierson will lead worship in all three services at Brownwood FUMC. The cost of the conference is $40 a person for those who will be attending from around the Central Texas Conference on Saturday.”

I commend this opportunity for learning and spiritual development greatly!

As we step in the New Year I wish to challenge the assumption of 2012 as being in the “Common Era” – C.E.  Please don’t misunderstand.  As a matter of courtesy and the use of the phrase “C.E.” by Christians with others is often a matter of politeness and courtesy.  It is appropriate.

And yet, among those who are Christ followers, it is not adequate or even accurate.  To be a Christ follower is live the conviction that this is the year of our Lord – Anno Domini – 2012.

The Christmas story isn’t over.  It is barely beginning.  As Adam Hamilton states in The Journey, “Something astounding had begun in the cave in Bethlehem – yet something that would not be completed until this child walked out of another cave thirty-three years later, following his crucifixion” (p. 118).

My new year opens in Austin with the other active bishops of the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church.  Our TMF bishops group (called “The Conclave”) gathers traditionally the first week of the New Year. Together we are wrestling with issues of leadership and direction facing us and the church in this new year of our Lord.

More significantly (far more significantly!), January 6^th is Epiphany Day.  In search of the real spirit of Christmas, the Holy Spirit of God, we are led not just to Christmas but into the new year.  Like the wise persons of old, what we must embrace is the importance of the continuing search for Christ in our lives.  With those gentile pagans, we are led to embrace the great truth that God is for all!  Ephipany Day (the light to the gentiles) focuses us on the gift and its surprising nature.

Notice I said gift not gifts.  So often we focus on the material gifts the wise men bring – gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  These were stupendous gifts, no doubt about it.  But, they were not the gift.  The Bible tells us, “On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11).  “The greatest gift they brought was their devotion: their willingness to endure whatever it took and to look as long as it took to find what God had promised them through the sign.  Their physical gifts paled in comparison. . . . What greater gift can we bring to Christ than our commitment to find Him no matter what the cost, and when we have found Him, to worship Him?” (Dan Schaeffer, In Search of the Real Spirit of Christmas, pp. 162, 163).

The search for the real spirit of Christmas will always find its conclusion in such homage, such worship.  Here lies the “epiphany” of God: 1) To seek Christ constantly in all our living, 2) to embrace Christ who embraces all in sharing His love, and 3) to offer Him our unstinting worship.

Gazing at the stars, truly wise men beckon us on a journey of faith that experiences the joy of worshiping Christ, offering Him our treasure, and sharing His love who those who do not yet have the privilege of knowing Him.

May such a blessing be yours in this year of the Lord, 2012.