I have been in Youth Ministry for over fifteen years and one thing I have learned is that attitude is everything!  If you take a group of teenagers to an event or activity, your attitude matters.  If you complain about everything that happens in the event, they hear what you say and it happens to be like a virus that spreads like an epidemic.  Next thing you will hear from their mouths is, “This stinks!  They are mean!  Why are we doing this anyway?” and everyone walks away from the event discouraged and likely never to return.  On the other hand, if you have a great attitude and you praise God in every moment (even the not so great ones) then this happens to be infectious, too!  And even the most challenging experiences become stories of endurance and redemption in your youth group for years to come!

I wonder if that concept of negativity hasn’t spread into our greater church system?  If we, as leaders of the church, continue to bemoan and lament everything about The United Methodist Church – the people – the polity – the ecclesiology – the system – the seminaries – the agencies – the big churches – the little churches – the clergy – the laity and on and on and on…..it’s no wonder our youth and young adults are discouraged and likely never to return….

I wonder if we couldn’t have a moratorium on negative attitudes and spend more time on what we love about our Christian heritage through The United Methodist Church.  I’d like to count our blessings and be thankful (not only this Season of Thanksgiving – but throughout the years to come!)

1) I’m thankful to be United Methodist because our founders, John and Charles Wesley so believed in their hearts that ALL people needed to come to know the amazing love and grace of our Creator.  They did the “unthinkable” in their day and age and went to the people in the fields, in the villages and all over their country in order to spread the message that God loves ALL and God desires a relationship with ALL, not just one group or another.  But ALL!

2) I’m thankful to be United Methodist because our founders understood what ENDURANCE for the Gospel meant in their day and age.  They took the teachings of Jesus and embodied ENDURANCE.  John Wesley was rejected by his very own colleagues because he was unapologetic about his passion for sharing the message of God’s love and grace to the poor, the marginalized, the lost and the forgotten.  He never wanted to start a new church and he actually very much loved his church, however, he believed that there were better methods for bringing people to a right relationship with God.  And he was willing to teach and preach those methods everywhere.

3) I’m thankful to be United Methodist because we are a church full of people striving to be better because of our relationship with God.  We believe that God’s grace and love are for ALL and even when we fail miserably at being loving and gracious, we can humbly come before God (and our neighbor) and ask for forgiveness.  We may not have fully arrived at “Christian Perfection,” but we are still willing to try and try again and again, until the Holy Spirit can live fully and completely in our hearts and in our lives.

That’s just the starting place of why I’m Thankful to be a United Methodist Christian!  What’s your starting place of thankfulness?

By Amy Valdez Barker

Thankful mother, wife, daughter and United Methodist Christian!!

November 15, 2012

Dear New York Annual Conference Family:

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Last week, I visited Staten Island to share with the survivors and relief workers responding to Hurricane Sandy. Friends, the view on the ground revealed a level of devastation that has created a wide swath of wreckage. While it is tempting to remain in the grief that is a natural consequence of disaster, God calls us to a different response. There are signs of hope in the midst of the storm’s aftermath.

While in the New Dorp Beach neighborhood, we encountered members of the military, Occupy Wall Streeters, police personnel, and a variety of community organizers. Among the responders was the Reverend Dale Ashby and a team from Colchester Community UMC in the Western Catskills. Also providing leadership was layperson Theodora Cross, of the Faith UMC on Staten Island, who is an Emergency Response Trained (ERT) volunteer. Sister Theodora coordinated a cross section of church-based and other community participants in the cleanup effort.

During our time at New Dorp Beach, I encountered a young woman who was a veteran volunteer responder. She remarked that she was new to New York and a United Methodist. As we continued conversing, it became clear that she was looking for a church home. I shared a few geographical possibilities and we returned to the task at hand. In the midst of challenge, God provides hope. Folks from the Western Catskills joined new friends from New York City in an effort to make a difference.

I also encountered a man standing in front of his house which had been shaken off of its foundation. When he learned that we were United Methodists, he began talking about the author C.S. Lewis who though Anglican is sometimes associated with Methodism. This enlightened conversation occurred steps from the wreckage of a destroyed home, hope in the midst of struggle.

Beloved, as you journey remember that God does some of God’s best work in times of trial. Just ask Job, or the woman with the issue of intense bleeding. Let us continue in our journey of being part of God’s response to the trial of Hurricane Sandy. God expects nothing less.

All my prayers,

Bishop Martin D. McLee

I have been in Phoenix, Arizona this week presenting on Vital Congregations at the Religious Researchers Association of scholars and researchers in the field.  This conference is jointly associated with the Society of Social Scientists of Religion.  Since this is only the 2nd Academic Conference I have ever participated in, it has been a fascinating experience.  There are a couple pieces that I want to highlight about this conference and about the multiple dimensions of vital congregations.  First of all, we are not the only denomination seeking methods and answers to the challenge of decline across the church.  The Southern Baptists have been challenged by a peak and then decline since 2004.  The ELCA, the Presbyterians and the UCC are all looking at the reality of decline amongst their church membership.  On the positive note, many of these denominations are looking at new methods, new experiments and new strategies to uncover what God is already doing in the world and what our role (as Christians) would be to support that work.

Of course when you think about health and vitality in any single church or district or conference, you have to look at it from a multi-dimensional perspective.  One researcher produced a multi-dimensional assessment of congregational health and vitality that compared and contrasted the clergy perspective and the laity perspective of results and outcomes.  Another research group have looked at qualities of church life in addition to the numerical objective measures.  The biggest challenge that all these researchers face are the subjective challenges. In science you must control for certain variables.  So, the real question becomes, “How on earth do you control for the uncontrollable variables?”  For example, how do you control for a preachers’ abilities?  How do you control for a congregations’ attitudes?  (and not just one person but the whole congregation?)  How do you control for the Holy Spirit’s ability to transform?  Well, obviously these are the questions that keep on emerging.

There is one research study that has produced results that seem so obvious and simple that it’s hard to grasp how it could be true.  But, my intuition and experience confirm these findings.  This project basically said that there are only 2 FACTORS that have shown up across four countries and multiple congregations with multiple diversities and dimensions.  It has everything to do with call and response!

The 2 FACTORS are VISION and COMMITMENT.  When you control for almost every controllable variable, these two factors show up in direct affect to growth more than any other factor in the field.  It’s kind of a “duh” moment, however it is SOOO true!  Vision implies forward thinking and commitment implies investment.  Therefore, hearing and heeding God’s call for any congregation is essential to VISION.  Inviting, empowering and encouraging all leaders from young to old, to huddle around the VISION and take responsibility in your role in that vision is also essential to COMMITMENT.  It seems so simple and yet, why is it so challenging to reach?

Well – the real question becomes “Is the CALL of God for our lives today is essential to the very being of who we are???”  If so, “Are we willing to make the sacrifices in life in order to be COMMITTED to this CALL?”  I’d like to hope that there are still a few faithful United Methodists who will and can respond with a resounding “YES – by God’s grace we will!!”

Written By

Amy Valdez Barker, Vital Congregtions

Matthew 13:1-9

Today, the pastor at the congregation I worshiped at brought new meaning to “odds and probabilities,” for me.  He was expounding on the Matthew 13 scripture about the farmer and the seeds.  He said, “If you think about it, the odds aren’t really great for the farmer.”  Here is this farmer throwing seeds out there and out of the 100% of seeds that he planted, 75% didn’t make it.  It’s simple math really, 25% fell on the path, where the birds could easily see it and fill their bellies.  Another 25% fell on this shallow soil where it really couldn’t take root very well and even if it grew a little, it didn’t last because of the hot-scorching sun.  And then the other 25% fell in the thorns and weeds, and of course they choked the plants that tried to grow.  So, here is a farmer whose hard work and effort resulted in only 25% of the crop producing any sort of harvest.  For all practical purposes, the farmer would be writing this season off as a major loss!  The odds were not in the farmer’s favor.

At the same time, our God is not always practical.   And even as I prepare to participate in a statistics class tomorrow morning, I think about all the times we rely upon probability and odds, rather than on the grace of God.  And yet, time and time again, I have read story after story where the odds have been against the people of God and for all practical purposes, they should have lost.  But, it doesn’t take much harvest for God to produce a fruitful crop.  God has the ability to give us the results that are needed for the sustenance of God’s children.  It isn’t about probabilities or odds, it’s about faith, hope and love.  Why did the farmer continue to throw out the seed, knowing he may only get a 25% return?  Because he had faith that something would grow!  And that something that grows would also multiply.  Why do we as people of faith, work hard to reach God’s children with faith, hope and love?  Because we have faith that by our faithfulness, God’s grace will grow in the hearts of the people.

But, here’s the most important element I took away from today.  It is that the farmer gets up every day to till the land, water the plants AND sow the seeds!  The farmer knows that the harvest won’t be there, if he/she doesn’t even throw the seeds out there.  Farmers are aware that waiting for the plentiful harvest takes patience, observation, calculations as well as intuition.  Today, it may even take learning how to use new tools to plow the path, unearth the weeds and cultivate a better soil.  The results are still in God’s hands.  But, the farmer does not sit idle.  I wonder what tools God is giving us today to cultivate the soil for God’s harvest?  The work of Vital Congregations and faithful disciples through The United Methodist Church may have the odds against all of us.  However, we believe that the harvest is God’s and the results are always in God’s favor!

Written by

Amy Valdez Barker,

Christ Follower

Wife – Mother – Daughter

Project Manager

PhD Student

What is competent leadership in a diverse, changing world?
1. Self-awareness—deep understanding of one’s cultural values, strengths and weakness, and the privilege and power that come with one’s roles and cultural background
2. Appreciation of differences as opportunities, rather than as problems
3. Commitment to pluralistic understanding of issues while being able to make faithful decisions
4. Active theological reflection on diversity issues as they relate to oneself, others, and one’s community and creation
5. Discipline in applying appropriately skills, models and theories that will increase the inclusiveness of various situations
6. Ability to guide and support a community to move toward change faithfully in response to its changing environment.
7. Knowledge and skills in using audio, visual and electronic media to enhance interpersonal communication and to build respectful, inclusive community.
8. Ability to assist communities to create sustainable missional ministries.
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Mission and Evangelism
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A VISION OF HOPE: Reflecting the Kingdom of God

I just spent a couple days with the clergy leaders of the New York Annual Conference at their TRI-DISTRICT gathering.  There were a couple things that I really want to highlight that are hope-filled and visionary!  First of all, it’s important to acknowledge that New York City and all of its’ burroughs are located in the New York Annual Conference.  If you think about New York you think about the incredible mosaic of people this part of the country represents.  The clergy gathering was a fully colorful and beautiful image of what I hope the Kingdom of God looks like in the future.  Now, of course, I hope and pray that the diversity of ages in the Kingdom will increase and be plentiful, however, this is a great place to start re-imagining what the UMC of the future could look like all over the globe.

At one point our goal was to be a global church.  When that came to fruition, little did we know that it would mean stepping outside of our comfort zones, learning new cultures, becoming sensitive to our own ignorance and being humble enough to know that God is at work everywhere in the world.  When we said we wanted to be a multi-cultural church, little did we know that this would mean we would have to again, step outside of our comfort zones, learn new cultures and be sensitive to our own ignorance and humble enough to accept the God is at work in our brothers and sisters that didn’t look like us, talk like us or even live like us.  Global church, multi-cultural church, and beautiful church of God may be way outside of our imaginations.  But, there are some places that are faithfully living that out.  I would say, New York Annual Conference is just one of those places.

Vital Congregations is about celebrating places where little successes are happening.  I want to celebrate the little success that I witnessed in this conference.  The new bishop of this conference, Martin McLee, fostered in the Holy Spirit in an awe-inspiring, prayer-filled worship that brought people to tears.  The bishop in an attitude of humility and trust, allowed the clergy of the church to confess from their hearts their own personal challenges with the work of ministry.  He gave them permission to come humbly before God and their fellow leaders of the church to pray whatever they needed to pray.  Brothers and sisters from each corner of this tri-district area prayed with fervor, sometimes out loud, sometimes with song, passionately giving it all to God.  The confession allowed them to see the new vision that Bishop McLee was casting before them.  A new church!  A church filled with God’s children!  A church who will be faithful to the working of the Holy Spirit.  A church that is ready to embrace the communities in which God has planted them.  A church ready to go beyond the walls of the church and invite people of all races, cultures, ethnicities, economic backgrounds and more into a deep and transforming relationship with Christ.  This singing bishop has given the New York Annual Conference a new song to sing!  From my witness, I believe they are ready to sing God’s song again!  May God bless these conferences moving their people towards hope, health and vitality!

Written by

Amy Valdez Barker

Glory Sighting:On being seen and not heard
One Sunday last month, the Rev. Scott Knowlton set up to preach his 8:30 worship service at Mason United Methodist Church near Huntington, W.Va. “I was going to talk about Jacob and Esau,” said Knowlton. Then he noticed that a deaf young man, Eric Hayes, was sitting in church.

A nudge from the Holy Spirit caused Knowlton to take his sermon in a different direction. He decided to type and project it on the wall, and didn’t speak a word for the next 30 minutes. As he began, Hayes burst into tears. “It’s one of the most memorable sermons I’ve ever preached,” said Knowlton. “Not because of what I said, but how I said it.”

Baptism! Because Eric Hayes cannot hear, people held signs, one at a time, so he could read part of the baptism liturgy. From left to right: Eric Hayes, Matthew Barr; Wahama coach and teacher, Dave Barr; Christian biker and postmaster, Bill Davis; Mason UMC members Charlotte Yonker and Sally Ross; and Father Dave Schmitt (retired). Photo courtesy of Mason UMC.

Eric was baptized on August 22 in the Ohio River. On his Facebook page, he posted photos and said: “The only pastor who cared enough to type a sermon so I could see it.”

Reverend Knowlton is quick to point out that what happened was definitely a God thing – not his doing. “To God be the Glory,” he said.

A Glory Sighting is God at work in the world. It can be seen in baptisms; but also in nature. It might be an after school program that feeds kids in the community. Send us a photo and/or a story about a glory sighting in your church and ministry, and we’ll feature it in the e-news. You’ll also have our thanks and we’ll send you a 2GB jump drive. Email us at wvumc@wvumc.org

In Sunday’s sermon, the pastor quoted Diana Butler Bass’s last critique of the Christian Church today.  She said, “Why is it that the American Christian church choices are either cold intellectual or ignorance on fire?”  Her obvious reference was to the Christian church landscape that seems to be riddled with a theological tug of war between a liberal/conservative bend in understanding of God.  If a church is intellectually critical of theology, doctrine, etc. then in practice it seems to be cold, uninviting, unpassionate, less exuberant about their faith.  If a church is on fire with God, filled with the Holy Spirit and emblazoned with a passion for the Divine, then the assumption is that they are ignorant, shallow and less likely to wrestle with the complexity of the Christian faith.  Of course, these are over-exaggerations of the extreme Christian congregations, but tidbits of truth tend to emerge from these colloquial statements.  The question is can a highly-vital congregation be “Intellectualism on fire?!!”

Is it possible in our church and in our divergent Christian culture today for the people of faith to be “on fire” and “spiritually filled for God and YET be bold enough to explore the rich complexities of the Christian faith?  Are we brave enough to ask questions when the answers are foggy and the rationale may seem weak, but yet there is something drawing us back to the connection of this community that we can’t explain?  What if our questions don’t get the kind of answers we are looking for?  Do we give up and just go home, writing off the passion that burns in our hearts and indigestion or do we turn fully into the mystery and embrace the faith element that invites us to continue to explore?  I believe the answer of intellectual fire is at the heart of the Wesleyan movement in the world of the past and the world of the future.

John Wesley seemed to relish the conversations that would often lead to debates and disagreements.  He found them inspiring and maybe even embraced them as a spark to his exploration of his relationship with the Divine.  He welcomed persons who disagreed with his theology and used it as an opportunity to learn and uncover more about God and God’s people, rather than shying away from the dialogue.  But, none of this was ever done without a distinct and grounded spirituality that was like a heart on fire in that day and age.  Wesley introduced the early concepts of “intellect on fire” to the world which in the 17th Century took off across the globe like wildfire.  People were hungry for a religious experience that valued the very intellect God had blessed them with and be able to allow them to nurture the fires burning in their soul.  The fire and hunger wasn’t simply for knowledge, but for a relationship with God that could be experienced, emblazoned and maybe even physically “warming” to a lost and cold soul.  It was a church that was both/and!  A church that was both inviting of the intellect and embraced the fire of the Spirit within us.  People were hungry for this kind of church back then and they are hungry for this kind of church today.

Question is….are we ready and willing to be the church that is “Intellect on Fire!!”?

Written by Amy Valdez Barker

Project Manager, Vital Congregations Project

Denominational Leaders, Congregational Developers and Professors

Imagine More Highly Vital United Methodist Congregations

EVANSTON, Illinois, June 2012 – Only six weeks after the 2012 General Conference,  denominational leaders met together to discuss imagine more highly vital congregations in The United Methodist Church.  The UM Vital Congregations Initiative held a conversation on the campus of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary on June 12-13.   For two days, United Methodist bishops, pastors, laity, researchers, practitioners, leaders from various United Methodist boards and agencies, and evangelism professors from some of the United Methodist theological schools came together for a conversation regarding the future of growing highly vital congregations within The United Methodist Church.

The divergent group of stakeholders, led by Vital Congregations team leader Bishop John Schol, dialogued on how the local church can connect with new mission fields. “We have some challenges,” said Schol, “we see this in some of our statistics, but we have a bright future as we live out of our vision as United Methodists, to connect with new generations of believers and grow highly vital congregations.”   The conversation stemmed from the adaptive challenge presented by the Call to Action Steering Team in 2010.  Since its adoption by the Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table, the bishops and the Connectional Table have committed to a 10 year sustained effort to direct the flow of prayers, attention, energy and resources to an intense concentration to increase the number of vital congregations in the denomination.

“We were delighted to host this groundbreaking group where the very best of church plans continue to be shaped by quality research and conversation,” said Philip Amerson, President of Garrett-Evangelical.  “It is clear other voices are needed at the table but this was a remarkable gathering to bring leaders in various capacities in our denomination together to explore growing vital congregations.”

The Call to Action Steering Team engaged Towers Watson in 2010 to identify the number of highly vital United Methodist congregations and what they do to be vital. They found that 15% of the United Methodist congregations in the United States were highly vital. Highly vital congregations are dynamic congregations that grow over time, involve more of their disciples in ministry, engage in the community and give generously to mission. To increase vitality, highly vital congregations strengthen worship, clergy leadership, lay leadership, and ministry, particularly small groups, mission engagement, and children and youth ministries.

Six weeks earlier at General Conference, the denomination celebrated the goals of 79 conferences toward growing vital congregations, which included goals set by 73% of the congregations in the United States. “The conversations among United Methodist circles in the current climate of declining numbers has often and too easily relied on blaming of others for our challenges,” said Amy Valdez-Barker, project manager of the Vital Congregations Initiative.  “It is time to work together across generations and differences to bear hope and engage in vital witness and mission in our communities.”

Participants shared the importance of discovering and communicating our common identity as United Methodists and sharing the stories of hope for a vital future. They also agreed that the development and sharing of tools, resources and best practices for the multitude of contexts represented in United Methodist congregations will be critical as the denomination moves forward.  “This is a great starting place,” said Greg Bergquist, the new Cal-Nevada Conference Superintendent in charge of Leadership Development.  “You can count us in! We would love to participate in the group that wants to be explorers in this Vital Congregations Expedition.”

The Vital Congregations Initiative will continue to be overseen by the Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table. A goal to double the number of highly vital congregations in the United States is supported through the recent goal setting by congregations and conferences. A group of conferences willing to explore and experiment with growing and sustaining more congregations will be organized later this year as part of the next step of growing the number of vital congregations.  To learn more, go to www.umvitalcongregations.org.

John McKnight is the founder of Asset Based Community Development.  He is a retired community organizer and faculty member of Northwestern (he lives in Chicago – actually Evanston).  The author of (among other things) – “The Careless Society: Community and Its Counterfeits” and “The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods” with Peter Block  (both of these are books).

Here are his thoughts on a UMC that is doing things differently as they take our Wesleyan “Act of Mercy” to the streets:

John McKnight’s Thoughts on Broadway UMC