Recently I underwent major surgery – anesthesia, IV, pain meds – for the first time. I was fascinated by the rituals and routines of the hospital, which seem very different from the perspective of a patient than they do when viewed as a family member or pastor. Safely deposited in my room following recovery, I was repeatedly jolted out of my twilight of unconsciousness by a loud, shrill alarm any time my blood oxygen or my pulse rate dropped below certain levels. Every hour someone came and took my blood pressure, temperature, pulse, checking to see if my bodily systems would sustain me when I left the hospital.
Have you taken the vital signs of your local church lately? Of our United Methodist Church?
Yesterday United Methodists from around the world and across the church gathered in 1,000 different locations, to participate in a Leadership Summit webinar that was held in English, French and Portuguese. In Zimbabwe 300 United Methodists gathered at the World Trade Center to participate. Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain United Methodists participated in Great Falls, Denver, Billings, Salt Lake City, Polson and Colorado Springs. A group of students and staff at Iliff School of Theology joined in. This event marks is a giant step toward a world wide conversation within our church..
The purpose of the Summit was to address the future health and growth of our Church. The Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table of the United Methodist Church introduced the Call to Action, which encourages the Church to commit for 10 years to focus on vital congregations. Research shows that vital United Methodist congregations show four “driving” characteristics.
- Vital churches offer a variety of worship experiences and styles.
- Vital churches offer dynamic preaching.
- Members of vital churches are involved in small groups.
- Members of vital churches are engaged in their communities and around the world in hands on mission outreach.
Many of our congregations are vital and enjoy these and other characteristics of health and growth. Unfortunately, many others are not vital. Not only do they not offer these four driving opportunities, but sometimes they don’t even recognize that they exist to serve God’s purposes in the world, and to engage new people in Christian discipleship and mission. The Call to Action is our wake up call…
In order to be healthy, the adaptive challenge of the United Methodist Church is to redirect resources to increase the number of vital congregations. To this end, the whole church (is called) to “collect, report, review and act on” four measures of vitality. Take a look. Do you recognize these as vital signs of the church?
- Worship attendance
- Professions of faith
- The number of small groups and the number of people participating in small groups
- The amount of money and number of persons engaged in mission outreach
The Call to Action will help us focus and strengthen our work in these areas.
If you weren’t able to participate on April 6, it’s not too late. I hope you will take time to visit the Leadership Summit webinar at www.umcleadershipsummit.org . There you can view the entire web cast, the Call to Action report and the research that shaped the whole thing.
We’ll talk more about this at Annual Conference. And the church will work on it at the General Conference in 2012. Where is God leading us? Won’t you pray with me as we discern the road to health?
Bishop Elaine J.W. Stanovsky – April 8, 2011
