Intentional Interim Workshop

Posted on July 5, 2011 by admin

I will teach/facilitate a 3-day workshop on Intentional Interim Ministry November 1-3, 2011. Here is just a glimpse at the brochure/registration form:

Churches Change

When a long-time pastor or minister leaves a church, the church is forced to change. Grief, anger, and confusion hit each individual and dominate the church community.

Churches also face change when their community changes dramatically, or as the demographics of the membership transition.

Leading churches during these transition periods can challenge the pastor, but this is the time when churches can be led to transforming growth.

Leaders Lead

An unprepared pastor might respond to change and its edgy dynamics by acting as if everything is normal, or by trying to find out “who” is to blame.

Trained Intentional Interim Ministers accept those dynamics and lovingly lead church members through the rough times into a greater ownership of their gifts and future direction.

Preparing Transitional Leaders

Over the course three days, you will learn how to help churches respond to unexpected change with honesty, grace, and hope.

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Recognize and Encourage

Posted on June 30, 2011 by admin

Pastors need to be transformed from people who create and direct ministry into leaders who recognize and encourage ministers. This is the thrust of D.Min. thesis being written by a friend, William Carl Thomas.

I have watched Bill for the past few months and marvel at what he trusts the lay leaders of his church to do. Bill is rector of an Episcopal church, and he seems to enjoy giving power to others. They respond by taking responsibility for doing the ministry of the church. Ministry is not created by the paid minister; he simply recognizes the gifts and callings of the members.

Bill claims that the action key to this type of leadership is listening — listening with heart, instead of evaluating others’ words in the mind. What would happen in our churches if we all spent less time evaluating, problem solving, and creating and instead devoted our heart to hearing what God was doing in each other?

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Why Church is Tough

Posted on June 27, 2011 by admin

I just read a helpful blog on why the way we “do church” must shift. I echo with the author the sense of gratitude for a generation past, and compassion for a generation coming.

“we’re in a time where things are shifting. We are losing the post-World War II generation that kept our churches thriving with their hard work and generous stewardship. Since our congregations were largely tailored to that generation, pastors often walk into situations that don’t make sense in a new time.

“We expect a new generation of moms to work forty hours, cook meals, do laundry, and then attend a three hour committee meeting where we discuss whether we should cut the communion bread into circles or squares. We expect young singles, struggling to maintain basic employment, housing, and health insurance, to contribute money to our multi-million dollar organ fund. We want to attract “young families,” not realizing that if a man gets married, he’ll probably be forty before he begins thinking about having a family.”

quote from Carol Howard Merritt, author of Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation..

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Intentional Interim Prophets?

Posted on June 20, 2011 by admin

Is it possible to prophesy and not even know it?

I my last post, I summarized Brueggemann’s The Prophetic Imagination. The rhythm of prophetic ministry is mourning the present oppression and depression, and then building hope for God’s role in our future.

This is the same rhythm that Intentional Interim Ministers take a church through. I always pledge to a church that I will offer honesty and hope. I offer an honesty that talks openly about problems, conflict, grief and unfulfilled longings. I know that a church is ready for its future only after it has named and grieved evidences of past and current brokeness.

Once a church has been honest about it hurts, it is open to see God’s hope. That hope is rooted in God’s nature, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the reception of the Holy Spirit. However, God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit are just words while we live in denial. Once we have grieved our wounds, they become a dynamic force that transforms both individuals and congregations.

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Grief to Hope

Posted on June 20, 2011 by admin

The role of the prophet is to help society grieve the death of its own future and excite hope for God’s future. That is a quickie summary of The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann.

In setting the context for the Old Testament Prophets and the need for modern prophets, Brueggemann lists three facets of the “royal consciousness” which marginalizes God’s activitiy in its zeal for self-preservation. These are the hallmarks of almost every dominant society.

First, the royal consciousness makes economic affluence the primary good in life. The strongest power structures then completely satiate people’s physical needs, cementing the government’s role as the supplier of all good things.

Second, the royal consciousness “reforms” God so that God’s only concern is for order and affluence. In other words, God becomes the champion of the power structure. Brueggemann calls this the “religion of immanence.” God is no longer transcendent, no longer calls people to repentance or radical faith, and becomes completely intertwined with the government.

Third, the royal consciousness practices the politics of oppression. Instead of a society that values every person, all people become commodities to be marketed to, objects to use, or sources of state income.

When I read these words (originally written in 1978 and revised in 2001), I feel like I am reading the latest headlines from cnn.com.

The solution to the numbing oppression, according to Brueggemann, is for prophets to fire our imaginations with the possibility of an alternative reality. This begins by mourning the loss of freedom, hope and God in the dominant culture. Then it energizes creative living by focusing on a hope that only God can give.

I have never thought myself a prophet, but when I read this book, and see how religion has been co-opted by consumerism, the politics of war, and reliance upon government, I think we need a few more prophets.

(continued in my next post)

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Announcing Intentional Interim Ministry Workshop

Posted on June 14, 2011 by admin

I will teach a 3-day workshop on Intentional Interim Ministry this fall. The course will be held at Jennings Lodge Retreat Center in Portland, Oregon November 1-3. Leaders from several denominations are sending pastors to this specialized training.

If you are curious about Intentional Interim Ministry, click on the link for it at the top of this page. I have dedicated a page of the website to a growing collection of materials that describe and empower Intentional Interim Ministry. The newest resource is this Power Point presentation which explains the usefulness of Family Systems Theory for church leaders. Family Systems for Interim Ministers

If you would like to participate in November’s workshop, email me at mark@kelleycentral.com.

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A Jesus Church

Posted on May 28, 2011 by admin

I liked Scot McKnight’s recent summary of new book, I knew Jesus before he was a Christian . . . and I liked him better then. The author, Rubel Shelly is a Christian and is pro-church. But he notices differences between Jesus’ emphasis and what we focus on in today’s church.

Did you ever notice that the things we argue about the most are things that Jesus said very little about? I wonder if that is somehow connected to recent polls that suggest that what Evangelicals are known for is very different from what we think we are known for.

I read the gospels often because I want to be a Jesus-follower more than anything else. Jesus expected his disciples to build on his work, so I also love the rest of the New Testament. I just want to make sure my life’s foundation is built upon the key precepts of Jesus, and not something else.

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A Preaching Performance?

Posted on May 25, 2011 by admin

LeadershipJournal.net just published a provocative piece entitled “Preaching as Performance Art.” Clayton Schmit, professor at Fuller, argues that preaching is always performance. Sometimes we perform so that people notice us; but we should perform so that focus is on God’s message.

Schmit modifies the definition of performance a bit. His point is well-taken, though. Whatever we do while preaching will either detract from the message or focus the message. Personally, I am distracted by preachers who work too hard at being “just a normal person.” Casualness can draw attention to the speaker just as easily as formality.

I just preached for the first time in several months and in a new setting: my home church of Eugene Friends Church. I could not believe how many ways I became distracted, or how many things could distract the listeners! I was distracted by the new surroundings and new audience. I am sure that they were distracted by a new body in the pulpit and by my pacing. I was not as comfortable with the microphone as I wanted to be, and I think that distracted both sides.

My prayer was that people would be captivated with the message: that our lives are transformed when we do what is necessary to see Christ. The idea of seeing a supernatural God though all the distractions of physical objects is a miracle. Hopefully, that miracle happened for some on Sunday.

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God uses suffering?

Posted on May 6, 2011 by admin

Excuse me for an extended quote, but Michael Card had much to say.

“[Jesus] does not explain away the pain, nor does he say that he has come with the answer or that he will fix everything. Instead, he bows his head and allows the tears to flow. It is not about providing answers or fixing a problem; it is about entering fully and redemptively into their suffering, because Jesus knows that God uses suffering to save the world (Luke: Gospel of Amazement 70).”

I believe Card has it right. Unfortunately, I know far too many people, Christians and pastors who try to do all the responses to pain that Jesus avoided.

When working with hurting churches, I try to move them quickly beyond, “why did this happen?” and into “how can God use our current condition for our health and God’s glory?”

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Pools of Tears

Posted on May 6, 2011 by admin

One of my favorite pastors often reminded us to treat each other gently, because each worshipper sat by a “pool of tears.” He was reminding us that each person has been wounded in the battles of life, and a community of faith should be a community of gentleness.

I read a blog about how this plays out at a regular workplace this week.

Sometimes pastors themselves forget this maxim. Pastors can easily slip into a singular role of motivating church members to give and work, forgetting that God anointed them also to care for the heavy-hearted and support the weak.

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