FACT Sheets – Yellowstone Conference - March 20, 2012

Group 1CF&A

Strategic Planning:

  • Is this the next ‘flavor of month’? Missional leader project recommended AGAINST strategic plan. This could be roadblocks… need to turn around so it isn’t.
  • Petition 401 Task force report; how is it used? Recommendations not implemented adequately.
  • Roadblock – community exists for individual
  • Many do not know Methodist ethos or find value there.
  • Roadblock – date is June 30, 2012. Perhaps, though, a good goal

Next steps:

  • Someone needs to think through relationship between this process and Missional Leaders’ process.
  • Decide on people for group in manageable time frame (Bishop’s call); so we can decide on the “for what” of the strategy to be formulated.

Congregational Sustainability/Apportionments:

  • Roadblocks –
  • Churches are “too nice” sometimes
  • Fear
  • Do we have personnel to ‘people’ all of these groups?
  • Not having adequate pastoral leadership framed to help this happen and grow in local churches.
  • Next Steps –
  • Appoint committee to review congregational health
  • Appoint committee to review facilities
  • Or might one do both tasks?

Communications:

  • Roadblocks –
  • Non – functioning communications team
  • Communications team has not had authority
  • Finances
  • Next Steps –
  • Put team together with authority (Steve Hermes is interested)
  • Explore shared position with Rocky Mountain Conference

Group 2 Cabinet

Called Anew/Ineffective Clergy

  • Roadblocks:
  • Roles, demands, expectations placed on DSs – excessive? Ineffective?
  • Funding demands significant
  • “Whom God calls, God will equip” mindset, passivity
  • Who determines effectiveness criteria?
  • Moving away from addressing symptoms rather than root causes
  • Steps:
  • Researching other models (existing and proposed) for Strategic Personnel Planning Group (SPPG) work
  • Selecting/appointing 7-9 persons for SPPG (BOM representative + Bishop to discern appointees)
  • Budget discernment – identify potential/possible existing financial resources to support (a) remedial processes; (b) exiting processes. Immediate need.
  • Cabinet and BOM meeting before AC to receive SPPG recommendations and report to executive session.

Clergy Revitalization

  • Roadblocks:
  • Identification/acknowledgement of low morale issues (salary/compensation, low attendance, conference connection, self-serving budgets, chaplaincy syndrome, housing allowances vs. parsonage…)
  • Identifying “thresholds” for effectiveness
  • Generalized low expectations (or non-communicated expectations) for clergy
  • Chaplaincy mentality exists – pastor belonging to rather than leading congregation
  • Steps:
  • Cabinet encouraging BOM to activate an “Order of Appointed Persons” in place of the “Order of Elders.”
  • Structuring/supporting annual spiritual and professional renewal among peers – designed by cabinet
  • Asking somebody to define criteria for when cabinet initiates threshold conversations with congregations.

Group 3Laity

Laity Empowerment:

  • That this is needed
  • That it is not new and we need to articulate it clearly.
  • Long time members ‘always done it that way’
  • Pastors who want control of every area
  • Need to measure and be accountable
  • Fear
  • Impression of ‘breaking into the club’
  • Blaming laity/blaming clergy
  • Conference wide statement not be ‘rights and responsibilities’ use‘expectations and opportunities’
  • YAC adopts and supports the partnership of laity and clergy in fulfilling the mission of the UMC. The laity in this partnership are responsible and accountable to each other to take their authority as disciples of Christ in the activities of the church to include prayers, presence, gifts, and service through the ministries of mercy, justice/witness, worship and learning.

Conference Leadership/Culture:

  • Definition of evangelism is ambiguous& misunderstood - numbers show we must address this
  • We believe evangelism is the task of all of us, laity and clergy.
  • Potential roadblocks the ambiguity of the term. Some baptized; we never see again. People need ways to articulate. Get people to look for ways to get message out.

We like this statement:

Laity and clergy of YAC resolve to develop a system for training in the nature and articulation of evangelism. This training and articulation will empower laity and clergy to invite and to nurture for full inclusion those outside the church. This inclusion would result in measurable outcomes as suggested in the recommendation.

Communications:

  • We all agree
  • That it is essential
  • That it needs to be kept up to date – be careful not to bypass a generation
  • Training local church people on website and basic communications/media

Group 4Board of Pensions

Conference Benefits:

  • 1 & 2 - In basic agreement
  • 3 - Clergy failure to participate in health screenings andVirginHealth Miles due to denial, unwillingness to talk openly w/fellow clergy and lack of clear procedures; staffing issues
  • 4 - Wellness – peer accountability -Communicate financial benefits to acting on wellness initiatives.
  • 4 - Monitoring benefits payments - Good communications between cabinet; conference treasures and local church treasures for all appointment changes
  • We agree that we need to start working on long term plans re: benefits; just do it
  • Conference treasurer needs to work with General Board.

General Financial Sustainability:

  • Spent no time on 1 and 2, statement is self-explanatory
  • 3 - Roadblocks:
  • Mission shares all already too high
  • The same people with need to deal with many of these recommendations
  • 4 – Next Steps
  • CFA lead the conference in developing a formal reserves policy and on investment policy.
  • CFA lead the conference in developing a plan to increase reserves and to monitor reserves; maximize investments and monitor investments
  • Best practices standard reporting and monthly apportionment status; we support FACT recommendations and suggest the next step.
  • Explore the possibility of redirecting surplus pre-82 assets (make an exchange with another AC). Make sure any re-direction is completely transparent to AC.
  • Explore if there are any roadblocks in moving to GAAP. If there are, then develop strategies to overcome them. If there are none, move to GAAP. After audit, Bishop meet directly with auditor.
  • Developing communication for interpreting mission shares to the local church.

Congregational Sustainability/Apportionments:

  • 1 & 2: Agreement (spent no time on this)
  • 3: Facilities based/too much emphasis on building
  • Entitlement to full-time pastor/not able to afford
  • Resistance to change, not much long-rang visioning
  • Generational differences
  • Fear
  • Traditional divisions/geography topography
  • Local autonomy
  • Feeling of abandonment by conference/on our own
  • Sacrifice/generosity/inward vision
  • Something concrete to facilitate honest talk
  • Dynamic understanding of vital churches
  • More local church accountability; pastor accountability
  • Define conference structure (Wyoming-Big Horn) cross conference
  • TELL THE TRUTH! Transparency!
  • New faces, missional leader out ward emphasis; how to connect and do we connect

Group 5Board of Ministers

Conference Leadership/Culture:

  • 1a. Sometimes things similar to this have been suggested; who has the courage to make this happen. Where is the or else?
  • 1b. Chaplaincy model is the expectation of our congregations. Although we know that the evangelistic model is what is needed.
  • 1c. This idea that the church is for the unchurched is a radical paradigm shift.
  • 2. Do we believe we should care for the unchurched; primarily we do believe this? Do we believe our churches will grow if we evangelize about Jesus Christ. Disconnect between elders and LLP; perceptions of each other. We are entrenched with programs, what is different now? There is a culture of how we do this; that doesn’t change (i.e. how often we meet.)
  • 3. No accountability for Pastors! We are losing hope for ourselves and our congregations to understand healing transforming love of Christ; our culture says it is about individual not the community. When we change the culture; people will leave. This looms large and generates fear.
  • 4. Need education for ourselves and our congregations about the paradigm shift that church is for the unchurched. (Institution to movement, has church Wesleyan roots) Church is real people with real problems and real hope; communicate that need backing of Cabinet with accountability for pastors. If you have provisional member who is not paying mission shares and growing church, this will delay their ordination. Use numbers as evaluative tools; consistency from Cabinet and bishop.

Called Anew/Ineffective Clergy:

  • 1. Effective leadership can be transformational even in challenging situations. Recommendation – agree that strategic planning group is needed, but instead of another group; have a special BOM meeting and invite key lay people.
  • 2. Power figures into ineffectiveness (do we own and use the power we have and can we share power). Jesus knew what his power was and what his identity and mission was.
  • 3. Give up on criteria for effectiveness because no consequences or accountability. 2012 presentation is too soon to present this. Documentation to exit a pastor is almost impossible. We don’t know what our identity is; are we chaplains or evangelists?
  • 4. How do we measure/prove effectiveness? Cabinets know the growth in attendance and missionshares. How do we apply it to provisional members, and then apply it to current clergy. Be more vigilant at entry process. Have to examine our culture; are we looking at effectiveness as a chaplin rather than as an evangelist? Urgency with Cabinet/cannot continue to appoint ineffective people or those who are disasters waiting to happen. Educate laity to accept that CLM’s can be as or more effective than others. At AC address this from lay leader, Bishop, other pastors and BOM in positive way.

Clergy Revitalization:

  • 1. The discipline says we need 50 elders to be a conference. This eases our pressure because we don’t have to protect this number.
  • 2. Mission and identity can’t be separated; how do we communicate this? We believe it is important. We are not sustainable, we are too nice.
  • 3. We have egalitarian mind set as elders; we have to say that as elders we have the responsibility to do this work, despite perception of exclusiveness.
  • Where are the teeth?What makes pastors accountable? How do we have a carrot rather than a stick, will a carrot work?
  • Tendency to think that if church doesn’t have a pastor people will go elsewhere.
  • 4. Have to exit clergy who are ineffective.
  • Use technology to beam excellent services into small churches and use CLM’s to be present in the community. Can’t keep doing what we are doing, churches need to be in the community. How do we revitalize our pastors and churches; how do we talk about this at clergy session.

Group 6Other Leaders

Strategic Planning:

  • We know who we are and what direction we need to go, need to move forward. We tried to uplift from the base. Majority of church members don’t know what a strategic plan is. Would help change behaviors. We know what happens when we don’t have one. Need for execution of the plan.
  • There is a deadline for goals to be accomplished. It is needed, essential and immediate. Need for plan to engage people.
  • The feeling that we have been there before and not accomplished anything. May do same thing every 5 years and rename original idea. Did not change or adapt to any change. Do some branding. Act your faith, follow through with idea. Conference to take responsibility with communication. Perspective we look at something. Thriving vs. survival. Who our audience is, not knowing. Do we have faith to do the work envisioned?
  • Embrace it! Members engage on (level of) spiritual level. We will be in prayerful consideration on daily basis. Have tools in place to make this move forward (eg. invite friends to church).

Laity Empowerment

  • Statement is true. Marginalizes the empowerment of Laity causes problems. Laity can be underutilized. At national level lay ‘people’ are not utilized or appreciated. Structures tend to stop direction due to politics or?
  • So necessary to future of who we are. Clergy can feel intimidated by empowered Laity. To take ownership of.
  • Clergy can be church structure. Framework to receive laity. Acceptance. Invite by clergy. Risk, accept a healthy amount of it. Smaller, isolated conference.
  • Intentional follow-up; new faces for new places. Do not lose energy of this group. Continue programs of disciplining. Set up to do the training of Laity. Electronic clergy, long distance, Lay ministry. Lay ministry support each other.

General Financial Sustainability

  • Scripture quoted. Conflicted with information. What conference does seem to give permission to other churches to follow suit.
  • Each church apportionment be decreased to meet with church finances yearly. Live within means. Don’t know what they get for the money they give.
  • Fear of arriving at sustainability.
  • Intentional recognition. Skype in to Sunday worship as congratulations! Acknowledgement! Incentives vs. Punishment