A new appointment

At church on Sunday, our pastor mentioned that it was Moving Day for pastors in the North Carolina Annual Conference. This is the season for "Moving Days" across the UM connection, and that means it is the season of appointment process uncertainties and the unique reality of being a Methodist preacher. "We work on one-year contracts," you'll often hear Methodist preachers say. And it's true that you never know when that call from the district superintendent is going to come, telling you that it's time to pack up your belongings and move to a new town.

We all actually live in a more transient culture than pretty much any previous generation in American history. People move with a lot more frequency than they used to, whether for work, school, or some other reason. So it's a little curious in some ways that Methodist clergy seem more wary than ever of the appointment system. They look at their fellow clergy in other denominations who can potentially have 20 or 25 year pastorates, and the prospect of moving every 4 or 5 years can seem downright unappealing. But then again, who lives in the same place for 20 or 25 years anymore?

This may be an unpopular stance to take, but I'm willing to speak up for the appointment system. In fact, I think it can teach us something about the nature of ministry that a "call system" cannot. In my Lent column last year, I wrote about the virtue of someone else telling you a Lenten discipline to take on, rather than choosing one yourself. The virtue in question is humility, and it is fundamental to learning the kind of love that Jesus wants to teach us. In a way, I think the appointment system in the UMC, which goes back to John Wesley himself, teaches pastors a similar humility. Accepting the appointive authority of the bishop is akin to saying, "Ok God, I accept that I may not know best how to serve the church. So I will accept the guidance of the Holy Spirit and my bishop in telling me where you need me most."

I don't claim that the appointment system is flawless. Mistakes happen every year, in every annual conference. But in the midst of our grumbling, we should realize that there's a whole lot that does work about it. And we Methodist pastors have the opportunity to learn something about servant leadership - through the very way we accept pastoral appointments - in a way that our fellow clergy in other denominations do not.

Along those same lines, I've also got some news to share. Emily and I were contacted a few weeks ago by Gray Southern, district superintendent of the Durham District in this annual conference. He asked if I would be willing to take an appointment in Henderson, NC, at Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church. It's a beautiful little country church that dates back to the 1850s, and Emily and I are excited about starting there in a few weeks (that's a picture of it in the photo at the top of the post). I'm committed to working at the Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation in July, so our first Sunday at Mt. Carmel will be August 3rd.

I've experienced unexpected calls related to the appointment process before, and this was quite similar. I wasn't seeking out an appointment, and even though it is technically only quarter-time, it is going to take some time away that I could be spending on my doctoral program. But through prayer and conversation, Emily and I came to the conclusion that this is just one more example of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. The church is telling us where it needs us to serve. And I think the proper response is humble obedience to the call of the Spirit and the church.

Besides, now I'll be preaching again every week! Woo-hoo!

Itineracy under the magnifying glass

This is an important post.

My friend and Arkansas Conference colleague Eric Van Meter continues his series of columns in the United Methodist Reporter this week. You can access his first, second, and third articles in the Reporter's archive.

In his current installment, Eric looks at the issue of itineracy. He centers on the problem that itineracy creates in the church being able to fulfill its mission, which is (according to Paragraph 120 in the Book of Discipline) to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Eric writes, "Itineracy - in practice, if not in theory - fosters [a] culture of shared-and-shirked responsibility. Superintendents, pastors and local congregations all share the responsibility for the formation of Christian disciples. Most of these folks are decent, committed people who love the Lord and want to serve faithfully.

"But they're distracted, constantly preoccupied with the short-term commitments our practice of itineracy encourages."

Bingo. He is right-on there. Because the UMC has evolved into a large denomination with congregations ranging in size from a handful up to thousands, the itinerant system has taken on the character of a corporate ladder. When you get a church, you need to balance the budget, avoid scandal, keep attendance steady, and come across to your people as reasonably competent. Do all that, and you can be guaranteed a move in a few years' time to a bigger church with a more impressive salary and greater prestige. All the incentive for taking risks for the gospel are effectively eliminated.

Eric says that pastors accomplish their tasks as well as they do in spite of, and not because of, the increasing transience of the American experience. And I think he's hitting on something really crucial. Think of it this way: in the true days of the circuit riders back in the 1800s, it was the communities that were permanent and the pastors that were not. You might get a new Methodist preacher every year or two, but you could be sure that the same people you knew in your little town would grow up, grow old, and die there.

Now our cultural situation is such that people move around constantly. Take me, for example: I'm 32 years old, and since I was 18 I have lived in Paragould, AR, Conway, AR, Nashville, TN, Jackson, TN, Searcy, AR, and now Durham, NC. That's 6 different towns in 14 years! I may be a little over the norm because I've moved so many times for school and ministry, but my experience is by no means uncommon for today's young adults. And in fact, it's not even young adults, since job opportunities, divorces, and other factors lead even older adults to move much more frequently than they did in the past.

All that leads to a suggestion that Eric makes well: namely, the suggestion that pastors and congregations need to covenant together for long-term ministries that will allow for the full flowering of gospel ministry. If communities are more transient, the cultural reality calls for pastors to be less so. And that means bishops and district superintendents realizing the situation and taking on the discipline of really listening to their pastors and churches instead of forcing pastors for the sake of the appointment process.

This is a timely and prophetic column. I only hope the rest of the church is reading it.