Pastor’s Notes….
My formative years in congregational ministry were under the direct care and guidance of our then area minister Reverend Tony Salisbury. In the nine years that he served as a mentor to me, Tony and I met weekly. He also invited me to shadow his work in the Central Area. I was like Tony’s mini me! In addition to carrying me along for clergy cluster meetings and inviting me to be a part of the area committee on the ministry, Tony asked me to join him in Ft. Worth for a regional wide conversation on restructure. it was a three year project called New Day, New Direction.
“ND/ND” identified two challenges faced by the Southwest Region. The first was geography. We live in the largest region in our denomination. For that reason the region had been broken up into eight areas, staffed not by the region but by congregations in each respective area. This structure served us well for many years.
The second challenge was redundancy. Specifically, that meant congregations in the region were being asked to contribute to an area office, the regional office, and the general office in Indianapolis. As congregations grew smaller there were fewer people to donate and raise money and provide volunteer staffing and energy for so many levels or manifestations of church. Every level was suffering together.
Currently our region is in the process of living into new structure. Area offices have begun closing, our own central area office having been closed for years now. Ministers with new titles and areas of specific service are being installed to help assist congregations across the region without the assistance of formal areas. All area giving is now routed to the regional office in Fort Worth.
These measures help address redundancy in giving and makes it more financially possible for congregations to participate; but the problem of geography remains. In fact, it may loom larger. We are faced with envisioning structure across Texas and New Mexico without the benefit of geographically placed area offices.
We have determined that there is a need for healthy middle church. One purpose being to provide connections between congregations to each other and to the greater church. We may be expecting a great deal from the regional church alone to provide those connections. The time for new ways of thinking and acting is upon us. We must involve ourselves and our congregations; and there aren’t clear models available to us. Let’s explore some measures we may consider……to be continued…
My formative years in congregational ministry were under the direct care and guidance of our then area minister Reverend Tony Salisbury. In the nine years that he served as a mentor to me, Tony and I met weekly. He also invited me to shadow his work in the Central Area. I was like Tony’s mini me! In addition to carrying me along for clergy cluster meetings and inviting me to be a part of the area committee on the ministry, Tony asked me to join him in Ft. Worth for a regional wide conversation on restructure. it was a three year project called New Day, New Direction.
“ND/ND” identified two challenges faced by the Southwest Region. The first was geography. We live in the largest region in our denomination. For that reason the region had been broken up into eight areas, staffed not by the region but by congregations in each respective area. This structure served us well for many years.
The second challenge was redundancy. Specifically, that meant congregations in the region were being asked to contribute to an area office, the regional office, and the general office in Indianapolis. As congregations grew smaller there were fewer people to donate and raise money and provide volunteer staffing and energy for so many levels or manifestations of church. Every level was suffering together.
Currently our region is in the process of living into new structure. Area offices have begun closing, our own central area office having been closed for years now. Ministers with new titles and areas of specific service are being installed to help assist congregations across the region without the assistance of formal areas. All area giving is now routed to the regional office in Fort Worth.
These measures help address redundancy in giving and makes it more financially possible for congregations to participate; but the problem of geography remains. In fact, it may loom larger. We are faced with envisioning structure across Texas and New Mexico without the benefit of geographically placed area offices.
We have determined that there is a need for healthy middle church. One purpose being to provide connections between congregations to each other and to the greater church. We may be expecting a great deal from the regional church alone to provide those connections. The time for new ways of thinking and acting is upon us. We must involve ourselves and our congregations; and there aren’t clear models available to us. Let’s explore some measures we may consider……to be continued…