DREAMING GOD’S FUTURE DREAM
“Our 2020 Future Story to Missouri Mid-South UCC Congregations”
We have good news to celebrate today! We are doing the ministry to which Jesus Christ calls us together. We are constantly being renewed by our growing common commitment to Christ.
In 2013, our Missouri Mid-South Conference faced significant crossroads. We had much to celebrate yet experienced brokenness, as well. We struggled to find new ways of doing ministry. The hub and spoke model of ministry,with Conference staff at the center, no longer seemed adequate. Many congregations stepped back from Conference support and participation. The future was uncertain.
The matriarchs, patriarchs, prophets, and apostles of our Biblical story also faced uncertainty. Times of chaos or wandering in the wilderness are common for people of faith. Yet, with steadfast love and faithfulness, God leads us through chaos and wilderness into places where vision becomes clearer. Hope replaces fear, clarity replaces doubt, and God’s vision for our new life together guides us boldly into the future.
Like our forebears in faith, we listened before we envisioned. Like our ancestors, we prayed before we took action. Our listening was done in an attempt to hear God’s “still speaking” voice in the midst of God’s church - not just to identify “common interests” or “what we perceived to be our needs,” but to discern prayerfully. Multiple interviews and listening sessions were offered in 2013 and 2014. Jan Aerie, Minister of Strategic Innovation, produced a report of her observations, “Voices of the People: A Summary of Interviews with Clergy and Laity of the MMS Conference.” The voices of 90 youth, not always heard in churches, were included.
Consistent responses clarified five prophetic pointsto act upon. We linked these ministry imperatives to become a stronger network: Cultivating and nurturing authentic covenantal relationships;Strengtheningcongregations; Supporting authorized ministers in all settings; Enhancingcommunication; and Advancing a mission of advocacy for peace and justice.
- Cultivating and Nurturing Authentic Covenantal Relationships.
We created a matrix of connections – appropriate for a diverse group of people who all count themselves part of the body of Christ (I Cor. 12). By reorganizing the conference as community, (Gal. 3:28) we changed the way we think about being church together. Webecame more trusting, less isolated, less insular, more comfortable reaching out with a message that says, “Hey, I’m thinking about you and your congregation. Call me if I can do anything for you.”
We continue to share our stories of hope and spiritual growth as a testament to our diversity. We expand ideas about what it means to be created as a single family in God’s image —accepting diversity regardless of ethnicity, gender,sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, age, ability, or socio-economic level. No matter how we define ourselves, wetranscend labels andseeeach other and trust each other as equal imagers of God and followers of Jesusin service to each other. We are all important and necessary parts of the body of Christ(Rom. 12:4-8.)
Our meetings and gatherings reflect this unity in many ways. Weenjoy new styles of worship that bring glory to God. We welcome each other in common ministry and leadership across the Conference. We strengthenrelationships by learning more about each other and by working together more often. We believe God is constantly at work reconciling the Divine-human relationship as well as our human-human relationships. Our unity in diversity is seen online, in camps, and conferenceswhere we plan and share our life and work together as the wider Church.
Previously, relationship connections were mostly geographical. Associations met on a schedule but many of us could not participate because of seasonal timing and distance. Some Association and Conference committees gave way to a network of relationships based on common interest or need. Mission replaced meetings. Many churches working together are not even geographically close to one another. Authorized ministers across the Conference found collegiality. Every time a new person begins ministry in the Conference, colleagues in the area make an official but personal face-to-face welcome and offer orientation to Missouri Mid-South. Authorized ministers participate regularly in peer groups for encouragement and support.
- Strengthening Congregations
We study, discern, develop strengths and put them to use together. A strong emphasis has been encouraging our youth to utilize gifts in the life of our churches and Conference. Instead of installing people into institutionalized positions and roles, we match gifts to life-giving mission. We celebrate this new way (actually, a very old way!) of being church together. Our relationships of help and encouragement are leading us to more abundant life together.
In changing our perspective and approach to providing support to congregations, we foundnew vitality running through our communities. Enhancing life and spirit, helping struggling churches to focus on being alive rather than staying alive, has raised a sense of optimism and hope. We hold each other up in prayer; offer accountability;strengthen our face-to-face gatherings; and foster even more faithful worship, teaching, mission and fellowship experiences. Our networks that focus on utilizing our God given spiritual gifts areinformative, but even more importantly – they areformative for many of us. We have developed an extensive catalog of talents, strengths, and congregational gifts and experiences. Our networks especially remain watchful for those who may have the gifts for authorized ministry. Committees on Ministry work with congregations to nurture and train potential future leaders.
- Supporting Authorized Ministers in All Settings
We used to call the Conference office with the expectation that a Conference minister would show up and fix our issues. Today, we call the office to be pointed toward those who might work alongside us or partner with us. We no longer view our Conference staff as thesourcefor every answer but as resourcesfor connections and relationships, pastoral care, support and mentoring, training, and accountability.For example, new authorized ministers and those in new positions meet regularly in small groups with an experienced and trained mentoring pastor. All find support and guidance that enables them to thrive for a lifetime of effective service.
Authorized ministers gather to hone their practices of ministry and develop meaningful and supportive collegial relationships.Continuing education eventsoffer focused learning and discussions on topics relevant to churches and other settings of ministry. A pastoral excellence program leads authorized ministers to constantly grow in faith and wisdom as they build healthy, vital congregations and other settings of ministry in Missouri Mid-South. We have worked cooperatively to learn from other conferences, such as the Massachusetts Conference, which sets high standards and receives outstanding clergy support.
Our settings of ministry are teaching each other new, and often better,ways of engaging our communities in leadership. The beauty of this is that all of our settings, large and small, urban or rural,have something to teach. We train each other and partner in ministry to be spirit-nurturing, life-giving, bridge-building, barrier-breaking, mutually-accountable, and unifying sources.
- EnhancingCommunication
Our MMSelectronic communications network uses inexpensive, off-the-shelf hardware and internet-based applications that have transformed ways we reach others. An urban congregation in Memphisnow connects with a rural congregation in northwest Missouri, with no travel required. Knowledgeable persons help with technology and training. Through mutual support, every congregation utilizesavailable technology and receives the aid of church techno-geeks throughout.We realize technology doesn’t work for everything. You can’t have a virtual camp – a retreat is all about being together with people. Yet, we’ve learned that there is a lot that can be done without having to travel. Most of our planning and administrative meetings are held online.
The eCourieris intentional about broadening connections and relationships, as well as enhancing and encouraging each other’s ministry stories. Churches understand the high costs of publishing, printing, and postage. Though the stewardship value of relying on e-communications is understood, many still grieve if they don’t have something in their hands to read. Wouldn’t it be nice if every home had a computer and someone in the housewho could use it?[1] But short of this universal communication technology, communications superheroestake responsibility themselves to share or print out notices and articles they know those in their community will find importantwhenever a congregational, cluster, lectionary, or Association meeting takes place.
- Advancing a Mission of Advocacy for Peace and Justice
We experiment with a variety of ways of doing and being church. Some are traditional; others are postmodern. They all include an improved linking of ministry connections among clusters, Associations, covenantal ministry teams, and Conference bodies. Many of our churches and Conference-related human service ministries work together in significant mission projects. Many are moving deeply into partnerships with congregations of different denominations and backgrounds to engage in effective local mission and to respond in prophetic activism.
More and more of our churches see mission transcending denominations as we join with others across the faith spectrum to engage in the work we are called to do. Whether partnering with others to feed, shelter, give voice, and/or heal, our Conference is doing the faithful work of God’s people under a variety of names. Congregations are removing walls that too often divide us and prevent us from doing God’s work. We reclaim our heritage of interfaith and ecumenical leadership! Work within all settings of ministry (Associations, the Conference,other Conferences, ecumenical and interfaith networks,and the National Church) is seen as a seamless continuum of being part of the United Church of Christ.
A hallmark of our congregations is a prevalence of hands-on mission in an aching world. We take the next steps and move beyond the handing of the fish and even beyondproviding the pole. We resolve to advocate for just policy to close the gaps of inequality so there is no hunger. We stand up and counsel not “What Would Jesus Do?” but teach “What Did Jesus Do?” and with conviction and certainty bring the realm of Christ to all structures and pockets of power.
The Future Story Is Now
We celebrate what our ministry has become and is becoming, constantly shaped and reformed by God the way a gentle stream will smooth the rough edges of a craggy rock. Step by step, patiently and always trusting God, our Conference is a new, life-giving creation. We are learning and living a transformed way of doing and being Church together. We are living examples of the Gospel story of transformation. We are following Jesus where he is leading us. Through the Spirit we are finding ways for greater connection with God, our mission in Jesus Christ, and with eachother. We are United. We areChurch. We are of Christ.
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[1]Once upon a time, not every house had or wanted a telephone so people relied on neighbors to ride up the road in their buggies to tell them news in their church. Telephones are now prevalent (we can’t call them telephones anymore) and the buggy bugle express has completed its mission.