Course of Study 224: Polity and Administration Upper Midwest Course of Study School, Morningside College, Sioux City February 16-17 and April 13-14, 2018

Instructors: Rev. Bob and Rev. Martha Ward,

Course description and Outcomes: This course focuses on developing the student’s pastoral competency as an administrator in a United Methodist congregation.

Students will be able to:

  1. Articulate a biblical and theological understanding of United Methodist polity and administrative structures.
  1. Implement missional priorities through administrative work.
  2. Adapt administrative practices and pastoral responses, with special focus on smaller membership churches and multiple-charge settings.
  3. Explore leadership development, stewardship cultivation and conflict resolution as part of administration.
  4. Gain skills in pastoral leadership for guiding a congregation through the current tension between the polity and organization of the general and local church around issues of human sexuality.

Required reading:

  1. The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church 2016 (BOD).
  2. LaceyeC. Warner – The Method of Our Mission, Abingdon Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4267-3.
  3. Lovett Weems- Leadership in the Wesleyan Spirit, Abingdon Press, 1999, ISBN 0-687-04692-0.
  4. Unity in the Church and Human Sexuality: Toward a Faithful United Methodist Witness, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM), 2017, ISBN 13:9780930962308.
  5. On-line Sources: umc.org/who-we-are/commission-on-a-way-forward

Supplementary reading:

  1. Carl S. Dudley, Effective Small Churches in the Twenty First Century, Abingdon Press, 2003, ISBN 06870222568.

Pre-Course Assignments:

Read the Warner and Weems texts and the GBHEM Study Book in their entirety. Refresh your familiarity with the entire Book of Discipline; read carefully Part IV and Part VI, Chapters 1,2,3,4,and 6. Bring the Book of Discipline and your Bible to all class sessions.

The following written assignments are due on the first day of class, Feb. 16, 2018. Bring two printed copies of each. All work is to be on 8 ½ x11” paper, typed, doubled-spaced and in the student’s own words. Use a 12 point font, one inch margins. Provide citations when using the designated texts or other outside resources. The page numbers listed below are expected minimums.

  1. Write a five-page paper reflecting your reading in the Book of Discipline. Use BOD Part 4 to reflect on the Mission of the United Methodist Church, your own church’s mission statement (if different from that in the BOD) and how you as pastor are furthering that mission. From BOD Part 6, site several paragraphs which you consider most pertinent to your current ministry and explain why. In your current appointment, identify what you consider to be administrative tasks. In what ways do you consider these tasks to be ministry? How do they relate to your other clergy responsibilities like preaching and pastoral care? How does your experience of administrative tasks in other arenas (like other current or previous employment or civic responsibilities) inform your administrative work in the church? Describe any new discoveries about the Church which you may have gained from this review of the Book of Discipline.
  1. Write a five-page paper summarizing the four sections of the Warner text and relating those to your own present ministry. Reflecting on Warner Part 1, are members in your current congregations clear about what it means to be United Methodist? Which part of UM theology and polity do they affirm? Are there areas they struggle with? What do you see as your pastoral role in regard to clarifying and strengthening their understanding of their denominational roots and practices? In your summary of Part II, describe your call to ministry and your current ministry setting. In your conclusion, include your most important learnings from the Warner text.
  1. In February 2019, there will be a special session of the General Conference of the United Methodist Church for the sole purpose of considering our denomination’s stance on issues of human sexuality. Write a four-page paperin which you:
  2. Articulate your understanding of our denomination’s current struggles regarding human sexuality.
  3. Use the Weems text Part 2 to consider your role as pastor in helping your congregation(s) explore these issues.
  4. Drawing on your reading in the Warner text and Book of Discipline, explain how each branch of our Church (General Conference, Episcopacy and Judicial Council) plays a role in these considerations.
  5. Explain the work of the “Finding A Way Forward Commission” established by the 2016 General Conference and its implications for the future of our denomination.

Students will be evaluated on completion of assigned reading and written assignments, as well as class participation.