Thoughts on "Being Sent..."

 "The apostles and the elders... agreed to send some delegates chosen from among themselves to Antioch, together with Paul and Barnabas." (Acts 15:22) 

Most of you may already know that it was announced about a month ago that I will be reappointed ("sent") by our Bishop to serve as Senior Pastor of Cornerstone UMC in Newnan, GA effective  July 3^rd this summer. While Trish and I are sad to be leaving Lawrenceville (our final Sunday here will be May 29^th), we are confident that we have accomplished what God sent us here to do, and are also looking forward to the opportunities and possibilities for ministry in the place to which we (like Paul and Barnabas) are being sent.  In addition, I strongly believe that the person God is sending to follow me as your new Senior Pastor – Rev. Dr. Cyndi McDonald -- is His choice to lead you into the next stage of your future.

Of course, the process of moving (or "reappointing") pastors every so often (called the "Itinerancy") is one of the unique qualities of being a United Methodist pastor and congregation.  Based on the early church model of "sending/appointing" leaders, while it’s often difficult when there is a pastoral transition, it does mean that our churches don't need to have "search committees" or hire interim pastors, and pastors don't have to go "sell" themselves on the "open market" in order to find a new church.  Instead, "no church is ever without a pastor," and "no pastor is ever without a church."

What's more is that since no single pastor possesses all the leadership qualities necessary to lead an individual church, having multiple pastors over time helps our church to be better than if it merely had one pastor.  My grown daughter once explained to a friend that our United Methodist system of moving pastors is like building a house:  we wouldn’t want only a plumber doing all the construction work.  Instead, to have a complete home, we need plumbers, electricians, carpenters, “floor-installers”, roofers, etc., each to bring their own unique skills to the work of building the house.

So it is with the building of God’s church: over the course of several pastoral tenures (over, say, 20-30 years), a congregation led by several pastors will be more well-balanced and “complete” than one where only one or two pastors have served.  Some pastors are better speakers; some are better organizers and/or leaders; others are more people-oriented; some excel at visioning or problem-diagnosis; while others are better with evangelism, missions; discipleship, etc.  ALL of these are important to have over the life-span of a congregation, but different pastors are appointed by God through our system to bring differing skills and strengths needed by a congregation at differing seasons in its history.  

Most importantly, many of you have heard me say that when our Itinerant system works properly, it encourages congregations to be built around the people, rather than around a particular pastor.  In doing so, it lessens the likelihood that church members turn the pastor into an idol by becoming merely a "cult following" of that pastor.  While our system is certainly challenging when there are transitions, hopefully you can see that there are plenty of good reasons to have it, as well.

That said, there’s been a lot accomplished in my tenure as your Senior Pastor that I want to celebrate with you.  For example, on my “watch”, together…

● We weathered and grew from the challenges and opportunities of the global COVID pandemic (that we’re only now just beginning to emerge out of).  While there have been many who questioned some of the decisions we made during it, I am confident that we did everything God wanted and needed us to do both to keep people as safe as possible (“do no harm”, after all, is the first “rule” of Methodist Christianity), and to help remind us of the true meaning and purpose of “church.”

For example, through it all, together we were reminded that God is not confined to a building/facility, or to “the way we’ve always done things.”  To the contrary:  we learned that we can worship God and Jesus both outside and online in our homes (like the early church!); that we can connect with one another through things like “Parking Lot Fellowship”, drive-up children’s movies, and “drive-thru Trunk-or-Treat”; how to celebrate digital Holy Communion, Ash Wednesday “Ashes to Go,” and to grow spiritually in online Bible Studies and Sunday School; our children’s, student, and music departments even learned how to do “socially distant” ministry (and we all learned what that phrase was and meant in the process!). There was truly no end to the creativity and flexibility that our staff and volunteers displayed to help us get us through the once-in-a-lifetime, unique ministry challenges of the pandemic.

● We constituted several versions of our Vision team to help us to more accurately understand and claim our church’s unique MISSION (“People. Doing Life Together. Connecting All Through Christ.”) and VISION for the future (the six strategic direction areas discerned by our ReThink Church Task Force, adopted by Leadership Council, and recently shared in worship – if you missed them, find a video about those HERE).  I am especially excited for McKendree about these six areas, as I feel like they are mini-descriptions of precisely what God has in mind for its future.  In that sense, though, I also feel perhaps like Moses who led his people out of Egypt (i.e., "the way we've always done things"), through the wilderness (i.e., the COVID pandemic), and was allowed to draw within sight of the "promised land" (i.e., our six strategic direction areas) but not to enter it.

● We were guided to form our church’s “Embracing Race Together in Christ” (ERTC) ministry team in response to the racial divisions highlighted over the past few years to help us address the continued racial and ethnic inequities in our community and world (Read more about that team HERE).  To date, this team has sponsored at least nine different projects and initiatives to do this, with more to come.

● We installed new technologies, equipment and renovations for ministry, including: new lighting and digital equipment in the Sanctuary for a better livestream experience; new equipment in our Virtual Conference Room (Room 311-312) for hybrid in-person and online meetings; installed digital video and locks on some of our doors for enhanced physical safety for our weekly staff and volunteers; selling what we called the “Brighton property” to help reduce our mortgage debt; and we renovated the Lockridge Fellowship Hall for our student ministry.

● While the challenges we’ve recently faced also meant we went through a time of spiritual and numerical “pruning”, we were reminded that God can and does work even through painful experiences such as these to help us become who we need to become for Him, and that “bigger is not always better.”

● We oversaw a reconstitution of our church’s staff, saying “goodbye” to several long-time staff members who either moved or felt called elsewhere, while also welcoming several equally talented new staff members who are just as excited to be working for God’s kingdom here.

● We provided direct leadership and guidance to several ministries (like our Stephen Ministry and Missions Council) to help them discern new directions for their future effectiveness.

● We prioritized the paying down of our mortgage debt so that we now owe about $850,000 debt on our facility.

● We introduced church leadership to the healthier and more biblically sound process of decision making by Consensus.

● Even in the midst of two very challenging pandemic years, we welcomed 129 new members into our community of faith (61 by first-time profession of faith in Jesus!)

All of these are just a few reasons that I can, with confidence, say I feel that I’ve accomplished what the Lord sent me here to accomplish with and among you.  But even as we celebrate these things, I ask that you please pray not only for me and my family as we prepare to move to a new field of ministry, but also for Cyndi as she prepares to arrive and begin leading you in July.

Always remember that God loves you and I do, too!