State of the Church Address

   The 4 Essentials of United Methodism
as Practiced Within the Northern Illinois Conference.

Greeting

To the Church that is gathered at Pheasant Run, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those in the congregations from which you have come. Grace to you and peace in the name of the One who has created and is creating, in the name of Jesus our liberator and savior, and in the name of the ever-stirring, life-giving power of the Holy Spirit.

I thank God every time I remember you and your congregations. I do so with joy because of your sharing in the gospel. I remain confident in this, that the Holy One who began a good work among us will bring it to completion, if not in our time together, then in the time of fulfillment when divisions cease and peace with justice is the order of the day.

Bishop Joseph H. Yeakel, a retired and deeply respected bishop of our Church, has helped his younger colleagues to understand that United Methodism is grounded in four essential ingredients. That is, we United Methodists are a conciliar, connectional, itinerant, and episcopal Church.

Let us take stock of our life together in the Northern Illinois Conference as we measure ourselves by these four essential ingredients.

I.  Conciliar

A. Paragraph 102, Section 2 — "Our Doctrinal History” of The 2000 Book Of Discipline, in part, states the following:

“While it is true that United Methodists are fixed upon certain religious affirmations, grounded in the gospel and confirmed in their experience, they also recognize the right of Christians to disagree on matters such as forms of worship, structures of church government, modes of Baptism, or theological explorations. They believe such differences do not break the bond of fellowship that ties Christians together in Jesus Christ. Wesley’s familiar dictum was, ‘As to all opinions which do not strike at the root of Christianity, we think and let think.’

“But, even as they were fully committed to the principles of religious toleration and theological diversity, they were equally confident that there is a ‘marrow’ of Christian truth that can be identified and that must be conserved. This living core, as they believed, stands revealed in Scripture, illuminated by tradition, vivified in personal and corporate experience, and confirmed by reason. They were very much aware, of course, that God’s eternal Word never has been, nor can be, exhaustively expressed in any single form of words.

“They were also prepared . . . to reaffirm the ancient creeds and confessions as valid summaries of Christian truth. But they were careful not to set them apart as absolute standards for doctrinal truth and error.”

Wesley himself, “followed a time-tested approach: ‘In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity.’”  (Pages 50-51)

B. Hence, we United Methodists are neither a creedal nor a confessional Church. Employing Scripture, tradition, experience, and reason conjointly, we engage in “holy conferencing.” In the company of one another we search together for the will of God and Christ’s truth in each generation.

C. Currently, neither the whole Church nor this annual conference is doing effectively what needs to be done with this essential ingredient. We are some distance from being conciliar in either attitude or practice.

Rather than establishing venues for theological and biblical truth-seeking, increasingly some United Methodists have embraced the more secular practices of litigation, journalistic posturing and divisive power-seeking. Some paint opponents with the garish discoloration of half-truths. Or occasionally, with no truth at all.

The publication of my book was an attempt to call for a different venue. It seeks a context of honest theological, biblical, and ethical truth-seeking. While I take heart in the overwhelming show of support for the effort, if not for each understanding articulated, I regret the book’s intemperance at points, as well as the highly politicized complaint of heresy that was filed and dismissed because of the Christological understandings the book contains.

The responses of many of you in discussions in your districts and congregations, regarding all of this, have been heartening. You have said that you are delving more deeply into Scripture and examining anew your own beliefs. Many of you are eager for thoughtful and prayerful discourse across theological lines of difference. For this I am grateful. It makes all the notoriety worth it. Surely we are far healthier, as an annual conference, when we can engage each other on matters of core beliefs and subsequent practices that contain the potential to create tension and dis-ease among us.

D. Yet, both within this annual conference and across the whole Church, new venues must be developed in which, instead of chasing supposed heretics, we will engage one another honestly and lovingly on the biblical, theological, and hence, ethical and political issues that portend to divide us.

I sense that the United Methodist Church and this annual conference are ready for such holy conferencing. It is in our hands to find ways to make it happen for Christ’s sake and our own.

E. The 2000 Book of Discipline helps. In it we read, “In the name of Jesus Christ we are called to work within our diversity while exercising patience and forbearance with one another. Such patience stems neither from indifference toward truth nor from an indulgent tolerance of error but from an awareness that we know only in part and that none of us is able to search the mysteries of God except by the Spirit of God. We (must) proceed . . . trusting that the Spirit will grant us wisdom . . .” (Page 84)

F. Finally, because confession is good for the soul, I confess that, when the letters and e-mails arrive that assign me to hell, instruct me how to get there and when, and presuppose the known duration of my stay, my tendency is to respond in-kind. A favorite response, as yet unsent, goes like this, “If heaven is to be populated by the likes of you, hell could not be worse than spending eternity as your roommate.” I suspect that my temptation is the tendency of most of us. But, such thinking, let alone such behaving, is inappropriate. We are called to be One that the world may believe. To model unity in the midst of diversity, to disagree in love and not be disagreeable in the process.

The essential ingredient of conciliarity? It is not that we have practiced it and found it wanting in our time; but rather, it is that we have hardly practiced it at all.

God asks more of the United Methodist Church and the Northern Illinois Conference. Now is the time for all of us, regardless of the theological stripe we bear, to embrace the conciliar and to eschew the vindictive. May it be so, sooner rather than later, for Christ’s sake and that of our Church.

II.  Connectional

A. Consider this incomplete collage of stories that points to examples of where the connection is working.

1. Wheadon UMC had become a small membership congregation. Sherman Avenue, the one African-American UMC in the area, needed space. It was land-locked and building poor.  Despite its small numbers, Wheadon remained large in its historic spirit of activism. The congregation’s commitments to justice and service were alive and well among the faithful remnant at Wheadon.

Thus, after repairing it sacrificially, Wheadon deeded its property — parsonage and church building — to Sherman. Sherman sold its old building. Wheadon’s remnant took the proceeds from the Sherman sale with it to the United Church of Rogers Park. Sherman now has appropriate space and property. Wheadon has a new lease on life given its merger with the United Church of Rogers Park.

That newly merged congregation presently enjoys an influx both of additional dollars and dynamic leaders to help with a vital ministry in the midst of one of the most diverse and needful settings for mission in the conference, if not the nation.

2. Woodstock and Hebron share solid pastoral leadership. Hebron could no longer afford a full-time pastor. Yet the needs and opportunities within that congregation and community were and are significant. Woodstock could not afford a needed full-time associate pastor. Today, the two congregations enjoy the dedicated service of a full-time pastor to the delight of all concerned. She splits her time between the two congregations and is connected to both in helpful ways.

3. Gary Memorial UMC in Wheaton asked if a partnership with the Winfield UMC could be attempted. Gary Memorial, a large and thriving congregation, feared that Winfield would be closed thus eliminating a needed community of faith, while removing from the South Asian UMC its place of gathering.

A student local pastor was appointed, conjointly between Gary and Winfield. He is supervised by Gary’s Senior Pastor. His sterling leadership and the cooperative spirit of the people and staffs at Winfield, SouthIntroduction

 Asian, and Gary Memorial have created a win-win-win. Gary Memorial and Winfield have grown exponentially, not only numerically, but in every aspect of their ministries. South Asian is alive and well. It is one of our dynamic immigrant congregations.

4. Have you seen the buildings, both new and gorgeously renovated, in the Boone Co-Active ministry? They reflect the solid ministry that is coming out of Poplar Grove, Blaine, and Hunter where a dedicated elder works in conjunction with a student local pastor, lay speakers, and willing congregants to forge a new vision and embrace a vital reality. This cooperative parish signals the direction many of our rural and inner-city congregations need to go.

5. Also west of the Fox River, Coleta, Sterling First , Rock Falls and Sterling Wesley United Methodist churches have completed their second year of a Cooperative Youth Ministry. The Coleta pastor is Director of this energetic ministry. Her two half-time positions combine to create a full-time appointment for an effective pastoral leader.

6. The faithful work of the Northern Illinois Conference's 10-10-10 missionaries is reflected beautifully in Central Mi Pueblo, the first Hispanic outreach ministry on the De Kalb District. And, Prayer Rivers Intercultural Ministries, based at Grace UMC in La Salle, is actively engaged in hands-on ministries with many of the Native American and Chinese people who live in the area.

7. Rockford’s new Cooperative Ministry, composed of Beth Eden, Harlem, and Evans UMCs, is a hopeful model of shared resources. This new cooperative venture is led by two full-time pastors who serve the three congregations.

8. And the beat goes on in Harvey, at First Vietnamese, the Emmanuels, Ashburn Mission and East Side Youth Center; through Antioch’s recovery from a tragic assault and St. Andrew’s outreach with Hispanics in Carol Stream; with rekindled fire at West Englewood; in the exponential growth at Christ UMC in Rockford and Broadway UMC in Chicago; and, through the rebirth of congregations like Mandel and Olivet on Chicago’s near west side.

Through the creative and sacrificial work of the Program Staff, Congregational Development and Redevelopment, the Cabinet, creative pastors and willing laity, the NIC is building viable and much needed new models for growth and mission. We have only begun this journey of innovation together. But, the connection is being re-connected in some very tangible and quite hopeful ways.

B. Quite sadly, for the first time in five years, we in the Northern Illinois Conference did not pay our General Church apportionments 100% in 2002. Conference leadership has vowed that this will not occur in 2003. If need be, the belt will be further tightened around ourselves that others might be supported and served this year and next.

I know that some of you faced do or die situations last year. The downturn in the economy and the loss of employment coupled with sky-rocketing health care and utility costs precluded 100% support of apportionments for some of our more faithful congregations. We are family. Hence we seek to bear each others’ burdens. And share each others’ joys. There is no shame when we have done the best we can in difficult times and can do no more.

I only ask that all of us do all we can to treat apportionments and our Rainbow Covenant commitments as having first-call on our missional outreach giving. What one congregation cannot or will not do with apportionment giving, others must to make up the difference. Apportionments are not a conference or General Church tax. They are time-tested and quite viable vehicles for grateful biblical stewardship through which we share with others the bounty we have received.

It is a powerful thing to travel the globe, especially to visit third and fourth world settings, and see United Methodist mission dollars at work. I have been privileged to do this in Palestine, Afghanistan, Mozambique, Angola, Cambodia, India, Singapore, and a host of domestic venues where our Church’s presence is making a profound difference. Apportionments and our own Millennial Challenge Campaign are opportunities for missional giving worthy of our faithful embrace.

C. Recently, Diane and I spent an unforgettable day in a former congregation. It was a time to remember. The bells rang in our hearts and theirs. Everything was in-tune. Except for one minor sour note.

Instead of identifying the congregation by its rightful name. ______ UMC. A name that led that community when no other institution would. A name through which hundreds came to Christ. A name under which innumerable young, and not so young, women and men made and enacted decisions for full-time Christian service. Quite unfortunately, from my viewpoint, the congregation is now faddishly described as “ ______ Community”, and in small print, “A Congregation of the United Methodist Church.”

I understand niche marketing and mega-church thinking. I know what some church growth gurus are saying about the historic mainline denominations. But, we United Methodists are connected. Joined together toe to foot to ankle to leg to belly to shoulder to neck to head to the heart and soul of each other. What affects one congregation directly affects all indirectly. Let’s not be ashamed to embrace the connection that produced us, serves the world admirably in Christ’s name, and deserves the loyalty of all of us in these demanding times.

D. It is not my intent to address the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in this setting. As you know, I have done so repeatedly in other venues. But, I do take some solace, in the midst of my grief from the wars and their results, in knowing that in Afghanistan and Iraq today the United Methodist Church is mercifully at work among the least, last, and lost. Right now, the connection is connecting in life-giving ways with people in dire straits. I find this and the new Catete School in Angola, that is up and running, to be timely reasons for us to hope against all odds.

E. It is a wondrous thing that so many of your congregations have committed to connect and re-connect through our Church with the peoples of the world. Wherever we turn — Europe, Asia, Africa, South America — barrio, suburb, small town, ghetto, farmland — black, brown, yellow, red, and white — United Methodists in the Northern Illinois Conference are connected to each other and with the world through prayers, presence, gifts, and service.. How delighted I am with your embrace of immigrants, whether documented or not. With your support of the Russia Initiative, your solidarity with the Church in Cuba and Latin America, your demonstrated nurture of the Church in Korea, your support of Africa University, and, the additional innumerable ways by which you do indeed embrace the world as your parish.

The baptismal covenant is being honored in significant ways by countless Northern Illinois Conference congregations. You represent faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who are vitally connected to the whole Church and a needful world.

F. United Methodist connectionalism will be tested anew in 2004. Next year our quadrennial feet will dance again. The General Conference will speak for United Methodism. Jurisdictional and central conferences, around the globe, will elect and assign episcopal leaders. And the Northern Illinois Conference will be connected to these undertakings through the lay and clergy delegates you will elect in this session of the annual conference.

You will be privileged to elect delegates who will connect the hopes and hurts, dreams and delusions, faith and futility of this annual conference to the whole Church.

Therefore, vote wisely and prayerfully. This is a perilous time for our Church. It is a wilderness time in the culture. Servant leaders, who manifest the fruits of the Spirit, are needed in every context, including these rapidly approaching venues of holy conferencing. Vote your hearts, trusting that the Spirit is moving within you.

And, after you elect Northern Illinois Conference delegates, support them with your continual prayers and reasoned suggestions.

We are connected. A sneeze in Apple River becomes a cough in Chicago that will reverberate across the General Conference when it convenes next April in Pittsburgh. It’s that way for the connectional people called UMs.

And so, we rightly sing, “Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love; the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.”

III. Itinerant

A. “United Methodist clergy are called to be sent. Not called to be called.” These words of Bishop Yeakel succinctly describe the itinerant system.

While bishops, cabinets, and church development staffers know that longer pastorates of eight to ten years duration would be a helpful norm for congregations and clergy, most of our pastors are moved more frequently.

The reasons for this seemingly unwise strategy are many. Our appointive system is devoted to the sum of the parts. That is, a bishop and cabinet are responsible for the health of the whole conference, for the composite of congregations. Thus, frequently we are forced to move a pastor prematurely because our collective wisdom is that he/she is more needed in the new “there” than in the present “here”. Often, this is an unpleasant reality that must be embraced for the good of the whole.

Additionally, our system contains the promise of guaranteed appointments for clergy conference members. There is an identified minority of pastors who must move frequently. To accommodate them, there are instances where openings are created so as to minimize potential harm. Guaranteed appointments have become a problematic variable — not for the many, thankfully, but for the few, who cannot or will not engage the tasks of pastoral ministry effectively and/or faithfully.

But, lest we be short-sighted in our appraisal of itineracy, please note that the itinerant system accomplishes in significant ways what the call system has not. All congregations, regardless of size or context, have constant pastoral service; clergy enjoy the privilege of moving when present ministries have been accomplished; clergy women and people of color are not without congregations to serve; immigrant congregations benefit from the work of indigenous pastors; cross-cultural appointments have become the norm in this conference; here women clergy can and do lead congregations of all sizes including several of our larger ones; shared connectional financial resources make possible the appointment of part or full-time clergy to critical ministries and needful mission sites; and, clergy are guaranteed freedom of the pulpit. Our pastors are not subject to the whims of a few detractors after prayer meeting each Wednesday. This is especially true whenever clergy address difficult issues. No clergy person has been moved during my tenure because of pressure exerted because of justice stances taken.

However, itineracy is under attack. And truthfully, it must be reformed while not surrendering its historic ability to help reform and renew the church. The single most damaging variable at work among us is the absence of a sufficient number of called, committed, creative, courageous, and well-trained clergy leaders. It does not matter if you call or send pastors, if you have too few of those who are needed available, the result is the same. Therefore, we United Methodists must re-establish a process for helping young people to interpret their call. And we simply must nurture and support them in following it. This includes developing additional ways to help finance seminary education. It also means enhancing the quality of instruction in courses of study for those clergy for whom a seminary education is not feasible.

Each congregation represented here should ask: When did we last send a son or daughter into ordained ministry? If not recently, why not? How can we expect quality pastoral leadership if we are not a part of the developmental process that produces and nurtures them? Seminaries, boards of ministry, boards of laity, cabinets, and congregations must become serious and intentional about clergy leadership development. This is a problem of crisis proportion among us.

There is no greater joy for a pastor or congregation than to watch those you helped to shape emerge as leaders in the Church. Pastors cannot do this essential work alone. The culture of congregations and the quality and hospitality of seminaries and boards of ministry also play essential roles.

Excuse the crude analogy but it was far easier for Phil Jackson to coach the Chicago Bulls than has been the case for his two successors. A coach or a bishop can only send into the fray those on the roster. Together we nurture, support, and train that roster. Today, the bench is thin. God is still calling the Samuels and Sarahs among us. All of us are called to be their Elis and Elizabeths.

Itineracy can and must take family dynamics and spousal employment into account. In this conference, one of the more consultative in United Methodism, we do so to the nth degree. However, there are times when, if clergy are asked or told to go, go they must. Home ownership by clergy must not become a defining variable in such equations. Clergy home ownership, unless it is the ownership of a house clergy do not occupy, is a barrier to itineracy. Home ownership of the pastoral residence, while serving a clergy’s self-interest, can be hurtful to the other clergy members in the conference if some of them are forced to move prematurely because homeowners will not.

Bishops and cabinets are fallible. But, if consultative work is done year-round, profiles gathered annually, and congregational and personal stories known, the itinerant system works far better than some critics suggest.

Work must be done, by pastors and others, to acquaint our congregations and Pastory/Parish Relations Committeees (PPRC) with itineracy. Increasingly newcomers, who were not raised within United Methodism, assume a call process when a pastoral change is needed. Education must be done before the fact to help PPRCs and congregations understand how itineracy works. And all pastors need to make known their commitment to itineracy, as affirmed in their ordinations. And all clergy simply must stand-up and tell the truth to congregations when they request or willingly accept a move. Such behavior is a gift to successors and will benefit the life of the congregations they are leaving.

Anecdotally, part of my experience is this: 1) The two appointments I made in this conference, as a result of valid clergy requests, when my vibe-meter said “No”, failed; and, 2). The most meaningful and effective appointment I served in pastoral ministry was when a hard-nosed bishop put his arm around my shoulder and told me in no uncertain terms that I was going to a land I knew not at all and preferred never to enter.

These final words regarding itineracy: 1) We must exorcize from among us the demon of entitlement. It is not what the Church or conference can do for us — whether congregation or clergy — but what we can do for Christ and God’s good creation, including all of humankind, in and through the Church and conference; and, 2) Thank God for the new NIC Institute on Congregational Development and Redevelopment. It is the wave of a hopeful future in leadership training that is both quite practical and very solid biblically and theologically. If you do not know about this innovation in our midst, find out; if your congregation or pastor is not involved, alter the default, ASAP.

Call systems serve elite and powerful congregations and clergy very well. Itineracy, at its best, serves the whole body, even those parts some would hide or discard. Let’s not throw out the baby of itineracy with the bathwater of self-interest, myopic vision or, as yet, incomplete reform.

IV.  Episcopacy

A.  Invariably and quite appropriately, whenever I talk with the children in our congregations, they want to know what a bishop does. Some of you do too! Or, if you are in the know, would like, at least occasionally, to make alterations.

The reality is that, aside from appointment making, where the authority of the episcopal office is decisive, bishops have little power, but much influence.

Bishops are elected and consecrated to a bully pulpit. How we bishops occupy that pulpit is a matter of considerable contention in today’s church.

Many contend that bishops should function as windsock managers. Those who adjudge the way the cultural and ecclesiastical winds are blowing and then proceed to position conferences and themselves in the winds’ way so as to rock no boats but smoothly sail someplace, anyplace at all.

I fervently disagree and have said so since I stood for possible election at the North Central Jurisdiction (NCJ) Conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in July 1996. I said then what I practice now. Namely, I have no interest in being the staid CEO of a regional religious institution. I am called to be a pastoral theologian, who takes risks on behalf of the Gospel and invites others to follow. I seek to be clear regarding the theological and biblical rationale for such leadership. I am open to debate and change. I am fallible and, hence, sometimes wrong. But lead, leaders must. And, as a bishop, I attempt to do just that.

This style has created controversy. It has stirred the tempest of chaos. It has brought notoriety and embarrassing complaints of heresy. It has also unleashed energy, prodded hope, lifted morale, increased excitement, modeled integrous and purposeful ministry, and engaged risk-taking ventures within and without this Church.

I make no apology for my leadership style or for what we have done and are doing in such a time as this. But, the time for transition is drawing near. I plan to retire on September 1, 2004, per the usual cycle of episcopal retirements. Thus, you will receive a new bishop at that juncture. He/she will be assigned to this conference at the NCJ Conference in July of 2004. According to the variable of age, I could serve another quadrennium. But, I shall not.

Married clergy live in the midst of two primary covenants. I have attempted to honor both across 42 years of active ministry. Too often, the marriage covenant received short shrift in comparison with that of ordination. The time has come for the equation to be balanced.

The decision to retire has not been easy. My mortality, along with devotion to calling, has been at work. It is not my intention to abandon those who look to me as a role model, who expect me to be their voice in the wilderness. Clearly, my critics have not dictated this decision. In fact, the virulence of some prompted a near reversal of this decision. But that would have been unwise, unfaithful even. Better to go when most want you to stay than to stay when most want you to go.

Invitations to teach in seminaries, to serve as the Resident Bishop in a beloved congregation, and to spend time in Washington, D.C., as preacher, pastor, teacher, and advocate, will fill my vocational space.