Two weeks ago, Rio Texas Conference clergy had the privilege of hearing two presentations by the Rev. Dr. Ted Campbell. Ted is a professor at Perkins School of Theology (my alma mater!), SMU. Ted talked about the state of the United Methodist Church in the world today. He did that through the lens of history. In the first 100 or so years the church experienced phenomenal growth. In the post-war years, especially since the unification in 1968, the church has begun to show a steady decline. Why that is so can be pointed to a number of causes. I'll not address in this Pastor's Corner all the causes - we don't have the room nor the time, but I will talk about one: clergy and staff and the role they play.
A dear friend and colleague (I'll call him "John" although that's not his real name) is retiring in June. He's retiring not by choice, but feels with what's happening in his church, and admitting his own mistakes in the process, he felt he had to make this move. While he's of the age to do this, it wasn't his desire. As he and I talked, I suggested that he's giving himself far too much blame in the process. As I pointed out to him, his two predecessors also retired early. Hmmm. Appears there is something in the DNA of the church he's serving.
It's easy for the members of a church to blame the pastor and staff for any dysfunction (and I despise this word, as I feel there is no perfect, non-dysfunctional entity, be it a family or a church, as all groups dysfunction to one extent or another) it is felt lies within the system. "If only the pastor would preach better, visit more, become more involved . . .", etc. The same is true of the staff, particularly programmatic staff: If only they would do this, or if only they would do that.
Think about it. When a Major League baseball team is mired in a terrible season, are the 25 members of the team fired? Of course not, but the manager may lose his job. And then, the team miraculously performs much better, don't they? Maybe, but more often, they don't, but continue their same losing ways. My favorite team, the New York Yankees, went through so much managerial instability that the late Billy Martin was hired five times, and experienced four firings. No dysfunction there!
So, where does the truth lie? Somewhere in between I think. If a child is acting out in a family, the parents take the child/youth to a psychologist and tell the professional to "fix" their child. Through this process the child begins functioning at a much higher level. The psychologist then release the child back into the family system and guess what? He begins to regress and to function at a lower level. That should tell us that the problem lies not with the child (although he/she, too, is a part of the family system and is a contributor) but in the family unit as a whole.
I'll not defend clergy as being blameless in the process. All clergy, including me, are contributors to the system whether good, bad, or indifferent. What I will say that rather than try to fix blame for whatever we may feel is wrong, we should look at the system as a whole and examine our part in it. Lent is a wonderful time for that self-examination and introspection. When I get frustrated, I have to look at myself to see how much I'm the cause of that frustration. Pointing fingers does no good. In a church, laity and clergy/staff are partners. If they cannot function except in a "blame mode," then the church will never be the divine instrument God intended it to be. More on this next week. See you on the road of this Lenten journey.
Grace and peace,
Mike
March 8, 2015