News is out from the Barna organizations that giving to churches is down 6%. More economists and government leaders are willing to admit that we are now in a deep recession with the earliest recoveries predicted to be in late 2009 but no one feels confident to offer a firm prediction.

We are certainly feeling the pressure in the area office and we expect it to get worse, barring something unexpected. We hear from several of you that congregational budgets are not being met and the gaps between income and expenses are causing concern even among optimists. And while we certainly have seen miraculous intervention by God through faithful and compassionate stewards, we are also charged by the scriptures to be wise.

I want to put this offer out in all seriousness and I pray that many of you will agree to take part.

It may be time to have a meeting of congregational leaders (executive teams and pastoral staff) on two levels - within the NW Area and within local communities (among congregations of any and no denomination) to prayerfully explore ways to share income and expenses to more effectively support the missions to which we are called.

I do not suggest a "Y'all come!" gritch session, nor would it be helpful to toss around several ideas with no real commitment to follow through. This would be a very focused and productive conversation among people who are determined to carry out mission with excellence and to honor the economic realities of our time.

If you (or someone you know) might be interested in helping to plan such an event with me, please let me know. We'll call the planning group together as quickly as possible and schedule events as soon as possible.

Let's not allow the secular community look to the Church during the recession and find us merely huddling and fretting while the power of the gospel and the promise of the Kingdom go unrealized on our watch.

If How To's Were Enough . . .

Brian Klemmer is a Christian corporate consultant and an acquaintance who has done significant work around a core belief.

He contends that the answers to life's toughest challenges are not found in the Self-Help sections of your favorite bookstore but in challenging dysfunctional belief systems, putting healthier beliefs into practice, and committing to excellent results. I seem to recall a Jewish carpenter's kid who said much the same thing in the gospels.

Last weekend a number of colleagues were part of a group that met in St. Joseph for a Quickening retreat. There we looked at some of the dysfunctional belief systems that guide our decisions. The truth came out when we least expected it - while playing games and observing our behavior. By examining what we actually did, we got a glimpse of our truest intentions behind the behavior.

I contend that some of the failure of the church to act boldly is connected to the failure of leaders to truly appreciate their own lives, gifts, and their status as joint heirs with Christ.

Many clergy do not like themselves. Job satisfaction is so-so. Relationships with family sometimes suffer.

Small wonder then that they demand so little of congregations, areas, regions, and denominations. To expect much, one has to telegraph integrity at a level few of us will dare to experience personally. Some of us would rather settle for a life that vindicates our low esteem.

Are we okay with that? Can the Church afford that?

What Is the Right Role for a MIddle Judicatory Now?

Last weekend 29 of us Disciples of Christ gathered from around the Mid-America Region for what we call the Council of Areas. This body is charged with oversight for the accomplishing of the mission of the region. Elected representatives from each of the four areas in the region join with moderators of commissions and constituency groups (women, men, youth, African American Convocation) and area and regional ministers to review proposals, hear reports, and conduct the business of the region according to its by-laws.

This time the Council met in the newly completed "Disciples Regional Mission Center" - formerly the regional office. The facility, located on the campus of the Rickman Conference Center, houses offices for the regional staff and the Missouri School of Religion. A meeting room and annex can seat up to 75 in chairs, up to 40 around tables. The meeting room doubles as a chapel. The building was paid for with money given by the Missouri Department of Transportation because they had to build a road through the location of the last regional office building.

After prayer, the Council began work on Friday hearing a report by the regional minister about the history of the regional office since restructure in 1968 when it changed from an association of Missouri DOC congregations to the Christian Church in Mid-America.

The Council also received reports, approved a resolution recognizing the region's partnership with Woodhaven, recognized three new congregations in formation and reviewed the work of the four areas as it relates to the region's mission.

Those conversations were resumed Saturday morning with a focus on how areas, commissions, and constituency groups were planning to expand or deepen their missions in the next two years. Three of the four areas admitted to serious financial shortfalls this year (only Ozark Lakes Area has reserve funds). Short-term influxes of cash from within those areas have helped but a more sustainable strategy is needed soon. (It should be noted here that this situation is common to a growing number of presbyteries, associations, conferences, diocese, and other middle judicatories in North America.)

A deficit budget ($395743 income and $405583 expenses) was passed for the 2009-2010 biennium and recommended for approval at the Regional Assembly - though not without abstentions and negative votes - something unusual at these gatherings where almost every motion passes unanimously.

Conversations grew animated around our shared ministry and the rapidly changing contexts in which we all work. Some shared good insights. Some told stories of trying to accomplish much on budgets already cut to muscle and bone. There was even more mention of the ecumenical nature of our work and a growing appreciation for the fact that the work of the Church is a work entrusted to a whole Church and not merely to its constituent denominations.

The meeting's outcomes were predictably familiar. It is not unreasonable to assume that even positive changes occurring over the next two years as a result of decisions made during our two-day meeting will go largely unnoticed by the very congregations that fund the many ministries and missions of the region more out of habit than passion and intention. The challenges may be more than better communications between regions, areas, congregations and individual disciples of Christ.

Hence, this question: Just what is the mission of a middle judicatory in this century?

• Whom are we called to serve?
• By what authority?
• With what resources?
• How are we to be accountable, if drift from mission is inevitable among humans and human institutions - no matter how divinely inspired?
• If this is a ministry the Church cannot do without, what are our spiritual strategic plans for its growth?
• How many Christ-followers in our congregations know this?
  
• How do we measure significant advances?
• Who decides all this?

How do you think these questions ought to be answered? It is time for a more productive exchange. Can we count on you to help?

To What Purpose Shall We Serve?

It would seem that we who serve the Church have as many ideas about our calling as the number of those who believe themselves called.

Small wonder, then, that the Body of Christ seems more disjointed and lethargic in some parts of the world.

If the example of Jesus can teach us anything, it is that those who lead must also serve. I interpret leadership and service to be not two distinct activities but one.

Authority to lead is granted by God and affirmed by the consent of those led according to the degree of service given by the leader. At least that is my understanding.

What seems to plague church leadership these days is confusion about who we are serving and how they are to be served.

I contend that, given the gospel witness, that Jesus was primarily invested in leading and serving those who would lead and serve folk in the forefront of missional engagement. Had he spent the majority of his time providing direct service, what would be the motivation for others to take up a similar cross daily?

Church leaders may need to re-examine their constituency. As a middle judicatory minister, I am clear that the people I need most to serve are congregational leaders and pastors who are committed to serving those in their congregations who are directly serving in Jesus' name.

As for how we serve, true leaders cannot and should not spend most of their time placating the unreasonable expectations of their constituency. There was a wise pastor who fielded this complaint from a pillar of the local community; "Pastor that sermon did not feed me at all." To which the pastor replied, "John, you are 54 years old and a lifelong Christian. Isn't it about time you got up out of your high chair and begin feeding yourself?"

On the other hand, true leaders cannot simply pick and choose to serve in ways most comfortable and convenient to them. We have all heard at least one church leader express the sincere wish that ". . . no more crises arise before I retire in four years." (Is it possible to lead folk into deeper transformation without creating some controversy?)

As more church bodies turn their attention to missions in the local and global community it does not take long to discover a need for clearer common focus, for closer cooperation, for more substantial commitment. Outcomes, after all, trump promises when competing with a pagan culture for new disciples of Christ. And, to quote author and consultant Brian Klemmer, "Christians ought to be the most accountable people on the planet."

To whom are you most accountable? What dynamics best shape your own ways of serving?

Toward a more whole Body of Christ,
Bill