Seeking a "New Normal"

I just returned from one of the "District Days" being offered around the region for clergy and laity to share information about where we are in the planning process and what the Health and Pension Benefits picture looks like moving forward. This was the first event I've attended and I was impressed by the attention given (it was all clergy and we're easily distracted!), the good questions asked and the helpful suggestions offered.

In particular I appreciated the way people acknowledged the huge challenges we're facing as we put together a region-wide health benefits plan for clergy. Meeting the needs and expectations of hundreds and hundreds of clergy who've lived under very different systems is proving harder than anyone expected. For years our current annual conferences have met those needs in ways that worked in that situation, creating a set of expectations we naturally came to accept as "normal."

But now we're all being asked to live into a "new normal" and its no wonder some of us are experiencing not a little anxiety and discomfort. Although much of the tension I'm hearing about now seems focused around the new health care plan, I'm certain other issues will emerge even as this one settles down. Its the nature of the journey we're on.

Regarding the new health care plan, I'd offer just a few reflections:

1. the whole country is wrestling with this issue, so it is no wonder Upper New York United Methodists are struggling with how to care for it.

2. some good, smart and faithful people have put this new program together AND some good, smart and faithful people are raising questions about it. If we continue to talk with one another like sisters and brothers in Christ, we'll get to the place we need to.

Keep checking uppernewyork.org for updates on this issue. Work's still being done. Your prayers, comments, goodwill, sense of humor and adventure are welcome and needed.

2010

Happy 2010 - the year our new conference takes it's first independent breath! Pretty amazing.

But before this birth, there's a lot of work left for us to do.

In fact, right now I'm drafting a presentation piece to be shared around the districts this coming March outlining the basic plan for our new conference (check your conference website for details). This presentation will address:

• Why a New Conference in Upper New York?
• A Brief History of Our Journey to this Place and Time
  
• Guiding Principles and Driving-Vision
• Challenges We Must Face Together
• Details and Discussion

Check back here in the weeks ahead for a "preview" of each of these topics.

Vision-driven, not Anxiety-Ridden

I will speak plainly: in the next 60 days, New ACT must make some of the most difficult decisions it has faced. We've committed to begin sharing the essence of our "plan of union" with you for review and discussion by March. Over the next 60 days we will be finalizing recommendations on:

• a 2010 new conference budget (including program ministry funding levels)
  
• Health and Property/Liability Insurance
• Pension recommendations
  
• Clergy Minimum Salaries
• 2011 apportionment figures

Again, let me speak plainly: we have some challenging choices to make. With Troy's Vermont churches uniting with the New England Conference and Wyoming's Pennsylvania churches uniting with the new Susquehanna Conference, Upper New York will have fewer churches supporting ministries in the second half of 2010 (when we are a new conference). Health care costs would have risen for Upper New York churches regardless of whether we were uniting or not, but that still means we will all see increased costs. Differences in way we have packaged clergy benefits across the region have made balancing fairness for clergy with financial manageability for local churches a significant dilemma.

The situation is complex and (at times!) anxiety producing.

One thing about anxiety I've learned through the years is that it thrives in a "vision vacuum." If you lack a sense of direction and destination, anxiety will move right in and gum up the works quicker than you can say "worry and fret."

That's why in the face of these significant challenges New ACT spent a good chunk of its last meeting getting clear again about the principles and values that guide our work. We did so because we have committed ourselves to be vision-driven, not anxiety-ridden.

I'm going to lay these out for you below, hoping you'll ponder them and offer some feedback (you can do that by clicking the link below. Please...!)

So here they are:

• The Upper New York State Annual conference exists primarily to help persons “live the gospel of Jesus Christ and be God’s love to [their] neighbors."

• The local church is the primary setting where the purpose and vision of the annual conference is enacted; therefore, the first priority of the annual conference is to engage, equip, and empower local churches to be in ministry with and to our Global Neighborhood.
• Vital and principled leadership is essential for effective local church ministry; therefore, encouraging and developing leadership within the laity and clergy that is diverse and engaged with the vision of Christ is the primary work of the annual conference.
• “To be church” means “to be in mission;” therefore, the quality and quantity of relationships established with our neighbors, particularly those who have been disenfranchised by mainstream society is the primary measure of success for the annual conference, its congregations and its members.
• The people of the Upper New York Area are linked by covenant with United Methodists around the world in shared ministry and mission; therefore, the Four Areas of Focus of The United Methodist Church are a primary resource to guide congregations and conferences in doing the work of ministry today.

These five principles (based on our "Vision and Purpose Statement" and the mission statement of The United Methodist Church) provide the framework by which New ACT will seek to make the challenging decisions we face.

Let me know what you think.

An Obvious but Important Observation

Let me start with a confession: I sometimes secretly imagine myself working as a sportscaster. Not because I'm a huge sports nut (average, not huge) or because I think I've missed my calling (most days I feel I'm where I should be). It's because sportscasters can say the obvious and get away with it.

"Baseball games are won by teams who can get points on the board. If this team can't do that, its over for them." (Wow!)

"A quarterback who can run and throw has got a pretty good future in this game." (No way!)

"She's an excellent runner because she's fast - faster than anyone else on the track." (That makes sense.)

Which all leads me to hope you'll let me get away with stating the obvious: effective communication requires clear communicators and active listeners.

Pretty obvious and yet incredibly important.

Let me focus for a minute on the first part: clear communicators. At New A.C.T's October meeting we hired a media consultant to look at our message and our audience to help us more clearly communicate what is happening with the new conference development. United Methodist Communications has enthusiastically offered to pay half the consultant fee. The turn around time is pretty quick: we'll have in hand a plan by January for immediate action. This will be helpful.

But already New A.C.T. has acted to more effectively get the word out:

• A weekly email "blast" containing the most recent information on the new conference has been going out for over a month. Feedback on this resource has been extremely positive. If you're not receiving this, send an email to uppernewyorkarea@gmail.com and you'll be added to the list.

• North Central New York and Western New York have also combined their conference papers into one publication called Transitions which features all sorts of new conference articles as well as happenings in all four annual conference. Wyoming and Troy also have their conference papers online and feature all sorts of new conference information. Checking out these publications is a great way to get to know one another now.
  

• A series of five Advent bulletin inserts containing a complete overview of where we are in the development of the new conference will be available to all congregations in the area this Advent season.

• A new Facebook group called "Upper New York Annual Conference" has also been created. As of today it has over 400 fans who are involved in a lively discussion about the proposed name for our new conference ("Upper New York AC). Why not join in?
  

• UpperNewYork.org continues to feature articles, team minutes, and blog links. Its our "one stop" information kiosk for new conference development.

And there's more to come. New A.C.T. understands we have an obligation to get clear and helpful information out to everyone.

But you will also have to do your part to complete the communication loop. Again, its obvious but needs to be said: you will have to actively seek information and provide feedback. Please click on every hyperlink in this blog post. Read, digest and respond. Good communication is a partnership of communicator and listener. Let's help each other make this work.

Staffing for a Good Start

This week New A.C.T.'s Interim Personnel Planning Team posted job descriptions and a request for applications for four senior executive staff positions: Director of Connectional Ministries, Treasurer/Director of Administrative Services, Director of Communications, and Conference Benefits Officer.

Why these four and only these four to start off? New A.C.T. applied the same principle to decisions about conference staffing its been applying to other aspects of new conference development: we want to start off as a new conference with enough but not too much.

New A.C.T. believes these four senior executive staff positions are enough to get us off to an excellent start. Wherever we discern Christ leading us as a new conference and area in the future, we'll want these four persons to be walking along side us. They will provide vital and necessary support to all sorts of conference and local church leadership.

But New A.C.T. also believes to develop more senior level staffing at this time would be to do too much. Why? Well, not because these first four will be all the staff we need, but because we haven't discerned what our future staffing needs are.

You know the saying, "get three United Methodists together, and you'll hear at least four opinions." Just imagine the number of opinions you'd hear if you get 180, 000 United Methodists together! Well, sisters and brothers, that's what we're about to do in the Upper New York Area.

Since I joined New A.C.T. last November I've been sitting with just a small fraction of that 180,000. Around the table at New A.C.T. meetings the twenty-five of us have all sorts of ideas about what this new conference could offer God and the people of Upper New York. And many other folks who don't sit around that table but who've been interested in the process have shared their hopes, dreams and desires.

It's pretty exciting and I know its just the beginning. As this conversation is deepened, broadened, focused and blessed, our conference's programs and ministries will emerge. And we'll be looking for some new staff to help us turn our dreams into accomplishments.

But we're not there yet. We don't know what outcomes (i.e., the fruit of our mission and ministry) God seeks from us yet. Discerning those outcomes is the work of the new conference, not New A.C.T.

And because the outcomes we seek determine the sort of staffing we need to put in place, we need to wait on identifying other staff. To do the staffing before we're clear about outcomes would be to put "the cart before the horse." Once our new conference and its leadership are in place (i.e., after July 1, 2010), we can begin this work.

Does that make sense? Let me know.

Trains a Comin'

Last Saturday New ACT met in Baldwinsville, NY for its monthly meeting. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say we made more decisions that day then we've made in months, not because we've been indecisive, but because now is the time.

Up until now New ACT's work has been focused on tasking various Planning Teams and task forces with developing the structures, policies and programs we need to get going as a new annual conference. These teams and task forces have gotten right on this work and now they're ready for New ACT to evaluate and approve their proposals. Last Saturday New ACT received, examined and approved several of these proposals.

In subsequent posts I'll talk about the details involved in these specific proposals. Right now, let me share the general process of evaluation and approval we started using this past Saturday. As we began to look at various proposals I asked New ACT to imagine our process as kind of like inspecting a train as it pulls into a station as part of a long journey. New ACT is charged with seeing that this "train" (i.e., proposal) is on track with our stated vision and purpose. Its not our job to redo or rethink the proposal, but to make sure it's solid and moving us in the right direction.

Several outcomes of this "inspection" are possible. 1) New ACT might like the proposal in its entirety and send "that train" on its way to the June 19, 2010 Uniting Conference for final approval; or 2) we might affirm some parts of the proposal to be sent forward, but refer some pieces (cars?) back to the planning team or task force for reconsideration. In a few cases where decisions need to be implemented now rather than later, New ACT might act in a third way and enact the proposal immediately.

Check back here soon for specifics about some of the proposals we've "sent down the tracks."

Lightbulbs and other Leadership Challenges

Questions: "How many United Methodists does it take to change a light bulb?"

Answer: "Change?!!! United Methodist don't do Change!"

Sorry. I know you've probably heard that joke a million times and don't like the punchline any better than I do. We United Methodists aren't as "change-averse" as it suggests. At least not United Methodists in the Upper New York Area! Right?

One thing is for sure - we United Methodists in Upper New York are about to experience a lot of change: New Conference, New Area, New Era. God is about to do a new thing among us.

And its going to take a whole bunch of United Methodists to help make this change. That's why the Interim Leadership (i.e, Nominations) Planning Team just issued a call for leaders from across the region to submit their names for possible leadership positions. This team has been asked to recruit hundreds of United Methodists from across Upper New York to work on the various new conference teams, committees and boards.

They are looking for you.

Now, before you click on to another site, stay with me for just a few more lines. I promise not to lay on the guilt about how much the new conference needs people like you to volunteer your time and talent. That's a true statement, but I'm not going to go there.

Instead, I want to invite you to consider what leadership in our new conference might bring into your life. I want you to wonder and ponder if God is seeking to bless you by calling you to serve in this way.

As I page through the Bible and consider the stories of people like Abraham and Sarah, David and Jeremiah, and Mary and Peter, the pattern becomes pretty clear: God blesses us by making us a blessing to others. A double blessing, in other words.

Would you prayerfully consider if one of the ways God is seeking to achieve this double blessing in your life is through following this link?