Monday, June 24, 2013

Synod

Carl is attending the General Synod meeting and will post new issues of The Shiloh Insider after his return from Long Beach, CA.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Old Friends

The Robinson family has remained in touch with a few friends that we had made in communities where we had lived before coming to Dayton in 2000. One such family is Brian and Linda Perry, who live in Evansville, IN. Linda and Brian were part of a small group of parents whose children were competing gymnasts through a gym in Evansville. There were four couples who hung pretty closely together: The Perry family, the Cartwrights. the Currents, and us, the Robinsons.
 
The Perry's daughter, Meghan, competed on team with Casey for around four years. Meghan gave up on Gymnastics around the age of 12. Casey remained a competing gymnast through high school. Meghan had taken up golf through high school and now in college. She plays for the Ball State University Women's Golf Team and is a very accomplished golfer.
 
Meghan is playing this week in the Western Women's Amateur Golf Tournament, played at the Dayton Country Club. Linda, her mother, came with her. On Monday, Casey and I walked with Meghan, as she played the course to a 77, six over par. She shot a 75 in the second round of stroke play qualifying. Of the 144 competitors, Meghan finished in a tie for 50th, qualifying for the match play quarter finals.
 
Meghan plays today and, if she wins her match, tomorrow. The finals will take place on Friday and Saturday. We plan to walk with Meghan and Linda as often this week as we are able.
 
While this may seem an unusual topic for The Shiloh Insider,  I think that it is sometimes important to realize that religious issues have direct impact on how we have and how we will live our everyday lives. In fact, maybe that is the exact point of religious discussion...to try and figure out how faith and practice impact everyday life.
 
We treasure the Perry family and the friendships that we have established through life and ministry. I wish all of you the kind of joy that we have known this week in seeing them again. Good luck, Meghan!

Monday, June 10, 2013

Association Blog

For a long time now, I have felt that the Associations of the United Church of Christ could best serve their local churches by attempting three very important tasks: 1. Provide direct assistance for the Search and Call process; 2. Form a matrix of networks throughout local churches and ministries to enhance strengths and overcome some challenges that the local churches face; and 3. Provide a public witness to basic United Church of Christ theology and practice.
 
The Associations have long been engaged in the first of these tasks. The Search and Call process comprises the majority of communication and experience with Associations in local UCC congregations and ministries. The second task, that of forming networks between and among local churches, is the aim of the current strategic planning within the Southwest Ohio Northern Kentucky Association (SONKA). Instead of the Association being expert in every category of ministry and mission, is it not more faithful to UCC covenant to assist ministries and churches to assist one another? If congregation A struggles with finances, for instance, could we not link them with congregation C, which has a very successful stewardship theology? The local setting can benefit greatly from sharing strengths and challenges with other portions of the local setting, building relationship and formulating covenant.
 
It is the third task that has been traditionally missing, in my judgment. Would it not be beneficial to local UCC congregations and ministries to provide public statements that both distinguish the United Church of Christ from other denominations and encourage understanding of alternative forms of Christian witness? Not argumentative, but informative, information about the core stances of the United Church of Christ may invite some interest and generate some excitement. It would certainly give rise to some passionate discussion.
 
I am pleased to say that, thanks to the excellent leadership of Interim Minister, Kathryn Anadein, SONKA is currently formulating a blog team of five or so writers who would have the challenge of sharing the basic theology, stances and applications of both to the general public, to our local ministries and congregations. While the blog posts might be intended to communicate information, I imagine that they can also be quite provocative for local settings of the UCC.
 
I am happy to lend my writings to the effort. Stay tuned for more information.
 
See You Sunday!  

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Staff as Team

A friend and colleague called. He was having a problem with his church staff and was wondering if I might have any advice.
 
I asked him to explain the situation.
 
Two members of this church staff have been constantly at odds with one another, while another member feels excluded and isolated. One is a director of Christian Education and Childhood Ministries. Another is the Business Manager. The third is the Organist and Choir Director. My colleague, the Senior Pastor, is male. Each of the others is female.
 
The Business Manager, a person in her 50's, is constantly aggressive to and critical of the C.E. person, who is in her 20's. True, the C.E. person has made, and continues to make, a series of mistakes that have invited the criticism of the Business Manager. The music person is making arbitrary decisions about the weekly worship services that directly affect what others are able to do within the services, but not communicating those decisions.
 
The mess has come to a head, and the church's Personnel Committee has gotten involved. The tension between the Business Manager and the C.E. Director is obvious, as is the "exclusion" of the Music Director. The situation has begun to create tension in the wider congregation.
 
I should add that the Senior Pastor, my friend, has been in the position for less than a year. Each of the other staff members preceded him.
 
After a fairly lengthy discussion, in which I asked an array of questions, we determined that there is no weekly staff meeting, that each member of the staff feels that she is responsible only for the issues that arise under each one's employment responsibilities, and that they are in competition for attention, recognition and budgeting.
 
My recommendations were both practical and theological. First, we need to get members of the staff to recognize and support the ministries of others on the staff. Isolation results in division. When we share ministry with others, we have a stake in what they are doing. This staff is isolated. Worse, it is so focused on each task description that they are competing. Competition within a staff destroys the unity. It turns persons against others. It makes them critical and judgmental.
 
So, a weekly staff meeting, where each member of the staff shares what is being done and thought about under each area of focus, is absolutely vital. Members of the staff must feel an investment in what every other member is doing. Sharing the responsibility, and sharing the workload, lightens the onus on any one staff member. A team approach, with a unified purpose and vision, works best for the sake of the congregation.
 
The Senior Pastor likely needs to meet with the staff as a whole, laying out clear expectations and calling each member of the staff to accountability for shaping and maintaining staff unity. The Senior Pastor needs to help staff members assist one another in the course of shared ministries, instead of allowing staff members to compete against one another. Each staff member takes a place in the boat, and the boat sinks if each staff member fails to work as part of the team.
 
The climate needs to change there. Shiloh is fortunate indeed to have a staff that understands that none of our ministries exist in isolation to any other. The Shiloh staff is a team, sharing a common vision and working toward a single goal, that functions in a mutually supportive atmosphere that values each ministry. Shiloh's staff is a remarkable collection of diverse gifts, talents, energies and passions. I hope that readers of The Shiloh Insider understand how fortunate the congregation is to be served by such a gifted and unified set of ministers.
 
See You Sunday!