BUILDING A BETTER BURRITO

Sitting down with friends at the restaurant, I opened the menu and found the place offered burgers and steaks, lasagna and eggplant parmesan, seafood, Mexican, Chinese, and sushi.  The more they offered the less comfortable I felt.

“How can they do a good job at all of this?” I asked to no one in particular.  Truth is they were offering more than they could do well!  In trying to be all things to every palate they weren’t that good at anything.

The July 23rd issue of TIME had an article about Steve Ells and his Chipotle chain.  Chipotle’s “restaurant level margins” at about 26% are among the highest in the industry.  The chain spends more money on the ingredients they buy than some of their competitors.  (And their prices are higher than many other fast food places.)

Many “chains” focus on creating new items, constantly changing their menus, but Chipotle keeps its menu pretty much the same.  Flavors are “bold,” says TIME, but “all the dishes are really simple.”  The company hires great chefs to come up with new dishes, but they are almost never added to the menu despite how good they taste.  They do a few things well.  They keep it simple.

The new proposal is simpler than the schedule we have been using on Sunday morning.  The intent is to allow our church and staff to focus more energies in welcoming ministries, small group development (where we believe God works best to grow disciples), and outreach ministries (serving).  The painful part of this is that we would stop offering “First Up” (at least during the school year).

Dave Browning, in his book Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less, talks about how “less is more” in the church.  He writes, “A deliberate church thinks through the outcomes it wants to achieve, lets form follow function, and takes responsibility for results.”  Browning talks about churches and organizations that focus and do what they do well simply.

Browning, a pastor, talks about how his first church was “hyperactive.”  Something was always going on.  Everyone’s energy went into supporting the organizational infrastructure.  “Many churches today are over-featured and unnecessarily complex,” he says.

Deliberately simple churches do less.  They focus.  “By doing less of certain things, and stopping other things altogether, energy and resources can be reinvested in the few things really worth doing.  By not being so broad, we can go deeper,” Browning says.

Saying “no” is tough.  Saying “no” to good things and worthwhile ministries so we can focus on the essentials is hard work.

Our hope is that a new schedule, with one pastor preaching each weekend at First/The Open Door, will allow for a new level of hospitality ministries and the birth of new small groups.

I’ll be honest with you about all of this.

This proposal isn’t perfect.  (Few proposals are ever perfect!)  This may not be the schedule we end up with.  Together we may figure out a “better mousetrap.”

Change is hard.  Change is painful.

But I know that if we continue to try and do all we are doing, we are going to miss key opportunities to build up the body life of the congregation (small groups, classes, retreats, new member orientation, etc.).  Pastor Jen once observed that she believed God was calling us to move from being a “come and go” church (attend, worship, and go home) to becoming a “come and grow church.”  A simplified schedule may allow us do the things that lead to the transformation of people and our community.

Jesus kept it simple in many ways.  “Come and I will teach you how to catch people for God.”  Or, “I was hungry and you fed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

Maybe we won’t offer a menu with scores of different items, but hopefully what we offer to the world in God’s name will be good.  I would like to think that when people look at First they might say what the article said about the food served at Chipotle: “The flavors are somewhat bold, but all the dishes are really simple….”

I invite you to join others in a loving, prayerful conversation about our Sunday morning schedule.  Let our talk honor God and be gracious.  May what we say and how we do this build up the unity of the church and extend God’s kingdom work.

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark

JUST A THOUGHT OR TWO...

Pastor Mark sent the staff this quotation from the book Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less by David Browning:  "There is no growth without change, no change without loss, and no loss without pain."  I’m hoping that my addition to the staff was not the impetus to this insight!  I suspect that the considerable changes of the last few years at FUMC/The Open Door and the potential big changes in the future at FUMC/The Open Door are the initiating factors.  Regardless, “change,” lovingly known as the c-word heretofore, is not a nice word.  In fact, most of us cringe at its very mention in the same sentence as our church, our home, or our family.

As you all know, I’m new to First United Methodist Church.  I’m new to Bloomington!  My husband and I moved our daughters Evie (4) and Carys (2) and our dog Gustaf into a 1920’s farmhouse on the south side.  Whilst sat at the dinner table Thursday morning, Evie sighed heavily and said: “I liked our old house, Mommy.  I don’t like the new house.”  After hearing my heart break, I choked out the words, “What don’t you like about the new house, Evie?”  Evie replied: “Well, this house is sorta crazy.”  To which my only response was, “Why, yes, yes it is, darling!”  Our house is crazy because we are still living among boxes.  Our house is crazy because we have a bunch of redecorating to do.  Our house is crazy because it’s not our old house.  Our house is crazy, scratch that, our life is crazy because LIFE CHANGED!  And, that, my friends, is a bad word... or is it?

Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth reminds us that perhaps the c-word isn’t quite the four letter word we feel it is.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (5:17).  So, if we are truly Christian then we’ve... wait for it... changed?!  Yes, the apostle Paul says we are changed, a new creation, turned inside out and upside down, when we are “in Christ.”  David Browning claims this change, this topsy-turvy alteration to the life we once knew, is, in fact, necessary to grow.

My prayer over the next few months (and over the next few years) is that the c-word will become our rallying cry rather than our mourning cry.  I believe that by embracing the c-word by grabbing a hold of change, staring change in the face, and maybe even shaking it a little, we are welcoming Christ a little deeper into our lives, which allows our newly created selves to shine a little brighter.  My prayer over the next few months is that I will listen to my own words because, truly, I do not do change well.  What I do enjoy, however, is discovering new territory, experiencing new places, and obtaining new knowledge.  And one cannot do any of those without change, right? Darn it.  Guess I’ll be embracing change with you too.

And now you know the rest of the story…

Cheers,

Rev. Stacee

PLAYING FOLLOW THE LEADER PART FIVE: KEEPING BOUNDARIES

One of my favorite people in the whole world was Dorothy.  Dorothy was a piano instructor in our town.  She and her husband were both ushers and leaders in the church.

In those days I had a yellow “power tie” with small, blue dots.  It looked cool.  (Really!)  Dorothy hated that tie.  I’m not sure why.  Several times, when she saw me wearing the tie, she would tell me how ugly she thought it was.  Then, one Sunday morning, she and I were talking.  Dorothy looked at my tie and said, “I have half a mind to go back to the office, get a pair of scissors, and cut that tie off from around your neck.”

Her eyes were twinkling when she said it.  I responded (with eyes twinkling), “Dorothy, the color of my tie is none of your business.  I don’t go around making comments about your shoes or dresses!  Leave me alone.”  We both laughed.

Dorothy never again offered her opinion about the color and design of my ties.  (And we remained good friends!)

We’ve been talking about how important engaged, informed, thoughtful followers are in the church.  Anthony Robinson, in an article in Christian Century about the importance of having a congregational culture where healthy followers are encouraged, says healthy followers keep boundaries.

We usually think of boundaries as having to do with sexual behavior.  The article stresses other aspects of church members keeping healthy boundaries.  Robinson writes, “Troubled congregations often have a pattern of too many people treating everything as their business, their arena of concern and their involvement.”

He points to two areas.  First, healthy boundaries in a church often has to do with personnel issues.  When a personnel decision is made in a church, it is not unusual for all sorts of people to think it is their business and “to insert themselves into the situation even though it’s against the law to discuss an employee’s record or performance.”

Second, Robinson points out how in some congregations people do the work the way six-year-olds play soccer – they play “bunch ball.”  Everyone runs to the ball.  Everyone wants to be in on every decision.  No one plays his or her position.  “Good following means knowing what tasks and business have ‘your name on it’ and which ones don’t,” Robinson writes.

In healthy congregations we honor boundaries.  We know our roles.  We know which plays have our names on them and which ones don’t.  We trust others to make the play when the ball comes to their side of the field (their area of ministry or their leadership responsibility).

In healthy congregations the leaders take the time to meet with new leaders, train them, and help them understand the mission and their roles within that mission.

In healthy congregations people understand there are some things everyone can’t  -and should not-  know.  We trust prayerful, wise leaders to handle some decisions that the rest of us may not understand.

Dorothy was one of those saints whose friendship and words of encouragement were a huge blessing to me.  But it really wasn’t appropriate for her to make repeated judgments about my very cool, yellow tie.  My choice of ties  -just like my choice of pizza or flowers to plant in the back yard-  was my business.

Paul, in Romans 12, tells us we have special gifts and he encourages us to use them.  I believe that is his way of reminding us that we each have a job to do for God – and we aren’t to try and do it all on our own.  Don’t play “bunch ball.”

Then, in Romans 15:7, he tells us to “accept one another…just as Christ accepted you.”  Maybe that means remembering the color and style of our friend’s sandals, or tie, or jeans isn’t our business.  Let it go.

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark

PLAYING FOLLOW THE LEADER PART FOUR: OFFERING THOUGHTFUL FEEDBACK

Bill was a Purdue guy.  An engineer for GE who served as the congregation’s chairperson of the Staff Parish Relations Committee.  I was a young guy who happened to be the senior pastor of a large Fort Wayne-area church.

We were about as different as night and day, Bill and I were.  He was thoughtful, quiet, wired like an engineer, a man of faith, and Bill had more than his share of wisdom.

Soon after I arrived in that town Bill called me.  He asked how I was doing and then said, “I notice you have us standing for the reading of the Gospel.  Our people really love reading the text out of the pew Bibles and it is a tough for them to stand, listen, and read at the same time.  Maybe we could stand now and then, but not every Sunday?”  Bill helped me see something I was missing.

Another year he discovered that I had sent Sharon and the boys to Florida while I stayed behind to watch a building project move along.  Bill caught me at church on Sunday, pulled me aside, and “got in my grill.”  He said, “I hear Sharon and the kids are in Florida,”  I said, “Yes.”  “Why are you here, then?” he asked.  I hesitated.  “I guess I thought I needed to be here,” I explained.  “As long you are a pastor here, I never want you to do this again, alright?” Bill said.  “You need to be with your family.  We want you with your family.  Go away…the church will be just fine!”  It was a lesson I have never forgotten.

Years later a lay leader walked into my office and told me it was time to deal with a ineffective member of our church staff.  I had been doing everything I could to avoid making a tough decision.  Karen closed the door to my office, walked over to my desk, and said, “It is time.  This is draining you and the church.”

Some words of truth church members have had for me have been hard.  The ones that made a difference, though, weren’t just hard: they were spoken to me by people who loved God, cared about me, and wanted the best for me and for their church.

I share these stories because I think of the great lay people who have coached me along the way.  Anthony Robinson, as he talks about the importance of healthy, engaged, thoughtful followers in the Christian church says the fourth characteristic is that “good followers practice the art of learning and giving good feedback.”

If we care about those who are in a leadership role, he says, honest feedback is more valuable than general words of praise.  Why did something work?  How was a Bible study, or a weekend retreat, or leadership class helpful?

Barbara Blodgett, in her book Becoming the Pastor You Hope to Be, notes that praise tends to focus on the person (“You are the best pastor we’ve ever had”) and then it flips over into “equally extravagant and unfocused criticism" (“She’s just the wrong pastor for us.”)

If we want to help grow our leaders, we need to offer loving, specific, feedback.  I love the way the father-in-law of Moses helps him see the importance of delegation.  I love the way the Hellenistic Jews in Acts 6 spoke up and said, “Someone needs to figure out a way to take care of the widows who aren’t receiving food in our church.”

Great followers help encourage and sharpen effective leaders.  They do that by offering loving, specific coaching.  This kind of feedback is a loving gift.

Leadership is something we all do together.  Thanks for helping your pastors, and class leaders, and small group facilitators, and directors become even better at serving people and glorifying God!

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark