@HarvardBiz and the UMC: The Right Mindset for Success

6 02 2012
Mindset (book)

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One of my favorite podcasts is the HBR IdeaCast. Episode 283, The Right Mindset for Success, focuses on the distinctions between a fixed and growth mindset. One of the most helpful portions was about supervision and management. This list, from Carol Dweck, describes the methods and message that a manager or leader could give to new employees that would put them into a growth mindset:

  • We value passion, dedication, growth and learning; not genius.
  • We do not expect that you have arrived here fully formed. We expect that you have arrived here ready to learn.
  • We expect you to stretch beyond your comfort zone and take reasonable risks. We do not expect you to do the same thing you are good at over and over and stay in your comfort zone.
  • We value and reward process, taking on big but reasonable challenges, dogged pursuit of challenges and teamwork.
  • Even without success we reward that you have engaged in the process in a wholehearted and smart way.

I have much to learn from these methods in the way that I supervise staff and volunteers. These methods would be helpful for:

  • Pastors with staff and volunteers
  • Board of Ordained Ministry with candidates
  • Bishops and District Superintendents with appointed clergy.

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Categories : leadership, renewing the church, united methodist church

Metrics for the UMC: A Question of Counting (1 of 3)

11 10 2011

Several weeks ago, I wrote a series about Why Numbers Matter in the UMC and I wanted to follow that up with some thoughts that I have been percolating on since then.

Statistically, for metrics to be any good they need to be measuring the same thing across time and among different locations. I don’t have any conclusions today, but just a question:

What is the standard for counting worship attendance? Do you include:

  • Children?
  • Infants in the Nursery?
  • Adults?
  • Volunteers?
  • Staff?
What do you count at your church for worship attendance?
Related articles

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Categories : ministry, renewing the church

Strategic Pruning: Senior Staff Retreat (2 of 4)

13 04 2011
View of the Great Plains near Lincoln, Nebraska

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The conversation around the  Call to Action: Reordering the Life of the UMC and the subsequent UMC Leadership Summit, as well as the conversation in Kansas and Nebraska about Great Plans for the Great Plains: A Vision (PDF Link), I have been reflecting on the time that I spent on the spring senior staff retreat at Resurrection in which we read together, Bearing Fruit: Ministry with Real Results.

If your organization is strategically planning, it is also important to strategically prune.

When have you or your church stopped doing something good so that you could do something better and better align with God’s work in the world?


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Categories : church, leadership

You Are Invited: Young Adult Meetup at Leadership Institute 2010

28 09 2010
Friendship / Amistad

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One of the best parts of Leadership Institute is the opportunity to make and continue friendships near and far, to that end I invite you to a young adult meetup at Leadership Institute next week.

Who: Young adult (35 and under) leader

What: Meetup at Leadership Institute 2010

When: Thursday, October 7 from 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM

Where: The Spring Cafe, in the West Building at Resurrection Leawood

Why: Collegiality, mutual encouragement, and hear stories of God‘s work

I will be there on Thursday morning and hope that you can make it. I am leading a pre-institute session in the afternoon, but I encourage you to continue to hang out through the afternoon and into the evening.

Spread the word to others

Say Hi.

Encourage one another.

Listen for God.


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Church Growth = Increased Pastor Salary?

14 07 2010

An interesting article at Slate.com, The Almighty Dollar: Are preachers motivated by the desire to save souls or to make cold, hard cash? raises the question of clergy compensation. By researching data from the Oklahoma Annual Conference researchers found:

“It turns out United Methodist congregations gave their leaders a $15 boost (in 2008 dollars) on average for each new member added (about 3 percent of new revenues generated from the membership increase) and cut their pay by about $7 for each member lost.”

The article implies causation, while I believe that the data is clearly correlation. However, it is interesting.

How should clergy be compensated? In what way should pay level be determined for clegy?


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Categories : church, leadership

2010 State of the Church Report for the UMC

12 07 2010

I appreciate the work to produce the State of the Church Report for The United Methodist Church. You can find it online here or use this link to download a PDF of the entire report. Here are a few tidbits that I found to be of interest:

  • The median age of the population in the U.S. is 35; the median age of attendees in The United Methodist Church is 57.
  • When asked if their congregation had a clear vision, goal or direction for ministry, 35% agreed that it did and stated they were strongly committed to those goals.
  • Churches with larger memberships tended to grow, while smaller-membership churches tended to shrink.
  • Professing membership in the U.S. has declined every year since 1968.

The craziest of these stats is that 65% of congregations did NOT have a clear vision, goal or direction for ministry. Then, what are they doing? Where do these congregations find guidance to make plans for the future?


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Categories : renewing the church, united methodist church

What to Do with Unhealthy United Methodist Congregations

7 07 2010

I recognize there is debate about how to determine what makes a congregation healthy.

What to do with an unhealthy United Methodist congregation is more difficult to determine than what to do with inffective United Methodist clergy.

Kick them out of the denomination? In some cases, this might allow the congregation to become healthier. It clearly doesn’t help unity in the church.

Appoint a new pastor? This may or may not have results. Understanding the congregation as a family system suggests that this may not have much impact.

Put them on probation? A period of time with focused efforts at renewal may be helpful, however there may not be much of an incentive.

Can you help me out with what to do with unhealthy United Methodist congregations?


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Categories : annual conference, church, ministry, renewing the church

What to Do with Ineffective United Methodist Clergy

6 07 2010

I recognize there is debate about how to determine what makes a clergy person effective.

Whatever criteria is used, when a clergy person is determined to be ineffective she or he should find another job before the end of the appointive year.

This doesn’t mean being kicked out of the church or Christian community.

It means helping people find a different path for their employment. That’s all.

As a newly ordained elder (clergy) in the UMC, this is what I want for myself. If I am not effective, help me to recognize that and find some other way to support myself and my family.


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Categories : leadership, united methodist church

Top 13 Characteristics of Effective Clergy

23 06 2010

Some of the hoopla around guaranteed appointments is around the question – How do you determine what makes for an effective clergy person? That’s easy. Straight from paragraph 340 of the Book of Discipline, an effective clergy person will…

  • love God and love their neighbor.
  • preach, teach, lead worship and engage people in witness.
  • provide spiritual guidance.
  • marry and bury.
  • visit people in their homes to provide care.
  • practice integrity in maintaining confidences.
  • be responsible for sharing baptism and holy communion.
  • provide administration for the local church, annual conference and general church.
  • be inclusive.
  • live as a servant leader.
  • organize the church to live out their faith in the world.
  • equip others in the care and spiritual formation of others.
  • work for unity in the church.

If a clergy person is gifted and effective in these things, there will be clear evidence in the church.

A clergy person with evidence of gifts and effectiveness will continue to be appointed regardless of her or his appointment being guaranteed.


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Categories : church, leadership, renewing the church

Top 8 Reasons to End Guaranteed Appointments in the UMC

22 06 2010

If I could change one thing in the United Methodist Church today, I would end guaranteed clergy appointments. Here are the top 10 reasons to end this practice:

8. Ineffective clergy will be more easily removed from leading a United Methodist church.

7. Effective clergy will be responsible for a increasing number of churches.

6. The circumstances that called for guaranteed appointments have changed.

5. A guaranteed job can foster complacency.

4. Provisional clergy would not be refused ordination based on availability of an appointment.

3. Continuing to do things the same way will not bring different results.

2. It would put an end to the advice to “Be a pastor only if you can’t imagine yourself doing anything else.”

1. Over time, the overall effectiveness and competency of clergy in the United Methodist Church will increase thereby aiding the church in making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.


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Categories : annual conference, ministry, united methodist church

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