"THE CHURCH OF THE PEOPLE" (Acts 15:22, NRSV) 2018 Rev. Dr. Brian E. Germano!1 [LaGrange First U.M.C.; 6-10-18] --I-- 1. Read Text (NRSV): Acts 15:22 and Pray. 2. As most of you are already aware, at the end of this month, I will be moving to McKendree UMC in Lawrenceville, and John Beyers will be appointed to serve here at LaGrange First UMC as your new Senior Pastor. A--In doing so, we'll both again be fulfilling a vow we made to God when we were ordained to "go where sent", as appointed by the Bishop of N.GA United Methodism. B--This process that we United Methodist Christians have of sharing our clergy leadership with each other by moving our pastors from church to church every so often is something we call the "Itinerant System" / "Itineracy." 1 C--Now, I know that it's a system that is sometimes hard to understand. So to help with this, what I'd like to do today is share some biblical, historical, & personal background for this custom, and how (despite its "challenges") it is actually a very helpful way to fulfill our ministry, both as churches and as individual Christians. 3. It's origins in fact go all the way back to the early church, where Paul and other Apostles would preach in a town, and after getting a church going, they'd be sent to another town and someone else would be sent to follow in their place to pick up where they left off. A--Today's scripture explicitly refers to this practice -- listen to it again... "Then the apostles & the elders... decided to choose... from among their members and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers and sisters." 1--Notice that this verse doesn't say that Judas and Silas were "called" to be the pastors by the local congregation of the Antioch church. 2--In other words, the early church leadership system (like that of United Meth. Christianity) was not a "call" system like what some churches have today. 3--Instead, its focus (as illustrated in today's scripture -- and as appearing four more times over the next 13 verses ) is on being "sent" (or "appointed") by a church authority outside the local congregation. 2 B--1700 years later, as Methodist Christianity spread throughout England and America, its founder John Wesley found that he couldn't keep up with all his many converts.
!2 1--So, following the example of the early church, he "sent/appointed" his preachers to travel a series of Methodist "Circuits," preaching and teaching the gospel in each "Society" for a period of time before rotating on to the next one. 2--When Methodism spread to rural America in the 1800s, the "Circuits" became so large that the Methodist pastors (or "Circuit Riders," as they were called) would minister in one area for a period of time, then move on to the next area in the circuit, until they eventually came back around to the first area again. 3 --II-- 4. While not all United Methodist churches today are still on "circuits," we as a tradition nevertheless still practice this biblical model "sending/appointing" our pastors to local congregations by an authority outside the local church (i.e., the N.GA. Conf. Bishop). A--For example, in May 1992, shortly after my graduation from seminary, I received a phone call from my boss (who in our tradition we call the "District Superintendent"), informing me that as my first full-time pastoral appointment, I was being sent to a small church called Stripling Chapel UMC in Carrollton, GA. 1-- I was told it was a "great opportunity" -- a phrase I've since come to learn is a euphemism for "a church with problems" (I was 4 th pastor in 2 years!). 2--But despite that foreboding, Trish and I had four wonderful years of ministry there, and it still holds a special place in our hearts, particularly because our daughter Jennifer was born there (we preached Homecoming less than 1 month ago!) B--While still there, we travelled one year to Augusta, GA for Annual Conference -- a place Trish and I jokingly called "the hottest place on earth", and we said at that time we hoped we'd never get sent there. 1--Well, we've learned since to guard our words, because in 1996, guess where we got sent? That's right: to Trinity-on-the-Hill UMC in Augusta as one of six pastors on staff (under Sr. Pastor David Jones you preached for you last Sunday) 2--And in August 2000, after having been already reappointed for my fifth year there, I received an unexpected phone call from my District Superintendent. 4 C--She said there was a church in Cartersville that had lost its pastor unexpectedly, and that the Bishop wanted me to send me there as the new Pastor. 1--Well, after we got over our initial shock at being moved in the middle of the conference year and having to find a new house within two weeks (which God God provided) we moved to Faith UMC, where we had 5 great years of ministry. 2--Then, in June 2005, I was appointed to East Cobb UMC to help them regain their identity and vision.
!3 D--Ten years later, in the middle of a $3 million building campaign, with both myself and my church believing we were headed for an eleventh year together, my D.S. unexpectedly called and said that the Bishop wanted me to head here to LaGrange First to help us reclaim our sense of calling and vision for ministry in our community. E--And now, having done that, my Bishop has once again asked me to move to McKendree UMC in Gwinnett County to help them live into the vision that they have. 5. So these, then, are my personal experiences with our "Itinerant" system. And despite its challenges and frustrations, I still believe that there's great power, flexibility, and advantage in and to it. In the time we have left, let me share 3 reasons why I believe that: --III-- 6. For one, both in Bible times and today, an itinerant system ensures that "every pastor has a church" and "every church has a pastor." A--There's no awkward "interim" period where churches have to go "Pastor shopping" (like in some traditions), or where Pastors have to "sell" themselves to congregations. B--This is especially true in situations like 15 years ago, where I was moved from my church in Augusta (that had 6 pastors) so the church in Cartersville would at least have one. C--This process, you see, illustrates the biblical notion that a church should be built around the PEOPLE of God, rather than around the personality and charisma of a particular PASTOR. 5 7. A second advantage is that, at its best, the "itineracy" matches the gifts and graces of a specific pastor with the needs of a specific faith community for a specific time. A--My daughter recently explained to a friend that our United Methodist system of moving pastors is like building a house: 1--You wouldn t want only a plumber doing all the construction work; instead, to have a complete home, you need the work of plumbers, electricians, carpenters, floor-folks, roofers, etc., each bringing their own unique skills to the work of building the house. 2 And so it is with building God s church: over the course of several pastoral tenures (over, say, 20-30 years), a congregation led by several pastors will be more well-balanced and complete than one where only one or two pastors have served. B--It's literally a fulfillment of the 1 Corinthians 12 teaching on "spiritual gifts":
!4 1--Some preachers are better story-tellers; some better teachers; some are peopleoriented, while others are better organizers & administrators; some excel at visioning or problem-diagnosis; while others are better with evangelism, missions; discipleship, etc. 2--ALL of these skills are to the health and vitality of a congregation over its lifespan, but it's impossible to find ONE pastor who does ALL of these things excellently (PLUS it's not healthy for a church to even want just a pastor who just does ONE of these well all the time, anyway! 3--John Wesley once said, "We have found by long & consistent experience that a frequent exchange of preachers is best.this preacher has 1 talent, that another; no one whom I ever yet knew has all the talents which are needful for beginning, continuing, and perfecting the work of grace in a whole congregation." 6 C--So, rotating pastors over a period of years helps a church experience and be led by a variety of spiritual gifts which can enable it to be biblically balanced & well-rounded in ministry with its community. 7 8. One final advantage of our "itinerant" system is that it can help keep the church's vision and ministry fresh and alive through the regular influx of "new blood" in their pastoral leadership. A--Receiving a new pastor every so often allows God to introduce new ideas and fresh ways of serving and ministering by using a new pastor's unique gifts and graces to challenge the people to think (& minister) in ways they haven't previously considered. B--It's a system that can therefore help any given church and its leaders better discern ministry styles and formats that need to be changed, modified, or eliminated to better serve and reach their community. 8 --IV-- 9. The bottom line is that our sharing of clergy leadership through the United Methodist "Itineracy" helps us helps us both as a church and as individual Christians to better fulfill our ministry for Christ in our community and world than if we did it any other way. A--Is it a perfect system? Certainly not. It has challenges and frustrations that accompany it, like any other. B--But I, for one, believe that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages -- in the words of one church leader, "The Itineracy is the very worst system of pastoral deployment... except for all the OTHER systems!" 10. In the end, it's a system that (at its best) helps us remember that the biblical model for a local church congregation is best understood NOT as being a church centered around the gifts and graces of the Pastor, but as "The Church of the PEOPLE."
12. [PRAY] ENDNOTES:!5 1 Paragraph #329 in our United Methodist Book of Discipline explains this system in detail, in which all clergypersons of a United Methodist Annual Conference (such as our own North Georgia Annual Conference) are subject to annual appointment by their bishop. Being part of the United Methodist itineracy (at least as an "Elder") means that an "Elder" clergyperson is willing to go where (and when) sent by their Bishop. 2 For other examples, read also Romans 10:15; Acts 15:41; Acts 18:18-23; Acts 19:21-22; Acts 20:1; Acts 21:17-26; Titus 3:12; Romans 15:24; 1 Corinthians 4:17; 2 Corinthians 12:17-18; Colossians 4:8-9; 1 Thessalonians 3:2; and others. 3 One historian has summed it up this way: "In this way Methodism supplied the wants of a sparse population which was unable to support a settled pastorate. It was its itinerant work which gave to early Methodism its great power" (--From the Encyclopedia Of World Methodism, Vol. I, p. 1430). 4 For those of you who may be new to United Methodism, it's help you to know that in our system pastoral appointments always from July-June, so there's something unusual about receiving a phone call from the D.S. about appointments in August. 5 At its' BEST, our rotation of pastors often encourages church members to "stick with" because their church even when they don't personally like or care for their pastor -- as is often said in United Methodist circles "pastors come and go, but the people remain." 6 From the Encyclopedia of World Methodism, Vol. I, pp. 1242-1243. 7 For example, throughout a church's life, there are times it NEEDS the evangelist-type of pastor to be able to grow into God's vision for itself, while at other times it will need the leadership of a pastoral care pastor, while at still others it will have need for a great administrator, or teacher, etc. If a church doesn't receive a new pastor every so often, what tends to happen is that that church gets stuck in the "rut" of that particular pastor's "pet" issues and spiritual emphases (or at least the ones he or she is gifted in). 8 One additional advantage of this system is that it tends to lessen the likelihood that a pastorcentered scandal could wreck the entire church. Since the church is built around the PEOPLE, not the pastor, then when something bad happens to/with the pastor, the entire church is not lost.