In our Called to Lead group meetings, we’ve been discussing Chapter 3 of John Roberto’s book, Faith Formation 2020, which outlines six leadership “competencies”: Becoming adaptive, innovative, “blue ocean”, culturally intelligent and a curator of content leader. These competencies are all drawn from writers and thinkers who teach business and government leaders; but, they are also applicable to the ministries we do in our churches.

What leadership competencies could you develop more of in yourself or on your team? What challenges have you encountered when trying to lead change in your church?

                                                                                    1 Kings 19:9

Elijah was a man of many miracles, but for sheer spectacle there’s nothing before his last chariot ride that can rival Elijah’s throw down with the prophets of Baal. During the time that Ahab was king of Israel, Baal worship was the state religion, a fact that did not sit well with Elijah, and he determined to do something about it. He challenged 450 prophets of Baal to a duel. He told them to slaughter a bull, build a pyre and put the remains of the bull on the pyre. He would do the same thing and then each side would call upon their god to ignite the pyre. Whichever god did so would be the mightier.  

Since Elijah was playing for the home team, the prophets of Baal got to go first. Despite their best efforts, and after several hours of trying, their pyre was still unlit. Finally, Elijah said “Enough! Let me show you what a real God can do;” and he cried out to the Lord, saying “Answer me, O Lord…” And answer him, the Lord did—in spectacular fashion: “Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench.” (1 Kings 18:38).

As the ashes of the burning pyre cooled, Elijah put the icing on the cake—in true Old Testament fashion: “Elijah said to them, ‘Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.’ Then they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon, and killed them there.” (1 Kings 18:40).

When Ahab told his wife, Jezebel, what Elijah had done, she was furious, and threatened to have him killed. Elijah decided that discretion was the better part of valor and fled into the desert. There he wandered for the mandatory 40 days and 40 nights, finally winding up in a cave on Mount Horeb. It was in that cave that the word of the Lord asked him that deceptively simple question: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

It seems to me that the real impact of this story doesn’t lie in Elijah’s answer. It doesn’t lie in the spectacle of the self-igniting pyre or the death of the prophets of Baal. It’s not the great wind that splits the mountains and shatters the rocks, or the earthquake or even the silence so palpable and so intense that it can actually be heard.  No, the real impact of the story is in the question itself. “What are you doing here?”

On one level this is a pretty easy question to answer. Each of us may have his or her own particular reasons for being in a particular church on a particular Sunday, but at the end of the day, those reasons are easy to articulate. “This is the church my parents belonged to;” or “All my friends go here;” or “ This is where I was conformed;” or “They don’t start serving brunch until 11:00 and I’ve got to be somewhere until then.”

On another level, however, this may be the most complex and difficult question we ever face. “Why are we here?” Why do we consider ourselves Christian rather than followers of some other creed or sect?  What does it mean to be a servant of Jesus Christ? What exactly is it that Jesus Christ demands of me? We are continually called upon to face the reality that this may be a question without an answer. It may be a question the answer to which is different today than it will be tomorrow. Whatever else it is, however, it is a question the search for the answer to which is the essence of spiritual maturity. In the answer to this question we find the reality, the core, of our faith.

“Why are you here?” For Elijah the answer was easy. For us, not so much. May the Holy Spirit be your guide as you search for it.

Tony Stoik, Associate Conference Minister/Western Iowa

This week in our monthly staff worship, we reflected on the lectionary text for this Sunday:  Mark 1: 40-45. A leper begs Jesus to “make him clean.” Jesus was “moved with pity,” the New Revised Standard Version states. Jesus then touches him (Outrageous!) and cures his leprosy. In our reflection, we got caught up on the word pity for a while. Many of us wished the word had been translated with a word with less negative connotations, such as compassion. Though in my heart I’d probably prefer a word change, none of us really want to be given a gift (or anything else) out of pity – it implies we are “less than” the person giving it to us.  The reality is that Jesus has some pretty harsh edges in the Gospel of Mark.

I imagine this Jesus often pounding his fist on tables and rolling his eyes. He clearly gets impatient with his seemingly clueless disciples and often ends stories with, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” to emphasize his point. Given the posture he takes with the people around him, it’s very possible that he would have actually pitied this poor leper. Jesus grasps the gospel vision in a way that others’ around him do not. This apparently makes him impatient and brusque in his dealings with those around him – even this leper.

It’s interesting that so often we typify the ideal Christian behavior as being “nice.” I wonder if that has more to do with our Scandinavian forebears who settled this land, than with Mark’s gospel.  If we use this Jesus as a role model, we’d be decidedly less “nice” than we often think we should be. This Jesus was passionate, fiery, even impatient because he knew that he had a gospel vision to impart in a short time. Why can’t we get that passionate and fiery about the gospel now and even risk offending a few people in the process of spreading it? Why can’t we be the kind of leaders who have a broad, radical vision of church that takes people into uncharted, even uncomfortable territory? Why can’t we get a little impatient with people’s inability to change in order to get our point across a little more quickly? If we did, church members just might be a little more fiery and passionate in their living of the gospel.

Nicole Havelka, Associate Conference Minister Youth and Young Adult Ministries

Instructional agenda – click More Money for Your Church’s Mission .

Register online by DEADLINE July 20.

Questions?? Contact jo@ucciaconf.org or call 515.277.6369.

But I doubt that literal contamination gave rise to this expression.  Money – its actual possession and the striving to get it – can easily corrode the soul.  We all know that, even if most of us believe ourselves resistant to its corrosive effects.

Some folk think the Bible condemns money as the root of all evil.  That’s a distortion of what it really says.  In I Timothy the writer says, “The LOVE of money is a root of all kinds of evil….” and in its pursuit some have “pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Life is abundant with anecdotal confirmation of Paul’s warning.

But it’s also true that money can be used to accomplish great good.  From the feeding of hungry people, to the building of great institutions of learning, to the commissioning of stunning works of art – money has been and is used to enrich the welfare of humankind.

It can also be used to underwrite life-transforming ministry. 

So why does it seem there is never enough for this last ennobling purpose? 

I think there are many reasons – far too many to list here.  Partly, however, persons and organizations in Christian ministry find themselves (ourselves!) underfunded for a reluctance to ask in a legitimately persuasive way.  In church we are frequently given to a dreamy sort of naiveté in which we imagine that God will provide without our agency in the process.  It’s as if we imagine ourselves as too pure to involve ourselves in “filthy lucre” business – so we leave it to God….which really means that we hope it takes care of itself. 

It’s not true, of course, that the Bible ever says that “God helps those who help themselves” but like many human adages, this one contains a germ of truth. 

To a stunning extent, life in contemporary America revolves around money.  We spend countless time every week hearing and thinking about its acquisition and its use.  It’s no exaggeration to say that we are immersed every day in money-messages.  Well….every day but Sunday morning!  To attend a typical church is enter a money-talk-free zone – and I think that’s atrocious.  The claims of the gospel – of Jesus – assert relevance to every aspect of life, including money.  I think that if we as church got serious about talking about money – not so much the need of the church to have more, but rather thoughtful and faithful teaching on its uses and abuses – we would find our “relevancy rates” to soar.

Even though I don’t think church talk on money should mostly be about our own needs, we do need the courage and conviction to appropriately address those needs.  On March 2 and 3, Rev. Steve Gray, recently retired Conference Minister from the Indiana-Kentucky Conference of the UCC will lead a seminar in Ames entitled “More Money for Your Ministry.”  This 24-hour long seminar promises to be practical and realistic.  What it won’t do is offer easy answers – because there are no easy answers to legitimate fundraising.  If you and your church have a vision for ministry for which you require more funding, then you – pastor and lay representatives – need to come to this event.  Effective fundraising requires a real partnership between pastor and lay leaders, so we are requiring that all participating churches come with both their pastor and at least one layperson. 

I hope to see you in Ames next month!

 Rich Pleva, Iowa Conference Minister

It’s a good day to spend time with the stories of St. Paul’s conversion.   I am drawn again and again to story in Acts 9 of Ananias, sent by God to welcome Saul of Tarsus, a changed man.  It’s a story that includes lessons on how deliciously difficult, how full of fear and wonder, the holy work of welcoming can be!  And of how changed a man can become through welcoming another changed man.

The idea of conversion is a tricky one for us to get hold of.  Very, very few of us would describe ourselves as converts to Christianity.  There is a fair amount of spiritual mischief to be found in being among those who understand ourselves to be “already here”.   It is one thing to be steadfast in faith and quite something else to be satisfied, stuck, and immune to the yearnings of the Spirit that might include for us such large changes of heart, mind, and spirit that they would well be described as conversions.

I can imagine praying this day to be converted, to be a Christian converted to discipleship.  I can imagine the Church being used by the Spirit in the holy work of converting dear folk who inherited some Christianity from our grandparents into disciples.  Into disciples so steeped in Scripture, in daily prayer and weekly worship, in life-changing service, that we are a strong brew.  Into disciples, who wholly seek and follow Jesus.  Into converts whose conversion is highly contagious.

 God, may I keep changing toward your will, in small daily decisions and enormous life choices.  Grant me the grace to be a convertible at your service.  Amen.

Jonna Jensen, Associate Conference Minister

2012 Annual Meeting/50 Year Celebration

When:  June 7-10, 2012

Where:  Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA

Register now:  Click here!  EARLY BIRD registration available through February 29th!

With the possible exception of “The biopsy was positive,” I don’t know if there’s a more frightening sentence in the English language. But, make no mistake, change is indeed coming to the way that conference ministry is done in the Iowa Conference.

This point was driven home to me, ironically enough, while I was driving home one night not too long ago. I left home that morning before sunrise and now, some thirteen hours, three hundred miles, two meetings and three fast-food meals eaten in the car, I was still a hundred miles from home. While I dragged myself that last hundred miles, I began to think about the resources that had been consumed that day. As I did so, I began to really understand the truth of something that Dr. Pleva had been saying for months. Doing conference ministry the way it has always been done is no longer a sustainable practice.

There are multiple reasons why our present model of conference ministry is unsustainable.

1. It’s expensive. For decades the real value of the dollars available to support conference ministry in Iowa has declined. In the last couple of years, however, the actual number of dollars available has begun to decline as well. Even as the dollars available to support such activities become less valuable and scarcer, the cost of conducting the activities continues to increase. One example: I was called to conference ministry in 2007. At that time, the IRS estimated that it cost $0.48½ per mile to operate a car. In 2012, that cost is $0.55½. We drive our vehicles between 3,500 and 5,000 miles per month. Using the 3,500 miles/month figure, what cost us just over $20,000 per year per vehicle in 2007 will cost us over $23,000 per year in 2012. As mileage increases, so does cost. And that is just for the cars. Because of the time we spend driving through cities and towns, stopping for gas, eating meals and similar activities, I seriously doubt that we average as much as 50 mph when we travel. Even at 50 mph, however, 3,500 miles per month is 70 hours of driving. Ignoring the opportunity cost of activities unperformed while we drive, the personnel cost to the Conference of operating one vehicle for 70 hours per month is well over $2,000. That’s an annual cost in excess of $24,000. I recognize that these figures are not precise and are only as accurate as the assumptions I have made to calculate them, but that works out to $47,000 per year per vehicle. That’s what it costs the Conference for each of us to travel from meeting to meeting throughout the state.
2. It’s inefficient. Even though we try to multi-task (I recently caught myself driving down Highway 3 eating lunch with one hand, checking my e-mail with another hand and driving with my knees), there is really nothing productive you can safely do while you drive except drive.
3. It’s soul deadening. After you’ve made the drive from Sioux City to Shenandoah or Des Moines to Kahoka or Baldwin to Fort Madison (or any other place in Iowa where we have a church—the destination doesn’t much matter) once, there isn’t much to see or do the next ten or twenty or fifty times you make that same drive except fight to stay awake and alert. After awhile, that struggle really starts to wear.

For all these reasons and more that I don’t have the time or space to list, your Conference staff has been working hard over the last 8-12 months to rethink the way we do Conference ministry. We are starting to implement some of the fruits of this work already and will be doing more in the coming months. We are not alone in this work, however, and we greatly value your input in how we can do this work better, more efficiently, more cost effectively. We invite you to share your thoughts and ideas with us.

The reality is that change in the way we relate and work together is inevitable whether we want it or not. Do we work together to ensure that this change comes in an orderly, well thought out and intentional way? Or do we turn our backs on that inevitability and let events direct us rather than vice versa?

Change is coming. Do we embrace it or do we get run over?

Tony Stoik, Associate Conference Minister/Western Iowa

Read more and see pictures and video about the retreat by clicking onto our Staff Blog …

Participants in the Iowa Conference’s Called to Serve retreat Jan. 5-7, 2012 spent time in conversation, reflection, prayer and service. The conversation invited them to tell their own faith story and listen to the stories of others who have answered their call. Silence was observed, making time to listen for God’s voice through a labyrinth walk and other spiritual practices. Participants offered their gifts in service to the community at the Center for Art and Artists in Newton, IA.

Hear and see more about what the group did and how they sense God’s call in their lives:

Called to Serve Retreat Video

Called to Serve retreat participants use a labyrinth to reflect on God's call.

Sarah Scott from United Congregational Methodist Church, Lewis, IA, paints a cabinet in a service project with the Centre for Art and Artists in Newton, IA.

Raven Rowe from Congregational UCC, Iowa City, IA, talks about her sense of call to social work.