Thanksgiving Connections

Our family has a tradition of sharing thanksgivings as we sit down to a Thanksgiving feast.  We also pass around a cup where each person gives some money which goes to help people in need.  One year we bought restaurant gift cards and kept them in our cars to give to those on the street corners asking for help.

Last week we gathered the gifts but didn't know for sure where to give them.  Then I had the chance to meet Pauline, from Cameroon, Africa, who was speaking Sunday at St. John.  Pauline is the widow of a pastor with an amazing ministry to her neighbors.  St. John has been sending teams there for the past several years.

Pauline wanted to thank me for supporting the mission efforts when I was pastor at St. John.  She gave me a gift.  A bottle of peanuts that she raised and harvested in her garden.  It was an amazing gift of love...to imagine how she cared for these peanut plants and picked them when they were ripe.  I want to keep them as a visible reminder of the love of a disciple of Jesus who is sowing seeds of God's love in a tough place on the planet.

God had shown me what to do with our Thanksgiving offering.  When I gave it to Pauline with the hope that she would spend it on herself she was grateful and said it would be used to buy windows for her home.  It was a special moment for me.

One of the ways we can recover our missional identity is to be intentional about creating similar experiences for our congregations.  Yes, we will continue to send checks to food and shelter ministries.  But we also need our people to be in relationship with the poor.  Face to face.  Hand to hand.  Heart to heart.

I invite you to pray for Pauline and all of the dear saints of God working for good in the world.  I also encourage you to pray for God to open a door for you to be a friend to someone in need.  Consider going on a Volunteer In Mission trip.  Pray about stirring your church to be in ministry with the poor.

Grace Always,
Dave

Changes on the Horizon

Alaska lay and clergy will want to know about some changes to start in 2012.  One is about the Advance which is how people give directly to mission projects in the United Methodist Church.  Beginning in January we will have one Advance number (931027).  We will still receive all donor documentation so we can send thank you notes and newsletters.  And all funds given to a specific pastor or current project will be honored if we have the documentation which GBGM will send to our treasurer's office.

If a church has a general project Advance number it can be used for salary support.  In other words these churches need to choose to use the single Alaska number or one of their general project numbers.  This decision needs to be made soon.  Just let me know.

Another change involves moving of missionary pastors to and from Alaska.  Beginning in January, 2012, GBGM will no longer handle moving pastors and their families.  They will give us the money although not at the actual costs and we will handle these moves.  Hopefully, we can be more efficient with local control and contracting.  We will need to examine GBGM's moving policies and create our own.  For pastors returning to their home conferences we may need to ask for moving assistance from the receiving churches and/or conferences.

With any change in our system anxiety may be present.  We are open to ideas on how to best communicate these changes.  GBGM will send a letter to pastors, donors, and supporting churches.  We could use our Fuze online meeting service to allow these changes to sink in.  Mostly, let us hold fast to our Lord, his grace and the mission given to us all.

Dave

From Leap of Faith to Faith of Leap

Ten Alaskan UM lay and clergy have embarked on a two year journey of faith and discovery.  We are enrolled in the Academy for Missional Wisdom.  The goal is that we would begin new missional faith communities.

In our first online course called Missional Imagination we are reading and writing about "Faith of Leap" by Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost.  It is an attempt to write a theology of risk, adventure, and courage.  It is about a life of faithfulness to God that includes risk, adventure, and courage.  The temptation is, and this happens a lot in the Church, to settle into safety and security.  When I was single I was fairly adventurous and courageous when it came to my faith.  When I was married and our first child entered our lives it became easy to shift into safety and security mode.

I could spend a couple of blogs and sermons talking about how the Church has retreated from risk when it comes to being missional.  According to the authors the main thing to recovering a missional identity is to create a sense of holy urgency.  This connects with the business world and the authors cite John Kotter's book "Leading Change" with eight necessary steps for bringing significant and lasting change to an organization.  The first and most important is to create a sense of urgency.

"The adventurous church thrives on a sense of holy urgency, and missional movements are built on it.  Says Kotter, "If the sense of urgency is not high enough and complacency is not low enough, everything else that we seek to do will become much more difficult."  p. 40.  The authors go on to describe how to create holy urgency in Church.

Those of us in the Academy are looking for ways to share what we are learning.  If you have a desire or a suggestion of how this interface can happen please let us know.  We are:  Cindy Roberts, Karen Martin-Tichenor, Robert Hicks, Sandra Wagenius, Jenny Smith, Eric Treider, Nelma Treider, Lonnie Brooks, Janice Carlton, and myself.

Grace Always,
Dave

Church Leadership Ideas

I subscribe to "Leading Ideas" which comes as a free resource from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership.  The first article by Reggie McNeal is "Fast Forwarding Your Church's Community Engagement."  As we all rediscover what it means for our churches to missionally reengage with our communities this article is very helpful.  Reggie reminds us that one in five Americans are sure about their belief in God but never attend church.  So people are out there ready to be engaged about their faith.  Click here for the link.  http://bit.ly/tm8Opv

A second resource is about asking good questions.  Author Debra Meyerson suggests some questions when fearing consequences of potential actions.

• What might happen if you take this course of action?
• What are the worst things that could happen?
• Why are you afraid of these outcomes?
• How bad would it be if feared outcomes materialize?

I offer these resources to you as Alaska lay and clergy leaders working to make disciples of Christ to change the world.

Grace Always,

Dave

Native Storytelling Event

I believe that all human societies should make time to listen to the wisdom of people who lived for centuries in the land they now inhabit.  To be sure our God speaks to us through the stories and experiences of people who have learned to live in harmony with creation.

Last Sunday Charlie Brower, an Inupiaq man from Barrow, whaling captain, retired engineer and businessman, member of St. John, and chair of our Native Ministries Committee, asked several native American leaders from the lower 48 to share their stories.  About 100 children and adults gathered to listen and laugh as stories of native people were shared.  We were reminded of the importance of names, of the meaning of a special dancing dress with patches from service in Iraq, and of brokenness and healing.

I want to share some photos and to encourage our churches to observe Native American Sunday this year.  For resourcing go to http://www.umcgiving.org/site/c.qwL6KkNWLrH/b.3833863/

This video clip depicts an Alaskan flute played for the first time.

Grace Always,
Dave

Preparing the Way for God to Do a New Thing

I am not a fan of musicals with one exception.  I love "Godspell."  I love the music, the acting, and the story.  The opening song is called "Prepare Ye."  Echoing the words of John the Baptist it proclaims softly and then builds with anticipation.  Pre....pare ye the way of the Lord.  Pre....pare ye the way of the Lord.  

Alaska United Methodists are doing what we can to prepare the way for the Lord to do a new thing in our midst.  We are refocusing on our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.  When it comes to our structure we are discerning our way towards a more streamlined and nimble structure that will respond to the missional needs of the people in Alaska.  

For example, we currently meet as conference leaders three times a year.  We want the primary purpose of our gatherings to be on learning how to grow and make disciples rather than administration.  So we are thinking of a Leadership Team or Table that would include 15 leaders from around the state.  This group would wear many hats such as trustees, pension board, outdoor ministries, and acting on behalf of the annual conference.  We would retain PMU and CFA and Nominations.  Missional subgroups that reflect our core values could be Native Ministries, Congregational Revitalization, New Ministries, and Leadership Development.  The goal is to create a structure that helps us redirect the flow of energy towards revitalizing our congregations who are effective in making disciples of Christ.

Bishop Hagiya is leading this task group.  Members include Nora Ortiz Frederick, Lonnie Brooks, Leila Disburg, Luther Oconer, Charles Martindell, and Dave Beckett.  We have reviewed the 61 survey respondents and are open to hearing from lay and clergy.  We want to engage one another in a dialogue over the coming months with the plan of approving a new structure at annual conference next May.  

Please look for communications coming to you via the E-Aurora, Aurora Witness, and the conference website.

Grace Always,

Dave

Party at Aldersgate

Aldersgate UMC in Juneau celebrated 25 years as an active presence of God's grace in action in the Mendenhall Valley last weekend.  I was there along with my wife, Kim.  She had never been to Juneau and I asked her to go with me as a birthday gift.  I also had not met Pastor Susan Boegli's husband, Ken, and daughter, Megan.  I was not able to find Megan for this picture but here is Susan and Ken after worship.

Another highlight for us was to see Fred and Sharon Cooper.  The Cooper's were instrumental in helping to launch Aldersgate back in the day.  Sharon is a retired diaconal minister whose music ministry and contemplative prayer ministry blessed Alaska for many years.  Fred is a retired Alaska state trooper who was the pilot for many of our governors.  Here is a clip of Sharon's sermon on Sunday.

And for those with a long history in the Alaska conference who know and remember the Cooper's, here is a photo.

Happy 25th, Aldersgate UMC.  You have a rich history and a blessed future if you stay focused on God and God's mission.

Grace Always,
Dave