wfn.org | Commentary: Insights and lessons learned in overseeing a

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district

July 1, 1998       Contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-71BP{389}

NOTE:  A head-and-shoulders photograph is available with this column.

Editor's note: The Rev. Jeanie Burton spent three years as
superintendent of the Little Rock (Ark.) District and is the new senior
pastor of First United Methodist Church in Little Rock.

By the Rev. Jeanie Burton

What I learned as a district superintendent:

I learned that the United Methodist Church has scores of dedicated,
incredibly giving lay persons and an abundance of the most consistently
outstanding pastors and preachers.

I learned what it feels like to be a garden-variety visitor to a worship
service. I also learned that visitors need lots of cues about what to do
with those attendance registration books, plus lots of smiles and
greetings to really feel welcome. 

I learned that to be a visitor is to move outside your comfort zone --
it takes no small amount of courage for people to walk into a church
where they don't really know anyone. 

I learned that people don't like surprises: I mean, there is no
exception to this when you're talking about pastors and churches. 

I learned that you cannot over-communicate with people, and that good
communication is the single most effective prevention of conflict in the
church. 

I learned that appointment making is harder than it looks from the
outside.
 
I learned that the laity are indeed becoming empowered (hallelujah!),
but along with that empowerment the laity desire more voice in
appointment making and in the way the church is administered (uh-oh!).

I learned that pastors, too, are increasingly expressing a desire to
have more voice in their own appointments.

I learned that most people in the congregation don't seem to be
listening to the announcements made in worship services. 

I learned that it's hard for a church to really see itself the way an
outsider sees it.

I learned that the location of a church has a lot to do with its growth:
it's possible for a church to decline in a location where the population
is growing, but it's very, very hard for a church to grow in a location
of declining population. 

I learned that part of the beauty of the United Methodist Church is its
diversity.

I learned that pastors are having to learn new skills to do ministry in
today's church. 

I learned that bishops work harder than anybody I know. 

I learned that traditional worship is not the language that many of the
"unchurched" understand and relate to.
 
I learned that much of the growth in larger membership churches is
coming through their "contemporary" or "informal" or "alternative"
worship services.
 
I learned that apportionments truly are ministry dollars. I also learned
that trying to get people to pay apportionments is not my favorite thing
to do. 

I learned that for a multiple staff to work effectively, there must be
complete loyalty to (though not necessarily agreement with) the senior
pastor.

I learned that most part-time pastors are working more like full-time
pastors with part-time pay. 

I learned that Christ is alive and at work in the United Methodist
Church.
# # # 
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Methodist Church.

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