wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 330-Church leaders urged to think and act like Jesus

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Church leaders urged to think and act like Jesus

Aug. 4, 2008     News media contact:   Linda  Green * (615) 7425470*   Nashville {330}

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org

>By Linda Green*

ORLANDO, Fla. (UMNS)-Christian leaders attending the 2008 United  Methodist School of Congregational Development were urged to live and  act like Jesus Christ as they seek to transform lives by expanding and  revitalizing the church.

Bishop Minerva Carcaño, delivering her keynote address on "the  spiritual life of the Christian leader," also urged attentive listening  to the movement of God and surrendering self to impact the church and  the world.

"The spiritual life of a Christian leader is a life that thinks and acts  like Jesus," Carcaño said during the July 31-Aug. 5 event sponsored by  the United Methodist boards of Global Ministries and Discipleship.

She spoke to 300 people in Orlando and 150 people watching by satellite  telecast in Grand Rapids, Mich. The two sites were linked for several  plenary addresses and services of worship throughout the six-day event.

The School for Congregational Development trains new church pastors and  includes  educational tracks for bishops, district superintendents,  conference staff, pastors and church teams interested in starting new  churches and revitalizing existing congregations.

>'Something about that name'

Carcaño juxtaposed the teachings of her grandmother, which helped her  become who she is today, with guidance from the Apostle Paul on relying  on Jesus Christ. Paul, in his writings from jail, focused on the joy  that comes from the name and presence of Jesus. Carcaño asked the  crowd to stand and sing the hymn that declares "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!  There's just something about that name."

Paul, she said, was able to keep his focus in the midst of spiritual  confusion, physical affliction and alienation from family, culture and  society. He suffered for the sake of serving God whom he had come to  know through Jesus.

"Those in power had imprisoned Paul, attempting to chain his heart and  mind and beat him down into submission to their will. But Paul knew that  their kingdoms would pass away," Carcaño said.

Paul also knew that proclaiming the name of Jesus would put Christians  at odds with the world, but he admonished them to "do it anyway" and  "let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus."

Christian leaders, she said, are responsible for holding one another  accountable for having the mind of Christ. "Do we dare have the mind of  Christ, thinking and acting as he did," she asked. "Jesus knew that  getting us to that place of spiritual leadership with him would be no  easy feat ... so he becomes one of us" in humility and obedience.  Knowing that spiritual leaders struggle to be who they are called, Jesus  would "show us how."

"We have no better teacher, no better guide, no better shepherd, than  Christ Jesus who calls us forth out in the world to live as he lived, as  spiritual leaders grounded in him, that the world may be transformed,"  she said.

>Servant leadership

Carcaño stressed that Christian leaders who think and act like Jesus  are not always in prominent positions in the church, but rather are  sometimes grounded in servant leadership. She cited a young pastor in  the mountains of the Philippines who began a new church for people  living in the higher elevations and a woman who washes the feet of  people at the Mexican border.

"When serving each other is ignored, our Christian living-and even more  so our Christian leadership-becomes a sham," she said.

The bishop urged Christian leaders not to get caught up in the  "self-care" movement that reflects the priorities of a narcissistic  society. "Self care," she said, "is pretty common sense. ... Take care  of your life, for it is a gift from God. ... Sleep, exercise, eat right  and spend time with your loved ones."

The importance of our lives is found in our relationship with God who  created us for holy purposes, she said. "We find the significance of our  lives ... through relationships of love with others. In knowing that we  belong to Christ Jesus who has redeemed and reconciled us with God and  with each other, we are enabled to respond to both the joy and the  demands of love."

># # #

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in  Nashville, Tenn.

>********************

United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org

----------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe from this group, go to UMCom.org, log in to your account, click on the My Resources link and select the Leave option on the list(s) from which you wish to unsubscribe. If you have problems or questions, please write to websupport@umcom.org.

Powered by United Methodist Communications http://www.UMCom.org