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New resources address church's spiritual leadership need

Jan. 13, 2006

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

By Linda Green*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The United Methodist Church's discipleship
agency has announced two new initiatives aimed at building spiritual
leadership among pastors and within congregations.

The announcement comes as part of a churchwide response to an urgent
need identified by the 2004 General Conference, the top legislative body
of the denomination. The assembly identified leadership and faith
development as critical matters facing the church in the 21st century.

The two new initiatives, designed to help pastors and congregations
build those leadership skills, were introduced Jan. 11 at the Board of
Discipleship.

"These two companion resources squarely address the most pressing issue
of the church today," said the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt, top executive of
the agency. "Both initiatives are dedicated to creating spiritually
formed leaders who want to improve their skills and deepen their
congregation's commitment to disciple-making. The impact these resources
will make will be felt for years to come."

The L3 Leadership Incubator and the Church Vitality Indicator, more than
three years in the making, use a combination of cutting-edge technology
and prayerful dialogue to strengthen leaders and reshape disciple-making
faith communities, said discipleship agency staff. The L3  stands for
"love, learn and lead."

"The denomination of United Methodism has a huge elephant in the room,
which is the decline and deterioration of local churches and therefore
annual conferences," said the Rev. Vance Ross, an agency staff
executive. Referring to an adage that holds the only way to eat an
elephant is one bite at a time, Ross said the two initiatives are ways
the agency "hope(s) to help local churches and therefore annual
conference have some forks, knives and spoons and a place setting to
begin to eat the elephant."

The Church Vitality Indicator is a subscription-based online assessment
and discernment tool to identify and build upon a congregation's
strengths. Using results from a 66-question survey and an influence
diagraph, the indicator provides an impact report that helps lay and
clergy leaders understand the state of their congregation and plan for
the future. The online resource provides leaders with analytical tools
and offers up to 96 possible focus areas for unlocking a congregation's
growth potential, according to agency staff members.

"It is not merely an assessment but a discernment tool that leaders
utilize to ... get at truth. What we are looking for is to be able to
get at truth as we discern what is going on in a congregation and how to
begin to move from decline and deterioration to growth, vitality and
health, " Ross said.

Jill Ridenour, a member of the discipleship agency's marketing staff,
said the agency took stock of what churches needed in order to grow.
Analysis indicated church leaders want help in understanding their
church's context and how it can grow.

"The CVI helps people in changing their congregations and helps them to
continue to move forward. It is also a way for them to move beyond the
church walls and see how the community affects who they are as a church
and who they are as a congregation," she said.

The CVI initiative is grounded in three beliefs: that the heart of a
congregation is a "community of faith," that congregations are unique
and diverse, and that it takes a team to lead a congregation, said
Betsey Heavner, the agency's disciplining consultant. Noting that Jesus
began with a team of 12 disciples, she said the agency hopes that with
the denomination's itinerant system, strong teams will be produced to
maintain the church's identity when people leave.

The L3 Leadership Incubator was produced in partnership with local
church pastors and denominational leaders after a 2002 pilot project
with church leaders in Kentucky, who wanted to be agents of change in
their communities and congregations.

The incubator provides opportunities for local church leaders and annual
conference leaders to come together and "be part of connection
differently than we have understood it over the years," Ross said. More
than 40 incubators are currently in place around the United States.

The initiative creates a small-group environment where spiritual leaders
and ideas are born, nurtured and developed. Meeting over the course of
18 months, six to 12 leaders focus on their spiritual growth and
leadership skills and the development of an Incubator Ministry Action
Plan.

"We have had a system that called itself a connection, but we are trying
to build places and spaces where there can be relationship that is
connected," Ross said.

"These L3 Incubators allow people an opportunity to share in covenant,
in cooperation, and with sisters and brothers who are leaders - clergy
and lay - God's dreams, God's hope and (the) opportunity to build skills
to be spiritual leaders of congregations, not ecclesiastical CEOs," he
said. The incubators will help congregations "release people into the
world to make disciples and be disciples of Jesus Christ to turn an
upside-down world right side up."

The Rev. Craig Miller, director of the Board of Discipleship's center
for evangelism through new congregational development, says the L3
Leadership Incubator is more than a product. "It is really the beginning
of a movement ... designed to bring people together to generate new
ideas" and to focus on a specific area or areas of the congregation.

Ross calls the L3 a "back to the future kind of movement" that helps
leaders return to Christian conversation and become empowered to lead
others to become spiritual leaders.

The word "incubator" is widely used in business and education to
describe a place where people can find resources, work with one another,
hold one another accountable and build an environment where leaders and
ideas are nurtured, Miller said. "This is the simple idea underlying the
L3 Incubators."

Incubators allow United Methodist pastors and leaders who are living in
isolation to come together and talk with one another in an environment
of trust, love and accountability, and to develop strategies for
personal and congregational ministry, Miller said.

The $250 L3 Incubator kit, developed by Discipleship Resources, contains
a DVD with more than 850 slides, 24 songs with lyrics and music, seven
video clips, copies of the Incubator Guidebook and an access code to the
Incubator Website. In addition, the kit includes a year's subscription
to the Church Vitality Indicator Website, the companion resource from
the Board of Discipleship.

CVI may be used with or separately from the L3 Leadership Incubator and,
like the incubator, does not require any outside facilitator or
consultant. CVI subscriptions, available at the Upper Room's online
bookstore, range from $49 to $400, depending on congregation size. The
bookstore can be found at http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/.

The L3 Leadership Incubator and the Church Vitality Indicator may be
ordered at www.L3incubator.com and www.CVIndicator.com. More information
is available by contacting Betsey Heavner, project coordinator,
toll-free at (877) 899-2780, Ext. 7295, or by e-mail at
bheavner@gbod.org.

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

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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