Who is in charge at a local church ?

[Methodized]

You know...i heard a joke once...
This fellow died and went to
Heaven...saint peter meet the
Man at the gate, said welcome,
Now he said, we need to find you
A place....so they went down this
Long hall..with many doors...first
Door there were bells and drums
Playing...nope, not them...then next
Room they went by, people singing
And loud music playing...nope,
Not there either, next door there
Were people chanting...nope, not
Them either...then st. Peter stopped,
And told the man, now be quiet when
We go by the next door...they think
They are the only ones here.......

Hmmm....wonder who that could
Be ??

I'm sorry that you are insisting on missing the point. You asked us about how something works in the United Methodist Church. You don't like the answer, so instead you move to insulting either us or Methodism. Is that really how to handle this? Is that how you have been handling things at the local church you are attending?

 

[polkaman]

Sorry sir....but you insult me.

I want to thank you tho, for giving
Me some insight of Methodist.
My grandmother attended said
Church...so in part, why i try to
Help....after all i do, im not considered
""One of you"", is quite disturbing.
Its all about membership...its all
About doing what the upper level
Says....
The local church is on its death
Bed....few if any young couples,
Average age of attendance is
60+...poor committee attendance,
Even difficult to put on funeral dinners.
But it is more important to keep the
The power structure in place, rather
Than fallow jesus.
Perhaps that explains the shortage
Of pastors, and few if any new ones.
Why our membership is dropping.
It appears to be far more important
To "do as you are told", than to make
Desiples.
I find it amazing...while im the bad
Boy...one of the members is allowed
To start their own little mini church..
They raised money to buy their own
Bld...hold bible study, and have
Praise sessions... And put all this
And ask people of the people of the
Church to attend, and support
This, in the weekly and monthly
Bulletins.
How can you allow that ???
But im the bad boy, that sweeps, mops,
Cleans your bathrooms, answers your
Phone, makes repairs, cooks your meals, and many things.

Sorry....im not the problem.
Im doing my best to help.
As the pastor said, we need more
People like me.

Maybe we need to worship god....
Not the process.

 

[Rawtheran]

Sorry sir....but you insult me.

I want to thank you tho, for giving
Me some insight of Methodist.
My grandmother attended said
Church...so in part, why i try to
Help....after all i do, im not considered
""One of you"", is quite disturbing.
Its all about membership...its all
About doing what the upper level
Says....
The local church is on its death
Bed....few if any young couples,
Average age of attendance is
60+...poor committee attendance,
Even difficult to put on funeral dinners.
But it is more important to keep the
The power structure in place, rather
Than fallow jesus.
Perhaps that explains the shortage
Of pastors, and few if any new ones.
Why our membership is dropping.
It appears to be far more important
To "do as you are told", than to make
Desiples.
I find it amazing...while im the bad
Boy...one of the members is allowed
To start their own little mini church..
They raised money to buy their own
Bld...hold bible study, and have
Praise sessions... And put all this
And ask people of the people of the
Church to attend, and support
This, in the weekly and monthly
Bulletins.
How can you allow that ???
But im the bad boy, that sweeps, mops,
Cleans your bathrooms, answers your
Phone, makes repairs, cooks your meals, and many things.

Sorry....im not the problem.
Im doing my best to help.
As the pastor said, we need more
People like me.

Maybe we need to worship god....
Not the process.

I absolutely feel your frustrations with the United Methodist Church and yes there is a lot of things that it needs to work on but something I will say about the UMC is that it has some of the most caring, open, and theologically sound people and clergy that I've ever met or had the privilege to mentor under. When I was in college I did a ministry internship and the Deacon who mentored me was absolutely amazing. He probably taught me almost everything I know about theology, the inner workings of the church, and to always keep that relationship with Jesus first. Something else I will add is that unlike many of your baptist and non denominational churches the Methodist church is at least willing to hear about your concerns and even discuss what type of plans can be implemented to help improve a situation. God's not done with the UMC and I truly believe he will bring it back to where it used to be even if it has to involve a split.

 

[polkaman]

Thank you rawthorn for your thoughts, and
Yes, that is somewhat true. At the Methodist
Church, i help eith with the community
Meals, i also help with a weekend food
Program, and several other programs
Reaching out to the community....sadly,
The christian does not...
I have seen the underbelly of ""the beast""
The number of staff the conference has...
Ive seen the budgets....just one line alone
Over 50,% could be saved on their cell
Phones...and the constant supply of
Forms to be filled out....i would say
25% of the pastor and secy time is
Dealing with headquarters....and all the
New rules and regulations....small, rural
Churchs cant afford it....and it seems
They ""just dont get it""...just yesterday
I talked to a pastor that has 3 churchs...
Better than 20 miles apart....the man
Is running as fast as he can...he has
Asked for help...get some people trained,
Nope , nothing scheduled in area...in a
Few years, he is going to be burned out
If not sooner.
There are answers...but hq will not listen.

 

[Rawtheran]

Thank you rawthorn for your thoughts, and
Yes, that is somewhat true. At the Methodist
Church, i help eith with the community
Meals, i also help with a weekend food
Program, and several other programs
Reaching out to the community....sadly,
The christian does not...
I have seen the underbelly of ""the beast""
The number of staff the conference has...
Ive seen the budgets....just one line alone
Over 50,% could be saved on their cell
Phones...and the constant supply of
Forms to be filled out....i would say
25% of the pastor and secy time is
Dealing with headquarters....and all the
New rules and regulations....small, rural
Churchs cant afford it....and it seems
They ""just dont get it""...just yesterday
I talked to a pastor that has 3 churchs...
Better than 20 miles apart....the man
Is running as fast as he can...he has
Asked for help...get some people trained,
Nope , nothing scheduled in area...in a
Few years, he is going to be burned out
If not sooner.
There are answers...but hq will not listen.

Polkaman this does not seem like the norm at all for a UMC pastor to be in charge of 3 churches or even constantly filling out paperwork which is usually handled at Charge Conference. Which Annual Conference are you apart of if I may ask?

 

[bekkilyn]

Polkaman this does not seem like the norm at all for a UMC pastor to be in charge of 3 churches or even constantly filling out paperwork which is usually handled at Charge Conference. Which Annual Conference are you apart of if I may ask?

It's actually pretty normal in many areas for rural churches to be in charges of two or three small churches with a ten to fifteen minute drive between them, or longer if you are driving between the first and third church. I had a charge of 3 churches last year and you have to fill out most of the paperwork for each church individually, not just for charge conference, but for annual audit (June-July), and the three statistical tables (starting in January). In my conference, we fill out all of the charge conference paperwork ahead of time to bring with us to charge conference, and we're already getting started on it now for things like the parsonage walkthrough checklist and getting together things we may need. Even with "only" two churches in my charge this year, it's a lot if you don't keep on top of it, and there is no such thing as church staff other than the pastor, so much of the time the pastor is responsible for getting it entered into the system and holding meetings and whatever needs to be done to get everything taken care of.

 

[Rawtheran]

It's actually pretty normal in many areas for rural churches to be in charges of two or three small churches with a ten to fifteen minute drive between them, or longer if you are driving between the first and third church. I had a charge of 3 churches last year and you have to fill out most of the paperwork for each church individually, not just for charge conference, but for annual audit (June-July), and the three statistical tables (starting in January). In my conference, we fill out all of the charge conference paperwork ahead of time to bring with us to charge conference, and we're already getting started on it now for things like the parsonage walkthrough checklist and getting together things we may need. Even with "only" two churches in my charge this year, it's a lot if you don't keep on top of it, and there is no such thing as church staff other than the pastor, so much of the time the pastor is responsible for getting it entered into the system and holding meetings and whatever needs to be done to get everything taken care of.

Oh wow that's pretty bad I'm not gonna lie.

 

[Methodized]

Oh wow that's pretty bad I'm not gonna lie.

Actually, multiple point charges is one of the reasons there is a Methodist Church in nearly every little town in the south and the midwest. Churches which don't share pastors often go under when they can no longer afford a full-time pastor. But by using the circuit rider model of Methodism, several smaller churches can band together and share a full-time pastor.

 

[Rawtheran]

Actually, multiple point charges is one of the reasons there is a Methodist Church in nearly every little town in the south and the midwest. Churches which don't share pastors often go under when they can no longer afford a full-time pastor. But by using the circuit rider model of Methodism, several smaller churches can band together and share a full-time pastor.

Well come to think of it that's a really good model of ministry to use especially if an Elder has to be tethered to a specific geographical area.

 

[Methodized]

Well come to think of it that's a really good model of ministry to use especially if an Elder has to be tethered to a specific geographical area.

Elders are members of the Annual Conference. So they are always appointed within the bounds of that conference unless they request a move to another conference, which has to be approved by Bishops in both conferences, or a Bishop in another conference requests your transfer and you accept the request, also with the approval of your own Bishop.