Remaining Connected
08/06/13 05:19
The question of how to organize churches has been a part of the story of the church from its beginning. The New Testament paints a word picture of the Apostles traveling from congregation to congregation, often writing letters between visits, struggling to help congregations be consistent in issues of faith, practice and doctrine. By the third century or so, a hierarchy had been formed with local congregations under the direction of priests, priests under the direction of bishops, bishops under the direction of cardinals and cardinals answering to the pope. Throughout history there have been many questions over authority, a bit of intrigue over the selection and removal of popes and cardinals. When the Protestant reformation resulted in a major schism in the church, the question of how to organize Protestant congregations arose. There were many who argued that power should be decentralized and some argued against the practice of ordaining bishops. The division of Christians from one another continued in Protestant churches, with many different denominations being formed and difference governance structures in the various denominations. Denominationalism rose to its most divisive forms in North America, were we continue to have more types of Christian churches than other parts of the world.
After a brief flirtation with a centralized structure, New England Pilgrims and Puritans settled on a polity with congregations having a great deal of authority and the associations between congregations being relatively weak. Issues like the ordination of ministers have bounced around within our structure with ministers being ordained by individual congregations, but seeking authorization for ministry for associations so that they have the ability to move from congregation to congregation. The system isn’t the loosest in American Protestantism, nor is it the tightest. The tradition of an educated clergy persisted throughout most of the churches the eventually joined together to form the United Church of Christ and by the time of the union the recognized standard was a graduate degree in theology.
At the time of the union, the constitution of the newly-formed church acknowledged the authority of the local congregation, and associations of congregations formed in specific geographical areas. The associations of the church were organized into Conferences. The general model is for conference boundaries to follow state lines, but there are several Conferences that encompass multiple states and some that are smaller than a state. The General Synod, the national governing body of the church, sets the boundaries of Conferences. Over the years Conferences have been reconfigured in a couple of instances, but the 39 Conferences of the United Church of Christ have been remarkably stable over most of the church’s history.
Much of the authority of the Conferences has had to do with financial resources. Mission funding is channeled from local congregations to the Conferences. Each Conference, in turn, decides how much of that mission money is retained for Conference work and how much is passed on to the Church’s national setting. That meant that Conferences and Conference Ministers have, historically, exercised significant power in the Untied Church of Christ.
The story of our Conferences, however, is a story of decline. The United Church of Christ has been shrinking in members and congregations for virtually all of its history. The decreases have resulted in shrinking budgets for Conferences and the church’s national setting. While individual congregations have remained strong in many places, the church continues to shift away from rural areas to urban centers. This shift in the demographics of the church has resulted in Conferences that have experienced shrinking budgets, decreasing staff and smaller programs than in previous years. Because funding from local churches to the Conference is completely voluntary in our denomination, decreasing programs usually result in decreasing donations. One colleague commented that “each year of my career the Conference has become less and less relevant to the local church.” That probably is an exaggeration, but it is true that contemporary congregations are not particularly dependent upon Conference structure for their mission and ministry.
Here in South Dakota, we still have enough congregations and enough donations from congregations to sustain a viable Conference with a single Conference minister. While there are many people who can remember the days of three Conference ministers, the shrinking to two and then to one is an obvious pattern of decline. Still, the financial base remains for a single minister to function primarily as an administrator of the Conference business, with some time devoted to pastoral care, church celebrations and events, and other ministries.
This weekend our Conference is gathered for its annual meeting in Custer. Even with the close location of the meeting, our congregation does not have all of its delegate positions filled. While we have several members who are active in Conference committees and two who serve on the Conference board of directors, there is little excitement or interest in the ministries of the Conference among the general membership of our congregation. The presence of national church staff and even the election of a new conference minister have failed to generate much excitement or interest in the pews of our church. Although I attend the meetings, I confess that I am not as excited or as involved as was the case a few years ago. It is not that we are opposed to the work of the conference, it is just that the passion and energy for the work of the church is focused more on activities in the local church than statewide mission and ministries.
Still, we are connected to other congregations. We belong to each other. What happens in other churches affects our mission and ministry. We need to gather and to maintain our relationships with each other. We need to share ministry in ways that reach beyond local congregations.
The organization of the wider church continues to be a challenge for the church as we look forward and plan mission and ministries that are relevant and engaging for the future. I suspect that the shape of the Conference and national settings of the church will continue to evolve and change. A clear vision of what is emerging is yet to be revealed.
In the meantime, Christians gathering for worship, shared meals and inspiration is a worthy endeavor.
After a brief flirtation with a centralized structure, New England Pilgrims and Puritans settled on a polity with congregations having a great deal of authority and the associations between congregations being relatively weak. Issues like the ordination of ministers have bounced around within our structure with ministers being ordained by individual congregations, but seeking authorization for ministry for associations so that they have the ability to move from congregation to congregation. The system isn’t the loosest in American Protestantism, nor is it the tightest. The tradition of an educated clergy persisted throughout most of the churches the eventually joined together to form the United Church of Christ and by the time of the union the recognized standard was a graduate degree in theology.
At the time of the union, the constitution of the newly-formed church acknowledged the authority of the local congregation, and associations of congregations formed in specific geographical areas. The associations of the church were organized into Conferences. The general model is for conference boundaries to follow state lines, but there are several Conferences that encompass multiple states and some that are smaller than a state. The General Synod, the national governing body of the church, sets the boundaries of Conferences. Over the years Conferences have been reconfigured in a couple of instances, but the 39 Conferences of the United Church of Christ have been remarkably stable over most of the church’s history.
Much of the authority of the Conferences has had to do with financial resources. Mission funding is channeled from local congregations to the Conferences. Each Conference, in turn, decides how much of that mission money is retained for Conference work and how much is passed on to the Church’s national setting. That meant that Conferences and Conference Ministers have, historically, exercised significant power in the Untied Church of Christ.
The story of our Conferences, however, is a story of decline. The United Church of Christ has been shrinking in members and congregations for virtually all of its history. The decreases have resulted in shrinking budgets for Conferences and the church’s national setting. While individual congregations have remained strong in many places, the church continues to shift away from rural areas to urban centers. This shift in the demographics of the church has resulted in Conferences that have experienced shrinking budgets, decreasing staff and smaller programs than in previous years. Because funding from local churches to the Conference is completely voluntary in our denomination, decreasing programs usually result in decreasing donations. One colleague commented that “each year of my career the Conference has become less and less relevant to the local church.” That probably is an exaggeration, but it is true that contemporary congregations are not particularly dependent upon Conference structure for their mission and ministry.
Here in South Dakota, we still have enough congregations and enough donations from congregations to sustain a viable Conference with a single Conference minister. While there are many people who can remember the days of three Conference ministers, the shrinking to two and then to one is an obvious pattern of decline. Still, the financial base remains for a single minister to function primarily as an administrator of the Conference business, with some time devoted to pastoral care, church celebrations and events, and other ministries.
This weekend our Conference is gathered for its annual meeting in Custer. Even with the close location of the meeting, our congregation does not have all of its delegate positions filled. While we have several members who are active in Conference committees and two who serve on the Conference board of directors, there is little excitement or interest in the ministries of the Conference among the general membership of our congregation. The presence of national church staff and even the election of a new conference minister have failed to generate much excitement or interest in the pews of our church. Although I attend the meetings, I confess that I am not as excited or as involved as was the case a few years ago. It is not that we are opposed to the work of the conference, it is just that the passion and energy for the work of the church is focused more on activities in the local church than statewide mission and ministries.
Still, we are connected to other congregations. We belong to each other. What happens in other churches affects our mission and ministry. We need to gather and to maintain our relationships with each other. We need to share ministry in ways that reach beyond local congregations.
The organization of the wider church continues to be a challenge for the church as we look forward and plan mission and ministries that are relevant and engaging for the future. I suspect that the shape of the Conference and national settings of the church will continue to evolve and change. A clear vision of what is emerging is yet to be revealed.
In the meantime, Christians gathering for worship, shared meals and inspiration is a worthy endeavor.