When a Thing is Right

   How do we respond when a thing seems right?  I read in the Scriptures of people rejoicing and being affirmed.  When the disciples are returning and celebrating the chance to do great ministry out in the community, Jesus speaks of the eternal significance of what they are doing (Luke 10). Later, Jesus talked about how heaven rejoices when lost things are found (Luke 15).  The Apostle Paul, throughout his letters to churches and leaders, affirms people when they are acting right and thinking right.  He encourages others to follow the people doing right, and strongly speaks against following the advice of people who get things wrong too often (Philippians 2-3).  We are to rejoice with, and to affirm people when they get things right.  Consider it holy encouragement.

   Rejoicing and encouraging are certainly my reactions to the work of our Church Council last week.  One, among many, of the key initiatives our leaders voted on is the start of partnership with the Pastoral Institute called the Congregational Assistance Program.  We know the Pastoral Institute for its excellence in providing care, teaching leadership, and supporting ministry.  I’m thrilled that Epworth is entering into a partnership that allows our congregation to tap into these resources even more intimately.

   The CAP program is a ministry that provides counseling services, life enrichment education and professional development opportunities for members of congregations and pastors through a contractual relationship with the Pastoral Institute.  Our people will now have access to Christian counseling at greatly reduced rates, and priority given when calling to make appointments.  The goal is to see congregation members within two days or even sooner.  Our church leadership saw the overwhelming asset this offers.  This is a new layer of care we have access to.  While I love listening and sharing with people, conversations will arise that call for a level of wisdom and expertise that I don’t have.  It makes sense in so many ways. 

   We have great people – our church is literally filled with the great saints of God.  But even saints have trouble.  This program increases access to care.  In addition, our fee is waived for first eighteen months, through a grant the PI received to help churches get on board.  Now, that is what I call something right!

   I want to rejoice with our church, and affirm our leadership, for consistently seeking the care for our members and live into Jesus’ vision for ministry.  This is just one of the ways we are positioning ourselves for the future.  Well done, church.

An Ancient Craft: Mentoring

  One of the great, epic stories from ancient Greece tells the story of Odysseus, trying to return home from battle but on the way faced near-impossible challenges of morals, strength, emotion, and wits.  Before  left behind a wife, Penelope, and a son, Telemachus.  But before he left, he asked a friend to take the lead in helping his son grow and mature.  That friends name was Mentor.  Around the same time our own scriptures tell how Moses, in the wilderness, receives wise counsel from Jethro in a role we would all agree today was that of mentor to learner (Exodus 18).

  Fast-forward over 2500 years to 1699, when a French novelist, François Fénelon, writes a story with the intent it could be used to help raise princes and sons.  The lead character in the novel is called Mentor.  The book was very popular for over 150 years, and it is from here that the character of Mentor is transformed into the act and concept of mentoring.  

  One of the great blessings I have is serving as a mentor to six United Methodist Ministers in our South Georgia Conference.  Along with one other mentor, I help to encourage, correct, inspire, and travel along with some of the finest ministers our Conference has.  It is a process we call the Residents in Ministry (RIM).  After three years of meeting one day a month, these men and women will go before the Board of Ordained Ministry in March to be examined for ordination with our Church.  In addition, I now oversee all of the RIM groups in the conference, which means I'm the one to recruit new mentors.  One day a month, for three years, may sound like a significant commitment to serve outside of the churches we are appointed to; but don't we know the most significant things in life call for the deepest commitments?  Isn't it true, that the best things take time?  Haven't we found that the strongest relationships, and with them the greatest influence, don't happen over night?

  I think this concept of mentoring is at the core of Paul's understanding of the Gospel.  He writes about how this looks in ministry, when he instructs Timothy and others in the church:

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses 

entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. - 2 Timothy 2:2

  The concept of mentoring has been around forever, and finds its way into our literature and our lives.  In what ways is God calling you to teach and lead others?  May we be the place where this ancient practice is found alive and well.

Staying on Mission

I have to be careful.  I have seen my friends and even mentors in the ministry try to make a point of something they have seen out in the world, only to be misunderstood in their efforts.  But I was so dumbfounded by what I saw the other day that I feel it is worth the risk. 

I was standing in line in the busy lobby of a local business.  The line was moving quickly, and there were a dozen of us waiting in line.  It was one of those moments when everyone in the place could hear every conversation spoken because of the close quarters.  Up ahead, the gentleman who was finishing his transaction asked to purchase one more item, worth less than a couple of quarters, and presented a $20 bill for tender. 

“No.”  The clerk told him no.  I was dumbfounded.  She tried to get him to use a smaller bill, but he did not have one.  He walked away, perfectly polite, never offering a word of protest.  But I did.  From my place in line, I asked her if that was even legal.  I remembered some old rule from Citizenship class specifically stating that U.S. currency must be accepted for the payment of debts (I later looked it up and it is The Coinage Act of 1965).  But beyond that, she went on to admit that she had the change, just not much left, and she was not about to give it all to him when he could go to a bank to get change and come back!  Again, I was dumbfounded. 

What added to my confusion and later dismay was that I was standing in a United States Post Office.  Most of us know the USPS is struggling to regain profitability, long since gone with the arrival of leaner competition and the advent of email.  Their own Vision 2013 statement, in an effort to turn things around, says their first priority is to “Focus on what matters most to customers.”

What happens when a company or organization forgets its mission?  When it forgets its purpose?  I believe in the USPS, and have faith that their restructuring efforts will soon right the ship.  But the attitude that a customer wanting to buy a stamp is an inconvenience will not help them get that done.  Imagine if the church acted the same way?  None of us would be welcome, because the truth is all of us come wanting and needing.

May we never forget our mission: to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!  Grace and Peace, Scott