Archive for February, 2010
Explore Your Call to Ministry — Lay or Ordained
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Last Friday afternoon, at the “Celebrating the Call to Lay Witness” Conference, I had the opportunity to hear the Rev. Vance Ross, Deputy General Secretary of the General Board of Discipleship speak. In fact, I had the unfortunate task of speaking after Rev. Ross. I say unfortunate because he was just amazing! The topic of his speech was Ministry By, For and Of the People. His portion of the program was called a “presentation,” but in my heart and mind, I knew that it was a sermon. And not just any sermon, it was a barn burner. Before he was finished, the whole group, clergy and lay people alike, had a pretty good understanding that lay people are not only called to minister, if we all let them (us), they are really good at it.
The only good part of following Rev. Ross was that my participation in the conference was during worship. So my words were bookended by the beautiful organ music and gifted singing at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. The two hymns that we sang are not only some of my favorites, they are uniquely appropriate for equipping and empowering laity to serve in ministry. We opened with “What Gift Can We Bring,” and we closed with “Lord, You Give the Great Commission.”
My message was centered on laity in ministry being evangelists. For those of you who know me, you know that for me this is one of my most deeply held beliefs. I believe that when a lay person is equipped and empowered to serve in an area where their heart is engaged, they will become passionate! And when someone becomes passionate, they tend to feel filled to overflowing. When the Spirit overflows, you just can’t help talking about it. I do believe that you can be an effective evangelist in some situations by living the gospel. But I also believe that as lay people we need to learn to talk about our faith. We need to know the words to tell those who do not yet know Christ in their lives, how Christ works in our lives. We need to know how to speak our faith in words of love and inclusion.
Sunday at St. Peter’s, Rev. Dan Miller preached an incredible sermon about God’s call to ordained ministry. He spoke eloquently about his call and how it made him feel. And he shared his enthusiasm for discerning that call and with the hope that others in our congregation might feel that call now. Dan shared with us in January his plans to retire at Annual Conference this year. Listening to his sermon on Sunday, I felt like God was reaching through Dan to our congregation, letting us know that even as Dan moves to a different part of his ministry, God is calling others into the ministry of being set apart, ordained ministry.
At the end of our worship service on Sunday, we sang “Here I Am, Lord.” At my house, we call this the “crying song.” Something about the words to this hymn touches me every time we sing it. I used to be embarrassed but then, a number of years ago, I looked around me and saw several others who were similarly impacted. Sunday, as we sang, I saw tears in many eyes around me.
For me this was a wonderful weekend. Hearing a powerful speaker like Rev. Ross confirm for me the reality and rightness of my “call” to lay ministry and then hearing Dan speak about the power felt by those who are called to ordained ministry just felt right. I am clear that I am not called to ordination. I am clear that God’s call on my life is serious and special; it fills me and compels me to serve. And, I’m clear that the many clergy whom I know and have the opportunity to serve with have experienced a different call on their lives. Mostly, I am proud to be part of a church that embraces the reality that we, clergy or laity, are all called to help God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
Showers of blessings!
Leah Taylor
District Training Events Strengthen Our Connection
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Saturday morning about 100 people gathered in Wharton for the Southwest District Training event. Members of Wharton FUMC greeted us in the Fellowship Hall with hot coffee, juice, fruit and homemade breakfast breads. What a treat! After a short devotional, we adjourned to our classes. In my “How to be an Effective Lay Leader” class, there were nine people, all of whom were from rural or small town churches. We had the lay leaders from Lissie, Needville, Bay City, Wharton, two churches from Richmond, and even one visitor from Ohio. She shared with us that she and her husband “winter” in Wharton with their daughter who lives in town. The group spent quite a bit of time talking about the challenges facing the lay leadership of small town and rural congregations. There was a rich discussion and, as usually happens, I think I learned more than the people who were “taking” the class!
Sunday afternoon between 600 and 700 people gathered in FUMC Houston, West Campus’ sanctuary for the South Central District Training Event. As I entered the building, I was greeted by a church member, shown where to pick up my name tag and packet, and given directions to my room and refreshments. Worship began with beautiful organ music, moved into lively contemporary praise music, and ended with a spirited devotional presented by DS Lawrence Young. Dr. Don Waddleton gave the keynote address.
In my session I had about 28 people who gathered to hear me talk about my vision for the laity of our church — a vision of enthusiasm and empowerment. They were an incredibly gracious audience while I spoke and engaged me in conversation afterward. One gentlemen challenged some of my discussion. His words really pointed out to me that I truly have much to learn about our United Methodist Church and that I come at everything I do from the perspective of a large, suburban, largely Anglo church. Most of the churches present on Sunday were African American inner city churches.
In the course of two short days, I experienced a wide variety of the churches we serve as part of the Texas Annual Conference. Saturday I met and spoke with laity from small town and rural churches. Sunday morning, I attended worship at my own church, St. Peter’s United Methodist church in Katy. Sunday afternoon I shared worship, learning and fellowship with laity from African American inner city churches. I truly enjoyed this rich diversity of religious experiences and I hope to continue to meet and get to know laity from all over the Texas Conference.
These types of training opportunities are one of the unique things about being a Methodist. We are truly connectional and when laity meet one another, share ideas and stories, our connection becomes stronger. Many of clergy have known each other for a long time. They went to seminary together, they knew each other from growing up going to District Camp, they serve on committees together and they see each other at District events. As laity, unless you attend Annual Conference, training events are one of the only ways to connect.
Although the church in Wharton is much smaller than the one in Houston, although the size of the gatherings was completely different, and although the congregations represented are very different, in both events the hospitality of the host church was extraordinary. Both of these churches have clearly mastered the practice of “Radical Hospitality.”
If you haven’t attended the annual leadership training in your District yet, you may not have missed it. Several are scheduled for this next weekend. Call your District office for more information.
And, it is not too late to take advantage of the Conference “Celebrating a Call to Lay Ministry,” sponsored by The Methodist Hospital. It begins on Thursday evening and will provide opportunities to meet laity from our own conference and others. You can get more information on the Conference website, www.txcumc.org. In the meantime, if you attended one of the training sessions from last weekend and have questions for me, comments or just want to stay in touch, email me at tayleah@comcast.net.
Showers of Blessings,
Leah Taylor