"I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9
Today, I'm grateful that The United Methodist Church gave me the leadership tools to deal with change and the anxiety that comes with it.
These days, I often hear our United Methodist pastors say, "Seminary never had any courses on disaffiliation." I may have even said it a time or two.
And while this is technically true, I was instructed in our church's polity. I was also given tools as a leader to deal with change which is usually accompanied by anxiety from those impacted by it.
I remember vividly in my church administration class of a particular anecdote that was lifted up as a true story:
A pastor (this was in Georgia) was appointed to a new congregation. He discovered that there was a tree that had grown so large that it effectively blocked one of the entrances to the church. This pastor took it upon himself to get his chainsaw and remove the tree, thus allowing greater access to the building. What could go wrong? He found out after the fact that this particular tree was planted by John Wesley.
As students, we were to answer the question, "How would you handle this?"
I think my answer of "Ask for a new appointment" was probably the most logical!
But seriously, these kinds of exercises show us that we may run into all kinds of issues. Most of them have to do with the local culture and history of a particular church. How many times would it be better to listen and learn before rushing to action?
As the church deals with disaffiliation, this has a lot to do with identity. As a connectional church, we have a lot of shared identity that is then shaped by local culture. This is why United Methodist churches all have similarities but each have their own flavor as well. Currently, many churches are feeling that their own flavor is sufficient for their identity and they are discounting or ignoring how the connectional identity influences them.
These situations remind me of those who declare that they are self-made when in fact, they have received so much help along the way - even from the standpoint of having parents who taught them a work ethic. If we see the gratitude from this person (or church) missing, it does cause us to wonder if they need more humility in their lives.
Having a strong sense of one's identity is good armor for the anxiety that emerges from our society today. It allows us to see outliers as just that rather than normative. It allows us not to panic when someone else makes a decision contrary to ours. It allows us to be in relationship with those who disagree and still respect them as children of God.
One of the greatest advantages in being in a connectional system is that we don't face the changes (and the anxiety that comes with them) alone. We have greater resources on which to draw. This network includes leadership that has also been trained to look at larger systems. Unfortunately, this is one part of our identity that is being overlooked by some. I hope these don't end up like the pastor who unknowingly cut down the Wesley tree!
As we move through Lent, what are some of the basics of your identity in Christ? How do naming these help with stress or anxiety?
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| Humor is also a tool to lessen anxiety! |
Photo by Oatsy40 via Flickr.com. Used under the Creative Commons license.
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