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email the superintendent
Binghamton District Superintendent
David Masland
Dear Friends,
This is a weekly e-mail reflection from Dave Masland, the Binghamton District Superintendent. You are on this list because
you are serving a church on the district, are a lay person in a leadership position in your church, or because I believe you
might be interested. If you would like to be removed from this list, please just reply to me, and say so! If you know of
someone who would like to be added to it, just write me and ask. I feel strongly that my comments here are not one-way streets
of communication, but instead are beginning points for potentially meaningful conversation. So, PLEASE respond as you feel
led. Also, feel free to forward this to any who might be interested... or, delete on the spot if these ramblings seem a waste
of your time! They are intended to be an encouragement!
"The Diverse, Gifted People of the Binghamton District: Knowing and Loving God, Following Jesus in Our Community and World"
"The Diverse, Gifted People of
the Binghamton District: Knowing and Loving God, Following Jesus"
Last
week, our cabinet was privileged to spend 48 hours with Rev.
Dr. Gil Rendle. Gil is the leadership consultant for our boundary change work. One of the main points of his teaching
is that effective leaders keep everyone in a system focused on the outcome that is desired. As he points out, groups
(churches, districts, conferences and denominations) that are not clear about their mission and purpose spend a lot of time
and energy shifting around nouns (people, buldings, money, time, etc.) and verbs (activities, projects, classes, etc)
and find that they make little or no progress toward real growth. People work harder and get exhausted, but experience
little or no fruit. What is needed, Gil says, is letting go of old practices and norms, and focusing on the goal, the
desired outcome.
With
that in mind, let's spend a moment this week reflecting on
our district mission statement, which is listed above in bold print. Our statement says that we are "diverse and
gifted." In many ways, that is so true. Our churches are filled with commited folks, each with spiritual
gifts that are making a difference in their churches and communities. Having said that, let's be honest and admit that
our churches are not nearly as diverse as our neighborhoods. All around us new folks are moving into the area who are
of different language, ethnicity and color. Many others living near our churches may look like us, but are vastly different
because they have never stepped foot in a church building! I am not sure if you have noticed, but
we use a different vocabulary than they do! In other words, we have a long way to go to be as diverse as our neighborhoods.
So, the first question I will ask is: "How do you hear God calling you to build relationships with those who are different
in culture, background, and ethnicity?" There is no single answer to this question. What matters is that each
of us are putting our creative, spirit-based minds to work on finding new doorways to these kinds of relationships!
The second
part of our statement has to do with our individual and group-wide spiritual growth. "Knowing and loving God" have
to do with what happens in our worship and our small groups. In the area of worship, a question we might all focus
on is: "What can we do in our church to enhance worship so that God's presence is more real for all people? And,
the adoration of God is more focused and life-changing?" In the area of small groups, we might ask: "What
new groups can we create that engage people in their area of passion and interest?" If you design groups and few sign
up, don't give up! Dig deeper! And find out what WOULD get folk's interest up!
The last
phrase of our statement talks of "following Jesus in our community and world." Of course, there are a myriad of
ways people can define "following Jesus." We might think that our most important task is carefully defining exactly
what we mean by that phrase. However, doing so would take the movement of the Spirit out of the equation. A leader's
job is not to tell people what they ought to do to be good Christians and "follow Jesus." Rather, a good leader
keeps the vision of "following Jesus in the community" before the people, and frames good questions in such a way that people wrestle
(individually and in small groups) with what it means. Done well, a church will soon be finding MANY different
ways of following Jesus! And each one will come from someone else's own sense of calling and passion!
So, if
you are a leader (pastor or lay) in your church, spend some time this month framing a couple of key questions for your church
council to wrestle with. Start with your own mission statement (or our Distrist statement) and do not assume people
know what it means to live it out. Ask them a good question and resist the temptation to answer it for them. Let
groups struggle together to discern God's heart for your church and your community. And have some fun seeing where the
Spirit leads you!
Dave
Masland
In that
light, I invite each of you to join our Blog Book Discussion, based on Rev. Brian McLaren's book, "Everything Must Change."
As promised, I have begun the discussion by putting some snipets of an early chapter on a blog page, and I am inviting all
of you to:
1.
Read the blog and the conversation between laity and clergy from around the district.
2.
Read the book with us.
3.
Write your own comments and thoughts.
If you are interested, click on this link, and get involved in the discussion: http://binghamtondistrictbookdiscussion.blogspot.com/
Binghamton District Announcements:
Key Dates To Mark and Protect:
Wednesday, October 21st... Laity meeting with Bishop Matthews at 7 PM @
Owego UMC
Thursday, October 22nd... Clergy meeting
with Bishop Matthews at 9:30 @ Vestal Center UMC
Wednesday, October 28th... Listening
Session Regarding New NY Conference at 1 PM @ Park Terrace UMC
Wednesday, October 28th... Listening Session
Regarding New NY Conference at 7 PM @ Endwell UMC
Wednesday, November 4th... Clergy Mentor Training
on Oneonta District... place and time TBA
Tuesday, November 10th... John Goodell teaches
on Paul's Writings at 9 AM @ Nimmonsburg UMC
Saturday, November 21st... Sexual Ethics Makeup Training for clergy... 8:30 AM at New Milford UMC
UMW Fall Meeting Features
Young Adult Missionaries! Binghamton District United Methodist Women Fall Meeting, October 17, 2009 at the Vestal UMC, 300 Main Street, Vestal,
NY. Fellowship and registration will be from 9:15 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. and the meeting will start at 10:00 a.m. Please
RSVP by October 10, 2009 to Deb Johnson c/o of Vestal UMC, 785-3367. The cost for lunch is $8.00 and checks should
be payable to Deb Johnson. The speakers will be Eric Yetter and Sarah Reid who will talk about their time spent at the
Henderson Settlement in Kentucky.
Last
Opportunity for Conference Photo Directory Picture...
There’s one more opportunity to have your picture taken for the 2009 Photo
Directory. You may go to Chenango Bridge UMC on Saturday, October 24, 2009, at 10 AM. Please contact the church secretary
at 607-648-4330 to make an appointment. Then let Hudda Aswad know at 607-724-2568 or haswad@stny.rr.com.
Ministry Shares Update... Many churches have worked hard to catch up or keep up with their ministry share payments for the year. Thank
you. Others have fallen behind where they were a year ago, or where they hope to be. Because of this, the Binghamton
District Churches are slightly (about 1.5%) behind where we were a year ago. Do you know how much YOUR church has given
in 2009? If not, you can find out by going to www.wyomingconference.org and click on the link to the financial reports. Lest you think this is normal
and expect because of the current economic conditions, please note that ours is the only District that is behind where we
were a year ago! Please do everything in your power to catch up your ministry share giving for 2009. Remember
that the ministries of our Conference are directly impacted by your faithfulness!
Chances to Learn About New Conferences:
Much
is happening in the planning of the New Conferences in Pennsylvania and New York! There will be multiple opportunitiues
this fall for you to hear all about it! Check out this announcement about Listening Sessions:
Fall Boundary Listening Sessions... As we move through this 2009-2010 conference
year, we become increasingly aware how this is a time of transitions; a time in which people experience all kinds of concerns,
reactions and emotions. We know that this is normal. We also know that being aware of the change process and seeing where
things stand can assist with the transition process and help those in the change better manage their own emotions and feelings
and the change itself. To that end conference staff, conference leaders and members
of New ACT (NY) and the Vision Team (PA) will host eight Boundary Information Sessions in October and November. The sessions
will be designed to outline issues that the New ACT and Vision Team are reviewing and provide opportunities for local church
leaders to ask questions and offer feedback. Over the subsequent months, that feed back will help the teams solidify their
recommendations in preparation for action at the June 4 and 5, 2010 Annual Conference session.
Some items to be covered are salaries, pension, health insurance, property
insurance, ministry shares, Sky Lake and leadership and ministry opportunities in the new conferences. The sessions, tentatively
planned to be two hours long, will be open to any who would like to come. The dates, times and locations are:
Wednesday, October 21st... Laity meeting with Bishop Matthews at 7 PM @
Owego UMC
Thursday,
October 22nd... Clergy meeting with
Bishop Matthews at 9:30 @ Vestal Center UMC
Tuesday, October 27 2:00 pm Bethany UMC
AND at 7:00 pm Chinchilla UMC
Wednesday, October 28 1:00 pm Park Terrace Community Church
AND at 7:00 pm Endwell UMC
Wednesday,
November 4th... Clergy Mentor Training on Oneonta District... place and time
TBA
Tuesday,
November 10th... John Goodell teaches on Paul's Writings at 9 AM @ Nimmonsburg
UMC
Tuesday, November 10 3:00 pm Elm Park UMC - Oneonta
AND at 7:00 pm Elm Park UMC - Oneonta
Wednesday, November 11
1:00 pm Tunkhannock UMC AND at 7:00
pm Dallas UMC
You may go to any session you wish, but keep in mind: The meetings
in New York will focus on New York-related issues. The Pennsylvania meetings will focus
on matters related to Pennsylvania.
Meet Your New Bishop in NY... In
addition to these listening sessions, NY folks will have a chance to meet their
new Bishop (as of July 2010). Just as Bishop Middleton met with clergy and laity in the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre Districts
this past spring, Bishop Marcus Matthews will be coming to spend a day with both Bnghamton and Oneonta Districts. He
will be with us on Wednesday, October 21st at 7 PM at the Owego UMC; and on Thursday, October 22nd at 9:30 at the Vestal Center
UMC. The evening meeting will primarily be aimed at laity (though clergy are welcome), and the daytime meeting will
primarily be focused on getting to know clergy (though laity are welcome).
Youth Alive
Registrations Due Soon
Youth Alive 2009 will take place November
13 – 15, 2009, at Camp LaDore, in Waymart, Pennsylvania. This year, marks the last Youth Alive as we know it
before the new conferences begin! Youth
from throughout the conference are invited to get together to laugh, dance, learn, and praise God! This year's Youth Alive
has been extended to include an optional second night stay (still costs the same: $50 pp).
The musical guest will be the wonderful and amazing Wayne Kerr with his guitarist,
Matt Kidd. So grab your youth group, friends from school, and your youth leader to come and join in on the powerful worship,
youth testimonies, fun workshops, and new friends you'll meet!!! Registrations are due by October 25 to Annette Snedaker. Check out our
registration form by
(WEBMASTER'S NOTE)
Pastor King has 2 books published, the first is "Together in Trust" which went through 3 printings
at CSS Publishing and is still being used in Marriage enrichment classes throughout the country and can be found on Amazon.com.
The second one is a study of the Gospel of John , "Light into Darkness" and has
been used by several Bible study Groups. It is going to be used by last fall's bible study group. Copies are available
from the pastor and at the church office.
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