IN MINISTRY WITH YOU
By Kate Conolly
Dear Friends,
One of life’s great mysteries to me was how appointments were made. I can remember thinking that I really did not want to ever have to be a district superintendent, but I would be tempted to be a D.S. for just one day to see how the appointment making process happened. There have been jokes over the years about the dartboard. As a matter of fact, today when I mentioned to my own mother that I was working on an article about appointments her response was “Oh, are you going to tell about the dart board?”
However, for many, at least at some point in their appointment history, there has been nothing funny about the appointment process. I have seen colleagues of mine deeply wounded as they were offered churches that did not fit their perception of themselves, or created hardship in some way for their families, or felt like a vote of no confidence. I have seen churches grieve or be disillusioned because their beloved pastor was moved or because their disliked or ineffective pastor was not moved.
I must say that this was the part of my job that I dreaded the most when I became a D.S. What if I was asked to take a pastor into a congregation where I knew it was not a good match? What if I had to tell a pastor that they could not stay or they had to stay, when this was not their wish? What if I was the bearer of pain to either clergy or congregations in the process? There is not a time in the cycle of my job that I pray more or pray harder than the appointment season. I am in constant prayer that God will be at work through the bishop and cabinet. There is no dartboard. There are just our notebooks bulging with church and clergy profiles, our own knowledge of our colleagues and our churches and, most importantly, time spent in prayer and discernment for God’s guidance.
One of the astounding things to me is how often those prayers are answered. There are situation where we will not see a way forward — and then the answer is provided. Yes, the appointment system is flawed and it is subject to the weaknesses and foibles that come from human beings being involved. There is not a doubt that we have made mistakes, and will continue to do so. However, I want to witness to the fact that God has provided just the right person at just the right time too many times for me to consider it a coincidence. I have found myself spontaneously bursting into the old hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness” because of my joy in God revealing or providing the right pastor for a congregation.
I ask for your prayers for the congregations and clergy who will be in transition in the next couple of months. And may God inspire and empower all of us to excellence, both as clergy and congregations, which helps make the appointment system work to its fullest potential.
The appointments that have been announced can be found on the Conference website homepage, www.umoi.org, under “Annual Conference 2008”
In ministry with you,
Kate