Let me tell you: thoughts on transformation

“Let me tell you what I see…” began Roy Mosley, invoking the Annual Gathering catchphrase.

It was the June 5th Conference Council meeting – an informal, conversational, non-business-y get together – and  we were beginning the acclimation and overview segment, welcoming new members and generating the spark of recommitment for those who were returning.

“Let me tell you what I see of a Conference that has gone through massive transformation.”  It wasn’t a rehearsed comment, but one that genuinely emerged from what could have been rather arid reprises of Bylaws and Directory, Annual Gathering planning guide, Conference finances, and Council structure.

Roy went on to recount what he has seen during the twelve years of his involvement:  an Annual Gathering that has moved from business meeting to celebration; a commitment to leadership development that has enriched us as a Conference as well as the wider church.

“OK, what does it mean that in the NCNC we have 63 members in discernment?” someone asked.  “Well, proportional to our number of church members, it’s huge,” came one response.  “And it means that Section A is very busy.”  “And,” I hastened to add, “the exciting dynamic here is that the Committee on Ministry is aware of and committed to the theological basis of its work:  that authorization for ministry is granted and maintained for the benefit of the church.  That when someone is ordained, or commissioned, or licensed, we are saying on behalf of the whole United Church of Christ that we need your gifts for ministry and that you are called, prepared, and able to carry out ministry in a trustworthy manner.”

John Meermans presented the wonders and terrors of the working budget for 2010-11.  He noted that, at a time when most Conferences are experiencing a decline in giving, we are experiencing an increase.  Many of our churches have had, with job and investment losses, to give less – but there are individuals who are now giving, and giving more.  We still face the possibility of a dramatic gap between the finances generated and the funding needs for 2011-12, but, it was pointed out, if shortfall is the case, the Council will be called upon to determine the priorities for funded staffing, and it will be up to the Conference Minister to adjust the staffing pattern in accord with those priorities and the financial limits.  “Staff cuts” are not the means to reduce spending; first comes the determination of what ministries must be funded.

Swinging into the study of Bylaws as a theological document,  underscoring the identity of the Conference as both a church body and a not for profit corporation of the State of California, we read from the opening paragraph:  The Northern California Nevada Conference…is a manifestation of the church of Jesus Christ and a constituting body of the United Church of Christ (UCC), which “acknowledges as its sole Head, Jesus Christ… and looks to the Word of God in the Scriptures, and to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, to prosper its creative and redemptive work in the world. It claims as its own the faith of the historic Church… It affirms the responsibility of the Church in each generation to make this faith its own in reality of worship, in honesty of thought and expression, and in purity of heart before God.” [UCC Constitution, Preamble].

There we paused to tell the story of the inclusion of those words from the UCC Constitution.  How, while the Conference bylaws were being re-envisioned, the Council had been talking about the involvement of Local Churches in the life of the wider UCC, and we were focusing on shared beliefs.  One of the Council members at that time came from a church that, he said, was really not interested in the Conference and probably wouldn’t approve of the actions of the UCC if they were aware of them.  And then we turned to that passage from the preamble.  The member slapped the table and said, “If we could start there, even my church could come aboard!”  So we put it in our bylaws.

“Is anybody taking notes on this conversation?”  Kevin Manz asked.  “These are the stories of who we are as a Conference.”

Who we are.  A Conference that, at a time when attendance at big church meetings is decreasing, draws hundreds of people together across hundreds of miles for Church Days.  A Conference where Associations are looking beyond the ways in which things have “always” been done in order to find ways for churches to “associate” and extend welcome to new churches and to one another and give life to the practices of authorization for ministry.  A Conference where people delight in exploring their spiritual foundations through Epiphany conversations on the heart of the Gospel, and find strength in Lenten devotions for hard economic times.  A Conference that has just launched a youth ministries visioning team to bring together the diversity of the Conference in imagining what we might do to undergird each congregation’s ministry to and with young people, and received two major gifts for the endowment of youth and young adult ministries of spiritual growth and leadership development.  A Conference where vital ministry is carried out every day by churches and ministers: under the bridge in Guerneville, on the streets of San Francisco, among immigrant communities in Fresno, in witness for forgiveness in Reno, and in the harried lives and seeking hearts of those who come to our churches in joy and in longing.

The Conference is this community of congregations, this ministry of ministers. To paraphrase Deuteronomy 30: this Conference is not too far away from you….it is not in heaven, neither is it in Hayward, neither is it the Conference of 1988 or 1972……  But, for better and for worse, we are the Conference now.  “The Conference” isn’t some office over yonder; isn’t an aggregation of assorted staff people; isn’t a menu of program options; isn’t a contracted service provider; or a legion of committees; but has something to do [or maybe everything to do] with relationships and expectations and mutual benefit and accountability and faith-in-common.

Let me tell you, this is what I see.