 Let me share some thoughts this morning with you about the church. We love most special thanks to To a couple of people whom I've read from read their most recent books. Mr. Dr. Gil Rendell and The former Dean of Perkins School of Theology Bill Lawrence Over the last several months. I've been thinking about churches of which I've been apart from the time in which I was baptized as an infant I've shared similar pieces of this story with you before about my own call to ordain ministry But I think there's a closure to this that it decided I needed to have at least with myself Not only is a closure about my own life story or faith story. It is also a Time of lament and challenge. I think for the church So I began to think about all those churches the first church of which I have any recognition of was actually the church in which I was baptized is the church where they extend them the key family went my grandmother my aunts my uncles my cousin my dad and I and my little brother from the time I could remember Set on the back pew all my mother saying in the choir. I was baptized in that church Sort of grew up partially in that church. I don't remember my baptism, but we'll I'll remember it in a few moments as you will yours That church closed 20 years ago That church closed 20 plus years ago But the time is in the fourth grade now family having moved to another part of the city of Fort Worth Joined a church in the neighborhood. It's where I spent my childhood my adolescence It was the place in which I really began to hear the call to ordain ministry in terms of my own life That church closed in January of this year following that In my first church job having transferred my membership To a church in the city of Austin in fact the first time at this church of Austin returning home after graduation from the University of Texas I began working at a church called Richland Hills. It was my first church job The best part of that was not only the people I got to work with in the congregation Really the best part of it's the place in which I met Joan Craig McKee and we were married while I was on the staff there That church was about three miles from the church in which I spent 15 years of my life while I was at the first Young Methodist Church of Hearst the Richland Hills church Actually changed its names did some other things and it worships less than half of the number of people who were there in 1973 as Privileged to be appointed to what was considered a fairly large church in those days And that is a church worshiping for hundred people and those were large churches before there were these large Mega churches that came into being that provide a host of ministries That church was on the same side of town in which I grew up at the first of this year It became a part of another charge so that the formerly Second largest church in the central Texas conference along with the Medebrook church where I served was the 10th largest church now They are on a two-point charge As I've reflected about that I've begun to ask questions about how in the world did that happen What is common about all of this is that they had good pastors good people And for churches of their own size They were much better than average But the ground shifted The ground shifted for another reason number of reasons. They're not necessarily the shifting grounds that we have today Of which I'll speak later But it really was the ground shifting due to the cultural quake. It's like a seismic shift in the Christian landscape They had as much to do with what was going on in the world as it did in terms of how people lived out their faith And really what I'd say to us that Gil Rendall says so clearly is is that there's a difference between a public mission and a private mission We all know what the public mission of the United Methodist Church is don't we? to make disciples of For the and while that was not the mission statement then necessarily we were not even dealing in mission statements in the 1960s really It's given that both clergy and laity like we're doing and are doing good work It was happening then it's happening now But now over the years it may have been done with a lack of awareness of all those shifts that were taking place in the culture and in society and in education and in politics And looking back we now know that it's true We could begin to talk about the timeline and when that happened and what happened when we couldn't have seen it coming But it came and it is still here And it's past time Forced to at least acknowledge those shifts Because they have happened they are happening they will happen and we sometimes get confused about our commitment to the Christian faith and The way we live out the faith and the manners in which we do disciple making or even do church We put both of them in concrete put our feet both of them in concrete in both camps In terms of theologically in terms of the way in which we do ministry While some of us at this time We're baby boomers. It was a time in which we thought everybody went to church on Sunday morning In fact in a couple of conversations I've had with clergy her about my age They said, you know, we live in a time in which our grandchildren were no longer go to church every Sunday because everything that was happening around them and for them Competing with all the other things that take place on Sunday morning It is not as if we are the only game in town not to say that church is a game. I am to say though We don't have Sunday by ourselves anymore Now we can decry that we can talk about it. We can rail against it. We can say why do people do that? That's not the place. It's then that is a way of living in yesteryear It is time for us to live not only in today, but into a future And so how do we begin to then shift our feet as the ground shifts in such a way that we are as concerned about how do we reach People for Jesus Christ on Monday morning Monday night Wednesday night Not in terms of the old prayer meeting kind of thing I'm saying but at different times the week different points of way people engage so that people begin to have a living relationship with Jesus Christ So that's what we need to be tied to And we do not need to be tied or place our feet in the concrete It was good enough 30 years ago by golly. It's good enough today Because it's not good enough and it began to think about the decline of the Christian witness in this country Yes Even in what at one time was called the capital the Bible Belt Dallas, Texas Where people are allegedly more religious in Dallas than anywhere else place in the United States? friends It's happened here It's happening today Response too often Has been this A church consultants sort of some church consultants majored in this well-intentioned But still failing Too often we've said let's do what we do better Let's just improve and you can list off the number of things all of which need improvement But it may not do what God is calling us to do So let's improve our music. Let's improve our worship. Let's improve our preaching. Let's retool Sunday school Let's be a thousand families at Thanksgiving instead of 500 this year Let's call all the inactive members of the phone and by the way And while it may have made some changes it is not sufficient for ministry in today's world Gil rendels drawn upon the work of Robert Quinn as professor of organizational behavior and he writes Gil does of religious institutions I really am sort of tired of us referring to the church as an institution Can I just get an amen about that? Because I this is not in the script This is what This is when I can be at my best Which is unfiltered So so so let's be honest about this In terms of a public and private mission We prefer a private mission Which is taking care of all of us Making all of you laity. I want you to you know There comes times repentance and confession everything else on the part of clergy and laity life In which you sometimes see the job of your clergy person to make you happy. I'm sending clergy to you To be the pastor of your church To make you Uncomfortable at times. I'm sending persons to make you uncomfortable for this reason because frankly The witness to Jesus Christ calls us to all rethink and then reclaim what it means to follow this Jesus the Christ It's to engage in the public mission to make the cycles of Jesus Christ for the transformation the world And you know, I've pastored people to and you and lay persons. You've had clergy that Just didn't get it. Well, let's be honest about it It's not worth picking up anybody's marbles and walking out on each other about anything And the reason I say that is because I'll never forget this a Good friend who's the who's the late person of a large church non-methodist, but one of the mainliners Was sort of visiting with some of his fellow church members about something that not everybody agreed with and I'll never forget I'm saying Mike it's how I've told my friends This is my church family. This is really about my faith family And I don't walk out on my wife when we have a disagreement And I don't walk out on my faith family because we don't all agree Making disciples of Jesus Christ is hard work. It's harder now than it's ever been We should not expect the culture to be kind to us It was not kind to Paul as Tom Bickerton said so well last night It won't be kind for us, but you will not suffer quite like that I can promise you that you will not be confined to a jail cell because it you will not have changed You'll have plenty of food. You'll have plenty of water You'll get to sleep tonight or any other night in your own bed It is a lot easier than it was 2,000 years ago. Let's quit talking about it is so hard It is not that it's hard It may be that we do not mind our own deep spiritual lives or the life of congregation to do the work That is God is calling us to do and again, I say it's not in the long run For all of us to be happy about everything that happens The goal is is for the interior mission for us to be joyful to be with great joy About giving to live the faith and the communities in which we live So the claim of the public mission is that we actually believe that God can change people to change the world and That gets our passions moving But the private mission is what we have sometimes need term near terms which is rewarded in unusual ways The private mission focuses on ourselves both clergy and laity like But the public mission focuses on our charge our purpose our calling as Christians The challenge for clergy has been in Today's world is how can you be open and engaged with the mission field? In fact, it's the way in which the cabinet and I make appointments Contrary to what some of you may think There's a great deal of prayer and purpose that goes on in the making of appointments As slow as the process seems to be to you Know that the process sometimes seems slow to you because We want to do good faithful work and we begin with God's purpose We begin to take stock of the mission field And our superintendents know the mission field so well of their churches that we can call on them and they can tell us quickly So it's God's purpose and then the mission field and then we began to look at the church as a steward of the United Methodist witness In particular community Which means it is a mission statement to live out the public mission of the United Methodist Church the North Texas Conference in a way that sometimes Can make us a little uncomfortable and contrary to way appointments were made 40 years ago It's not that the last person we think of it's the pastor It is as a her is the biggest concern has to do with God's purpose the mission field the church and then the pastor Frankly, we what we do is in terms of the appointment system is really seek to somehow place deploy clergy Not just to grow church, but to deepen their spirituality It is really a call To do that which will provide the most joy Now let's be honest what a mission field is It is a church. It is a community that's full of people who have no relationship with Jesus Christ It's not just a one-time episode or experience that you do in that in that mission field It's an ongoing vital relationship. I shall never forget about how I learned about this first hand I was preaching in Rochester, New York a Number of years ago At the largest church in Rochester 8 or 900 people worship their own Sunday morning a big Gothic building. It's in Rochester, New York I've said to the pastor gosh the music is great in this place Bob Hill said to me Mike if you don't have great music in Rochester, New York with the Eastman School of Music here You need to just fold up your tent and leave, you know And then I said to him I know how hard this must be an upstate, New York Or you know with declining this this plant closing that happening that happened. He said that is an excuse For not engaging in the mission because I can promise you Mike There is many children and school today in this community Then there were 40 years ago when Eastman Kodak and Xerox were getting started And we can find a number of ways to no longer engage But I promise you if there's just a school in your community there are people there And I can tell you they don't all go to go to church And it's not about going to church is about our Bible relationship You know our churches need to look like our communities And one of the common things that happened to some a couple of the churches I named is the community began to shift and change color in 1992 only 6% of Americans Rejected any form of religious affiliation today. It's 25% It's even higher for millennials Church attendance is declined twice as much listen to this twice as much among Anglos without a college degree than any other group Friend here's where it is We are a middle income upper middle income group with a few exceptions and Unlike our founder John Wesley who believed that he had to become more vile His words to even meet reach the mission field. We don't know how to have conversations other than providing a meal Or some act of mercy When what we need to do is engage in a very significant conversation About what a relationship with Jesus Christ can do I will go ahead and confess my own failure about this Because we simply don't know how to do ministry within the large numbers of our mission field and to be honest We need to find people who do and we need to trust them to teach us more than we know the mission field is the place in which We must do ministry differently I begin to think about some of the things that are happening over the North Texas conference There are many more than I'm able to list here today One of them is part confessional again for me Shortly in my time here We began to talk about some experiments in some places The first one I remember is white rock I've talked publicly about this even with the council of bishops when they met here in May a year ago or two years ago I Introduced Mitchell Boone and introducing Mitchell Boone. I did say to the council of bishops I said I must confess to you that What has happened at white rock? I didn't believe could happen. I Thought with its endowment we should close We should take the money start a new church somewhere else. I Think that that was the conventional wisdom enough people I was worried about spending the down the endowment which I consider ways in which we can do ministry and somebody said let's just try it I Won't detail everything that's happened. That's a conversation you can have with Mitchell Boone But I would say to you and I think Mitchell would too you cannot recreate what's happened in one place You just have to be imaginative to do it in the place where you serve So when you talk to somebody who's made something happen, don't go copy it think okay What questions do we need to be asking about our own mission for you? And as I introduced Mitchell to council of bishops, I said I I'm gonna make a confession in front of Mitchell I never said this to him before I said I never thought this was this would work. I Thought it would not work And so I'm saying before all my colleagues that and happened very often in that group. I want to tell you I Want to confess that I was wrong They all laughed I Think they admired it more for this candor to which then when Mitchell Boone spoke he did said don't worry Bishop I didn't sleep for two years And the story of white rock of what was happening and what is now happening And this is not an indictment on anybody or anything that took place before then is just nothing short of miraculous It's younger It's more diverse. It has some other things it's doing. It's taken over a closed church, Owenwood to start a new ministry there frankly friends think creatively Think imagine Lee think boldly For God's sakes remember that there are people there who do not know Jesus Christ and Meet them and invite them and be patient with them There's several other things that are happening in terms that Lakewood started messy church That's difficult when you think you want to keep the walls clean the carpet clean and everything else I don't really know everything that's messy church I know that our grandson went to messy church in the Pacific Palisades a few times. I know it's for children I knew it's a new way to engage with children and it is a way to engage with young families who may think that they're too busy The first year I met this church of Allen is engaged in a significant building project Many of you have done those You know how to do them But there are people who are always on that site so that every Friday The first United Methodist Church of Allen furnishes a meal for anybody who's working on the site that day Now you can imagine over the course of a time of a building project that would change from week to week to week Not only do they share a meal they share a devotional and prayer and the connections They've made with some workers who come and then don't show back up because they've finished their work there Some of them have said I've decided to go back To the church And you know what? It's not just about getting members. It's really not It's just about reacquaining people with Christ occasionally first Paris is engaged in a challenging piece related with City Square in Dallas to call City Square in Paris to address the Continued the continued poverty issues that are related and related in Lamar County with persons who living in poverty by doing some creative things including housing It happens it can happen to you Or you can make it happen and I pray that you do Lastly, I'm not lastly. I also want to name the elephant in the room They're actually two Two elephants together in a room this size could be dangerous It could make us all uncomfortable it will But I'm reminded that Paul frequently told the church. Let's be mature about how we live together You may not know this some of you But the general conference in the item at this church mate met in St. Lucer three or four days in February It's the way I celebrated my birthday this year Actually, it was about the day before the bishops arrived for the council bishops meeting beforehand But what I want to say to you it was the purpose is right some clarity But it did not I know for you some of you in the room and you think it did From my position and what I get in terms of different things and the conversations I've had with people around the conference The clarity it brought has been painful Some people say that the traditional plan passed But to be honest as it was presented some of it passed some of it didn't Some of it was ruled in unconstitutional some people say Well, nothing changed Well, nothing changed about our position. There's no doubt about that related to weddings of same-gendered persons in our churches Or LGBT clergy? But there is something that passed and was rule constitutional And that is the way in which persons are held accountable specifically clergy if they were to do a same-gendered wedding There are any number of views on this point. I'm not talking about that right now But I want you to hear this This is what's changed significantly Any complaint that's received on any of our clergy is processed Nowhere in the discipline until this general conference Was the sentence mandated So for instance a person could commit adultery who could reach a gesture resolution in such a way but this time If to if a clergy marries the same-gendered couple And the just resolution is not met and a trial is had immediately that person is placed Placed on leave for a year without salary or benefits We don't do that for a clergy who steals money We don't do that for adultery necessarily. I'm not saying we wouldn't what I'm saying It's the only place where a punishment is mandated There's a lack of fairness about that and Those who even have what I would call very very very conservative opinions about same-gendered marriage They even acknowledge that's a bridge too far friends It is the only infraction on the book of discipline that carries a prescribed penalty and to be honest That ought to put in question Even our polity Frankly the backlash from that general conference is Becoming quite evident across the country Some are asking what will happen Some have asked in this annual conference who are unaware of everything that was happening late the what happened to the church but the polity and I think many of my colleagues share this many pastors with whom I've taught it's simply untenable It's not about this. It's simply untenable For all the beauty and Bishop Bickerton talked about this in a different way yesterday for all the beauty and hope of a global church It can't work the way we're structured now So let me share with you what happens We really don't you know if we can sort of not talk about this stuff and everything you'll feel better Until five years from now. You won't feel so good And you'll wonder why didn't Bishop McKee tell us this or why didn't our pastor tell us this which is a question I asked many times So here's the polity question There are four Areas of the church the central conferences in Africa The central conferences on the continent of Europe the central conferences in the Philippines the central conferences in the I mean Excuse me the jurisdictional conferences the United States. So every several central conference, except we don't have a central conference here We have jurisdictional conferences. I'm getting messed up here So every central conference in the Philippines and Europe and on the continent of Africa write a discipline for their context You know this book that keeps getting thicker about who we are or what we're to do I Say the best thing we could do is make it a book of marching orders to reach people for Jesus Christ and cut it out about four-fifths of that book And let me be clear. This is not about human sexuality It is about the way in the context in which we deliver that frankly So every four years we together and all the central conferences across the country good faithful men and women clergy laity are voting on how we credential ministers in the United States and they return to their own Context and decide that for themselves look I Think we can be united met this and have different ways in which we govern in our polity from context to context in the United States as opposed to Europe or Africa or the Philippines But this is one thing that this book the discipline one side doesn't fit all But there is a book that does and that book It's called the Bible With which you know methodists use our tradition our experience and our reason to interpret To discern how it is that the spirit is moving in our midst today Friends people ask me what should we do? What are we going to do? And to be honest I think in time Maybe in sooner time than we know That the spirit will be moving This is what I do know I do think United Methodism Will have a new reality. I Don't know what it will be We have to wait for the legislative body decide that Many of you think we had we as bishops have more power than you can know. Oh friends trust me that's simply Been a myth that you have believed or that you've been taught or you would think would make sense But this is what I know There's a moving of the spirit of in Methodism But it's not just about human sexuality. It's not just about polity There's a movement and acknowledgement for what I think is an even bigger issue and Every time I come to annual conference. I begin to think wish we could make this room Look like the mission field in North Texas And what I'm and what I mean is race Racism is still very much alive Even in the church, so this is my charge to you about that Could you just acknowledge it? I mean awareness is the beginning point of learning Could you begin to counter it in such a way in which you are able to say to a good friend of yours who says just one racist thing too much Hey, we need to talk when your pastor goes ahead and speaks about race Could it finally be the time in which I don't get an email complaining about your pastor For God's sakes I Get more emails about your pastor talking about race or Immigration or children housed on the border when they talk about it I get more emails about that than I do on human sexuality I'm telling you this is a big issue and whatever your policy or your thoughts about the policy or our politics or anything else for God's sakes Could a child of God who's seven years old at least be in a place that would be safe When they came across the border for God's sakes It matters not to me whether you are a Republican or a Democrat or your view on immigration But let's at least pay attention to children so that they don't die in the hands of our government So this is what I hope to see at some point in my lifetime. I Hope to see this is a vision for the church That when we gather as an annual conference 10 years from now that we will have discovered that we have learned how to meet welcome incorporate train enough Spanish-speaking pastors in order to reach 42% of the population of Dallas which speaks Spanish we have We one point six percent of our clergy or Spanish speaking or Hispanics and they do good work We need more people to do that work It means that sometimes we realize that our policy will be done a little bit different just in order to credential persons to do that work I look for a time in which you as clergy and you as laity live in such a way and Which you think about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and you realize that it comes from our Wesleyan tradition Which is so strong and the reason I'm a method is simply because it's a theological one It's not because my parents went there. It's not because my grandparents went there It's because there's this place about grace in our lives that somehow when you and I didn't know it and When we turn the corner of our life Our God and loving kindness meets us there It is about the grace that which always surrounds us It's about the grace which then greets us It's about the grace which transforms us But it's not just about that one-time experience and it has to do with our own our own Response it's that we continue to reform by that grace It's not a one-time and it's fine It's that we grow West those who are getting ordained you expect to be made more perfect in this life. It is a good vision to have So for the church we realized that what it means is I would love to see a church in which We were all growing in that grace that every moment of our waking lives We think about how We really are growing in the depth of the faith. I see a church In which we meet people where they are Despite their income level despite their race despite their culture and we share with them the good news Maybe so God bless you