{"id":648,"date":"2012-04-27T06:36:27","date_gmt":"2012-04-27T13:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/gc2012\/?p=648"},"modified":"2012-04-27T06:37:36","modified_gmt":"2012-04-27T13:37:36","slug":"if-its-to-be-its-up-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/if-its-to-be-its-up-to-me\/","title":{"rendered":"If It\u2019s to Be, It\u2019s Up to Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m Amory Peck, from Bellingham, Washington, in the United States.\u00a0 By the grace of God, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ.<\/em><\/p>\n

It happened four years ago in Fort Worth Texas.\u00a0 We adopted a new ending to our mission statement.\u00a0 Until then it had said: \u201cThe mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ.\u201d In 2008, the body added the \u201cfor the transformation of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one named it quite this way, but the United Methodist Church had just created a BHAG \u2013 a Big, Hairy Audacious Goal.<\/p>\n

Jim Collins and Jerry Porras explained that bizarre sounding acronym in their book \u201cBuilt to Last.\u201d\u00a0 They had found that organizations that survive are bigger and bolder in their thinking; that their goals are huge \u2013 and also, ultimately, in the dreamed of future, achievable.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m proud of us for thinking audaciously.\u00a0 Proud to be part of a church that names its mission in fearless, daring, bold and spirit-filled language. \u00a0 Proud that we \u2013 lay and clergy alike \u2013 overwhelmingly claimed such a vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.\u201d\u00a0 Big? Yes.\u00a0 Audacious?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Wonderfully fearless, bold, and spiritually challenging?\u00a0 Indeed. \u00a0 And, in our dreamed of future, achievable? Yes!<\/p>\n

Yet, that\u2019s hardly enough, is it?\u00a0 Unless something significant happens, the words are empty, nothing more than a dream deferred.\u00a0 Nothing more than a banner or a slogan.\u00a0 Perhaps nothing more than a phrase on a t-shirt.<\/p>\n

So, back to Fort Worth, Texas and two other significant pieces of legislation that were adopted.<\/p>\n


\nWatch Amory Peck present her portion of the Laity Address starting at 1:26:00.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

First, we created a new paragraph in the Book of Discipline, \u00b6126, The Ministry of the Laity<\/em>.\u00a0 We committed to outrageous ideas such as this one: The witness of the laity \u2026, is the primary evangelistic ministry through which all people will come to know Christ and the United Methodist Church will fulfill its mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

I revel in those words, even as I find them exceedingly challenging \u2013 daunting, even.\u00a0 Lay people \u2013 are you hearing what we\u2019ve promised to do?\u00a0 Performing the primary evangelistic ministry by which the United Methodist Church will fulfill its mission.\u00a0 We said \u201cyes\u201d to carrying out quite a BHAG.<\/p>\n

The second addition to the Book of Discipline made a change to the membership vows, the first since 1932.\u00a0 Since General Conference met last, every new member has promised to be faithful to the United Methodist Church in \u201chis or her prayers, presence, gifts, service \u2013 and the new vow, witness.\u201d And \u2013 each time our local churches have taken in new members, we have reaffirmed our vows \u2013 including our promise to witness.<\/p>\n

So, laypeople, there it is.\u00a0 The beauty, reality, and terrifying awesomeness of our role.\u00a0 These few minutes of General Conference today are given to the laity, and our report is this:\u00a0 if it\u2019s to be, it\u2019s up to me.\u00a0 If it\u2019s to be, it\u2019s up to you.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no wiggle room, there\u2019s no out.\u00a0 The mandate covers each lay person here, and every layperson in our local churches. Each and every.\u00a0 No exceptions \u2013 no one excluded.<\/p>\n

Clergy, we certainly acknowledge and celebrate your missional role with gratitude, appreciation, and relief.\u00a0 And, we commit ourselves to these new mandates.\u00a0 We, the laity, have taken, with new vigor, the great commission into our hands and hearts.<\/p>\n

Look around you \u2026 the challenge has been placed into the hands of those of us assembled here.\u00a0 What an incredible gift.\u00a0 What a joy.\u00a0 We should be bursting with pride and enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

Now, look deep within yourself.\u00a0 Is there, perhaps, an inner voice gulping and saying:\u00a0 \u201cMe?\u00a0 Surely not me?\u00a0 Can\u2019t say that I\u2019m up to the task.\u201d<\/p>\n

Look around again \u2026 perhaps those confident people sitting around you, seated across the aisle, over in the other sections of the room, are feeling the same reticence.\u00a0 Perhaps we are all \u2013 lay and clergy alike \u2013 in need of some buoying up, some reassurance we\u2019re fit for the job we\u2019ve been given.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re in very good company, part of a long line of less-than-perfect doubting doers of the work of discipleship.<\/p>\n

Ruth C. Duck, in her book \u201cTouch Holiness,\u201d reminds us of the humanness of all God\u2019s workers:\u00a0 \u201cWe come like Job, Thomas, and the Samaritan woman, people with questions.\u00a0 We come like Moses, Jeremiah, and Mary, people with self-doubts.\u00a0 We come, like David, Mary Magdalene, and Paul, people with sadness and sin in our memories \u2026 people with a part to play in the story of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re part of a long line of God\u2019s chosen.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been chosen by God, and elected by our Annual Conferences.\u00a0 If it\u2019s to be, it\u2019s up to me.\u00a0 If it\u2019s to be, it\u2019s up to you.<\/p>\n

So, that\u2019s it.\u00a0 God, count me in.\u00a0 But what am I called to do?<\/p>\n

This is a hall full of crazy-busy people.\u00a0 Lay people; let\u2019s see a show of hands.\u00a0 How many of you have served the church as a trustee?\u00a0 As a member of your church\u2019s Staff\/Parish Relations committee?\u00a0 As a member of a worship committee?\u00a0 Taught Sunday School?\u00a0 Sung in a choir?\u00a0 Gone on a mission trip?\u00a0 Preached a service?\u00a0 Cooked a meal in the church kitchen?\u00a0 There are hundreds and hundreds of volunteer hours represented in this room \u2013 there\u2019s not a category I could name that wouldn\u2019t have a flurry of hands raised.<\/p>\n

Bravo for us!\u00a0 Bravo for us!<\/p>\n

Just minutes ago Betty mentioned that we in the US are in our maturity as United Methodists.\u00a0 But, in that maturity, something\u2019s amiss.\u00a0 Perhaps we\u2019re doing too much of some things and not enough of others.\u00a0 Or, missing something that we haven\u2019t even thought of yet.\u00a0 We all know the statistics.\u00a0 We\u2019ve read the numbers, and we know the problem.\u00a0 Doing what we\u2019ve always done before \u2013 no matter how hard we try to do it \u2013 isn\u2019t working well enough.<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of a workshop called \u201cBeyond the Generation Gap,\u201d Janet Forbes, the facilitator, startled all of us by asking the question:\u00a0 \u201cHow much change are you willing to lead?\u201d\u00a0 I was stymied by the question.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t that I was unwilling to lead \u2026 I just didn\u2019t know if my wits were clever enough to understand where exactly we\u2019re headed and just what I was being called to do.<\/p>\n

Consultant Gil Rendle helped me become more comfortable in sorting all that out.\u00a0 In preparation for change we knew was coming, my annual conference, The Pacific Northwest, including the Alaska Conference, and our neighboring conference, Oregon\/Idaho did some important work with Gil.\u00a0 His directive to \u201cbe steady in purpose and flexible in strategy\u201d was core to our thinking about the maze of change ahead.<\/p>\n

I had a \u201csteady in purpose, flexible in strategy\u201d ah-ha of my own recently.\u00a0 I am, I have always been a reader and am most happy with a book in my hands.\u00a0 I had also been a bit of a snob about that, loving my printed books and feeling distain for those who were \u201creading\u201d on an electronic devise.\u00a0 Then, one day I focused on a TV ad for one of the new electronic books.\u00a0 I saw shot after shot of happy people.\u00a0 People of all ages, in all sorts of locations, happily reading.\u00a0 All of a sudden it became clear.\u00a0 It\u2019s not really the physical book that matters to me.\u00a0 It\u2019s the story, the experience, the author\u2019s words being discovered, that matter \u2013 and what a joy it is that many, many people are now sharing that core joy. \u00a0 An aside.\u00a0 I now own an e-book of my own, and have it here at General Conference.\u00a0 My most important book on it is the one on overcoming stage fright.<\/p>\n

So, the challenge.\u00a0 Especially for those of us here.\u00a0 How do we separate our beliefs that must be preserved from our practices that are, well, just practices.<\/p>\n

All of us here are committed to the United Methodist Church.\u00a0 We are passionately, deeply in love with our church.\u00a0 We, on one hand, are here to create change, to authorize new ways of being church.\u00a0 However, we are also the deeply entrenched, and may be the ones least likely to want to see our beloved traditions changed.\u00a0 But, we know the urgency.\u00a0 We know that change must happen.\u00a0 And, each of us knows, if it\u2019s to be, it\u2019s up to me.\u00a0 If it\u2019s to be, it\u2019s up to you.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t be easy, but it is simple.\u00a0 Holding fast while letting go.\u00a0 Just as Steve honored his deep commitment to Christ by letting go of unhealthy living, we need to hold fast while letting go.<\/p>\n

These words from the Book of Isaiah (as told in \u201cThe Message\u201d chapters 42 and 43) reassure us:\u00a0 \u201cBe alert, be present.\u00a0 I\u2019m about to do something brand-new \u2026 I\u2019ll take the hand of those who don\u2019t know the way; I\u2019ll be a personal guide to them, directing them through unknown country \u2026 sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here at General Conference we\u2019re doing critically important, holy work.\u00a0 And, we know well this isn\u2019t the place where disciple making occurs.\u00a0 We will leave this arena and rejoin our local congregations.\u00a0 We all know the true work, the spirit-filled, \u201cthis is my commandment\u201d work occurs through our witness back home. It won\u2019t be easy, but it is simple.\u00a0 Holding fast while letting go.<\/p>\n

BETTY:\u00a0 If it\u2019s to be, it\u2019s up to me.<\/p>\n

STEVE:\u00a0 If it\u2019s to be, it\u2019s up to me.<\/p>\n

AMORY:\u00a0 If it\u2019s to be, it\u2019s up to me.<\/p>\n

AUDIENCE:\u00a0 If it\u2019s to be, it\u2019s up to me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m Amory Peck, from Bellingham, Washington, in the United States.\u00a0 By the grace of God, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. It happened four years ago in Fort Worth Texas.\u00a0 We adopted a new ending to our mission statement.\u00a0 Until then it had said: \u201cThe mission of the United Methodist Church is to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[63,10,465,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pnw-delegation","8":"category-wj-news","9":"tag-amory-peck","10":"tag-gc2012","11":"tag-laity","12":"tag-laity-address"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/laity-address-alt1.jpeg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-as","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":653,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions\/653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}