Clear Vision of the President

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 05 July 2011 06:37:53

The Methodist Conference is currently going on in Southport and as is normal these days you can pick it up on the web and play it again. If you go to 2nd July and then forward it in to about 1hour 24 you can catch the President's Address, from the new president Leo Osborne.

In it he initially focuses on balance, which includes a wonderful definition of being an evangelical which I fully hold to. Then moves on to talk about his main theme for the year; pastoral care. He begins with issues of language and gives some examples of how the language can be alienating to those who don't already know the church. His main point is about not just being a "welcoming church" but being an outward looking church. He then goes on to look at the language we use for specific roles and within this he explains why he views pastoral visitors are an excellent resource.  Within this section he highlights how our language can devalue those within secular employment.

He then moves on to relationship and specifically addresses presbyters. Within this he brings up the challenges e-mail has brought and the challenges of time management. He also then importantly talks about the importance of presbyters families and also the importance of care for single people. Then he challenges how the use of pastoral care via telephone calls has diminished. The president then goes on to theologically reflect on Jesus ministry and what that tells us about pastoral care.

He then explains how Connexion (a term that Methodists use for the national relationship between churches and people) is about relationship. He talks about the way many people will not ask for pastoral care unless it is a real emergency, because they are concerned about how busy their ministers are. He also points out how certain issues won't be addressed because people don't want to bring them up just for 30 seconds after church. He also explains that good pastoral care leads to growth within churches. Within examples he shows pastoral care means just sharing life with people and how this can help lead to conversion, although this is not the goal in the end.

Finally he talks about what invitation actually means. He also gives a good reason for removing pews, something I struggle with sometimes, the real space for wheel chairs. He talks about the benefits of leaving churches open for people to drop in. He explains how when pastoral care and mission work together "it not just proclaims hope it enacts hope." He makes the point intention is important and so is fulfilment.

I find it interesting listening to this that he is based in Newcastle. The more I have gotten to know the city the more aware I am of the way it embodies much that could be described as good practice in relation to pastoral care, but that this itself produces a raft of challenges which need to be taken very seriously. One issue which he touched upon was the risk of "burn out" amongst pastoral carers. This theme of "burnout" is something which the current edition of the  Evangelical Alliance magazine Idea has an article on.

I want to develop the idea just a little, because I think it needs to be not just recognised, but seen as something which reflects our relationship with scripture, tradition, secular experience and mission.

Firstly, in relation to our relationship with scripture. As I've highlighted before, often when talking to myself, the Sabbath was instituted by God for a reason - to give rest. Also, when looking at what Jesus did he took himself off to quiet places, and attempted to escape the crowds in order to rest. There is no biblical argument for trying to be superman/ superwoman but there is a biblical mandate for rest occasionally and taking guilt free time out both with God and with friends/ family.

Secondly, in relation to tradition. Tradition seems to be where this idea of Christian workaholicism comes from in some ways. Whilst the Sunday where people totally rested and could do nothing, practically, apart from churchy stuff and eating is the picture commonly put forward of the Victorians and Edwardians if one reads books on their lives it becomes clear that they were working v. hard. It appears though, that because of the way the Sabbath was viewed the illusion was formed that they did not suffer the same demands as we do. I want to disagree and argue in many ways they instituted the practices we are still struggling with. Firstly, they had multiple services and this meant that certain people in the community were expected to work hard on a Sunday, providing these services. Reading Saved to Serve The Story of the Wesley Deaconess Order or indeed just the summary of their work on the Diaconal Order website  it is clear many of these women landed up in hospital or leaving the order during this late Victorian / early Edwardian period precisely because of burnout. Indeed it is why, I think, the current Order has within it's current rule a section that says as part of their discipline they endeavor to "order the rhythm of each day, month and year, to allow for study and relaxation, weekly day off, regular holiday." As the current Methodist Diaconal Order have recognised, some parts of tradition have to be learnt from rather than maintained - our expectations of the level of commitment people can offer to their local congregations is one of these. How many of our lay volunteers are encouraged to allow for study and relaxation, a weekly day off  (which is a proper day off) and regular holiday? Too often a day off or holiday can become a chance to do that thing we need to for the church. Yet and here is the rub in our shrinking congregations if we are to survive and grow we are aware we need people to do that very thing that the bible and reflection on tradition has shown is unhealthy. Yes, we need to learn to take personal responsibility and to learn to say "no" but in our planning and reflection upon resources we also need to take into account not only the money available but the impact our decisions are making on the quality of life of the disciples we are building and what time, practically, we can expect them to offer.

Thirdly, there are two arguments made that appear contradictory but are actually opposite sides of the same coin. When people join our congregations we need to be careful not to overburden them and then there is the complaint that we need to encourage people to serve more because we have a shortage of volunteers. This is true but it worries me somewhat because it always smacks of the church being a social club and there being various levels of membership available depending upon length of time in the organisation and how attractive we want it to appear to them. Within this there appears to be a failure to look at everybody as contributing individuals who have lives which are wider but which are also the church in practice outside the doors.

I could go on but I realise this post is already too long. I also don't know if some of the issues I have touched upon are also things which crop up in a draft conference statement on the topic of The Theology of Pastoral Care, I couldn't get the report to open on my computer. What is certain though is that in the shifting sands of contemporary society and our reflections on what it means to be disciples and church in it we need to not only watch out for each other but we also need to look at people in terms of their wider lives and what the impact of what we asking of them is going to have on them. People are not just another part of the cost/ benefit analysis that financially struggling organisations including churches have to work with. They are not just job or role descriptions they are vibrant people created by God who were created to rest as well as work.