Kennetha Bigham-Tsai

It was my first day as superintendent, a Sunday, and I had been invited to two events. One was at a traditional church that was celebrating its 100th anniversary. The other was at a new church start, which was on its second pastor. They had invited me to their annual "baptism-in-the-park" event.

I went to the park first, wearing my long green African dress—dressy for the anniversary at the traditional church that would follow. When I got there, the pastor, the Rev. Tom Arthur, asked if I wanted to help with the baptisms. Of course, I did! Never mind that the baptisms were in a pond. We were good United Methodists. We would dip our hands in the water and sprinkle the candidates.

We were walking to the pond's edge when that part of the service came. Tom started to walk into the water. "It's alright," I thought. "I'll just take off my shoes--the pretty beige ones with the silver filigree on the sides. I'll walk ankle-deep into the pond, dip my hands in the water, and sprinkle the candidates. Right?"

But Tom looked at me and said, "For these, we go deep." That's how I found myself up to my chest in a pond in a green African dress! We baptized nine people that day, some adults and some children. And what a joy—to bring them into the Christian life and into the church. And that particular church, Sycamore Creek United Methodist Church, was one of the most vital in my district. Through my interactions with that congregation and others, I learned ways to approach the superintendency to help the ministry grow.

A few of the lessons

What We Pay Attention to Grows

In the church, we often give most of our attention to problems. We allow conflict and division to take up most of our time. Of course, we have to deal with the issues and challenges we face. But what we pay attention to matters. What we pay attention to grows.

As a district superintendent, I did my best to pay attention to the vital ministries in my district and to the pastors who were quietly growing their ministries, often doing so with little resourcing and support. Such was the case with Sycamore Creek. By paying attention to their ministry, I was able to help them buy a closed church building that was right in the midst of an urban community. They renovated that building and expanded their ministry. They are now an anchor in their community, doing ministry with a nearby school and engaging in anti-racism work. I also was able to help them adopt a church in a small-town, rural community. That church is now a vibrant second campus, breaching the urban-rural divide.

Building Vital Community

We can also use the appointive process to grow productive and vital leadership communities. When I was superintendent, I noticed that there were pastors in my district who were innovative, entrepreneurial, and effective in growing their churches. Over time, through the appointment process, we were able to bring other like-minded pastors to the district. These pastors began to meet organically, exchanging ideas and feeding off of each other's energy. They collaborated beyond their individual churches, and served as incubators of leadership development and vitality.

Robert Quinn, the author of Deep Change, calls this the creation of a productive community. He writes in another work, "Productive community is characterized by clarity of purpose, high standards of performance. Yet it is also characterized by highly trusting and supportive relationships." [1] People who create productive community move and breath by a set of convictions about their lives and ministry. They serve a purpose beyond themselves. And they thrive in communities where they can find supportive relationships with like-minded people.

As we move into the future, we will have to bring such leaders together. We will have to think holistically and strategically about appointments--not just appointing a pastor to a church, but appointing pastors who can work collaboratively on a district or circuit and bring innovation and change.

Transition is Reality

I have always loved Paragraph 212 in the 2016 Book of Discipline, which discusses ministry in transitional communities. Indeed, most of our churches are in communities that are transitioning.

For instance, neighborhoods in urban areas are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Urban areas also are experiencing challenges with affordable housing and homelessness. 

In rural areas, young people are moving away, and populations are aging. The small family farm has been replaced by corporate farming, with the associated breakdowns in the community. Further, political polarization is growing along an urban-rural divide.

All of this represents the change that has become a constant reality in our lives. And as Paragraph 212 notes, "The local church is required to respond to the changes that are occurring in its surrounding community and organize its mission and ministry accordingly." [2]

Unfortunately, some of our churches have done just the opposite for years. Instead of conforming ministry to the changes happening in the community, some have conformed their ministry to the needs of the people currently in the church. What If we did that differently and organized ministry around the needs of changing communities? We would be a more vital and relevant church.

Can you imagine what that could mean? Churches in urban areas might create multicultural worship services incorporating more than one language. Churches in rural areas might shape their Christian education programs around topics such as drug abuse and trauma. Or they might teach methods of conflict transformation.   

Of course, to do such ministry would have to begin with us better understanding our communities. Tools such as MissionInsite can be helpful. But, we have to go further than demographic software. We must put our feet on the ground and get involved with the people in our communities. Then we can live into the vision of Paragraph 212. As it notes, "…the local church shall be regarded as a principal base of mission from which unjust structures of society shall be confronted, evangelization shall occur, and a principal witness to the changing community, including ministry with the poor, shall be realized." [3] What a wonderful vision for our churches!

Our Mission in the Age of COVID

When COVID hit, our churches transitioned, almost overnight, to online worship. And most of our churches were able to engage even more people online. We realized that even a pandemic could not deter us from our mission of making and nurturing disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. In-person worship was simply a way to do that. Now online worship is also in our toolbox.

We know that many of our people will never return to in-person worship. But that does not matter if we keep the mission central. We will find other ways to provide worship and engage evangelism and missions that do not depend on a church building. We will continue to put the mission first, so that we can adapt and grow.

And, as we move forward, we will go deep—hopefully not in pond water, but in prayer. We will go deep in prayer for strength in the midst of change. We will go deep in prayer for communities of innovative and vital leaders. We will go deep in prayer that we will keep the mission central and keep our attention focused on what is working instead of what is wrong.

Please let me know about innovative ministries in your annual conference or local church, and check out this video of the second "baptism-in-the-park" event that I attended at Sycamore Creek. And please watch for my next blog post on leadership for change.

Kennetha J. Bigham-Tsai
October 25, 2022

[1] Change the Word: How Ordinary People Can Accomplish Extraordinary Results, by Robert Quinn, Jossey-Bass/John Wiley & Sons, San Francisco, 2000, p. 29.

[2] The 2016 Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, p. 153.

[3] Ibid.