Address of Board of Directors Chair Will Sencabaugh to the
208th Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Conference
June 22, 2007
Greetings on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Conference. My name is Will Sencabaugh and I am the pastor of the South Deerfield Congregational Church, United Church of Christ.
It says in the 208 th Annual Meeting Advance Reports, on page 3, “Instead of a sermon, delegates will hear a report on the Board of Directors proposal for the new Conference structure.”
So, I feel as though I’m a little obligated to preach you a sermon today.
The sermon I want to preach you today is based on a story that Paul probably read, a story based on Exodus 18:7-23. What I'm going to do is leave out all the unimportant verses.
So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and then went into the tent. Moses told his father-in-law about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel ’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the Lord had saved them.
Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord had done for Israel .
The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
And Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and laws.”
Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone... teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties that they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people…if you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”
Wow—did you here that? Thank you Jethro! That is great advice! We need a Jethro. We need someone to tell us exactly those words.
Why are we expecting our staff to be Moses-like solitary figures- going up to the mountaintop alone.
Even Moses had the good sense to have a team. Aaron helped. Miriam helped. His mother helped. His father-in-law helped. They were all a part of Team Moses.
I like this passage a lot, because Jethro gives Moses, the guy who talks to God, some great advice.
“Hey, Moses, you’re good, but not that good.
Hey Moses, aren’t there capable people amongst the Israelites who could do the same thing you’re doing…
Moses there has to be people you know, you can find from your tribe, who have the gift of leadership development, the gift of faith formation, the gift of prophetic witness.
Surely, there must be God-fearing,
-discerning change agents,
-skilled process people.
Surely, there must be God-fearing,
-family systems people,
-stewardship associates,
-real number crunchers,
-even a few people who are sick of all this fighting and warring with other countries and have the guts to stand up and say something about it.
Yes, Moses, there are some from your people amongst your people who have unique gifts…”
Jethro gives Moses permission to trust God in helping choose others to share the load. That’s right, God will help Moses choose the right people.
That’s where our conference is right now.
We need a Jethro. We need someone to grant our churches permission to trust God that gifted leaders will emerge from those very churches.
THE LISTENING PROCESS
The listening process began for me about four years ago really when I joined the Conference Board of Directors. I did a lot of listening. I sat around the table with an amazing group of faithful and dedicated Board Members.
My position on the Board has taken me all over our Conference and I have listened everywhere I have gone. Let me share with you one amazing piece of information that I have gathered from all the places I've been across our conference. This is something vital and important and I need to share it with you today.
Our Conference is blessed with amazingly gifted, faithful Christians.
Our Conference is blessed with talented teachers, loving pastors, brilliant scholars, and eloquent preachers.
Our Conference is blessed with an incredibly deep pool of resources.
Our Conference is blessed with all of you, and your ministry.
How many times has this happened to you. How many times have you gone to a Suitcase Seminar - remember Suitcase Seminars? - you signed up for a session with something that you thought would just be wonderful and you could bring back to your church and you could really use it and when you were there your instructor gave you amazing insight and fired you up and you got all passionate about that particular topic. You couldn't wait to bring it back to your church and share all that information with everybody because everybody would just buy into it and they'd love it and they'd love you and the church would be wonderful.
And then you got home. And you talked to your pastor, and you talked to your friends, and you talked some more, and things didn't happen. They didn't happen the way that you wanted or hoped and dreamed that they would. And all those things that you learned and that information packet you got at that particular seminar went into a drawer somewhere and every once in a while you take it out and look at it nostalgically and think that would be wonderful that would be great, but I guess it's not going to happen here.
But what if, as you were leaving a daylong seminar - one of the many we still have throughout our conference- you met someone and said you live near me, why don't we get together and talk about this some more in our church, why don't we get some teams together form our churches and discuss this and maybe it will happen. You could feed one another's passions.
In some ways our current structure fosters a Moses-like Lone-Ranger mentality. I have been to events where I felt isolated, in a room of clergy. Clergy like churches, have similarities and differences. At times when there are only differences—we feel isolated, and don’t generally enjoy the experience. But when we are with another group with similar interests- we tend to be gratified by the experience. We look forward to being with that group again.
Why can’t we link up with other churches that are similar but not geographically close. I don’t need face time as much as I need quality time. I could be in a group with other similar churches across the conference or across denominations.
“A Still More Excellent Way ” is a guiding document, subject to process- that will help us as church leaders unleash our passion for the church with others of similar interests and gifts. It can be geographically based, but it doesn’t have to be.
This idea seems like a natural fit for a denomination that is anti-top down. If Moses were UCC, then the 10 Commandments certainly could not have been handed down. They would have been discussed at length through a lengthy discernment process, and they would have been voted at plenary; and believe me- the 10 Commandments would definitely have some soft language.
You are still the voice of the Conference.
Your voice still matters in this process.
We are not handing this down to you.
This is not carved in stone.
We need more conversation with regard to this document.
I am inviting you to have a discussion at your table.
There are four questions that can be used to guide your discussion.
If you would like to have a recorder, do that- it is up to you.
We acknowledge that 15-20 minutes is not enough time. You will need more time. We want you to take it. But we want you to take the time at your church, in parking lots, and in church parlors.
We want you to take this to church groups and association meetings, or clusters of local churches that are already sharing ministries and supporting one another in Christian love.
There is an opportunity for feedback on the Website. You can turn these sheets in to us. The Board of Directors will be processing the feedback at a future meeting and have a rewrite if necessary, and then we will all vote at Annual Meeting Part II in September.
There will be members of the Board walking around. We didn’t want to impose ourselves into your conversations, but if you have questions we will be glad to answer.
Let’s go to table conversation, but before we do:
“ St. Paul has a word for us as we begin our conversations around the tables…”
Judy Brain…
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)