Servant Leaders

It is that time of year when United Methodist churches recommend leadership positions for the coming year (affirmed at the Charge Conference, the annual church-wide business meeting to be held on October 28th at 5:30pm).  Sometimes questions arise as to how this happens.  Folks sometimes think the pastor just picks people for the positions.  This is not the United Methodist process and not the Good News process.  Here is what we do.
1.  A group called Lay Leader Development (nominated and voted on at the Charge Conference each year) meets to nominate new leaders or consider changes in lay leadership.  The group is co-chaired by the Lay Leader and the Pastor (in our case the Lay Leader take the lead role, runs the meetings and coordinates the recommendations).
2. We pray a lot, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year when we are bringing in ideas and recommendations.  That prayer continues to be part of our meetings and part of the process.
3. Our recommendations for leaders start with thinking about people who love other people and God (the Great Commandment from Jesus), are available year round (Luke 9:59-62), are regular participants in the life of the church (prayer, presence, gifts, service, witness ... Acts 2:42-47), play well with others (i.e., people who edify and build up the Church using their gifts per 1 Corinthians 12), and bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
4. We don't have members of the same household (husband and wife) on the Executive Council ... a necessary but difficult rule since we have many husbands and wives at Good News are so capable of being leaders.
5. Prior to the Charge Conference our entire Church Council is asked to affirm and endorse the work of the Lay Leadership Development Team.
We also have many teams that are assigned special duties but operate as task forces of an administrative team or of the Executive Council.  These might be some of the most important teams at Good News since they implement ministry in close proximity to the people God has sent us.
Finally, we sometimes (because we are people) have misunderstandings which lead us to connect and pray together over our differences.  We deal with these matters with the person with whom we have the dispute, telling the truth in love (Ephesians 4:14-16).
That's a short synopsis of what happens each year.  We would love for you to add your prayers to the process.  Thanks!  Pastor Randy