Dr. Joe Kutter, Acting Executive Director, Ministers Council
August 22, 2009
Our identity:
“We covenant together
to deepen our spiritual journeys
and to increase our effectiveness as leaders in Christ’s church”
Covenant and Community – Spirituality and Leadership
Is what we are about
Our meetings are designed to embody that identity.
We deliberately create a process within which community can be experienced. Relationships are a really big deal.
We deepen our spirituality through worship, singing, prayer groups, and an afternoon and evening given to sabbatical rest.
We enhance our leadership through our business sessions and the work of our 5 permanent committees.
To the first timer, it feels more like a retreat than a business meeting and it is not until the end of the process when we consider the work of our committees that we discover just how productive we have been – and we were productive .
How are we doing and what did we do?
Let’s name the hard part first. Denial causes us to lie about everything.
We have taken some significant hits in our membership that probably parallels the experience of our entire denomination. We have some serious building and rebuilding to do.
The market has hit us hard, very hard and what looked like a generous financial cushion two years ago has become very thin.
The good news is that several years of frugal management have left us with a financial reserve that has been able to take the hit and still allow us to move forward with far less pain than others.
We also have the resources of the Lilly, Together in Ministry, Grant that has cushioned us mightily even as it has allowed us to pursue our mission with resources that would otherwise not be available. The question, what to do after Lily?
We have a plan to move forward.
3. We are creating a strategic plan that will include fund-raising as a core component and I am pleased to say that some significant leaders within our family are offering to be helpful. For what it’s worth, your contribution of $2 million will relieve of that burden.
(This is no time to be coy.)
Our Senate has engaged the process and I sense a fresh enthusiasm for the possibilities that are before us.
Why is this so important to this body? Strong congregations are nearly totally dependent upon strong ministerial leadership. And ministerial leaders who participate in networks of clergy friendships are, with rare exception, more effective and healthier than those who do not.
Highlights from this Senate:
Thank you for the warm reception that has been extended to me over the past year and your kind invitation to be with you today. The members of our family have been gracious and generous.
Your Ministerial Leaders are the key to our future as an American Baptist family.
I am tempted to ask for your support but I fear that the word “support” sometimes leaves the wrong image – like helpless and dependent little birds sitting high up in the nest for Mother Bird to drop juicy worms into their mouths.
We are not helpless and dependent souls nor are you Mother Bird so let me ask this of you.
Do not ask only what you can do for us
Do not ask only what we can do for you
But let us ask together how new partnerships can empower us to serve Christ together and learn together, from and with one another, how to deepen our spiritual journeys and increase our effectiveness as leaders in Christ’s church.