Nebraska and Kansas Conferences find they're more alike than different

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MANHATTAN, Kan. — “Each time scripture contains the words, ‘Be not afraid,’ the next verse usually contains something bold that will scare you,” consultant Gil Rendle told the Nebraska-Kansas Episcopal Area Transition Team.

“If ever there was a time to be bold, this is it,” he continued.

Rendle, a United Methodist elder, is senior consultant for Clergy and Congregational Excellence for the Texas Methodist Foundation and is helping members of the Transition Team work through the details of combining three annual conferences under one bishop’s leadership by September 2012. He is helping the group collect and evaluate data important to the decision-making process. The most recent Transition Team meeting was Oct. 1 and 2 at the Wesley House on the Kansas State University campus.

Boldness is something that United Methodists in Nebraska and Kansas are asking for, according to the feedback gathered from the three annual conference presentations and the results of the 17 listening events conducted across the Nebraska and Kansas conferences since May.

“People in Kansas are open to change and moving forward to increase missional effectiveness,” said Kansas Area United Methodist Bishop Scott J. Jones.

Nebraska Area Bishop Ann B. Sherer-Simpson said she heard similar sentiments from the Nebraska United Methodists.

“I heard hope and a belief that we as a community can figure out how to do this,” Sherer-Simpson said. “It was a wonderful spirit. We—as these conferences—are going to be involved in holy experiments.”

“What I’ve heard is that what we do has got to matter to the person in the pew, and it’s got to help us recapture what it means to make a disciple,” said the Rev. Gary Brooks, team member from Kansas West. “It’s got to be more than just reshuffling the furniture. It’s got to make a difference.”

Based on the feedback to three common questions asked in the three annual conferences, all agreed that demographically Kansas and Nebraska have more similarities than differences. Those questions were:

—What is the missional purpose of the annual conference?
—How do we best deploy lay and clergy leaders for these three conferences?
—Considering your answers to the two previous questions, what factors should we all think about with regard to the configuration of conferences in this new episcopal area?

Responses to the three questions ran the gamut, and many were technical issues that the team has yet to address, such as how appointments will be made and how many conferences there will be. However, two common themes were apparent:

When it comes to change, the feedback suggests most respondents want significant change, not just a rearranging of structure.

When it comes to conference configuration, most want conference evaluations to continue and consideration to be given to having three, two or even one annual conference.

The Transition Team values feedback and encourages people in all three conferences to continue to offer comments and suggestions. Anyone interested in providing input to the team may do so by contacting team members individually or by submitting comments through any of the three conference websites. A complete list of the top responses for each conference may be found on the conference websites (see the attached documents below).

After hearing reports on feedback from the annual conference sessions presentations and listening events, the Mission Field Task Force shared the results of its work, demonstrating again that the three conferences have more in common than they have differences.

For example, each conference has a similar number of churches and districts. Basic census data such as percentage of non-white population, percentage of Hispanic/Latino population, percentage of population younger than 18 and median age are all very similar between the three annual conferences. Each conference has approximately the same break-down in size of congregations, 77-80 percent of our churches have fewer than 100 in attendance, 18-20 percent have between 101 and 400 in attendance and 2-3 percent have an average attendance of more than 400.

Some notable differences included:

—Both Kansas conferences have a higher percentage of ethnic minorities.
—Kansas appears to have more highly developed Hispanic/Latino ministries.
—Nebraska has the most diverse history of episcopal leadership, with African-American, Hispanic/Latino and a woman having served as bishop.
—Nebraska has staff people focusing on peace and justice and Christian leadership development.
—Kansas East has an Internet-based ministry.
—All have different staffing priorities, programs and ways of viewing structure and policies with conferences and churches.

The complete Mission Field Task Force report may be found on the three conference websites.

“My sense is the primary task you have is to develop a scenario of the United Methodist church in your episcopal area and present that at annual conference 2011,” Rendle said. “A scenario for me is an outline or sequence you see hanging out there that draws a picture or description of what this new conference or conferences are going to look like.”

In order to draw that picture, the team must determine the missional purpose for the annual conferences and the values, goals and demographics that support the missional purpose.

“One of the most important things I’ve seen come out of other conferences doing this work is the naming of a few guiding values on which the future will be based for the next 10 to 15 years,” Rendle said. “This is the balcony adaptive work that belongs to you.”

The “balcony” refers to previous work when Rendle encouraged the group not to go straight to detailed solutions but to spend time at a much higher level to discern the role of the episcopal area and how it should be configured to focus on ministry.

To begin the scenario, Rendle split the team into four small groups and challenged the team to identify the purpose of an annual conference and to identify a handful of key values the United Methodist Church can be measured against for the next 10 to 15 years.

The team will continue the conversation about purpose and values at the next meeting, Dec. 8-9 in Topeka. Two other Transition Team meetings are planned between Christmas and the three 2011 Annual Conference Sessions.