4A


Innovative Leadership Project to help create vital congregations


Conference, district and congregational leaders seeking to respond to


Council of Bishops’ Call to Action to create vital congregations can fi nd help from a new leadership development process for local church leaders. T e Innovative Leadership Project (ILP) is designed to help congregations


that are looking for ways to become vital, to stay vital or to increase vitality. “T e ILP is a breath of fresh air as it charts a course for equipping and


empowering congregations to expand and revitalize ministries,” said Bettye P. Lewis, director of connectional ministries for the Tennessee Conference, the fi rst Conference to adopt ILP. “It provides a holistic approach for developing growth strategies related to one’s community context.” Geared toward local church teams of clergy and laity, ILP explores


spiritual and theological foundations, enhances leadership development and designs a discipleship system for church vitality. Developed by Craig Kennet Miller, director of pastoral leadership at the


United Methodist General Board of Discipleship (GBOD), ILP is available to any group of churches, or even a single church. A new round of training launches on Nov. 5, but churches can set their own schedule for the seven- month training period. “Part of the idea of the Innovative Leadership Project is that you


participate in four seminars over the course training period with your church team, and you do that with other churches,” Miller said. “T e Tennessee Conference is developing a strategy to invite churches to


participate…. T ey see this as way for their Conference to respond to the Call to Action.” ILP helps leaders look at the whole system of the congregation, including


how it connects to its members and to the people who live in the surrounding community. Churches in a group (such as a district, cluster or city) gather for the seminars and learn together. Between seminars, church teams and individuals work on assignments with the goal of developing and improving various ministry areas in the congregation. A church’s ILP team of fi ve to 10 people should include the lead pastor,


staff related to the overall program of the church and key laity who have infl uence in the congregation. During training, team members will: • Learn how to start new ministries in their congregations and evaluate current ministries


• Build knowledge and develop strategies around the Call to Action Drivers of Change related to creating vital congregations


• Learn to use an assessment tool that enables their church to develop a plan for its future. Each church’s $300 registration includes a kit of 10 Innovative Leadership


Guidebooks, a USB fl ash drive with presentation material for the four Innovative Leadership Seminars, tools that can be reproduced for church leaders and three GodFilms videos used in the seminars. GBOD webinars are available throughout the year to train people to lead


the seminars. For a complete overview of the program, visit churchleaderUMC.com or contact Miller at cmiller@gbod.org.


November 4, 2011


Christian activist Claiborne addresses standing room only crowd at Hendrix


BY RACHEL THOMAS Special Contributor


CONWAY—On Monday, Oct. 24,


self-described “Christian activist” Shane Claiborne appeared before a packed house in Greene Chapel at Hendrix College. He spoke about the walls people build, and the Christian responsibility to tear them down. “I love that old saying that the


gospel should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable,” Claiborne said. Claiborne, a native of


Tennessee, at age 21 co-founded a community called T e Simple Way in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Philadelphia. “I met Jesus and he just messed


everything up,” Claiborne said. He has written numerous books


and spoken across the country and the world. He went to Iraq in 2003 with the Iraq Peace Team, an experience he has since shared in his writings. He was invited to give the


keynote lecture for the annual Steel-Hendrix Banquet during the weekly worship service in Greene Chapel, which included Holy Communion. T e service drew college students and members of surrounding communities. Claiborne spoke on Luke


16:19-26, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. He drew special attention to the fact that Lazarus is given a name while the rich man is not, and that the rich man is clearly religious, since he calls out to Abraham. “His religion did nothing to tear


down the wall between himself and the poor man,” Claiborne said. “Not only would the poor man be better off without that wall, but so would the rich man.” Claiborne spoke about the


richness of the U.S., and also its high depression and suicide rates. “We’re the loneliest, wealthiest


people in the world,” he said.


Be sure to recycle your copy of the


Arkansas United Methodist when you’re fi nished reading it (or share it with a friend).


Arkansas United Methodist


Removing walls Claiborne also told stories


about Christian activism that tears down walls. “T ey sing each other songs


Author and activist Shane Claiborne on Oct. 24 delivered the 2011 Steel- Hendrix lecture.


PHOTO BY TSAR FEDORSKY


over the wall,” he said of Christian activists on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border. “And they serve each other Communion by throwing the bread…. We’re not going to wait for politicians to tell us how to treat immigrants, we’re going to read Deuteronomy and we’re going to read the book of James.” He spoke of his own experiences


fi ghting anti-homelessness laws in Philadelphia. He and others served Communion—in the form of pizza—and slept outside with the homeless in Love Park. Distributing food and sleeping outside were both made illegal under the new laws. For several weeks they were


allowed to protest undisturbed, but eventually they were arrested. “We were handcuff ed and taken


to jail, and that’s how I learned what justice was,” Claiborne said. “I never got arrested before I


was a Christian, only aſt er.” T e judge was sympathetic to


their cause, particularly aſt er Claiborne explained the message on the T-shirt he wore into the courtroom, “Jesus was homeless,” by quoting a line from the Gospel. “T at’s why it’s good to know


your Scripture,” Claiborne said. T ey were eventually declared


Find the Arkansas Conference of T e United Methodist Church on Facebook at facebook.com/arkansasumc


not guilty, on the grounds that the laws were unjust.


Asking ‘deep questions’ Claiborne explained that he


thought one of the biggest problems for Christians is, “What if Jesus really meant all that stuff he said?” “It should cause us to ask deep


questions,” Claiborne said. Some of these questions will, in Claiborne’s view, lead Christians into peaceful confl ict with “principalities and powers.” “When we read the Bible, it


doesn’t say, for God so loved America, but for God so loved the world, doesn’t it?” he said. He spoke about knowing people


who suff er personally in his work with T e Simple Way. “We get to know the names and


faces of the people who are the faces of suff ering,” Claiborne said. “Compassion always leads to justice.” At the end of his talk, Claiborne


prayed that God would tear down the walls, and make Christians known “not by what we’re against, but by what we’re for.” T e Simple Way can be found


online at thesimpleway.org. A number of resources are available on the website.


T omas is a Hendrix sophomore and serves as news editor of the college’s student newspaper, T e Profi le.


www.arumc.org


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