charge conference

Pastor’s Report 2022

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Pastor’s Report 2022

Christ United Methodist Church

Rev. John Partridge

Every year, I am asked to present a report of the year for our annual Charge Conference. It’s really sort of a “what I did last summer” kind of report that asks, “What did your church do for the last year?” Long ago I decided that my answers should not be seen as any kind of a secret, and so I publish them here, and in our church newsletter. I’m excited about the future of Christ Church and its people and I hope that by talking more about it, others might learn about it and join us in our mission to care for the people around us, and around the world, the way that Jesus cares for us.

The official question that was asked this year was this:

Explain how the church is fulfilling its mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Review the current year and how you plan to meet your congregational goals for the upcoming years. What specific goals relate to your mission field.

An my answer is as follows:

Christ Church has continued to move forward into a new post-Covid world in which many people remain unsure of attending social gatherings and events with large groups, and church attendance seems to sometimes be among these.  In addition, some of those who were regular in attendance prior to the pandemic simply fell out of the habit.  But, for whatever reason, we continue do everything at Christ Church with excellence so that, as we invite out neighbors, coworkers, and friends, and as those who previously attended test the waters and find their way back, they will all find a community of faith, love, and support that is filled with hope for the future and for an eternity with Jesus.

Christ Church is also considering ways in which we can be more intentional about attracting and inviting others into fellowship and inclusion in our community of faith.  To do that we are exploring opportunities that might exist for each committee and small group within the church as well as potential new ways to reach out to our neighborhoods, new ministries, and even additions to staff.  We have already launched a new children’s ministry offering Sunday school and children’s church so that these options are available to all families in attendance and give them the flexibility to choose what works best for them.

And, at the same time, we have not stopped doing what we have always done.  Volunteers from Christ Church once again provided free concessions each week at the Alliance Chamber of Commerce Concert at the Caboose series of events and raised $737 in donations in support of the Alliance Area Habitat for Humanity, over one hundred meals pass through our doors every Tuesday through the Alliance of Churches, Scouts BSA Pack and Troops 50 continue to mentor and teach valuable skills to young men an women, our United Women in Faith will again teach cooking skills to our neighbors, we continue to support Red Bird missions in Kentucky, provide education for students in Sierra Leone and Liberia, and the list goes on.

Our mission calls us to be a bright shining city on a hill, a beacon of hope to the hopeless, and a place of healing to a hurting world where we can be Jesus to our neighbors and to the world.  I believe that Christ Church is not only doing those things, but we are looking for ways to do them better.

I hope that, if you haven’t already, you would join us at Christ Church in-person, or online. Because I have no doubt that together we’re going to change the world.

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The 80-20 Rule

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The 80-20 Rule

Some years ago, when we were serving First United Methodist Church in Barnesville, Ohio, there was a Radio Shack store, inside of a pharmacy, just a block or so away from my office.  I didn’t shop there often, but for some projects it was handy to pick up needed supplies.  But suddenly, there were “Going Out of Business Sale” signs across the front of the store, along with a schedule of weekly discounts that began at 20 percent and ended around 70 or 80 percent when the store would close. 

I was a little sad that a store that I liked and found to be convenient, was going to close, even if I didn’t shop there as often as I might have liked.  But, in this case, I knew the owner.  And so, one day when I bumped into him, I asked him why he was closing the store and his answer was both sensible and simple.  He said that the Radio Shack part of the business consumed 80 percent of his time and effort but generated only 20 percent of his revenue.  Even worse, it occupied over 80 percent of the square footage of his store.  As a result, closing the Radio Shack and moving the pharmacy across the street to a smaller store, with lower rent, ended up saving him as much money as the Radio Shack franchise generated in income, while saving him 80 percent of his time and effort.

Of course, we aren’t running a pharmacy or a Radio Shack franchise, but there is a similar 80-20 rule that applies to churches and volunteer organizations everywhere.  That rule is that, in general, 80 percent of the work is done by 20 percent of the people.  Without doing the math, my feeling is that, at Christ Church, the percentage of our congregation that are “doing the work” is much higher than 20 percent, but our goal is always to do better.

This week our Staff Parish Relations Committee met to begin our Charge Conference paperwork, and our church committees have already begun discussing their budgets for next year as they also prepare for Charge Conference.  Soon, our Nominations and Leadership Development Committee will begin to meet, discuss, and nominate those who will lead and serve on the committees, missions, and ministries of Christ Church during 2023.  I hope that, even now, you will begin to think and pray about how you can be a part of what we are doing for the kingdom of God together.

Why?  Simply because we need you.  You have thoughts, ideas, skills, talents, knowledge, and abilities that no one else has.  Your suggestions, and your help, can and will take us places that we could not go without you.  If you aren’t one of those “20 percent” that are already doing six things, I hope that you will consider where you might “plug in” next year.  I hope, that as our nominating committee begins to meet, that you might consider saying “yes” to positions that they might ask you about, or be prepared to say “no, but” and suggest some other place that you feel is more suitable and better matches your skills.  I hope that you will not sit on the sidelines and wonder “Why doesn’t my church do that other thing?” when you might just be the first person to think about it, and your suggestion might just be the catalyst for launching something new that benefits our community or helps our church to grow.

Jesus didn’t call 20 percent of his disciples to do 80 percent of the work, and he doesn’t do that now either.  Jesus calls upon all of us are to do the work of the church and the work of God’s kingdom.  Certainly, he is not calling everyone to serve on a committee, but if not, I hope that you will think about, and pray about, where God might be calling you to serve.

Blessings,

Pastor John

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2021 Pastor’s Report

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2021 Pastor’s Report

During 2021 we continue to struggle with the fallout from the global COVID-19 pandemic.  For nearly half of the year we were online only, then in-person, but outdoors, and now indoors with livestreaming to those who remain uncomfortable with a return to indoor worship.  The pandemic, and its effects on worship has, not surprisingly, had enormous ripple effects throughout the life of the church.  Giving, while stable through 2020, saw a major decline during the first half of 2021 but has seen some recovery since our return indoors.  Church committees, which did an admirable job of pivoting to Zoom during the lockdown, have largely returned to in-person meetings but, to some extent, still struggle with finding ways to maintain effective mission and ministry while also wearing masks, social distancing, etc.

But, as we have transitioned back to worship in our sanctuary, and have retained our online presence, we are hopeful that, as the pandemic, eventually, winds down, that we will see more members return to a fact-to-face connection.  We are hopeful that we will renew our connection with our friends and meet in-person with those who found us online, and whom we have only met virtually.  We are hopeful that our attendance, and giving, will return to, and exceed, our pre-pandemic levels, and we look forward to a return to more active participation in mission and ministry outside the walls of our church.

But that doesn’t mean we haven’t done anything this year.  Although all meals continue to be carry-out only, we continue to host the weekly community dinners which are now serving more than 130 meals each week.  Christ Church once again raised considerably more than was pledged for our part in the “Apostle Build” Habitat for Humanity house constructed this summer.  And, due to the unexpected spike in the price of building materials caused by the pandemic lock down, the excess funds that we raised were sorely needed and greatly appreciated.  Our United Methodist Women had a successful Basement Sale fundraiser and, once again, donated a large amount of unsold clothing and housewares to our friends at the Big Creek mission in the Red Bird missionary conference.  Even though we have been unable to send a mission team for two years, we hope to deliver a full trailer of donations before the snow flies.  These and other mission efforts have adapted and continued despite the difficulties of the past two years.  This adaptability and persistence encourages us and makes us hopeful that next year will be even better.

And so, as we move toward Thanksgiving, Advent, and a New Year, we understand that the crisis is not over.  We look forward to preparing 1200 Thanksgiving meals for our community, double our number for last year and close to where we were before the pandemic.  But we know that we will continue to face struggles and will have obstacles to overcome.  At the same time, we are encouraged and hopeful that God will has plans for us and will continue to use Christ Church as a lighthouse of hope and an embassy of his kingdom in our community and for our world.  Our prayer is that we will move from a place of struggle and surviving, to reviving, and then onward to thriving.

We may not know the future, but we know who holds the future. 

And that future is full of hope.

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Pastor’s Report 2020

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(Note: What follows is a copy of my report included in this year’s Charge Conference paperwork)

Pastor’s Report – 2020

If you wanted to deliberately turn the life of the church upside-down, you could not have imagined a better tool than COVID-19.  Virtually everything changed.  And yet, they didn’t.  Our committee meetings changed, but once we got comfortable with Zoom, and social distancing protocols, most of our committees are still meeting.  We aren’t using our church building on Sunday, and yet, we’re still “having church” every week.  Sometimes via YouTube, sometimes in our church parking lot, sometimes both and two out of three Sunday school classes are still meeting weekly via Zoom (and it’s the younger group that isn’t).  We can’t pass offering plates on Sunday morning, and yet, our offerings are often as good, or better, than they were last year.

The weekly community dinners have changed but have never stopped.  The first week after the lockdown, one sponsoring church cancelled, but the people of Christ Church immediately stepped up, improvised, and prepared a carry out meal so that those who rely on us were fed.  Since then, our regular church hosts, as well as few others, have all stepped in, and stepped up, and our weekly Tuesday meals have continued, and have… grown.  In the last month, the lines have been longer, and the number of guests has increased.  Occasionally, the food has run out, but the word has spread, everyone is adapting, and more food will be prepared for the next meal.

Obviously, there are things that we can’t do.  Our mission trips to Harrisburg, Liberia and Big Creek, Kentucky have been postponed until it is once again safe to do so, but we have already collected an enormous pile of things to take with us to Kentucky simply because our members have taken advantage of this time and used it to do some Spring cleaning.  Similarly, gifts in support of our trip to Liberia are continuing to appear in our church offerings so that, when the time comes, we will be ready.  And, as our Outreach Committee discussed these changes, they deliberately looked for how the needs of our community might have changed and how we might be a part of caring for new communities or new areas of need that were caused by, or exacerbated by, the pandemic.  And so, while some planned and budgeted gifts are not needed, we have shifted gifts, and fund-raising efforts to new places where the needs are great.

Although things sometimes seem to have turned upside down, the mission never changed, and the church has continued to be the church.  We have changed, we have adapted, we are learning new things every week, but we are still here.  Our membership has remained connected in new ways, and we see new names participating in our online forums.  In short, the hungry are fed, the naked are clothed, the homeless are housed, and we continue to look for ways that we can be the church, and places where we can be Jesus to the people around us.

The church is still here.

The mission continues.

We continue to seek Jesus Christ and to share his love with the people around us.

We could do nothing less.

I hope that all of you remain well.  I encourage you to continue our mission, continue to be the church, and continue to share the love of Jesus Christ with the world around you.

Blessings,

Pastor John

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Pastor’s Report – 2019

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Pastor’s Report – 2019

Note:  Each year I write a Pastor’s Report for our annual Charge Conference.  The following is my report for this year:

As I reflect on the past year, there are several things that I remember.  While there are no single, earth-shattering, monumental achievement to report, there are many small, sometimes incremental, changes that are building a sense of excitement and hope for the future.  Some of these are things that Christ Church has been doing for a long time but sometimes in a new way, others are new altogether, some are growing, and some are happening again after a long absence.

A class of confirmands graduated and joined the church and there have been two new member classes that have, so far, resulted in two new members, in addition to those from confirmation and transfer.  Among these were also two baptisms and a wedding.  We have trained and certified several of our members for the UMVIM Early Response Team disaster response mission opportunities that may arise in the future.  And several of our Sunday school classes have been discussing the call of scripture, and the command of Jesus Christ, to be invitational as well as how we can overcome our fear of inviting others to meet Jesus.

Our United Methodist Women continue to be a strong, positive, and missional influence on our church, our community, and beyond as they reach out in many ways and in many places with the love of Jesus.  Not least of these efforts is their continuing Cooking for the Soul mission, in which they are teaching the women of our community the basics on how to cook at home and save money by cooking from scratch instead of buying prepared foods.  These classes continue to be filled to capacity and often have a waiting list to get in.  It is my hope that, with a little encouragement, these classes might be expanded to include other subjects such as basic sewing, or home/auto maintenance and repair.

Likewise, the meetings of our church trustees have taken on a new tone as we are no longer just discussing issues of church maintenance and repair, but ways that we can make our church more inviting, friendly, useful, and available to new and emerging ministry opportunities.  Among these discussions are facility upgrades like expanding the areas served by air conditioning, new interior and exterior signage, electronic defibrillators, and upgrades to our electrical service to more easily facilitate our plan to once again prepare and serve over one thousand Thanksgiving dinners to the people of our community (which was a new ministry which we took over from another church last year).

The support of our entire church for mission, of all types, local, national, and international continues to be strong and passionate.  The people of Christ Church are often asking how we can do more and contribute to ongoing projects in unexpected ways without being asked.  We continue to support, both financially and with many volunteer hours, the Alliance Food Pantry, Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, and other community missions, support Red Bird Mission and its outreach centers in Kentucky, provide scholarships to school children in Sierra Leone and Liberia, as well as contribute to the construction of a new high school in Harrisburg, Liberia through our conference Farmer to Farmer mission.  And extensive as it is, this is certainly not a comprehensive list.  Christ Church and its people are doing the work of Jesus Christ in so many places, in so many ways, that it’s often difficult to keep track of them all.

There is an old question that I have heard in various places, from church conferences, to district superintendents, to books, to internet memes that asks, “If your church were to close tomorrow, would anybody notice?”  Christ Church can answer that question with a resounding “YES!”  As I reflect on our activities of the last year, I can say with confidence that we are here, we are active, and that Christ Church is making a difference in Alliance, in Stark County, and around the world.

It’s That Time Again

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Note: Although this particular post specifically targets Christ Church where I serve, and I know that many who follow my blog do not attend in our physical location, I challenge you, regardless of where you are, to consider how you can be involved in your local church in the year ahead.  Feel free to look at the checklist that I included at the end of the article, and then dream, imagine, and listen for where God might be leading you to serve and what new challenges or adventures that God might be calling you toward.

It’s That Time Again

It hardly seems possible, but with youth and adults already back to school, marching band, and football season in full swing, we are reminded that it is also time for us to begin our preparations for our annual Charge Conference.

What does that mean for you?

Well, that means that it’s time for all of us to think about where we can “plug-in” to the work of running the church.  Every one of our committees will rotate and as many as a third of their membership will “retire” or take a break.  Additionally, there are things that we wish we could do, but never have enough volunteers.  And the month or two before Charge Conference is when we spend the most time thinking about these things. 

Soon, the Lay Leadership and Nominating Committee will begin meeting.  They will be talking about all these things (and more), will contact our current leaders to assess their willingness to continue, and then begin contacting those persons that they think will be able to contribute as next year’s leaders.  If you have an interest in serving on any of our church committees, or if you know someone who would be well suited for a position, it would be amazingly helpful if you could tell us.  That simple thing saves us time deliberating, calling, and “asking around” as we search for just the right person. 

I will also be doing something that may be new to you this year.  I have dug up a survey that I created more than ten years ago for our first pastorate.  That survey asks a lot of questions and some of them may not apply to you, some may not be things that we are currently doing, but all your answers can be useful during our nominations and as we plan.  After all, we can’t do new things if no one tells us that they are interested in doing them.  I have already revised it to suit this church better and you will see it at the bottom of this page.  Filling it out (and putting your name on it) might seem like a little thing, but as simple as it is, doing so can be a huge help.  If you don’t attend Christ Church, you might print it out and hand it to your pastor or whomever is certainly already planning for next  year at your church (I bet they’ll be surprised, but also grateful).

I hope that in the days ahead, each person will be thinking about how we might be a part of ministry at Christ Church next year.

Blessings,

Pastor John

 

How Can You Help?

Please let us know (circle) where you would be interested in serving!

Name: ______________________________

(Please Print)

  • Serve as Lay Delegate to Annual Conference
  • I’d like to____________________________
  • I wish our church _____________________

Worship

  • Choir
  • Bell Choir
  • Liturgist
  • Usher
  • Greeter
  • Acolyte
  • Change church/sanctuary decorations seasonally
  • Help to organize special services
  • Prepare with communion
  • Assist with communion
  • Review/Provide feedback on effectiveness of existing worship

Missions

  • Outreach overseas
  • Help with Community Dinners
  • Attend Community Dinners
  • Go on Missions Trip
  • Chaperone Youth Missions Trip
  • Local Outreach
  • Volunteer at Food Pantry
  • Volunteer at Alliance of Churches

Evangelism

  • Tell others about Jesus
  • Invite a friend to our church
  • Create events that attract others
  • Find ways of using existing church events to reach unbelievers

Education & Children

  • Sunday School Teacher (children)
  • Teacher Substitute (children)
  • Sunday School Teacher (youth)
  • Teacher Substitute (youth)
  • Sunday School Teacher (adults)
  • Teacher Substitute (adults)
  • Vacation Bible School/Music Camp Teacher
  • Present Sunday morning children’s message

Nurture

  • Provide care for existing members
  • Visit the elderly and those shut-in
  • Train members for a deeper faith
  • Organize training events
  • Remember those who are sick or hospitalized
  • Plan church social events
  • Maintain membership records
  • Record and maintain records of church history
  • Keep minutes of important meetings
  • Organize/assist with development of church Child Safety policies
  • Assist pastor in identifying gifts and talents needed for various committees
  • I can wear my name tag EVERY week!

Media Ministries

  • Operate sound system
  • Upload weekly video to YouTube
  • Develop computer projection designs for song lyrics/announcements/sermon outlines
  • Web page design and maintenance
  • Provide technical support and assistance to other ministries
  • Church Social Media Team
  • Take photographs

Finance

  • Keep financial books for the church
  • Help count Sunday offering
  • Provide wisdom/advise/have an opinion on church financial matters

Facilities

  • Identify/Assist with maintenance projects in church building
  • Organize work projects in Church
  • Anticipate/identify/plan for future needs of church

Hospitality

  • Help to welcome visitors
  • Help to develop ways to make visitors feel welcomed
  • Help to develop ways to attract and retain visitors
  • Be a sanctuary greeter
  • Be a Welcome Center greeter
  • Be a door greeter

 

 

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