2010 Assembly - April 16-18, 2010 - New Orleans

Wed May 20 16:13:25 EDT 2009

Dear Gulf Coast Leaders,

The 2010 Synod Assembly will be held Apirl 16-18, 2010 in New Orleans. We will focus on Spiritual Growth, the second of our four top priorities:

1.       Evangelism

2.       Spiritual Growth

3.       Intergenerational Ministry

4.       Worship

Why New Orleans? 

Every few years we take our Synod Assembly over to New Orleans. In 2007 the pastors said of the 2008 assembly, “We’re not ready yet. When you come it means work for us. Wait.” In 2008 they said, “Not in 2009. We have the National Youth Event coming.” And believe me, they are working hard on this event, including helping arrange servant projects for 36,000 people, 12,000 a day for three days! So 2010 is it. It costs a bit more, having 90% of the synod to come over to the other 10% of our synod is, but this is a commitment to being a team together. It’s a matter of inclusion. And it’s a matter of pride. We are synod with two major cities! Finally, it’s fun. This is a popular synod assembly. People want to come to New Orleans. You’ll eat better than any other synod assembly we’ll have. Your cholesterol will skyrocket as you drown in etouffee. You’ll sneak over to Café du Monde for face-melting coffee and beignets. You’ll hear world-class jazz. But all this is secondary. What really matters:

You’ll be supporting our brothers and sisters doing ministry in a city that has been devastated. You’ll be supporting the economy of a city still in recovery. You’ll be practicing accompaniment. New Orleans fell from a population of 500,000 to 275,000? post-Katrina. We won’t know until the census next year. Can you believe houses are still being mucked out? Bulldozed? Peggy just finished meeting with school officials in New Orleans who told her that 80% of the students in the New Orleans school system are living under the poverty level! And 75% of those kids are not living with their parents (but with aunts, uncles, friends, etc.). Did you know that many of these kids depend on the breakfast and lunch that the school system serves because it’s the only meal they receive? And that the New Orleans schools are only taking two weeks for summer break because of this? We go to support, to be aware, to walk alongside, to serve. We are going to try to incorporate an immersion element to this assembly. 

Why are we trying an April assembly?

Well the honest answer is that May was booked in New Orleans. But the reason it was booked is perhaps another reason. A LOT goes on in May. Our assembly is typically towards the end of May. May is Mothers’ Day, Memorial Day, the end of school, finals, graduation and for some vacation time. A late April assembly would always keep us after Easter, but before the mad rush of May. Honestly, I wish it was a bit later in April, but this was a deal we couldn’t pass up. So we’re going to try it next year, and look forward to hearing feedback on how it works out.  

Why are we trying a Friday-Sunday assembly? 

Very simple: To make it easier for working folks and young families. To attract a younger crowd. We often get the retired couple who’s available on a Thursday and a Friday. We want retirees at synod assembly, but we also want young people. We also want key leaders. We want to make it easier for congregations to get their key leaders to assemblies, so that we get a well-informed, deeply-invested learning community. 

Other synods do this. 

Lots of them have weekend assemblies. Some examples of those I happen to know about:

·         The Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod

·         The Southwestern Texas Synod

·         The Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod

·         The Northeastern Minnesota Synod

·         The Eastern North Dakota Synod

·         The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod

·         The Metro Washington D.C. Synod

·         The Northwestern Washington Synod

·         The Southwestern Washington Synod

·         The Northwestern Ohio Synod

·         The Oregon Synod

·         The South Dakota Synod

·         The Minneapolis Synod

·         The St. Paul Synod

·         The Upstate New York Synod

Survey says…

We did a survey on this last year, and 2/3 wanted to give it a try. Those who didn’t were very vocal though, I must admit. These were folks who didn’t want to be out of the pulpit on a Sunday morning. I get this. I was always worried about what was happening at my church when I was away. On the other hand, a church that can’t survive without its pastor for a Sunday is way too pastor-centered. 

What on earth will we do on Sunday morning without our pastor?

What, your pastor never takes a Sunday off? Okay, we will prepare a Lay Sunday Planning Guide. We’ll also provide some video resources. I remember one Sunday I was gone we had members of the congregation get up and talk about their trip to Peru to do VBS in Lima. Another Sunday three members got up and told their God-stories. I listened to the podcast afterwards and was moved. I was told there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. And of course there are a number of retired pastors who are willing to serve if your congregation’s piety won’t allow a lay person in the pulpit. 

Emphasis on “fly.”

For those in Texas, Houston to New Orleans is 348 miles. At the 2009 IRS mileage rate ($.55/mile) that’s $383 round trip. And about 12 hours in the car. On the other hand, several of our New Orleans’ folks are flying to this year’s assembly for $99. Flight time 1:10. (The tickets are high today, about $172, but you can time this right and get them when they’re low.) Think about it. You can fly three people for what it costs to drive. (Swiss Alp, our furthest west congregation is 448 miles from New Orleans, or 14 hours round trip with a good tail wind…)

 Emphasis on “try.”

So we’re going to try it. It seems like New Orleans is a good place to try this out. The majority of our congregation (in Texas) may not want to rush home anyway. 

Now, on another topic altogether… Congregational Reports

As we prepare for churchwide assembly, ELCA Secretary David Swartling sent the attached report on the response rate for congregational reports. One of the things I heard over and over again my first year was the “disconnect” word. It’s been part of my call to “heal the disconnect.” I see the response rate for Congregational Reports as one of the signs of how connected we are. It also speaks to our willingness to be open, transparent, accountable and diligent. 

The good news is we’ve moved up in the world. When I started as bishop I remember looking at this report and noticing that we had the second lowest response rate in the ELCA. Now we’ve moved from 63rd to 36th – a 71% response rate. This may seem like a little thing, but I’m looking for signs of hope. Signs that we’re pulling together. We’re not what I hope to be one day, but by the grace of God we’re moving forward. THANK YOU. It’s very hard to lead without data. In order for us to serve you, we need to know what’s going on. We’re information junkies. Is what we’re doing making any difference? Knowing what’s going on in worship attendance, congregational life, pastor’s ministries, giving and so on really helps us lead. Being able to identify and respond to trends helps us do our job with more excellence. 

Now to you 38 congregations who haven’t done this, I encourage you to take time to do it. Please, let me know if you need help. I suspect for some it’s just an administrative hassle. But friends, this kind of administrative work is part of the diligence it takes for leaders to move an organization forward. This report can be done in 30 minutes. It’s like taking your blood pressure. No fun, but part of diligent healthcare. Now, some congregations have treasurers who won’t fill out the information, perhaps because of control issues. If this is you, turn it in without the financial info. Then give us a call and let us help you with this. There are ways… And, if you’re having trouble with this, odds are there are other financial accountability issues that need to be addressed. Finally, there are some congregations who just don’t participate in anything. You may not be aware, but there are 30 congregations in our synod (of our 126) that give $0 to the ministries of the wider church. Some never come to synod assembly. They’re only marginally part of the ELCA If you’re serving one of these congregations move slowly. It takes time to build trust. Again, let us help. We’ve increased the trust factor significantly and have learned along the way.

Rick Warren, in his first book had a graphic of concentric circles that he used for evangelism. Every congregation has Core members, who give, serve, lead, tithe and are 100% committed to the mission of the church. Then there’s an circle farther out of folks who are pretty committed to what’s going on. They participate and are involved in ministry. Then further out is the congregation. These folks have joined. They are members, but perhaps not yet ministers. Not yet fully invested. Beyond that are folks in the crowd. These are folks who orbit the congregation. They haven’t joined, but they visit. They may be family or friends, or just those who are seekers, checking you out. They are intrigued but they have no commitment whatsoever. Finally, on the outside circle is the community. These folks may or may not even know that your congregation exists. 

Purpose Driven Concentric Circles.jpg

Warren points out that the congregation needs to relate to these five groups differently. Asking the community to tithe to Christ’s mission in the world is absurd. But inviting one of the committed into the core is the ultimate goal. The goal is to move people in toward Christ, who is at the center, one level at a time. 

Astute pastor Sunny (Anton) Kern at Hosanna in Mandeville, Louisiana has been telling me for the last two years that the synod ought to think of congregations like this as well. It’s starting to sink in. (Unfortunately 18 months is about my speed.) Some congregations are full participants at the Core. They tithe to the ministries of the wider church and some do much more. They understand that a fully-operational church body needs seminaries and universities, missionaries, a system to help congregations find pastors, a way to deal with conflict, misconduct and so on. On top of that they give generously to their local community. They plant new congregations, send members on mission trips and more. Other congregations are committed. And so on…

Where would you place your congregation in this model? What would it take to move them inward one level? Pray about it.

שלומ سلام Peace,

Mike Rinehart 

Michael Rinehart, bishop

The Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

12707 I-45 North Frwy, Suite 580

Houston, TX 77060-1239

281-873-5665

www.GulfCoastSynod.org <http://www.gulfcoastsynod.org/> 

cid:image001.jpg at 01C8E732.76E2DF60

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.faithgroups.net/pipermail/gulfcoastleaders/attachments/20090520/205e79fb/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 4070 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.faithgroups.net/pipermail/gulfcoastleaders/attachments/20090520/205e79fb/attachment-0002.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 15525 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.faithgroups.net/pipermail/gulfcoastleaders/attachments/20090520/205e79fb/attachment-0003.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Congregational Reports 2008 ELCA.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 9534 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.faithgroups.net/pipermail/gulfcoastleaders/attachments/20090520/205e79fb/attachment-0001.pdf 