08 Mar My Report to the ELT – First Six Months

Ron Ramsey, Bishop

Pat Jones, Director of Healthy Church Ministries, reporting to the Executive Leadership Team

During the past few weeks, we’ve had a lot of meetings–the Global Ministries Leadership Team, the Healthy Church Leadership Team, the Pastoral Ministry Leadership Team, and finally, the Executive Leadership Team. The ELT met March 6-7 at the United Brethren Headquarters in Huntington, Ind. I presented a written report covering my first six months in office, August 15, 2005, to February 28, 2006. Here are excerpts which might interest you.

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These first 6 months were spent generally:

• In getting moved and settled in Huntington.
• Becoming involved in a steep learning curve as to the status of the various areas of emphasis.
• Becoming acquainted with the condition of churches and pastors.
• Picking up stationing committee duties for churches needing pastors.
• Learning the routines and procedures of the office and staff.

The transition has gone well. There are always some bumps and surprises along the way, but all in all it was a good initial beginning. Pat Jones and I have formed a solid team and positive working relationship. Along with Gary Dilley, Steve Dennie, and Marci Hammel, we have a strong administrative team in place. Adding Tom Blaylock as a part time Director of Church Multiplication was a good decision and we will see benefits from that decision.

I began a cluster consisting of myself as the leader, plus the five former bishops who live in this area: Raymond Waldfogel, C. Ray Miller, Clarence Kopp, Ray Seilhamer, and Paul Hirshy.

In my opinion, the future of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ is guarded. Doing things as we’ve always done them is not an option. This is a time for fresh, new ideas coming forth from our leadership teams and churches. We do have some exciting things taking place in a number of our churches. Our strategy rolling forward must begin to identify our future with those churches. We likewise must see some significant success with church planting efforts.

The theme of my time this first six months has been twofold. First, I have spent time championing the cause of “The Harvest.” We’re just not seeing enough grain coming into the bin. Second, we need to change the DNA/genetics of our herd. We must attract sharp people to our ministry ranks who can make a difference in the leadership of our churches.

Some future events include a meeting this week with a few pastors of our largest churches to help plan an event in the fall where we can gather all the pastors of our churches above 400 to a time of sharing and fellowship. I would also like to plan a time for the pastors of our medium churches, 201 to 400 as well as a time for our pastors of small churches. Each of these size groups have issues that are unique to their size church. We can’t do anything if we always have everybody together. Hopefully these three events will happen yet this year.

I will also meet this spring with the students of Huntington University who are in a fulltime ministry track of some type. I had a similar meeting in the fall with about 17 such students. We will meet informally for a meal and talk about their goals for their future. They will be encouraged to consider ministry in the UB Church. However, just relying on those in the pipeline now will not get us where we need to be with leadership. I will continue to recruit from outside the denomination those individuals who, I feel, can help us change our DNA. The following churches have withdrawn from the United Brethren Church, USA, or have closed. All of the California churches listed below formed a new group called United Believers in Christ.

• Cornerstone, Decatur, Ind. (joined the Missionary Church)
• Jerry City, Jerry City, Ohio (closed)
• Otterbein, Waynesboro, Pa. (withdrew, went independent)
• Open Bible Fellowship, Safford, Ariz. (withdrew, went independent)
• Highland Heights, New Castle, Pa. (closed)
• Red Mountain, Birmingham, Ala. (closed)
• Sacramento Faith, Sacramento, Calif. (withdrew)
• Riverbank New Hope, Riverbank, Calif. (withdrew)
• Burbank Victory Celebration (Anglo), Burbank, Calif. (withdrew)
• Burbank Victory Hispanic, Burbank, Calif. (withdrew)
• Glendale First, Glendale, Calif. (withdrew)
• Lakewood Open Arms, Lakewood, Calif. (withdrew)
• Palmdale, Palmdale, Calif. (withdrew)
• San Fernando, San Fernando, Calif. (withdrew)
• Simi Valley, Simi Valley, Calif. (withdrew)
• Living Water, Clarksburg, W. Va. (closed)

There are others that, rumor has it, are or will be leaving the church. I expect to ferret them out as I deal with the statistical reports and the list of churches not making their 3.5% partnership fee to the denomination.
Michigan and Northwest conferences will hold their concluding annual conference this summer. When these are concluded, all of our former annual conferences will have voted to disband. This will pave the way for a successful referendum vote in the fall.

Let me close by saying how privileged I am to have been chosen to serve in this capacity. However, it is a very difficult and demanding job. Time has flown by. There never seem to be enough hours in a day. The “things to do pile” grows larger. I feel the burden of the church so very keenly. My tendency is to try to fix every problem, deal with every crisis, solve every conflict but I am finding much to my chagrin that that is not possible. So, with the first six months of learning curve behind me, I move forward committed to prioritizing my time within the framework of the five strategic initiatives, trusting in the strength and guidance of a loving Heavenly Father who is more than able. We don’t have to do it alone.