In November of 2001, I had a discussion with Art Gafke the Director of Supervision and Support Systems Section of Elders and Local Pastors Division of Ordained Ministry General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. He affirmed my list of our cultural mechanistic aliments listed in this resolution. He is currently working on a new tool for assessing ministry from a biblical view of the whole. Such an approach will evaluate the interrelated subsystems of a church’s ministry without isolating persons as potential scapegoats.

I also learned of materials developed by the Alban Institute that look beyond the individual toward mutual ministry evaluation. Jill Hudson’s book, Evaluating Ministry: Principles and Processes for Clergy and Congregations, grounds evaluation in the theological and organizational context of mission (everyone a minister). Her book describes case studies of four successful evaluation models that include the whole church. She suggests how "whole church" reviews might result in stronger pastoral ministry and new directions for mission.

In writing this resolution, I borrowed part of the title from a book by Dr. Glenn Wagner, who is the senior pastor of Calvary Church in Charlotte, NC. His book, Escape from Church, Inc. urges a return to servant shepherding, compassionate caring, and relationally connecting ministry that is holistic, and more than adequate to the task of effectively fulfilling God's Great Commission purposes. It offers a Biblical, yet contemporary approach to effective ministry in our mixed bag of a modern/post modern world.

This past April, Dr. Jackson Carroll, former director of the Ormond Center at Duke Divinity School, spoke to the Academy of Parish Clergy about the preliminary findings of the current study on Pastoral Leadership that he is the project director for. His comments on the implications of these finding for ministry today also call us away from the transactional model of Church, Inc. to a holistic model as the living Body of Christ-the Church. He found my resolution to present a very helpful critique of current standards of clergy evaluation.

Paul’s description of the church as the “body of Christ” (Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12:12-30; Eph. 4:1-16) paints a word picture of the congregation as a living, dynamic, organic system in Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Our western culture’s excessive individualism and consumerism has kept some from grasping this biblical vision. Biblically speaking, pastoral ministry and leadership call for far more than using secular leadership and evaluation principles baptized in churchy language. 

Here is a copy of my resolution # 10 as referred by the 2002 North Carolina Conference to the Board of Ordained Ministry.

[Action: Referred to the Board of Ordained Ministry]

Concerning The Evaluation of Ministry

Whereas, United Methodists believe in the ministry of all Christians;

Whereas, we believe that ordained and lay ministry are called to minister and work together through healthy relationships in Christ;

Whereas, ministerial evaluation occasionally evaluates the ministry of the pastor and the whole local church;

Whereas, current research concerning church life in America and Biblical reflection upon what effective ministry is in light of Jesus' earthly ministry calls us away from the Church, Inc. approach and toward a Biblical, systemic, organic approach;

Whereas, the business model of the Church, Inc. approach does not build healthy churches, but instead builds unhealthy churches on human resources alone;

Whereas, churches built and/or operating from a Church, Inc. approach may appear successful outwardly, they often lack the marks of congregational health such as joy, unity, patience, and enthusiasm;

Whereas, beneath the veneer of functional standards for these congregations, they are often exhausted, under-nourished, and fearful with a worn-out pastor, a troubled parsonage family, and estranged associate pastors;

Whereas, the Church, Inc. approach adopts a mechanical view instead of a Biblical organic view of the local church;

Whereas, the Church, Inc. approach measures functions and crunches numbers, such number crunching often leads to people crushing;

Whereas, the Church, Inc. approach is not only unhealthy for the local church and its outreach, it also undercuts the Biblical integrity of pastoral ministry by reducing it to that of a professional service provider;

Whereas, many clergy and local churches seek the continuation faithful biblical ministry, our systems of assessment have made such ministry increasingly difficult;

Whereas, when the volume of activity becomes the measure of ministry for the sake of keeping the machine running, matters of interior transformation often go unnoticed and neglected such as the Biblical formation of the congregation's spirituality, attitudes, behavior, thinking, and relationships;

Whereas, instead of making the sick well, churches that do not also intentionally work on matters of interior transformation condemn themselves to catching the illnesses Jesus Christ commissions His Church to heal;

Therefore, be it further resolved, that the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry consult with the Section of Elders and Local Pastors of The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry to discover and use new tools for evaluating the ministry of local churches and pastors together from a systemic, Biblical approach.

Submitted by:
Rev. Dr. John M. Crowe
Pastor
Spring Hope UM Charge
Rocky Mount District

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