A preface to what is essentially a second edition of the dissertation, delivered on this blog.
Something must be done with the majority of churches in the Illinois Great Rivers Conference. The large churches have financial resources to hire nationally known consultants. The health of the mid-size tier is
The previous presentation of the CLM Module 1 class was on a Friday evening, Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. Ine order to help the group arrive and be ready, I shared six “homework” emails to prepare them for the face to face class time. They would “reply all” to the emails and become familiar with the topics and each other before meeting.
Here is a proposed calendar for a “hybrid” class approach – part online and part “face to face.”
I. Six preparatory emails:
Jan 14, 17, 21, 24, 28, 31, 2024.
II. Four Zoom meetings, 2 hours each, 7 pm on Tuesday evenings
February 6 and 13: Friday Night material
February 19 and 26: Saturday morning material
III. One, 4 hour, Face to Face gathering
Saturday, March 2: Saturday afternoon material.
(By this time, hopefully, winter travel problems won’t be a concern.
Handout for the classes:
David Kueker
Cell/text: 618-780-0151
dkueker@yahoo.com
Facebook: David Oliver Kueker
ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE LEARNING: I was blessed to teach a class at beadisciple.com multiple times a year from 2008-2014. They use Blackboard software. The form the class took was to present information in a paragraph, followed by a discussion question; each class member would have to respond with an answer to the question. They could also reply to each other’s comments, and ask me questions as the instructor. Over 6 weeks of class we would generate about 100,000 words of discussion.
This process can be duplicated on any bulletin board software and even in a Facebook group.
https://beadisciple.com/blog/a-new-way-of-making-disciples-using-the-left-hand/
This resource for teaching Module 1 of the Certified Lay Minister program of the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference is developed by David Kueker and is based on Module I: Call and Covenant for Ministry, copyright 2016 by Discipleship Resources, Nashville, TN.
CLM 1.2, Reviewed: 2-19-22.
Dale Galloway used the Yoido 5×5 system to build New Hope Community Church of Portland, Oregon, to more than five thousand persons in cells by 1990.[1] Bethany World Prayer Center, near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was inspired by the Elim Church 5×5 system and had a net growth of six hundred families in 1993, their first year of cell ministry. In four years they had gained a net growth of two thousand families.[2] Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago is transforming itself to a modified metachurch model of using small groups to provide community in their congregation of more than twenty thousand.[3] Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church of rural Dayton, Ohio, grew from an attendance of ninety in 1979 to a congregation in 2006 of more than four thousand in weekly attendance.[4] It is still located on a rural county road miles from any large population center and has utilized a cell driven approach since the early days under Pastor Michael Slaughter.[5] Chapter 2 will describe effective discipleship systems with specific examples from Yoido Full Gospel Church, the world’s largest cell church with over 700,000 members.
[1]Elmer Towns, An Inside Look at 10 of Today’s Most Innovative Churches: What They’re Doing, How They’re Doing It & How You Can Apply Their Ideas in Your Church (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1990), 35-41. Cf. Dale E. Galloway, 20/20 Vision: How to Create a Successful Church (Portland, OR: Scott Publishing Co., 1986). Cf. William Easum, Dancing With Dinosaurs: Ministry in a Hostile and Hurting World (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993), 62-66.
[2]Larry Stockstill, Cell Church, 22. Bethany is now the primary proponent of the G12 system in the United States. Cf. Bethany Cell Church Network, BCCN: The Bethany Cell Church Network, http://www.bccn.com/ (accessed June 12, 2007).
[3]Willow Creek struggled with a variety of small group formats to effectively provide discipleship care to so many converts, finally settling on what Hybels refers to as a “modified Metachurch” model. Christine M. Anderson, “Life Together: Reclaiming the Ministry of Small Groups” in Equipping the Saints: Mobilizing Laity for Ministry, ed. Michael J. Christensen with Carl E. Savage (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000), 55. Cf. Paul Braoudakis, ed. Willow Creek Community Church Church Leaders Handbook (Barrington, IL: The Willow Creek Association, 1997), 115. For metachurch information, see Carl George, The Coming Church Revolution (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell, 1994), 59, 124. For the conversion to small groups, see Bill Donahue, “Releasing Community in Small Groups,” The Pastor’s Update 80, no. 7019 (Pasadena, CA: Fuller Theological Seminary, 1998). Donahue states that Willow Creek’s shift to a better system of managing small groups and a goal that all members participate was accompanied by a reallocation of 25% of their budget toward this purpose.
[4]Michael Slaughter, Spiritual Entrepreneurs: Six Principles for Risking Renewal
(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 14-15, 72-75, 122-123, 131-134. Weekly participation in 2006 averages over four thousand with seven weekend worship services. Cf. Ginghamsburg Key Staff Directory: Mike Slaughter, http://ginghamsburg.org/staff/?tx_wecstaffdirectory_pi1%5Bcurstaff%5D=83 (accessed June 18, 2007).
[5]Ginghamsburg does their own version of cell; cf. Easum, Dancing With Dinosaurs, 66-69. For a more traditional application of cell principles in a United Methodist context, cf. Steve Cordle, Church In Many Houses: Reaching Your Community Through Cell-Based Ministry (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005).
Subject: CLM Homework #6 of 6: The Ministry Orders
My Order for Ministry
In the Harry Potter books, a new student at Hogwarts is “sorted” by the Sorting Hat into one of four “houses” – into the one that is the best fit for them. The Hogwarts School is divided into four houses, each bearing the last name of its founder: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. Houses at Hogwarts are the living and learning communities for its students. (Wikipedia)
It would be nice if United Methodist people with a calling to ministry had a sorting hat!
The best we can do, I think, is to use some Sorting Questions to help us discern the “living and learning communities” that are best for us. Please circle your preference and your calling (if they aren’t the same, make a note of it!) to the following questions – we’ll discuss them Friday evening:
A few questions for discussion …
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each preference?
We’ll discuss how your preferences can help “sort” you into various types of ministry service in the United Methodist Church.
Note: This post is one in a series of emails to allow discussion as a class via email prior to the first gathering of the class for Module 1 of the Certified Lay Minister program of the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference. David Kueker is the instructor and developed these introductory emails.
CLM 0.6, Reviewed: 2-19-22.
Subject: CLM Homework #5 of 6: The Ministry Covenant
When I graduated from Seminary in 1980, I was moving from an environment where my professors told me what to do, into an environment of full-time ministry that was very unstructured. What was I supposed to do?
My DS was not helpful – he told me in 1980 that ministers who work full time should put in a minimum of 72 hours per week.
I stumbled across a wonderful book, James D. Glasse’s classic “Putting It Together In The Parish.” In the book he describes a very helpful concept: Paying the Rent. The idea is that pastors have certain specific required tasks to do … they are like paying the rent. Once your rent is paid, you are secure and can stay in your apartment and the rest of your money is yours to do with as you wish. The “rent” is what you have to do or you get evicted.
Glasse speculated that most pastors could pay the rent in an average of 80% of their working hours. Once the rent was paid, they could voluntarily choose how to spend the rest of their working hours, investing in ministries that were very satisfying and rewarding.
Some pastors, Glasse noted, lived in the “high rent district” and served high expectation churches where it would take 50-60 hours every week just to pay the rent. Some pastors will serve comfortable churches where the rent is easy to pay, leaving a good amount of time to pursue your calling and what you find meaningful – hopefully, that will be you!
Some pastors do what they want to do first, all week long, and get farther and farther behind on the rent. Hopefully, that will not be you.
A “Mutual Ministry Covenant” is a little bit like a lease – you want to read the fine print before you sign it. You don’t want to sign it until the rent is clearly spelled out. If you don’t pay the rent, you will be evicted from your ministry job. Some items in the lease may need to change; some are not negotiable.
Some pastors don’t sign the lease, or don’t even know there is a lease, and discover that the rent is entirely different than what they thought, or that the rent keeps changing based on whichever wheel is squeaking that week.
The fine print in many pastoral leases often has just 7 words: If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
No one should sign a lease that is not clear. It’s for your protection. Read the lease before you sign it!!!
The most wonderful thing about being a Certified Lay Minister is that YOU get to develop the “lease” for paying your “pastoral rent” and then negotiate this with the local church.
We will spend a large part of our class time discussing what is a healthy Mutual Ministry Covenant. Your Mutual Ministry Covenant will include and describe your calling, your gifting, and everything we’ve discussed so far in terms of what you will do in the parish as a Certified Lay Minister.
Your homework assignment #5 this week is to review several examples of Mutual Ministry Covenants and begin to think of your own:
I. Covenant Community Church, UMC and Dottie Lloyd, Certified Lay Minister. Page 41 in your CLM materials.
II. Quimbly United Methodist church of Port Only, PA. Page 42 in your CLM materials.
III. IGRC Pastoral Expectations Document – download from this website:
https://www.igrc.org/files/tables/content/87405/fields/files/3256b0d8968641f58b870a1303f64cfa/2017+expectations+of+pastors+edited.pdf
THE PAGES ARE LAID OUT TO BE PRINTED and stapled into a booklet. Reading it as a PDF will make no sense.
This 18 page PDF file was written by the Cabinet to prevent conflicts over what the appointed clergy are expected to do. It has been a very useful document for me – I give it to my PPR committee and tell them that this is what I intend to do and to call me on any behavior contrary to what it says. Pages 2-9 are as close as you can get to a Ministry Covenant for appointed clergy.
As you read through it, what surprises you?
What elements of this document might be useful to include in your own Ministry Covenant?
IV. IGRC Model CLM Covenant – this will be a model for developing your own Mutual Ministry Covenant as you go through the program. You’ll work with this next year or later.
V. Give some thought to a Mutual Ministry Covenant for the calling you mentioned in Homework Assignment #4; make notes and work up a rough draft. We’ll share ideas back and forth on what should be a part of it. Please bring it with you to class as a rough draft for you to work on – not necessarily to share copies, although you could if you wish. Each of us will take a turn where you are the leader developing a covenant for the ministry you described in Assignment #4, and we are the members of your mutual ministry team helping you write our team covenant.
Homework Assignment # 6 will be a short discussion of the various “orders for ministry” and which one you feel may be your calling; it will arrive on Thursday or before. I’m looking forward to Friday!
Dave Kueker … blest to be your instructor.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity. And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:17-18
Note: This post is one in a series of emails to allow discussion as a class via email prior to the first gathering of the class for Module 1 of the Certified Lay Minister program of the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference. David Kueker is the instructor and developed these introductory emails.
CLM 0.5, Reviewed: 2-19-22.
Subject: CLM Homework #4 of 6 – My Team for Ministry.
Bad joke:
What do you call a dog that has no legs?
Answer: it doesn’t matter what you call him he’s not going to come.
Your mutual ministry team is your arms and legs.
The body of Christ has arms and legs to do work and go places.
Who are your arms and legs?
If you don’t have them you are not going anywhere.
Jim Collins classic book on transformation in organizations entitled Good to Great suggests: first who, then what. Assemble the brightest, the most talented and the most committed people and THEN figure out what you are going to do. Start by gathering the best people, then work WITH them to develop the best plan. Quote:
First Who, Then What
The next factor that Collins identifies as part of the Good to Great process is the nature of the leadership team. Specifically, Collins advances the concept that the process of securing high-quality, high-talent individuals with Level 5 leadership abilities must be undertaken before an overarching strategy can be developed. With the right people in the right positions, Collins contends that many of the management problems that plague companies and sap valuable resources will automatically dissipate. As such, he argues, firms seeking to make the Good to Great transition may find it worthwhile to expend extra energy and time on personnel searches and decision-making. http://www.wikisummaries.org/wiki/Good_to_Great:_Why_Some_Companies_Make_the_Leap…_and_Others_Don%27t
YOUR HOMEWORK:
It’s important to understand that as we do ministry, we work with the people who are there. We don’t usually get to handpick a team of superstars. What we do assume is that God has put the people in place needed to fulfill God’s will. The people you need for your team will be there. To practice building a team, however, we can contemplate who we would like to ask to be on our team.
So that will be our homework – choose one of the following scenarios and answer the questions:
Some theory about ecclesiology (the theology of church) that is meaningful to me:
To me, the best definition of the church is what Paul writes about the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12.
EVERY member is gifted; the Spirit chooses your gift mix, not you.
Some are envious of the gifts of others.
Others look down on those who don’t have their gifts.
EVERYONE is connected … when one member suffers …
EVERY member is NECESSARY from God’s point of view.
The body of Christ is like a Kachina doll … bodies within bodies. Systems within systems. Teams within teams. In the Wesleyan movement, this is called Ecclesiolae en ecclesia … “little churches in the big church.” To me, each is a functional “body of Christ” within the bigger system.
From this perspective, we are connected as churches within churches …
The Illinois Great Rivers Conference is a 1000 point charge led by a Bishop.
The Kaskaskia River District is about a 75 point charge led by a Superintendent.
Kinmundy-Wesley United Methodist Church is a two-point charge led by Dave Kueker.
The youth group is a body within this body of Christ led by Mary Brimberry.
The Beth Moore class is a body within this body of Christ led by Kim Kueker.
And your Mutual Ministry Team is a body within the body of Christ which is the church to which you are assigned. All that is needed to fulfill God’s will is provided through the people God has provided. Matthew 18:20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Teams differentiate within a common purpose …
Common unifying purpose: basketball team.
But players bring different skills: point guard, shooting guards, forwards, center … all differing, all differentiated.
On a losing team, everyone is identical.
Note: This post is one in a series of emails to allow discussion as a class via email prior to the first gathering of the class for Module 1 of the Certified Lay Minister program of the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference. David Kueker is the instructor and developed these introductory emails.
CLM 0.4, Reviewed: 2-19-22.
Subject: CLM Homework #3 of 6 – My S.H.A.P.E. for ministry.
The purpose of the “homework” is to give us some advance preparation of what we will discuss when we meet in a week. So, no deadline, but as you have it. Please “reply all” and type your answers right into your email after the questions in bold and share it, as your answers will help others discover theirs. Or you can use the questions at the very bottom. (Or you can attach it as a word processing file, if you wish.) Thanks! Dave
My understanding of the church is what Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 12. Each of us is a part in the body of Christ. If you want to know your calling – what you are supposed to do – look at the way you are made. We have a God given “shape” and it reveals our purpose, in my opinion.
The problem Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 12, is that each part is envious and wants to be something other than what they are … or wants to look down on those who do not have their shape. Everyone’s shape has a value in the body of Christ.
In the Body of Christ, each part of the body functions according to the way it is designed by God in creation. What we do and how we do it is a part of how we are made; you are shaped for a purpose. Saddleback Church uses the acronym “SHAPE” to help people discern the ministry calling that God has on a person’s life – and I think it is a good model. So let’s talk about your “shape” for ministry – where you fit in. What part do you fulfill in the body of Christ?
I’m a fan of the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator … it helps us see what our preferences are in four categories:
Introvert or Extrovert? I or E? (being around people energizes you (E) or tires you after a while – you need alone time to be your best (I))
Sensing or Intuition? S or N? (detail oriented, checkbook balanced to the penny (S) or big picture, creative, poetry writing, day dreamer (N)
Thinking or Feeling? F or T? (analytical (T) or emotional “seat of the pants” (F) decision making)
“Judging” or Perceiving? J or P? (how to do a task: orderly, sequential, one thing at a time (J) or juggling multiple tasks, doing what’s interesting (P).
(I like to say that a “J” is like a surgeon, everything under control and perfection means doing it exactly the same way over and over again; Js are committed, reliable, responsible and excellent at doing things right every time. A “P” is like an emergency room doctor, ready for anything that happens next and finds the chaos a little exciting; they are excellent at solving unexpected problems when “the way we’ve always done it before” no longer works.)
A Myers-Briggs type – a combination of four letters – is neither good nor bad. It’s just a way of naming your preferences – vanilla, chocolate or strawberry ice cream. With or without sprinkles.
When you have identified your four letters, you can Google them to find all sorts of descriptions of that grouping out of the 16 possible combinations. Again, this is just generalizations about preferences … what you find might or might not be specifically true for you.
You can take a free version of this test here: https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/OEJTS/
(Many other similar tests are also available online. Please remember – our goal is to understand your preferences. Your four letter results might be different depending on how you feel that day, or on the test you took. They also can change as we age and grow. Mine have.)
And then we can explore your preferences. Simply Google your four letters. Do the descriptions you find fit how you perceive yourself? If the difference between the two choices is small, switch the letter and Google that – is that a better fit with your preferences?
I am convinced that the “body of Christ” described in 1 Corinthians 12 means that people need to be happy with who and how God made them – and this means that, generally speaking, your calling will be a good fit with your personality.
So please take the test and let me know your four letters – E or I, S or N, T or F, J or P.
What are your four letters?
For this homework assignment, please answer the questions below.
Pastor Dave
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity. And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:17-18
Dave Kueker`s answers to the S.H.A.P.E. Questions
3.What abilities do you have that make you different from other people? What is difficult for others that you find easy to do? What skills do you have and how can you use them for God? (Ability)
People tell me that I am good at explaining complex ideas from the bible or from books in ways that people can understand them.
I think I am good at discerning and defining the problems and opportunities in a system.
I love being creative and organizing things, people and organizations, including organizing ideas into books, articles or presentations.
I like to think that I am a good guitar & bass player.
My Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator letters are ENFP … with the P just slightly higher than the J. This means I like to walk into chaos and organize it my way so that everything runs smoothly and more effectively and everyone enjoys life.
When you have your four letters, you can google them to find all sorts of descriptions of that grouping out of the 16 possible combinations.
Again, this is just generalizations about preferences … what you find might or might not be specifically true for you.
Here’s a description of ENTP from Wikipedia: ENTPs are frequently described as clever, cerebrally and verbally quick, enthusiastic, outgoing, innovative, flexible, loyal, and resourceful. ENTPs are motivated by a desire to understand and improve the world they live in. They are usually accurate in sizing up a situation. They may have a perverse sense of humor and sometimes play devil’s advocate, which can create misunderstandings with friends, coworkers, and family. ENTPs are ingenious and adept at directing relationships between means and ends. ENTPs devise fresh, unexpected solutions to difficult problems. However, they are less interested in generating and following through with detailed plans than in generating ideas and possibilities. In a team environment, ENTPs are most effective in a role where they can draw on their abilities to offer deep understanding, a high degree of flexibility, and innovative solutions to problems. The ENTP regards a comment like “it can’t be done” as a personal challenge, and, if properly motivated, will spare no effort to discover a solution.
If you are interested in the APEST Test, based on Ephesians 4:11, look here:
https://fivefoldministry.com/
http://www.theforgottenways.org/what-is-apest.aspx
Cost: $10. https://5qcentral.com/product/apest-vocational-assessment/
Another very useful test is the CliftonStrengths Assessment®. This assessment measures your talents — your natural patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving — and categorizes them into the 34 CliftonStrengths themes. For more information: https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/253676/how-cliftonstrengths-works.aspx
Note: This post is one in a series of emails to allow discussion as a class via email prior to the first gathering of the class for Module 1 of the Certified Lay Minister program of the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference. David Kueker is the instructor and developed these introductory emails.
CLM 0.3, Reviewed: 2-19-22.
Subject: CLM Class – Homework Assignment #2 of 6.
My Story In Ministry
Seminary Professor Wayne Oates once said that Pastoral Care was “a conversation between two people for the benefit of one.” Whether our conversation is with one person or with many (as in a sermon), we are speaking for the benefit of the one who is listening.
In homework assignment #1, we shared information about ourselves as a way to get to know each other and as a way to build friendship and community with each other. In a ministry setting these sorts of conversations will frequently be used for the benefit of the other person. We will share our life experience with others in a variety of ways as we build healthy relationships.
In homework assignment #2, we shift from information about us to sharing information about our spiritual journey.
From time to time in our ministry we’ll be sharing our spiritual story … the description of how we understand God to be working in our life. That’s a conversation of a slightly different sort – a spiritual conversation – and we need to become comfortable having these conversations. The following discussion questions allow you to give some thought as to how you might speak of your own experience of God as you follow Jesus.
Just type a few sentences after each one … and it’s OK to say “I don’t know” or “I’ve never thought about that before.”
As a CLM, people will ask you for advice on how to strengthen their spiritual life and about the practice of spiritual disciplines. Imagine how you would answer some of the following questions that a church member might ask you one day after worship by sharing briefly in a couple of sentences what you find to be helpful. (Our own practice of spiritual disciplines helps us to stay balanced and healthy in the face of pressures that can overwhelm us.)
I’m someone who is good at giving advice, but not always good at follow-through. I’m going to save my answers for later, as I don’t want to imply that one method is more valuable than another. I look forward to learning more of your story …
Dave Kueker … blessed to be your instructor.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity. And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:17-18
Note: This post is one in a series of emails to allow discussion as a class via email prior to the first gathering of the class for Module 1 of the Certified Lay Minister program of the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference. David Kueker is the instructor and developed these introductory emails.
CLM 0.2, Reviewed: 2-19-22.
CLM Homework Emails –
CLM Module 1 – Homework Assignment #1 of 6: Getting to Know You
Dear friends:
I’m looking forward to our time together when we meet at Little Grassy for the Certified Lay Minister Module 1. Typically classes in college are spaced out with time in between that allows you to study after you spend class time with the teacher and also do homework between classes.
Our CLM class meets one time over Friday night, and Saturday morning and afternoon. This means we have to study prior to class and arrive ready to talk about we have read. Therefore we do homework in advance!
First, please let me know if you have had any difficulty downloading and printing the class “book” – Module One: Call and Covenant for Ministry. This is the new edition for 2016. Please read over the 55 pages, make note of questions you have in the margins and be ready to talk about it in our class.
In order to help us be ready when we arrive at Little Grassy, I’ll have 3 homework assignments a week which you’ll receive by email. They are not going to be difficult but are designed to encourage you to think deeply about this amazing model for ministry which we call the Certified Lay Minister. You just answer the questions I ask, responding as you would to any email.
The First Homework Assignment – the CLM model of ministry is one where we work as a team. All the books on management and leadership are beginning to understand what has been taught in the New Testament all along – we do better when we work as a team, when we know each other, are comfortable with each other, and where we feel that we can trust and rely on our teammates.
This is very different from the Lone Ranger style of ministry where you ride into town, save the day, but never get to know the people you are helping – you never take off your mask, and you leave before you really ever get to know the people. Our experience shows that this style of ministry chews up people and isn’t that beneficial for the church folks who are only consumers who sit quietly and watch the hero do all the work of saving them.
So … as we begin to study this CLM model of ministry, we’re going to also live it. Below you will find a list of questions that I designed to help my church members tell me more about their lives so that I could get to know them. Building community comes first.
Please “reply all” to this email – this will let the entire group know your answers and help us get to know each other – then put your cursor after each statement and finish the sentence with information about yourself. Don’t write a book, but feel free to express yourself. You can answer below, or copy the “Getting To Know You” statements to the top of your reply if you like.
Below these, you’ll find my answers … I might as well go first. If you have questions for me to privately answer, please email me. (Including “How do I ‘reply all’?”) Homework assignment #2 will arrive in your email on Wednesday.
Dave Kueker … blessed to be your instructor.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity. And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:17-18
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35
Help us get to know you better, so that we can do a better job of loving you as Jesus would! Please complete the sentences below and return to the pastor or the church office.
My name is …
I grew up in …
I went to school at …
I work (or worked before I retired) at …
These skills were important in my job there …
When people talk about sports, I have to talk about …
My family includes …
In my spare time I like to …
Something interesting that most people don’t know about me is that …
My favorite TV show is …
I’ll bet you didn’t know that I was related to …
I attend worship most Sundays at …
The thing I like most about my church is …
One question I’d like to ask God is …
What experiences helped to form you as a person?
(Hobbies, sports teams, military service, etc. )
My name is … David Oliver Kueker (the last name is pronounced “Key-ker)
I grew up in … Belleville and Champaign, Illinois.
I went to school at …
Centennial High School in Champaign (Go Chargers!)
Eastern Illinois University (Go Panthers!)
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky (Go … uh… never mind)
Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.
I work (or worked before I retired) at … Kinmundy and Wesley United Methodist Churches as the pastor. (Since July 1, 2014)
These skills were important in my job there … Preaching, pastoral care and administration/leadership.
When people talk about sports, I have to talk about … how little I know about sports!
My family includes … my wife Kim; three grown sons (Don in Chicago, Mike in New York City, and John and Crystal and grandchildren Damali, Lili and Loyal Liam in Austin, Texas); my brother and his family live in Dallas.
In my spare time I like to … read, read, read. Then buy more books.
Something interesting that most people don’t know about me is that … I participated 2005-2013 in NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, where people attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in November. Fortunately, they don’t have to be good novels … if you finish, you win – www.nanowrimo.org.
My favorite TV show is … Whatever Kim is watching, as long as it is not too drama intense – not into soap operas, or any portrayal of suffering.
I’ll bet you didn’t know that I was related to … Col. Edmund Kueker, famous auctioneer in Waterloo, Illinois, whose collection of western memorabilia was the foundation for the Monroe County Historical Society museum.
I attend worship most Sundays at … Kinmundy First and Wesley United Methodist Churches, where I am the pastor.
The thing I like most about my church is … how nice they are to their pastor.
One question I’d like to ask God is … what exactly would Jesus do if he were a local church pastor?
What experiences helped to form you as a person? (Hobbies, sports teams, military service, etc. )
I played basketball until I retired as a high school sophomore; I was tall, but very, very slow.
I volunteered for service in the Air Force in 1975 but flunked the basic eye test. So I went to Seminary instead.
As a fifth grader, I became fascinated with designing ocean going sailboats and suburban homes.
At the age of 30 I became fascinated with computers and taught myself programming. I retired when Windows came out. Now I’m on Facebook, have a website and I blog.
Note: This post is one in a series of emails to allow discussion as a class via email prior to the first gathering of the class for Module 1 of the Certified Lay Minister program of the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference. David Kueker is the instructor and developed these introductory emails.
CLM 0.1, Reviewed: 2-19-22.
QUOTE
Methodism has continually adopted new methods as expediency provides them. The camp meeting shaped prairie Methodism. Asbury called camp meetings Afishing with a large net.@[1] It is hard to imagine in this century the human hunger for socialization and activity which the camp meeting fulfilled in the prairie environment. When Alexis De Tocqueville asked a Detroit man in 1831 if religion had reached that Ahalf peopled@ area, he replied:
Almost every summer, it is true, some Methodist preachers come to
make a tour of the new settlements. The noise of their arrival spreads with
unbelievable rapidity from cabin to cabin – it’s the great news of the day. At
the date set, the immigrant, his wife, and children set out by scarcely cleared
forest trails toward the indicated meeting place. They come from fifty miles
around. It’s not in a church that the faithful gather but in the open air under
the forest foliage. A pulpit of badly squared logs, great trees felled for
seats, such are the ornaments of this rustic temple. The pioneers and their
families camp in the surrounding woods. It=s there that, during three days and three nights, the crowd gives
itself over to almost uninterrupted religious exercises. You must see with what
ardor these men surrender themselves to prayer, with what attention they listen
to the solemn voice of the preacher. It’s in the wilderness that people show
themselves almost starved for religion.[2]
The camp meetings countered rural isolation by combining religious activity in the center of the camp with socializing, courting, barter and recreation on the outer edges.[3] This tradition of combining evangelistic preaching with family vacations evolved into the Chautauqua movement, both in resort settings and traveling tents.[4] Camp meetings eventually became campgrounds and then conference owned church camps, at Asbury’s suggestion.[5] The camp meeting was the primary evangelistic tool of the Second Great Awakening in United States history and so successful that it doubled the proportion of church members in America from one in fifteen to one in seven between 1800 and 1850.[6]
The camp meeting is the quintessential Acome structure@ of American religious history. Both the camp meeting and the prairie church met the human need for socialization in the midst of rural isolation. Both drew a large crowd because they were the only source for human interaction on the frontier. Revivals would later be organized around the visit of an elder at quarterly conference who would provide the sacrament to members followed by camp meetings open to the public. These events created a community that Adefined itself by act@ or by an event, rather than by an address.[7]
Events brought people together; God acting in grace seemed less a salvation process and more of a salvation event. It was God, acting in a series of events, who convicted the sinner, brought the crowds of sinners to the camp meeting, brought salvation through the response to an evangelistic sermon and brought sanctification as a second work of grace. Any human role was minimized. The salvation event, mediated by a gospel preacher, is the descendent of the sacramental event mediated by a priest ordained in apostolic succession. Anglican sacramentalism, too, is a part of the Wesleyan heritage.[8] Prairie DNA continues to focus on events as the method to bring people into the church building to hear the gospel.
On the prairie the process of salvation became one which sought to get people into a service of worship where they might respond to the proclamation of the gospel by the preacher rather than one which sought to get people into a class meeting where they might be spiritually mentored by a lay person. All barriers were dropped and all activities of the church were opened; who could tell but that this day was a sinner=s last opportunity to experience salvation? Evangelism became focused on decision-making events rather than on disciple-making community.[9] Revival services became crowds of strangers before, during and after time in worship. New class meetings would not be formed to disciple the new converts; a few would become incorporated into a single existing class meeting already crowded with advanced disciples. Rather than training new disciples to become disciple-makers, classes focused on personal piety and holiness.
The camp
meeting event forever shaped the prairie Methodist experience. The great Atwo a day@ checkerboard church planting that
began after the Civil War replicated these small Acome structure@ churches every five to seven
miles apart in the rural countryside.[1] Prairie DNA
was phenomenally successful in its time; from 1860-1920 the Methodist Episcopal
Church grew from one million to well over four million members,[2] far
outperforming Wesley=s societies. This membership increase coincides with the end of
the requirement that all Methodists participate in class meeting as a condition
of membership.[3]
After vigorous employment in the 1870s, Aafter 1880 there is no mention of camp meetings being encouraged
officially by the Southern Illinois conference.@[4] This expedient tool shaped the
prairie Methodist experience and that historical influence is active and
visible today.
[1]Evers, History of the Southern Illinois Conference, 148. Southern Baptists averaged four hundred missions a year in the 1890s and thirteen hundred in the 1990s, a daily average of 3.6 a day. Lyle Schaller, The Interventionist (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997), 195-196.
[2]Charles Yrigoyen, Jr., APart Two: The Nineteenth Century,@ in John G. McEllhenney, ed., United Methodism In America: A Compact History (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992), 91.
[3]White, ARise and Decline of the Class Meeting,@ 6. The requirement was ended in the Methodist Episcopal South in 1866 and the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872.
[4]Evers, History of the Southern Illinois Conference, 145. The holiness movement was well received in Southern Illinois but suspect within the Methodist Episcopal denomination. While the conference remained officially distanced, participation continued unofficially; six Holiness Camp Meeting Associations were founded in the first half of the twentieth century in Southern Illinois, with Methodists providing the major support in five of them. Evers, History of the Southern Illinois Conference, 153-155, 171-172. Cf. Ferguson, Organizing to Beat the Devil, 280-285.
[1]Russell E. Richey, AFrom Quarterly to Camp Meeting: A Reconsideration of Early American Methodism,@ Methodist History 23, no. 1 (July 1985): 202.
[2]G. W. Pierson, ATocqueville and Beaumont in America,@ quoted in Johnson, Frontier Camp Meeting, 231‑232.
[3]Ferguson, Organizing to Beat the Devil, 119-120, 124, 129-131. Cf. Johnson, Frontier Camp Meeting, 3, 208-228, 234-236, 240, 243-244. Cf. Evers, History of the Southern Illinois Conference, 24-25. Cf. Melton, From Log Cabins to Steeples, 115.
[4]Charles A. Parker, AThe Camp Meeting on the Frontier and the Methodist
Religious Resort in the East: Before 1900,@ Methodist History 18 (April 1980): 179‑192. For an example, see The Lakeside Association, History of Lakeside, http://www.lakesideohio.com/lakesideexperience/History.aspx (accessed June 18, 2007). Cf. Johnson, Frontier Camp Meeting, 245-247. Cf. Melton, Log Cabins to Steeples, 119.
[5]Ferguson, Organizing to Beat the Devil, 145.
[6]Jeffrey K. Hadden and Anson Shupe, Televangelism: Power & Politics On God’s Frontier (Reading, Massachusetts: Addison‑Wesley, 1981), http://religiousbroadcasting.lib.virginia.edu/ powerpolitics/C6.html (accessed May 1, 2007), 102. Cf. Rodney Stark, The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success (New York: Random House, 2006), 206-210.
[7]Russell E. Richey, AFrom Quarterly to Camp Meeting: A Reconsideration of Early American Methodism,@ Methodist History 23, no. 1 (July 1985): 205, 203-213.
[8]From a sacramental point of view, salvation occurs at the event of Christian baptism and the event of holy communion confers spiritual strength and maturity as a means of grace. There is a trend among modern churches to embrace the sacramental faith of justification through baptism and sanctification by good works. Wesley supports sacramentalism but declares it insufficient in section four of John Wesley=s sermon, AThe New Birth,@ Works of John Wesley, 6:75-76. Cf. Ted A. Campbell, AConversion and Baptism in Wesleyan Spirituality@ in Kenneth J. Collins and John H. Tyson, eds., Conversion in the Wesleyan Tradition (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001), 160-174. Whether evangelical or liturgical, this approach relies on the paradigm of a salvation event which occurs during worship rather than in ongoing relationships of community participation. One modern form of seeking a salvation event through worship is someone “serving Christ” by watching worship broadcast on television.
[9]Win Arn and Charles Arn, The Master=s Plan for Making Disciples (Pasadena, CA: Church Growth Press, 1982), 9.
NOTE (my response)
DISCERNMENT QUESTIONS
RESOURCES
Footnotes:
The quote is from Major League Disciple Making: An Overview of the Best Research on the Cell Church, an online course developed for the Institute for Discipleship at www.BeADisciple.com in 2009. Course materials, including these lectures, can be downloaded here: http://www.disciplewalk.com/IFD_MLD_Class_Links.html
All Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Please review the page How and Why We Use Quotes.
QUOTE
It is an gross
oversimplification, however, to say that Methodism on the American frontier
went Awhere the people were.@[1] Early Methodism, according to
Lovett Weems, Aseemed more at home in rural settings@ and was more successful there.[2] Asbury developed
Aa distinct rural orientation adept
at expanding into thinly populated areas.@[3] Asbury and his contemporaries
deliberately chose to plant churches in isolated rural settings, avoiding even
the developing towns as Aalien to Methodist values and >famous for wickedness.=@[4] Eighteen of twenty Methodist
chapels in the Delmarva peninsula of Delaware in 1784 were in the countryside.[5] The Western
Christian Advocate in 1843 notes that in the Midwest, Athe towns were almost universally
avoided by our preachers as places of too much dissipation for the Gospel to
obtain a foothold.@[6] Asbury did not go where the
people were or would be; Asbury went where there was no competition to holiness
from outside influences.[7]
[1]Weems, Leadership In The Wesleyan Spirit, 21-22.
[2]Ibid., 23.
[3]Nathan Hatch, quoted by Weems, Leadership In The Wesleyan Spirit, 22.
[4]Weems, Leadership In The Wesleyan Spirit, 24.
[5]Ibid. For a broader description, cf. William H. Williams, AThe Attraction of Methodism: The Delmarva Peninsula as a Case Study, 1769-1820″ in Russell E. Richey, Kenneth E. Rowe, and Jean Miller Schmidt, eds., Perspectives On American Methodism: Interpretive Essays (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993), 31-45.
[6]Weems, Leadership In The Wesleyan Spirit, 24.
[7]Roger W. Stump, ARegional Migration and Religious Commitment in the United States,@ Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 23, no. 3 (September 1984): 292-304. Stump=s experimental results favor the Aadaptation model’s prediction that religious commitment rises among migrants to regions of higher native commitment, such as the South, and fails among migrants to regions of lower commitment.@ Asbury=s placement of churches in isolated settings, therefore, creates a high expectation environment which will have a higher evangelistic influence on those living nearby; placing churches in town would give the majority of Asinners@ a greater influence over a minority of Methodists. Asbury did not need to locate churches in towns to draw a crowd, be visible or have an influence due to the camp meeting=s ability to draw a crowd during the nineteenth century.
NOTE (my response)
DISCERNMENT QUESTIONS
RESOURCES
Footnotes:
The quote is from Major League Disciple Making: An Overview of the Best Research on the Cell Church, an online course developed for the Institute for Discipleship at www.BeADisciple.com in 2009. Course materials, including these lectures, can be downloaded here: http://www.disciplewalk.com/IFD_MLD_Class_Links.html
All Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Please review the page How and Why We Use Quotes.
