Lay and
Clergy
Partnership
Creating Fruitful
Leaders
Agenda
 Prayer
 Devotion
 Listening
 Appreciative
Inquiry
 Building Relationships
 How Laity & Clergy Work Together
 How we Build Leaders
 Reflection
Prayer & Devotion
Discovery
“What gives life?”
(The best of what is)
Appreciating
Dream
Destiny
“What might be?”
“How to empower, learn,
and adjust/improvise?”
(What the world is calling for)
Sustaining
Envisioning Results
Design
“What should be – the
ideal?”
Co-Constructing
Appreciative Inquiry Process
What is a powerful question?
 Thought
provoking and invites reflection
and finding deeper meaning
 Expands possibilities or focuses attention
 Brings underlying assumptions to light
 Stimulates curiosity and creativity
 Can help a group move forward
Dimensions of a powerful
question
Less Powerful
Questions
Yes/No Which
Who
When
More Powerful
Questions
Where
What
How
Why*
What If
Using Appreciative Inquiry

Spend time crafting questions:

Start by discussing the end-in-mind for the discussion or process
Work with panning partners to write down several questions relevant to the
topic

Discuss and rate the questions:




What is best constructed to promote reflection and creativity?
Which has the right scope for the end-in-mind?
What are the underlying assumptions embedded in each question?

Experiment with changing the construction and scope to get a feel for how
each can change the direction of the inquiry

Give each question the “genuine test” – Is this a question to which we do not
already know the answer? If we already know the answer or have a present
response, it is not an inquiry

Run the question by an outside key informant to see how well the question
works and where it leads the discussion.
Building Relationships
The Greatest Commandments
28 One
of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one
another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which
commandment is the first of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O
Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,
and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than
these.”
Mark 12:28 - 31
8 Lessons Jesus Taught Us
About Relationships
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Jesus helps us to see what’s right when we’re
with people
Jesus said love it non-negotiable
Jesus is our role model for how to love
people
Jesus told His friends not to do life alone
Jesus redefined family
Jesus put others’ needs before His wants
Jesus shared meals with people
Jesus emphasized individuals over tasks
Ways To Be In Relationship
With Each Other







Spend time together – outside of church
Make it personal – know about each others
strengths and weaknesses
Have patience, tolerance, forbearance for
others
Refuse to give up on each other
Find value in the work we do together and
separately
Take the judgment out of it
Pray together
How Clergy & Laity Work
Together
Jason Young
Southport UMC
Southport UMC Example
 Fruitful


Congregations Journey
Consultation Weekend
Prescriptions (recommended actions)
 Move


to Accountability Leadership Structure
Single Board System
Not much additional Direction
Guiding Principles
 Winning
on Purpose by John Edmund
Kaiser
 Accountability Leadership Structure

Provides framework for governing & leading
the church
•
•
•
•
Sr. Pastor = Leadership
Admin Council = Governance/Oversight
Staff = Management
Congregation Leaders (You) = Ministry
Guiding Principles
 Mission


Principles
Purpose: Object of the game
Audience: Admin Council to Sr. Pastor
 Boundary


Principles
Purpose: Rules for game
Audience: Admin Council to Sr. Pastor
 Accountability


Principles
Purpose: How to keep score
Audience: Leadership Team to Chair
Guiding Principles
Mission Principles
 Based
on Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20)
 Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age.
Mission Principles

Primary Focus = New Disciples


The highest priority of Southport United Methodist
Church shall be to make disciples of Jesus Christ and
welcome them into the Body of Christ whether they be
unchurched or dechurched in background.
Secondary Focus = Building Disciples

A significant and supporting priority of Southport United
Methodist Church shall be helping believers to become
grounded in the Christian faith by actively engaging in
the Connect – Grow – Serve – Give discipleship process
so that they are transformed and mobilized.
Discipleship Process
Guest
Attender
Member
Leader
Connect
??
Monthly
Yes
Yes
Grow
??
??
Yes
Yes
Serve
??
??
Yes
Yes
Give
No
Maybe
Tithe
Tithe +
Offerings
Outline
 The





Story of Spiritual Leadership, Inc.
Discoveries along the way
What we value
What we do
Our Hope
Our Challenges
23
Spiritual Leadership, Inc.
In 1997 a pastor and two church
members began meeting weekly for
accountability and rediscovered a
team approach to ministry.
Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God,
serve one another with whatever gift each of you has
received.
1 Peter 4:10
24
Spiritual Leadership, Inc.
SLI is a Kentucky based, 501(c)(3)
public foundation founded in
June, 2000 as a coaching
ministry for leaders.
25
Spiritual Leadership, Inc.
 Our
journey began as we recognized
how serious the situation has become
for the American church.
 We wanted to understand the root
cause of this serious situation and find a
way to help reverse the trends.
 We hoped to use the gifts that we have
been given.
26
What we discovered
A
lack of unity within the leadership of
any body will prevent healthy growth.
 To truly love as Christ loved, we must be
willing to risk becoming incarnational
leaders--leaders who leave the comfort
of their own culture and circumstances
to find ways to connect and unify
others.
 When working with God you should
expect the miraculous.
27
Therefore:
We continue to expect and we
are seeing God accomplish
“immeasurably more than all we
can ask or imagine, according to
God’s power that is at work within
us…”
Ephesians 3:20-21
Central District Spring Lay
Servants School
April 11, 2015
Plainfield UMC
Online Registration Coming Soon
Reflection
Contact Information
Jason Young
Co-Lay Leader - Central
District
Southport United Methodist
Church
jsyoung551@gmail.com
Doris Clark
Conference Lay Leader
doris.clark@inumc.org
317.924.1321
Megan Fetter
Associate Director of
Anthony Swinger
Leadership Development
Lay Servant Ministries
- Laity
anthonyswinger@yahoo.com317.564.2582
megan.fetter@inumc.org
317.372.4991