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QUESTIONNAIRE FOR EPISCOPAL CANDIDATES
SOUTH CENTRAL JURISDICTION
Dr. Mike Lowry
Endorsed Candidate of the Southwest Texas Conference
Questions:
1. Why are you willing to be considered for election to the episcopacy?
Four years ago when our General/Jurisdictional delegation entered into a discernment process I was not at all thinking of being a candidate for the episcopacy. As a part of that process, I spent considerable time in prayer and discernment about a call to the episcopacy. Repeatedly, I had asked God to show me a sign, and repeatedly I would shortly thereafter receive a visit from someone who requested that I be open to such a call. With the Southwest Texas Conference Delegation’s endorsement, I humbly offered myself for prayerful consideration by the South Central Jurisdictional Conference.
After the 2004 elections I turned my attention back to being the best Pastor and church leader I could, by the grace of God, be. As the time approached to be considered for Episcopal elections in 2008, the sense of call to be open to the Episcopal office has not left and if anything, strengthened. Across the jurisdiction I have had people call to request that I be open to offering myself again. Once again in prayer and discernment, I believe that faithfulness requires that I be open to such a claim upon my life. When the gravel is shoveled over my grave, I can think of no greater legacy than for someone standing by to say, “He was a man who submitted his life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.” Under such conviction I offer myself to the larger church.
2. What do you consider the critical issues facing the United Methodist Church? How would you respond in your role as Bishop to each?
Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and the sake of the gospel, will save it.” (Mark 8:34-36) The towering, crucial, critical issue facing the United Methodist Church is to recover and reclaim our mission of “making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” For far too long we have been captured by the cult of cultural comfort. We have been chaplains to Christendom rather than pioneers for the advancing Kingdom of God. We have been caretakers of the converted instead of Christ’s companeros.
1) An issue of first priority is for the church to recover a missional (outward) focus through the twined missions of evangelism and social righteousness (the deeds of love, justice and mercy). At stake is the identity of the church – “just whose church is this?” It is not mine, yours or ours. The church is Christ’s. Biblically speaking it is the body of Christ. Or, in the epic words of the ancient affirmation, the church is of God. We have given, at best, convoluted lip service to the notion of a true fusing of evangelism and missional outreach in the deeds of love, justice, and mercy. Original Methodism, at its heart, grasped this great union of evangelism and social action/mission. I envision a church reborn in such a fusion. I see a church committed to evangelism, leading others into the saving grace of relationship with Christ. I see a church committed to advancing the Kingdom of God through love, justice, and mercy. My life and ministry are dedicated to the proposition that vital faith in Christ be reclaimed with this twined emphasis. In genuinely affirming the Lordship of Christ and claiming His mission as our own, we are to be biblically grounded in a way that does not succumb to dangers of rigid fundamentalism nor chained to the fads of current cultural whim. (Paradoxically, when pastors and lay leaders are most fully engaged in missional outreach to the last, the least, and the lost we have nurtured, strengthened and loved the already converted in ways that are emotionally healthy and spiritually deeper.)
Elements of this vision include a radical emphasis on lay ministry. True faithfulness to Christ and His Kingdom work never has been nor will be the preserve of a clergy club. Spiritual formation and missional outreach that engage laity in leadership and service are central to both who we are and what we are to be about.
2) The second major issue facing the church is the development of leadership – both lay and clergy; especially younger leadership. Yoked with the development of lay leadership mentioned above must be the raising up of clergy who are professionally competent and passionately committed to the cause of Christ. A host of issues present themselves for desperate need in our time: reconnection and recruitment of a younger generation of clergy, building supportive community both spiritually and socially for clergy, invigorating the quality of theological discernment, recapturing the sense of being a movement (not an institution) for the Lord, rediscovering the call of Christ to reform the social structures that contribute to injustice, poverty and deprivation, etc.
Leadership development involves helping our lay, clergy and member churches of the Methodist movement engage with a post-Christian culture. We live at the epicenter of one of the largest mission fields on this planet. We must be trained (and retrained) to see ourselves more as missionaries in a post-Christian world than as chaplains of the refuge. We are called by God to engage in outreach to all elements of our society. Diversity and multi-cultural ministry are not only the wave of the future but a description of the present age we are called to serve. The time has come to stop talking about being inclusive and be inclusive. All are to be treated with full equality and respect.
Responding as a Bishop to these first two towering priorities, I would do all in my power to support and encourage those churches and pastors that are engaged in evangelism and missions of love, justice, and mercy. As a first step, I would hope to engage laity and clergy alike in a spiritual transformation that strengthens and (where needed) recovers the deeper joy and opportunity of committed discipleship. Yoked with such a spiritual formation emphasis, I would seek to make recovery of mission (evangelism and deeds of justice/love/mercy) the dominant prayer issue in the life of the Episcopal area. What we pray about we inevitably act upon with divine guidance.
Furthermore, I would emphasize leadership development and the recruitment of a new generation of young leaders. With this I would see to impact the Episcopal Area through the teaching office of a Bishop by engaging current lay and clergy leadership with new vision, training and implementation opportunities. I would focus our missional efforts in a manner that has the greatest potential impact to advance the Kingdom of God. A part of this effort would involve time commitment with high school and college youth around developing a culture of call. I seek to much more closely link college campus ministry with the recruitment and development of young clergy.
I would lead the Episcopal Area to examine budgetary priorities in light of these emphases. As a part of their implementation, I believe the Council of Bishops’ “Seven Vision Pathways” form a superb starting point.
Three additional critical issues that demand our attention are: 3) The recovery of a theological and biblical center; 4) The reclaiming of our identity as Untied Methodists; and 5) The need for courageous spiritual and moral leadership.
3) The recovery of a theological and biblical center: While the most viscerally public issue we face as a church is our response to our homosexual brothers and sisters, at its heart the crisis over homosexuality is the presenting issue of a deeper theological malaise. I believe we must recover what I choose to call “core orthodoxy.” As Episcopal leader, I would seek to use the teaching office to raise the level of theological discourse. Together we must openly engage in a wide variety of conversations that respect differences (Christian conferencing) and not seek to demonize those with whom we may disagree. The answer will not be found in coercive policies but in graceful engagement with each other. I have had good working relationships with pastors from across the theological spectrum. There is a great deal of room between the foul lines (to use Dr. Justo Gonzales’ image) but there are foul lines. A creative mixture of views and healthy discussion are not to be feared. God is with us.
On the more specific presenting issue of homosexuality, I believe the current wording of The Discipline is correct. We must always be engaged in loving and caring ministry. We must not be afraid to delineate appropriate boundaries. Bishops are covenantally bound to uphold The Disciplineof the United Methodist Church.
4) The reclaiming of our identity as United Methodists: We are inheritors of a Wesleyan tradition that was not an institution but a movement for Christ. Our hallmark is as a connection in covenant with each other. This applies to churches, clergy and laity alike. We need to reinvigorate such faithful connection to each other and to Christ. The general drift towards splintering and special interests must be addressed in a forthright manner. An underused resource is prayer (especially praying together with those with whom we may disagree!). I believe the best means of addressing the identity issue is through dialogue and teaching represented in the best of Christian conferencing.
5) The need for courageous spiritual and moral leadership: This I offer. My track record is as a leader in the local church, in the larger Conference setting and in the general church. I am not afraid to speak the truth in love and I am willing to stand for Christ as best I understand His call and claim upon my life and the lives the churches I have had the privilege of serving.
3. What do you feel has been the most significant contribution or difference you have made toward fulfilling our mission as a church in your work at the general church level? in your Annual Conference? And in the local churches you have served?
On a general church level, I believe I have made a contribution in helping the church rethink its strategy towards the future. More specifically, my work with the United Methodist Publishing House (UMPH) and the Texas Methodist Foundation (TMF) have both helped raise the focus for re-uniting evangelism and missional outreach (love, justice and mercy). I had the privilege of serving as a part of the strategic planning team for UMPH and in that work advocated with others a comprehensive strategy that sought to be genuinely orthodox, truly Wesleyan, unashamedly evangelical and passionately missional. On the TMF Board, I have helped think through a strategy of evangelistic engagement that is healthy and holistic. I believe one of my best gifts is an ability to see the larger future; its inner-connected elements and develop concrete and practical plans for future engagement.
On an annual conference level I have offered similar leadership especially in new church development and the transformation of existing congregations. A part of my work has been with small town and country churches. I have implemented a transformation process that aids them in embracing a new future. In my transformation work, the Southwest Texas Conference has initiated a major emphasis in urban ministry and the transformation of declining and dying inner city churches as mission posts of the advancing kingdom of God. I am unwilling to abandon either the inner city or the small town and country. As some humorously note, UMC does not stand for Upper Middle Class nor does it exist simply for the suburbs.
In addition, through my work with the Board of Ordained Ministry, I have engaged in leadership development. A third area of expertise has been to provide leadership in a conference wide capital campaign for new church development.
Local churches that I have had the privilege to pastor have grown deeper and wider. That is to say, they have grown deeper in discipleship, mission and service while growing wider in reaching those of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. They have not only shown numerical growth but they have grown deeper in discipleship development and outreach ministry both at home and abroad to the last, the least, and the lost. I have no interest in merely baptizing pagans but rather am passionate about making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. My work reflects such commitment all the way from turning around a church that was considering closing to growing a variety of types and sizes of churches including the relocation of one and the parenting of a new church by another. In addition, I have grown in expertise through the leadership of five capital campaigns (including the last one at University UMC of $9.1 million dollars).
4. Describe how you recently dealt with a crisis or a conflict?
Recently I was asked by a District Superintendent to supervise and coach in a conflicted situation with a new pastor (in his first appoint and beginning Course of Study School) and the entrenched lay leadership of a dying congregation. The new pastor had made significant change which has resulted in rapid growth after years of slow death. The “old guard” of the congregation deeply resented the new pastor, the changes with new members taking leadership, and the direct loss of control that they were experiencing. I adopted a dual strategy.
First, I am working extensively with the pastor to coach him in offering support, encouragement and guidance. He was and is doing an outstanding job and in the emotional battering of the conflict needs support and encouragement. Second, I have spent considerable pastoral time with the leading matriarch of the church in active listening to her concerns. In so doing, I have been careful to uphold the authority of the pastor, to honor her service and love of the church, and to hear her heartfelt concerns. Patiently, with love and compassion, I have tried to help her embrace the change which is necessary for the church’s survival. Nonetheless, I have remained firm in communicating my support for the pastor and strong embrace (including active coaching) of the needed changes, evangelistic growth and missional outreach to the larger community.
When faced with divisions and polarities, the Bishop must practice spiritual discernment and careful non-anxious listening. Throughout my ministry, I believe I have demonstrated an ability to handle conflict without flinching and with a graciousness that reflects the gospel. I am comfortable with a wide variety of views and understand that The United Methodist Church has a wide fence line.
Coercion rarely works. Instead, my own Quaker background has taught me to seek a consensus where possible. Where it is not possible, it is important that all be fairly and reasonably heard. With divisions and polarities among clergy, I believe a reasonable framework is to encourage personal caring and sharing that bridges the differences. I readily and repeatedly employ Roy Trueblood’s Partners in Ministry methodology to build understanding if not agreement. There are times and occasions where agreement is not possible and compromise is harmful to the Lord’s work. As my colleague and mentor Jack Heacock used to say, “at times a Bishop has got to bish.” I can do so. In leadership on all levels I have demonstrated the ability to graciously but firmly chart a course and sail to forward.
5. Describe your understanding of the consultative process as it relates to Staff Parish Relations Committees of local churches and to clergy and their families.
The Bishop and Cabinet are to consult with both Staff-Parish Relations Committees and clergy to “achieve an effective match of charges and pastors.” (see The Discipline, ¶432) “Consultation is not committee selection or call of a pastor. The role … is advisory.” (see The Discipline, ¶ 431) I understand consultation as an open and honest discussion of needs, concerns, and desires. Spiritual discernment and prayer should play a critical role in guiding all parties involved. Where a pastoral change is a distinct possibility, I would expect the District Superintendent to be in personal conversation with both the Staff-Parish Relations Committee and the clergy involved. The role of the District Superintendent is central and must be respected by all parties involved. As a matter of principle, I would not go behind the back of a District Superintendent. I would seek to make myself available (with the District Superintendent present) in each District to Staff-Parish Relations Committee representatives and clergy who desired to speak with me personally about an appointment.
6. What is your greatest leadership strength? Weakness? How do you compensate for your weakness?
First, my greatest strength is proactive leadership. I have a deep and passionate vision for what the church is and is to be by the grace and power of God. I have deep commitment to accomplish that vision and genuine ability to communicate it to others. My previous work leading churches of all sizes (including the largest in Southwest Texas Conference) have repeatedly demonstrated this strength. It is important to note that leadership must not be confused with coercion or domination. Prayer, dialogue with study, careful and faithful listening, and collegial respect are the hallmark of my personal leadership style. A wide variety of viewpoints are both sought and appreciated. I operate out of a standpoint of presumed trust. I am not afraid to make decisions but believe deeply in prayerful listening and open consultation with those involved.
Secondly, I am administratively strong. During my last local church appointment I supervised a staff of over 80 through a period of decisive growth and change. As a part of the extended Cabinet I have provided leadership in the assessment of potential new church development pastors and been actively involved in their appointment. I understand how to both manage and lead large systems in ways that produce cultural change and institutional fruitfulness.
Thirdly, I am a strong communicator with the ability to both preach and teach effectively. In my current position I have developed and taught a foundational workshop on transformational change for congregation as well as advanced workshops in transformational planning and leadership.
There are three weaknesses with which I continue to wrestle. The first is spiritual in its nature. I have a tendency to trust myself more than God. It is hard for me at times to wait upon the Lord. I have addressed this issue by habitually placing myself in two small groups for spiritual growth and accountability. I meet with a fellow clergy regularly where we support each other, hold ourselves accountable, and seek to learn together. The second group I place myself in is with laity with a primary emphasis on praying and studying the scriptures together. I find the two groups keep me grounded.
The second weakness is that I have a tendency to make decisions too quickly and move with impatience. Over the years I have learned to surround myself with co-workers and colleagues who will help me slow down and consider issues with careful depth. In this regard, I believe that I have been largely successful with my colleagues’ assistance.
The third weakness is that I am a semi-recovered workaholic. While I have learned to exercise good boundaries, I have little patience for those who are unwilling to work hard.
7. What vision do you have for the United Methodist Church in the 21st century?
For over thirty years in ministry I have been struggling with something I cannot adequately name and yet paradoxically clearly perceive. I believe we need to chart a different course through the wilderness of our times that is distinct and different from a fuzzy vague universalism and rejects a rigid literalism. This wilderness way will have at a minimum five key elements. It will be:
- Genuinely orthodox
- Truly Wesleyan
- Unashamedly evangelical
- Passionately missional
- Culturally engaged
Genuinely orthodox will involve us in a theological and publishing enterprise that is Christian at its core; biblically grounded and faithful to the historic understanding. McLaren’s phrase – “a generous orthodoxy” – comes to mind. Such an enterprise is both open and orthodox. It will be proactive and not obsessively reactive. Genuinely orthodox means we are unafraid of wrestling with great truths in the modern context. Great churches deal with great issues. This is a launching pad not a defensive fortification. It is a way of moving forward not a manner of retrenching, a guide for publishing choices not a censoring tool for limiting discussion. We are not setting out a rulebook but creating a map.
Brian D. McLaren, from a book so entitled
Truly Wesleyan means that we understand that God has given us a role for sharing the Wesleyan understanding of Christianity. We don’t claim in any sense that we are the only faithful way to live as Christians but rather that in the chaos of our wilderness times, God has given us a perspective and outlook that at its best combines knowledge and vital piety. Our grasp of God’s grace set alongside and tempering human potential is a vital insight that our bruised and bleeding world desperately needs.
We have a rich theological and missional heritage that continues to provide a unique, flexible & strong framework for building the kinds of churches that are best suited to bring health, healing and home to a battered and bruised world. Our insistence is that justification and sanctification go together – a personal relationship with Christ as Lord and Savior inseparably twined with a deep social justice, love and mercy for all of God’s children, creatures and creation itself. The original vision of Methodism still towers above the landscape – “to reform the continent and spread scriptural holiness across the land.”
Unashamedly evangelical means we will engage in making disciples in answer to the great commission without apology or pause. Bob Dylan’s old album Slow Train a Coming (in his Christian phase) has a classic line in the title song. “Everybody’s got to serve somebody.” We lift up Christ and Him crucified and risen.
Passionately missional means we will engage a bruised and battered world. Great Churches don’t sit on the sidelines. The struggles of injustice and oppression will know the engagement of a Wesleyan people through ministries to, for and with the last, the least and the lost. In a host of ways we will be about living the great commandment – love of God and love of neighbor, every accessible human being we may reach. The deeds of love, justice and mercy will be at the core of what we are about in the name of Christ our Lord.
Now, more than ever, I believe we stand in need of leadership that envisions a greater future than merely managing the current disputes before us. The church needs leadership with a vision for the future consistent with a God who is “able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.” (Ephesians 3:20) I believe God is with us, calling us to move out together to a greater future as a church that recalls its historic Wesleyan vibrancy and missional faithfulness. I offer myself with Wesley’s Covenant Prayer on my lips and in my heart. “I am no longer my own, but yours [Lord]. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by you or laid aside by you.”
Culturally engaged necessitates being in the world but not of it. We follow a Lord who came down from heaven to earth. Jesus does not huddle on an altar between two candles but strides into a bruised and bleeding world. The Church of Jesus Christ must do the same. Our mission is in the world around and we exist to make disciples for the transformation of this world. We must be able to communicate in a way that the culture around us can hear and respond to our offer of new life in Christ.
8. Describe your understanding of the inclusive nature of the church. In what ways have you lived up to and fallen short of that understanding.
Bob Dylan, Slow Train A Coming
I understand the inclusive nature of the church to be a reflection of God’s creative design and intent. It is no less than the conviction that Christ truly died for all and no more than the prayer our Lord has taught us that the kingdom of God might come “on earth as it is in heaven.” The Discipline states (¶ 138) and I affirm: “Inclusiveness means openness, acceptance, and support that enables all persons to participate in the life of the Church, the community, and the world. Thus, inclusiveness denies every semblance of discrimination.” To paraphrase Lord Donald Soper, a British Christian leader, I want people to know Christ and to know that by giving their allegiance to Christianity they will be embarking upon a great campaign to banish war, poverty, racism and injustice. I want all children of God engaged in advancing the kingdom of God through living a life where love and service have taken the place of selfishness and armed might. But, just as important, I want the church which sends out this manifesto to be the advance copy of that new world it preaches.
In my pastoral ministry congregations to which I have been appointed have shown a steady increase in racial and ethnic diversity. The strong missional emphases we have shared in those congregations have led to dramatic increases in mission work both local and global, both hands on and with financial resources. One specific example of my recent work in advancing the inclusive nature of the church has been a deep commitment to reclaiming our inner cities for Christ. This has been demonstrated in our recent highly successful Holy Boldness: National Urban Academy that I initiated through the Office of New Church Development and Transformation. As the co-Dean of the Holy Boldness Academy, I helped to build a coalition (The Office of New Church Development and Transformation, The Office of Connectional Ministries of the Rio Grande Conference, SWTC Black Methodists for Church Renewal, The General Board of Global Ministries) reaching into the forgotten city areas of our Conference. In my work, we have targeted resources to specific transformation efforts within the inner city to congregations including (but not limited to) Manantiel de Vide, Shepherd’s Gate, and Sanford Chapel.
I have fallen short in living my convictions through a failure to fully staff inclusively with regards to clergy (we did so with regard to lay employees). At University United Methodist Church one of the associate pastors was a member of the Rio Grande Conference. With growing African-American membership it was my hope to add an African-American clergy to the pastoral team. I wish I had been more direct in doing so.
9. From your faith journey, tell us of a high point in your ministry and one of your greatest disappointments.
I have been blessed to serve the Lord in wonderful churches with incredible lay and clergy friends and colleagues to share with. In a larger sense the high point of my ministry is that blessing in a number of churches. It has involved launching new ministries to the last and least, baptizing and being a part of the conversion of new Christians, and the list could continue.
The one highlight of the blessing of my shared ministry that stands out is the relocation of Asbury United Methodist Church from a 2 ½ acre site to a 10 acre site with an option on another 10 acres. As the second pastor of a new church start, Asbury grew from 500+ members to 1100+ members outstripping the land restrictions on the current site to handle the growth. Our outreach ministry was being strangled by physical constraints. As we wrestled and prayed about what to do, relocation presented itself as an option. In a key Sunday School class made up of founding members of Asbury, one of the lay leaders responded, “This [relocation] is an answer to prayer.” Through a tough process, we conducted a tremendously successful capital campaign, increased missional outreach to those in need, and evangelistically experienced dramatic conversion growth while we relocated. Together we experienced a genuine indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Lord guided that church and those incredible people. I was privileged to be their pastor.
While I have known institutional and organizational disappointment, a particular incident stands out in my ministry. Upon being appointed to Bethany United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas I inherited an extremely difficult situation with a church member who suffered from mental illness. She had been disruptive in worship on a number of occasions and stalked some members. The church had filed an order of trespass against her baring her from the property. She had been arrested for violating that injunction. After helping her get counseling (which the Church paid for), there was still no resolution. In a painful Administrative Board meeting (with members in tears speaking of how she had disrupted their daughter’s wedding, etc.), the Administrative Board voted to file a permanent injunction against her presence on campus. She was later again arrested for violating the injunction. The church continued to offer support and pay for counseling. We sought mediation and reached an agreement that allow her to come back under certain restrictive conditions which she then (after agreeing with) refused to abide by.
As a pastor, I have sought to bring people into a relationship with the Lord, His church and the fellowship of the body of Christ. No one teaches you in seminary to bar a member from the church campus. This was and is a painful action requiring tough love for her sake as well as for the sake of the congregation.
10. Describe how you work in partnership with laity in the planning and execution of ministry.
I work in true partnership with the laity. This has been repeatedly demonstrated in my ministry and is a core part of my own understanding of the general ministry we all share. As indicated in question four I employ (and teach) Roy Trueblood’s Partners-in-Ministry program. The Conference Lay Leader would be an active part of the extended Cabinet and strong lay leadership would be sought, nurtured, and embraced. Methodism knows its roots as a lay movement, so too does the early Christian church. As a clergy I have been honored and blessed to share in ministry with those who have kept, lived and shared the faith with me. For that I am profoundly grateful and deeply committed to a continued shared ministry.
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