Campaign for Ministry Reform

Replanting Ministries Throughout Illinois

This project is designed to address the current struggles faced by pastors and churches, including decline, isolation, and discouragement.  What makes this campaign unique is its emphasis on addressing systemic changes.  The system, which is nobody’s fault in particular, needs to be reformed in order for us to revive our communities of faith.  We take on this challenge out of an innovative concept:  Dynamic Reform Theory. 

The work of this campaign includes training workshops, reconnaissance projects, and strategic experiments—all at a local level.

The scope of the campaign reaches the 84 counties that make up the Illinois Great Rivers Conference of the UMC.  Those counties straddle I-80 and go to the southern tip of the state.

Our aim is to better serve individuals and communities—responding in Christlike love to people’s most pressing needs and struggles.  

The two photos capture our intent to start with current realities and move the story into a new day.

Rallying Cry

The map of United Methodist ministries in Illinois has been shrinking at an alarming and accelerating rate.  CMR is designed to reverse that trend, plant new ministries, and expand UM presence in people’s lives and neighborhoods.

Defining Objectives—July 2024-June 2024

1. Conduct “two-way briefings” with 50 local church leaders (10 per district) in order to exchange information that will aid both the campaign and those leaders 
2. Establish a network of 400 supporting individuals, linked, informed, and enlisted in various projects through a monthly newsletter, Spotlight. 
3. Conduct workshops in 15 churches (3 per district) engaging 100 different people.
4. Complete 5 Reconnaissance Projects in different geographical settings around the conference.
5. Plant 10 experimental micro-ministries in neighborhoods where the UMC is poorly engaged.
6. Publish and distribute the first two handbooks in the “Systemic Reform” series:  Critical Economics and Spiritual Priorities.
7. Set up experiments in five geographical areas deploying teams trained in Dynamic Reform Theory to organize capital resources in order to produce ministry for the people in those respective areas.

Action Opportunities for Individuals

1. Join the network (mailing list)
2. Contribute funds
3. Join a workshop
4. Volunteer to assist at training workshops
5. Help with a Reconnaissance Project
6. Represent the campaign in “two-way briefings” with local church leaders
7. Lobby the bishop/cabinet to appoint Dynamic Reform Theory trained teams to geographical “larger parishes” 

Annual Financial Needs—For Field Work: $30,000 

Mileage, travel, training supplies:  $15,000

Professional fees: $15,000 ($50 per hour for training x 300 hours)

Potential sources of income

Grants from churches and foundations

Speaker fees/honorarium giveback  

Annual individual pledges/gifts

Workshop sponsorship

Volunteer donations

Campaign Guidelines

Successful campaigns:

1. Combine the heart and mind with energy, motivation, and inspiration  (grief, anger, anxiety, pride, empathy, sense of belonging, playfulness, humor, curiosity, inspiration)
2. Stay accountable to a competent and independent oversight board
3. Stick to the top issues that concern the campaign’s supporters and potential supporters
4. Stand out from the alternative options, emphasizing that we are innovative, fresh, spirited, can-do, approachable, responsive, relational, accessible, adaptable
5. Have a clear, concise, and compelling elevator pitch, slogan, and objectives
6. Use digital media effectively and frequently
7. Put effort and money into field organizing, recruiting, training
8. Cultivate community support and presence (local leaders endorsements, publicity, presence)
9. Provide frequent opportunities for supporters to assist and contribute
10. Partner with current ministries, organizations, and networks when possible

Current Leadership

The summer of 2024 is when the project will attempt to shift from the author/instigator stage to the team/collaboration stage. The instigator, J. Michael Smith, has been in conversation with over 150 individuals over the past twelve years regarding a more effective way to handle problems facing pastors and churches. His initiatives include the formulation of Dynamic Reform Theory, development of a board game to teach strategic thinking to church members, formation of a campaign to mobilize people for change, and authorship of essays on economics, political science, psychology, and story craft.  

The next step in bringing about change is to establish a governing board for the campaign, find a sponsoring church to handle funds, conduct workshops, widen the circle of participants, experiment with micro-ministries and reconnaissance projects, secure funding for field work and travel, publish newsletters and booklets, integrate new learnings into the theories, and lobby the cabinet to appoint teams trained in Dynamic Reform Theory to lead specified geographically-defined larger parishes. 

While the board is not yet finalized, individuals who have expressed willingness to serve are:  Mark Myers, Centralia; Alberto Ramirez, Herscher; Ariel Smith, Springfield; Heju Cha, Gibson City; Joan Boesen, Galesburg; James Fielder, Moline; Jeff Koch, Chatham; Larry Lawhead, Glen Carbon; Nancy Wilson, Greenville, and Trevor Oetting, Oakwood.  

Transparency, collaboration, integrity, reliability, hard work, and authenticity are fundamental to the trust we aim to develop among clergy, laity, and other potential partners and allies.    

Timelines

Week of July 14:

• Write Executive Summary of Campaign for Board Members
• Meet with a financial sponsor

Week of July 21:

• Develop newsletter format
• Set up website for campaign
• One on one conversations with board members—for critique

Week of August 4:

• Invite 100 people to subscribe to free newsletter
• Courtesy letters to new bishops and the cabinet
• Set up 5 “Two-Way Briefings” and 2 workshops

Week of August 18:

• Send out first newsletter
• Organize first Reconnaissance Project

September 2024 through June 2024:

• Conduct 5 Two-Way Briefings (per month)
• Grow newsletter list by 25 (per month)
• Get one workshop on the calendar (per month)
• Publish one newsletter (per month)
• Launch one reconnaissance project (every two months)
• Plant one micro-ministry (per month)

By Appointment Season, 2025:

• Request the cabinet to name 5 geographic areas for team/larger parish appointments

Definitions and Details

Dynamic Reform Theory

Dynamic Reform Theory (DRT) is a strategic approach to changing the trajectory of an organization’s story. 

In order for an organization to turn around, reforms (pivots) must be inserted into its narrative.  But not all reforms result in preferred outcomes.  Ironically, well-intentioned changes often accelerate an organization’s decline.

Unless reforms result in systemic changes, an organization’s story will not significantly improve.  DRT distinguishes between two types of reform:  static and dynamic.  Static reforms do not lead to preferred outcomes, regardless of their good intentions, cost, or promise. Dynamic reforms on the other hand, target unwritten rules within the entrenched system, upsetting an organization’s homeostasis enough to help it overcome the obstacles that keep its story from changing.

In churches, the following are almost always static reforms:

• Restructuring
• Downsizing
• Consolidating
• Budget cuts
• Mergers
• Expansions
• New technologies
• Doubling down on mission statements
• Brand promotion
• Policy revisions
• Leadership changes
• New member programs
• Fund drives
• New programs
• New buildings or building additions
• New staff hires
• Adding communication venues

Static reforms exhaust energy, money, and time without changing the plot.

Dynamic reforms, on the other hand, target systems within an organization, upsetting the status quo, accessing new strengths, discovering new resources and methods, and creating new pathways to preferred outcomes.  Dynamic reforms particularly hone in on the following:

• Changing an organization’s economic system
• Altering its political system
• Establishing reconnaissance that gathers useable information
• Infusing new spirituality throughout the organization
• Identifying and exorcising the ghosts of the organization—unresolved episodes from the past that paralyze the organization in the present
• Replacing unhealthy psychological defense mechanisms with healthier ways of handling stress
• Maximizing or minimizing elements of an organization’s internal culture in order to better relate to its surrounding cultures 
• Lubricating the “business” of the organization by improving the quantity and quality of friendships within it

In short, Dynamic Reform Theory takes a thoughtful look at what kinds of pivots work in various sectors of a system, and which pivots backfire.

Two-Way Briefings

A conversation (approximately one hour) between a local church leader (lay or clergy) and a representative of the campaign for the purpose of keeping the campaign abreast of the most critical needs of pastors, churches, and neighborhoods.  The primary purpose of the briefings is to learn from local leaders.  The secondary purpose is to share information about the campaign and discover allies.  

Questions to lay persons include:  What are you getting from your church that you need?  What holes in your life is the church not filling?  If you had three wishes for your congregation, what would they be?  If you had three wishes for your local community, what would they be? If you could change something in the conference, what would it be?  What is one church program from the past that you intuit might be needed today?

Questions to clergy include:  What is the most satisfactory part of your work week?  If you had a ministry assistant who was good at doing things that wear you out, what would you give them to do?  What problems does your congregation face that baffle you the most?  From your background—what training has helped you the most? What issues are you facing that are still requiring you to learn and figure things out?  What would you like to see changed about the conference? 

Workshop Themes

Workshops offer both relational and educational benefits, providing social experiences and new information.  The purpose of the workshops is to build up our knowledge, skills, and motivation in order to do things differently—in ways that will give pastors and churches an advantage in successfully relating to each other and to their communities.  

Workshops already available are:

• From Friendliness to Fomenting Friendships
• Overcoming Unhealthy Defense Mechanisms
• Programs or Products?
• Hidden Capital Resources You Already Have
• Confronting Ghosts from the Past
• Administrative Audit—Cleaning up the Church’s Business
• God Even Loves Economics
• Changes that Make Things Worse
• Getting the Right Intelligence
• Politics in the Church; Oh My!
• New Insights into Rural Ministry
• New Insights into City Ministry
• Which Defense Mechanisms Make Conflicts Worse?
• Teams that Function, Teams that Don’t
• Managing Challenging Personalities
• Playing “Wise as Serpents” Boardgame 

Reconnaissance Projects

A reconnaissance project is a month long investigation of a specified geographical area that involves research and interviews—then organizing useful data in order to articulate the needs, resources, and market conditions of that area germane to the UMC ministry scope. 

Micro-Ministries

A micro-ministry is a flexible and experimental ministry, growing from a  reconnaissance project, involving partners and recipients beyond a single local church, driven by highly defined objectives, operating within a targeted geographical area. 

Handbook Series

1. Critical Economics
2. Spiritual Priorities
3. The New Politics
4. Trustworthy Intelligence
5. Counseling the Church Council
6. Cultural Isolation
7. Ghosts from the Backstory

The seven booklets in this series will introduce overlooked theories and practicalities needed to revitalize neighborhoods, churches, and pastors. They will be 125 pages each and serve as a primary curriculum for the campaign’s team training and workshops.  

Handbooks are appropriate to a variety of endeavors, from scouting to traveling.  They offer practical suggestions, illustrations, concise overviews, and helpful warnings.  They contain guiding principles and spell out necessary preparations for what is ahead.  Handbooks equip us to make our own decisions without trying to micromanage or “program” us.  They don’t presume to know everything—but simply set us up to explore, experiment, and experience on our own.   

Pastoral Teams Appointed to Geographical Parishes

The ultimate goal of the project is to nudge the cabinet into appointing Dynamic Reform Theory trained teams to lead geographically defined larger parishes, serving both the people in that area as well as any UMC congregations, micro-ministries, or institutions located within that territory.  The leadership teams will be responsible for revitalizing existing ministries as well as expanding UMC presence with new services to the community.