By the Rev. Kathy James
As you know, the Million Book Effort is an initiative of the Annual Conference to meet real needs related to issues of children, poverty and literacy. The hope is that it would also raise awareness in our churches about the need for us to be engaged in our local communities on behalf of children.
It was a new thing and has not gone perfectly. I am sure that many people have opinions about what would have helped things go more smoothly or even about what would have been a more realistic undertaking. I have lots of ideas about what we could have done and should have done differently. Hindsight is a wonderful gift! I am also absolutely grateful that we did not wait until we had everything figured out to proceed with the mission.
We did a new thing, and it did not go perfectly. Nevertheless, wonderful ministry happened. Churches around the state are thinking about how to partner with schools in their communities to positively impact the lives of children. Congregations have new energy and excitement about their church from participating in this effort. The connection grows stronger as we recognize the collective impact of United Methodists working together across the state.
So I have been thinking about ministry in the local church and how we often have trouble doing new things. Sometimes it is because we cannot figure out how to do it perfectly before we start. We become a bit paralyzed by all of the unknowns and aren’t able to get a new thing off the ground. To that concern, I say, “Just do it!” With the MBE, whenever a genuine need emerged, God provided for that need.
Often in local church ministry, we fear the resistance and criticism that comes from doing a new thing. We believe that if we cannot get everyone on board from the beginning, we should not go forward.
The resistance and criticism that the MBE leaders experienced took two forms. Some of the negative talk highlighted concerns that the design team had already discussed and decided that the benefits of going forward outweighed those genuine concerns. Some of the criticism surfaced new things that really needed to be dealt with.
Hearing the resistance was helpful to the effort as long as we did not allow it to stop us from pursuing the goal we had set. I believe that local churches can benefit from anticipating resistance when they begin something new and weighing the costs and benefits of going forward before they begin. Acknowledging that there are risks involved in doing ministry is essential to being able to do a new thing. But the risks should not stop us from responding faithfully to changing circumstances.
New ministry takes time, energy and resources. Doing something new means that some of the things we have been doing get left undone or not done as well. Shifting work around forces people to set priorities in answer to the question, “If I can’t do everything I have been doing and this new thing, what can I stop doing because it is less important to me today than it once was?”
New ministry can bring new life to a local church and to an annual conference. A step forward in faith is all that is required.
