The recent news of my
accepting a new appointment by Bishop Carcan͂o has created a wide variety of
emotions and a lot of questions. I’m
hoping that this article will help to answer some of the questions, and help
our congregation come to a better understanding of the reasons why we Methodists
have this system we call itinerancy.
People tend to blame John
Wesley, one of the founders of Methodism, for devising this scheme of moving
pastors from church to church. But the
real culprits are the apostles. Reading
the book of Acts (i.e. The Acts of the Apostles) will give you a good sense of
what the early Church was like – and you will soon see there was a lot of
movement going on. Small groups of
apostles would travel into a new area; begin preaching to the local citizens;
form a following; help build the local community of Christians for two to three
years; and then move on to another location.
If an apostle came into a town which had an established church, they
would join in to help build the pre-existing church, preaching and teaching for
a while, and then move on. Of course,
this unofficial system wasn’t perfect, and sometimes led to dissension in a
church (Yes – the early church also had problems too!!). For example, the church in Corinth actually
split into arguing factions – each declaring allegiance to a different apostle. Paul addresses these factions in his first
letter to the Corinthians,
Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:10-14)
Paul’s ultimate argument for
unity rested on the idea that each apostle had unique gifts to bring to each
church, and so the church should embrace the lessons and work that each
brought. Paul concluded his argument
with this very idea,
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (1 Corinthians 3:5-7)Paul encourages us to not focus on the person who is filling the pulpit as the source of the growth of any church. Instead, our focus should always be on God, the source of all faith, real growth, and lasting success.
When John Wesley was
organizing the early Methodist movement, he looked to the organization of the
early Church for inspiration. Wesley
assigned each preacher a group of churches to serve. These groups became known as circuits. The preacher would visit one church per week,
which was called “riding the circuit” because he literally rode a horse between
churches. Wesley would reassign each
preacher to a new circuit every 2-3 years.
John Wesley explained the logic behind this practice in a letter
he wrote in 1756,
"We
have found by long and consistent experience that a frequent exchange of
preachers is best. This preacher has one talent, that another; no one whom I
ever yet knew has all the talents which are needful for beginning, continuing,
and perfecting the work of grace in a whole congregation."[1]
So, the reasoning behind our Methodist system of itinerancy
is: 1) Itinerancy has biblical foundations in the itinerant system of the
apostles of the early church (this is opposed to the ‘call system’ where the
congregation chooses their pastor which, while popular, has no biblical
foundations); 2) Ideally, itinerancy helps to keep our focus on God as the true
power in the church instead of clinging on to the pastor as the hope of the
church; and 3) itinerancy provides each church with pastors with diverse talents
and perspectives to enrich the church’s experience and growth.
All of this is not to say that the itinerant system is
perfect! All of us who have lived
through the changing of pastors can attest to the emotional turmoil itinerancy
can cause. Emotional turmoil is part of
every change in relationship in life, whether we are experiencing a good friend
moving away to another state, a child going away to school, or a divorce.
The turmoil surrounding a change in pastors can be especially difficult
because the relationship between a pastor and his or her congregation is a
relationship built on trust. So a change
in pastors can often feel like a
break in trust.
The emotional turmoil that is expressed in a change in
relationship is often expressed as anger.
We might find ourselves being angry at a friend who moves away, even
though the move is no fault of their own.
We can see this dynamic unfolding in scriptures when the Corinthians
choose to focus on one favorite apostle over another. My suspicion is those who chose to support
Paul over Apollos had felt especially close to Paul when he was their pastor, and
they felt that if they would allow Apollos to be their pastor they would be
disloyal to Paul. So their response was
to be angry at Apollos and loyal to Paul – which resulted in the church
dividing into factions. In our modern
context, anger can be expressed at a whole variety of people – the pastors who
are leaving or arriving, other people in the church, the District Superintendents,
or most often – the Bishop. Anger is a
natural part of the grieving process which occurs with every change in
relationship. We MUST guard our hearts
against being consumed by anger, because anger leads to factions and factions
break apart our relationships and damage the church.
I love Epworth and I want to see Epworth not only survive,
but grow and thrive! So as we all go
through this time of change in pastoral leadership, let’s keep the Apostle
Paul’s perspective close to our hearts – One pastor plants, the next waters,
but it is God who gives the growth!
Neither the pastor who plants, nor the pastor who waters is anything,
but only God who gives the growth. If we
keep our hearts focused on God, Epworth will continue to grow and thrive!
In Christ’s Love,
Jason
[1] Nolan B. Harmon, The Encyclopedia of World Methodism:
Vol. I. Nashville, The United Methodist Publishing House, 1974.1243
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