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UNY Leadership Summit

September 17, 2024 / By UNY Communications / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Nearly 50 lay and clergy leaders from around the conference gathered at the United Methodist Center for a leadership summit on Saturday, September 14. This specific group was identified as people who were called to carry out servant leadership in Upper New York to move the mission of the annual conference together. Cabinet members, executive staff, along with members from different ministry teams including the Board of Ordained Ministry, Board of Laity, Safe Sanctuaries, Committee on Native American Ministries, Commission on Religion and Race, Social Holiness, Board of Trustees, Council on Finance and Administration, Board of Pensions and Health Benefits, UNY Task Force for Palestine-Israel, Conference Council on Youth Ministry, Commission on Equitable Compensation, Nominations and Leadership, and more were in attendance.  

The day began with a time of worship, led by Crossroads and Finger Lakes District Superintendent, the Rev. Dr. Sherri Rood.  

Rev. Dr. Rood passed around a bag full of carabiner clips shaped like a cross for every person in attendance to have and asked, “What really connects us? What holds us together?” 

“We are here today as leaders of the Upper New York Conference to explore ways to connect better so we can abide in Christ and abide by one another. Because we are connected to Jesus, we are connected to one another,” said Rev. Dr. Rood. 

The Rev. Bill Gottschalk-Fielding shared and reviewed the Missional Playbook for United Methodists of Upper New York and talked about the conference’s core values. During the leadership summit, he challenged participants to focus not only on what leaders and team get done, but on how they do their work.   

“Our conference’s core values of ‘faithfully, collaboratively, and prophetically’ are all rendered as adverbs, reminding us ministry is a verb or an action.  It matters how we do our work together.” 

Rev. Gottschalk-Fielding went on to link these values with the work of intercultural competence.  

The Rev. Dr. Giovanni Arroyo, General Secretary of the General Commission on Religion and Race, led participants in several small group discussions about what it means to be leaders with intercultural competence. 

He asked those in attendance to engage in several table conversations aimed at self-reflection and challenged participants to identify the differences between diversity and inclusion. 

“Diversity is the range of human differences and inclusion is welcoming all the differences,” shared Georgia Whitney, co-convener of the Conference Commission on Religion and Race.  

“We need to recognize our differences before we can be more inclusive,” added the Rev. Jee Hae Song, Associate Director of Missional Excellence. 

Rev. Dr. Arroyo defined intercultural competency as having self-awareness, being aware of others, and bridging skills.  

“Intercultural competence is the capacity to shift cultural perspective and adapt, or bridge, behavior to cultural commonality and difference,” explained Rev. Dr. Arroyo. 

He identified a three-prong approach to intercultural competency as having an open mindset, skillset, and heartset. 

“If you’re curious, you want to learn. An intercultural leader needs to navigate this spirit of curiosity and exploration through open-mindedness.”   

Rev. Dr. Arroyo encouraged participants to challenge the status quo approach and recognize that one size does not fit all, have empathy to be curious and learn from each other while being mindful on how we communicate, and be adaptable and flexibile by adjusting your leadership styles and communication methods to fit different cultural settings. 

“We are preparing leaders now to be intercultural, and we need to do the hard work of questioning other perspectives.”  

Bishop Héctor A. Burgos Núñez described this training as not just another learning experience.  

“This is a vision for how we do life and ministry as servant leaders here in Upper New York. It’s also an invitation to start thinking about what we can do differently into living in this new way of being. This is also an expectation so we can hold each other accountable in love and in grace,” said Bishop Héctor.   

The Rev. Dr. Aaron Bouwens rounded out the day reviewing aspects of the Missional Playbook, including Upper New York’s missional essential functions, missional organization, aspects of Missional Excellence, missional culture, operational and directional teams.  

“When we talk about aligning resources, it means we are rowing in the same direction. These are central functions we are trying to live in to,” explained Rev. Dr. Bouwens.  

Small groups discussed and identified the top three needs of the local church, resources, types of leadership and support needed to equip local churches and leaders.  

“I do hope this has been a good time for us loving, learning, and starting this journey of leading together in Upper New York in a new season. We need to slow down to set foundations. My hope is you have captured a clear vision of these expectations. We have a mission to transform the world as we nurture disciples of Jesus Christ. Our vision is to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ and be God’s love with our neighbors in all places. Our primary task is to increase the leadership capacity of Christ-following leaders. We are stewards of a piece of a puzzle of a common vision, mission, and purpose.” 

Rose Kingbury, who attended the event, said, "I woke up the next day with thoughts of how to connect the churches with the surrounding communities."

Team chairs in attendance were urged to go back to their respective teams and engage in conversations with their team members to amplify the message moving forward.