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Upper New York’s CLT updates its Purpose Statement

September 19, 2017 / By Shannon Hodson / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

For many years, the UNY Conferences Leadership Team’s (CLT) purpose focused on administrative tasks.

Upper New York Area Resident Bishop Mark J. Webb requested the CLT to work together to expand their purpose statement.

 The new focus of the Conference Leadership Team is more comprehensive and is geared toward living out the vision and mission of the UMC and the UNY Conference.

Drew Griffin, a member of CLT, said “Bishop Webb has asked the CLT to work on providing alignment throughout the UNY Conference with a strategic ministry plan that will help districts and local churches best live out the mission an vision of the UMC and UNY Conference. While there are still administrative tasks that we assist with, we believe our primary focus needs to be on creating alignment and developing strategy.”

Below is the purpose statement, and what different members of the CLT have to say about the specific tasks the CLT intend to accomplish.

Purpose of the CLT

This body will ensure that the decisions of the Annual Conference are implemented in accordance with the mission of The United Methodist Church, and the vision, primary task(s), and core values of the UNY Conference.

To accomplish this, the CLT will:

• Work in cooperation with the Bishop, Cabinet, and other appropriate teams to guide and maintain a culture of alignment throughout the Conference.

The Rev. Sherri Rood, District Superintendent of the Cornerstone District and Dean of the UNY Cabinet said, “A cooperative spirit is essential in order to assure that the Bishop, Cabinet, and all ministry areas in UNY are working in alignment to fulfil the mission of the United Methodist Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world as well as the UNY vision to be God’s love with our neighbors in all places.”

• Partner with and equip District Leadership Teams (DLT) for visioning within their local contexts.  

The Rev. Steve Taylor is a member of CLT and also a DLT for the Cornerstone District. He said, “The role of the CLT is not to do ministry, tell local churches or DLTs how to do ministry, or even hand down canned ministry ideas to implement. The role of the CLT is to equip the DLTs to equip local churches and ministry leaders to develop effective ministries in their contexts… As a member of the Cornerstone District DLT and the CLT, I’m confident that the work of the CLT to focus on ministry action plans and resourcing the DLTs will be fruitful as the DLTs discern how God is calling the local churches and districts to meet the ministry challenges in their contexts.” 

• Engage in strategic planning to discern outputs for UNY that best accomplish the primary task of the Conference and Evaluate Conference ministries’ contributions to those outputs.

Susan Hardy, UNY Lay Leader refers to strategic planning as a map. She said, “How do we know where we are going—and when we arrive-- if we do not have a map?

Our Conference recognizes that Christ-inspired leaders, much like the first disciples of Jesus, can be empowered and equipped to effect transformational changes in our lives and in our churches. Our CLT is wrestling each month with mapping out the processes of how that might work in the 21st century.

We are literally creating Ministry Action Plans (MAPs) on specific outputs (measurable goals) that will be shared with all District Leadership Teams. How, for example, do we identify and equip younger Christ-inspired leaders? Where are such persons to be found? Who needs to support their journeys? How might resources be allocated? When might such leaders serve specific ministries? Which group, whether district or conference, needs to be involved at each step? How do we measure each step of such a faith journey?

This is challenging work, requiring both trust in one another, and vulnerability as we learn new skills and vocabulary together. “

The final task is to

• Ensure mutual accountability across the diverse bodies of UNY.

CLT member Erinn Gould-Norris said, “To me, evaluating the contributions of ministries across the Conference is an opportunity for the Conference and these ministries to stay connected. It provides an opportunity for growth, increased communication and understanding, and allows us all to consider what is working, what isn't working, and what might need to be changed. Evaluation isn't just about gathering numbers to determine performance. Evaluation is about learning a more complete story so we can continue to work together in ministry as we live out our call and mission throughout the Upper New York Annual Conference and beyond.”

Together, the CLT will be working diligently at carrying out their purpose when they meet every month, and beyond.