National Board Report

Monday Afternoon, February 14, 2005

This report is written by Steve Dennie, the UB Communications manager. It is not intended to be strict "reporting," but rather notes and observations from the meeting. It was written and published live, as the meeting occurred.

February 14 - Afternoon | February 14 - Evening | February 15

The special 2005 session of the US National Board convened at 1:00 in the Habecker Dining Commons. Those present included 32 voting delegates, a half-dozen advisory members, and about 25 observers.

Opening Remarks and Prayer

Bishop Paul Hirschy started the meeting at 1:05 by affirming the National Board as leaders, and by affirming the ELT as leaders. He pointed out that these people are still leaders, regardless of whether or not the October vote affirmed their desires for the church. As leaders, sometimes your ideas are adopted, sometimes they are shot down. But you're still in a position of leadership.

He said he wants people to freely express "the best from all of us," and to not hold back on their views.

He instructed the delegates to divide into groups of 3-4 for prayer, and then he guided them in the topics of their prayer--unity and wisdom in discussions, confessing anything that needed to be confessed as a result of the turbulent discussions over the past year, thanksgiving, and other areas.

General Business

At 1:25, Bishop Hirschy launched into a variety of miscellaneous business items. Brent Birdsall, secretary of the National Board, did the roll call. The minutes from the April 2004 meeting were approved.

There were no formal reports, as is usually done. The annual and quadrennial reports would come later, at the US National Conference. Since this was a specially-called meeting, Bishop Hirschy didn't ask the various officials for written reports.

Bishop Hirschy did call attention to the financial picture, as given in a handout. He noted some gains in the Global Ministries financial picture. Overall, he said, 2004 was a good year financially for the UB denomination. He invited questions, but there were none.

On to the heart of the agenda.

Referenda Discussion

At the top of the agenda were three "Discussion Items":

1. Property issue
2. National Conference representation and frequency issue
3. National Conference structure issue

Property. Bishop Hirschy called attention to the report of the Property Study Committee, and the accompanying recommendations for revising the Discipline.

He noted that the Property referendum received an 89% vote of the constituency, and he hopes it goes through. He invited the delegates to raise any issues which they felt needed to be brought to the surface or passed on to the Discipline Revision Committee. But nobody had anything to contribute.

Moving right along....

National Conference representation. This referendum also passed, with an 86% approval of the membership. Bishop Hirschy noted the key features: the National Conference would meet every two years (instead of every four years), and every church would be represented by the pastor and at least one lay delegate.

National Conference structure. To get this part going, Bishop Hirschy asked Dr. Anthony Blair, a Mid-Atlantic Superintendent, to present a proposal on behalf of UBHope, the organization he spearheaded.

Anthony came to the podium and expressed his thanks for the opportunity to speak. He said over the past year, they have tried to be a positive voice and articulate the values and goals of the UB movement. He acknowledged that some of UBHope's words caused pain, and he apologized for that and asked for forgiveness from people in the room who were affected by those words.

He said, "I am authorized by the UBHope steering committee to announce today that the UBHope organization is officially disbanding."

Anthony continued going through a written presentation, which had been provided to the delegates. You can read it online, or download it in MS Word format or PDF format.

He stated six principles that "can guide us in making decisions in the days and years ahead as we seek the renewal of the United Brethren movement." He then presented six ways to help bring this about. It's all in the documents above, which you can download. He concluded at 2 pm, and people applauded his presentation.

Bishop's Presentation. Bishop Hirschy then gave his proposal for restructuring. It involved focusing on healthy-church clusters as a primary group for accountability. Issues of pastoral development and church health would come under a central umbrella, rather than be a responsibility of the annual conferences.

"The key change is that the National Confeernce would take responsibility for pastoral leadership development. An appointed national Healthy Church Director would be hired, and he and the bishop would oversee a system of Healthy Church Clusters, each with its own leader."

The key components:

Cluster. "Every UB church would be assigned to a cluster comprised of about seven other UB churches. This will become the primary unit for accountability, interaction, and pastoral development. The churches may or may not be in the same conference. The clusters would be organized more around affinity--size, style, etc. Each cluster would have a cluster leader. Clusters would meet two months each quarter."

Annual Conference. "The current annual conferences would remain in place, retaining their identity, special ministries, programs, and benefits. However, their responsibilities would become more administrative. The life and health of local churches would advance through the clusters, which are under the supervision of the US National Conference."

The annual conferences would still have responsibility for such things as camps, church planting, missions work teams, youth activities, Bible quizzing, insurance, and ministerial licensing.

You can read it online, or download Bishop Hirschy's document stating the "Key Changes" in MS Word format or PDF format.

Time: 2:15

What are the Needs?

Bishop Hirschy asked people to mention specific needs they saw in the UB church.

Dan Paternoster (Michigan) said we needed to remove using alcohol as a test of membership--that if you have even a sip of alcohol, you cannot be a UB member. Bishop Hischy noted that Michigan Conference had passed a proposal along this line and referred it to the Discipline Revision Committee.

Michael Mudge (Mid-Atlantic) and Gary Dilley (Director of Global Ministries) spoke on several related issues.

Duane Huerlein (Michigan) said we need to determine, "What is the purpose God has placed us on this earth for?" He said the "40 Days of Purpose" campaign in his local church had been a big influence on him personally. He said leaders often get frustrated by people unwilling to accept change or make changes. He pointed to winning the lost as a central piece of any new structure.

Gary Dilley suggested that we divide into groups to discuss this question, and thereby get more people talking. Then we could report back. A few more people spoke. Then we broke for a break-time. The small-group idea never materialized.

2:30

During break-time the tables were re-arranged in a squarish format, so delegates could better see each other as they talked. Then, at 2:50, the meeting reconvened.

What are the Needs? (continued)

Discussion continued on the perceived needs in the denomination. The comments ranged far and wide.

• Need for accountability.
• Recognition that people have different leadership styles and leadership preferences.
• Need for more prayer.
• Need to make sure people understand what we believe.
• Churches that don't care if they're healthy.
• Duane Huerlein felt every church needed to go through the "40 Days of Purpose."
• Dave Rahn said we need to determine what, exactly, we will require everyone to do, and what things are optional.
• We need to let churches know what they're getting for their assessment dollars.

Mike Newman asked the bishop, "What is it that you want to come out of this meeting?"

Denny Miller said he wanted to see opportunity for valuable connections with other churches and pastors. Some conferences have good interaction, some don't. He added that we need a structure that has both responsibility and authority--not just one or the other.

Pat Jones said we need to emerge from this meeting with some direction for change.

Bishop Hirschy felt it would be destructive for us to come out of the National Conference without any proposal for real change.

Kevin Cherry wondered what our young people, especially college students, feel are our needs. HC professors were invited to respond. Luke Fetters told a story from one of his classes, and concluded by saying he felt his students were more concerned about purpose than program.

Michael Mudge mentioned two similarities between Bishop Hirschy's proposal and the one presented by Anthony Blair:

1. Nationalizing the ministerial credentialing process.
2. Doing away with conference superintendents.

He also suggested that we not talk about "what will fly," but about what we feel is best. Mike Newman said we did that with the Missionary Church proposal--presented what we felt was best, but it didn't fly.

The discussion continued ranging around, and I don't particularly want to clutter up this page. The delegates are basically struggling with what they want to accomplish, so I'll wait until they start finding their way.

Okay, they're talking about a purpose statement for the denomination. Dave Rahn put together a brief statement, and the delegates kicked around the idea. Here is his purpose statement for the denomination (not for individual churches, but for the denominational entity):

To facilitate connections that stimulate healthy local church ministry, and collaborate on needed resources.

4:30 pm

The discussion has continued ranging hither and yon. The delegates are struggling to find "it," but aren't having any luck.

Now it's 5:15. Time for supper.