By Brian Gentle
On March 2 the Academy of Leadership Excellence “ Day of Learning” some 170 clergy and laity were deeply moved by the story told by Jorge Acevedo and two of his laity about how God has radically transformed Grace United Methodist Church from being a stagnant, dying church into a dynamic, thriving, breakout community of faith. According to Acevedo, church health experts confirm that 80-85% of churches in America are declining. Addressing the theme, “Being a Transformational Leader,” held at Edenton Street U.M.C., Acevedo stated that what God is doing at Grace gives witness that it does not have to be this way.
Just the week before, Grace, located in a blue-collar community in Sothern Florida, had 1,400 children and adults in its five weekend worship services. In 2009 , 119 people from the ranks of the un-churched joined Grace, including the baptism of 62 children, youth and adults. But, as Acevedo noted, it was not always that way at Grace. “In 1996,” he said, “Grace was in the weeds.” The worship attendance of this fifteen-year-old congregation of what was once 1,000 members had declined to 380. When he arrived, the church had only $29.16 in the checking account and a debt of $1.2 million dollars.
Acevedo then shared some key principles he had learned about turning around a stagnant, dying congregation. The first and most critical principle was having the courage to do an honest assessment! Such an assessment can be painful and requires the God-given gift of confronting the truth because like drug addicts, dying churches tend to live in a state of denial and refuse to face cold, hard facts about their spiritual health and condition.
The next step for creating transformation is to paint a picture of a God-inspired preferred future. At Grace, for example, Acevedo spent the first nine weeks preaching sermon series entitled, “The Exciting Church,” based upon biblical pictures in Acts of the exciting church, including what is means to “do life together.” He said, “My job was to paint a picture of a preferred future that was compelling.” This is the Biblical vision and value that lost people matter. One immediate outcome was to introduce a contemporary worship service in which 261 showed up. In 2001 an evangelistic recovery ministry was started. Said Acevedo, “I have baptized more felons, ex-cons, former prostitutes, alcoholics, and drug addicts than you can shake a stick at! This kingdom stuff is addictive!”
A third transformational principle he learned was to “practice the genius of the ‘and’ instead of the tyranny of the ‘or!’” A congregation needs to determine its God-given, unique DNA. Such a process is gradual and does not happen overnight or with a pastor leading a church with “both guns blazing.” He shared, for example, how in his early weeks at Grace, he was asked to speak at the United Methodist Men breakfast and attended for several months. Generally, speakers at the breakfast were simply community leaders. The group had no vision of spiritual transformation. Finally, he told the men he respected what they were doing but hoped they would not mind if he started a men’s group which focused on Bible study. When this Bible study group began to grow and multiply, the United Methodist Men asked if he might help them also to become a Bible study group. His point was that deliberately chose not to “ram” his agenda down their throats. At the same time, however, he also
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wanted to remain focused on the driving vision of spiritual transformation, which was central in the DNA vision of Grace.
The fourth principle of transformation Acevedo said he learned is the need always to trust your gut. By this he meant that God gives a vision not to a committee but an individual, an insight given to him by his spiritual mentor, Bishop Dick Will. The vision God gave Acevedo for Grace was that Grace was being called by God to minister to the un-churched and those that others did not see and in partnership with God to transform them into fully devoted disciples of Jesus to the glory of God. He then introduced this vision to his staff and key leaders and let the Holy Spirit quicken this vision within them. At first, only a few grasped the vision but eventually, through the work of the Holy Spirit, “like a wild fire begins with a small flame, it began to take.”
A fifth principle Acevedo said he has learned about a transformational leader is “to discern your job from the beginning!” He said he told his Staff Parish Relations Committee that his priorities would first be to “stay well.” Fifty percent of leadership, he said, involves self-leadership. For Acevedo this includes not only time in prayer, Bible study, meditation and reflection but also going to the gym regularly, as well as maintaining a strong marriage and healthy family. “If I am not intentional about this,” he said, “the church loses, my family loses, I lose, and God loses.” His other job priorities include preaching the best messages he can and leading his ministry team and unpaid servant leaders, which includes spending most afternoons meeting with existing and emerging leaders talking, evaluating and praying with them about their ministries.
A sixth principle is to “determine what hills you are willing to die on.” He said, that as a leader, he is not willing “go to the mat over the color of a carpet or whether the preschoolers use room 5 or 6 at the 10.00 service. “What I am willing to fight for are our core values,” he stated. He cited Rick Warren, who once said, “People are going to leave your church. You just get to choose the reasons why.”
A final principle of transformational leadership , Acevedo noted, is to “resist the temptation to be a Jerusalem-only church!” By this he meant that one of the most spiritually transforming forces at Grace has been to become involved in overseas work teams and to partner with congregations overseas. Citing John Wesley and his vision, “The world is my parish,” he noted that not only has Grace expanded its ministries to the poor, homeless and addicted in their community, but has become connected in ministries with the global church in countries such as Puerto Rico, Mexico and Costa Rica. “Missions is one of the core values of Grace,” he noted. “Being a globally-focused congregation has changed everything from how the church spends its money, the buildings it builds, the priorities it makes, and the staff that is hired, and more.”
In the second session, Acevedo identified five characteristics of the transformational leader that God uses: transformational leaders live their lives well by taking care of themselves physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually; they cultivate a culture of courage; they release God-honoring vision through prayer; they build and maintain health and holy relationships and above all, they stay focused on Jesus by making him famous.
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Comments on the day included, “Very relevant to the ministries of my church today.” “As a lay person, the workshop was awesome and provided me with much spiritual value commitment to Jesus to take back to my church.” “One of the best. ” “I really appreciated both the practical principles for developing transformational leadership but most of all, the passion of Jorge and his team and the way their lives and ministries are Spirit-driven.”
The next Academy “Day of Learning,” on May 11-13 at Wrightsville Beach led by Larry Peers of the Alban Institute on “Balancing Your Ministry, Renewing Your Life.” Limited to 40 participants, the retreat is designed for mid-career pastors, staff and laity and will provide a time apart for reflection and renewal. Scholarships are available for participants. Future “Days of Learning,” will include “Planning Worship that Works,” led by Jim Harnish of Hyde Park UMC on September 16 at Edenton Street UMC, and “Ultimately Responsible: When You are In Charge of Igniting Ministries,” led by Sue Nilson Kibbey of Ginghamsburg UMC on November 9.
