2003 General Assembly

October 17 - 21, 2003 | Charlotte, N.C.

State of the Church Address
Richard L. Hamm
October 18, 2003

II Cor 4:7-10

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve in the role of General Minister and President these ten years. I have met so many interesting people, seen so many wondrous places, and been able to do ministry in so many new ways...it has been amazing. I am truly grateful for God’s call to this role and the church’s trust in confirming that call twice. I have felt personally supported by so many Disciples friends, colleagues and strangers, who have held me and my family in prayer and who have extended so many acts of kindness and friendship.

I have worked most closely with my staff and with general and regional colleagues and moderators...and I affirm today that this is a wonderful group of Christian people.

And, I don’t want to miss any opportunity to say thank you to Mindy for her partnership and support. I figure that in our last thirteen years of marriage, we have lived together about five. So, I look forward to catching up, Sweetie!

I want you to know that I leave this office with a deep sense of satisfaction. The first thing on the agenda when I took office in 1993 was to close out the project to construct a new headquarters building. The project had little support from the pew and the costs were mounting. We managed to negotiate an arrangement that got us out of the project without having to reimburse Lilly Endowment some seven million dollars for the land that had been acquired and prepared. We (and in every case this morning, “we” refers to partners), we went on to lease the current building and to convert the old Missions Building into very nice senior housing. We have just extended our lease in Disciples Center for another ten years.

Soon after, we developed the mission imperatives, which was the first step in clarifying our mission and discerning a Vision.

In 1993, we had no persons of color serving as general unit presidents or regional ministers and only two women serving as regional ministers. By providing consistent help to general and regional search committees, and in recent years with the help of the “open executive search process,” we now have four persons of color and seven women serving as regional ministers and we have two persons of color serving as unit presidents. Along the way, we expanded the cabinet to provide for greater racial/ethnic diversity.

In 1993, like all mainline denominations, we were repeatedly trying to address even the most complicated and sensitive issues by “sense-of-the-assembly” resolution: often generating more heat than light. As a church, we pioneered “processes of discernment” as a more constructive approach to some controversial issues. I believe we need to develop this concept further and continue to look for additional innovative ways of addressing the issues of the day.

Speaking of this, there is a resource group meeting this afternoon at 3PM to which I want to draw your attention. Dr. Mark Johnson and the Rev. Doug Skinner will be leading this session which will introduce you to the Discernment Process regarding the role of Gay and Lesbian persons in the church that will help you implement the process in your own congregation. This resource has gotten high marks from both liberal and conservative congregations. It does not advocate for a particular position, but puts the matter in a context of the spiritual disciplines. I strongly commend it to you. The only major problem with this Process of Discernment is that it is not being used in enough congregations!

We established the General Board Biennial Planning Session and the Public Issues Coordinating Council to help general ministries work together in social justice and witness. We established the General Commission On Ministry, which Ken Teegarden considered an unfinished piece of business, and we established the Bethany project as a way of getting at the need for the spiritual nurture of leaders. We established the Mission Council and Mission Imperative Fund as a way of enabling new ideas and approaches. We developed the Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciliation initiative. We reformed the Commission On Mission Funding Process and have now begun implementation of a new Mission Funding System that I believe does several important things as we move deeper into the 21st century.

Of course, most important I believe, we have together discerned a Vision for this church and have established goals that will lead us to become a faithful, growing church by the year 2020. As we all know, this church has been shrinking since 1968. I believe it is important for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to grow again, numerically and in every good way, because I believe this church represents core values and an ethos that bring value to the whole church of Jesus Christ and to this post-modern world.

Perhaps the greatest challenge now is to stay on task, on mission, at a time when our Disciples Mission Fund is shrinking. This shrinkage is causing lots of pain in lots of places. Still, we must reduce our costs of operation while not simply collapsing back into “maintenance mode” or “turf protection” mode. We are at the beginning only of our work toward realizing the Vision. We are ahead of schedule in new congregation establishment and are making progress in our leadership development initiatives. The Anti-Racism initiative is moving forward a bit unsteadily, but moving forward.

But we are still trying to get our act together in regard to revitalization of existing congregations. We need to work together to ensure that the DNA of our new congregations is right. We must continue to re-form our regional and general expressions to help us be more collaborative, effective and efficient.

It seems like there has been a lot of bad news for the church lately. And every leader knows its hard being in the “hot seats” in times like these. But I want you to read the reports of the various ministries. You will see that there is great ministry going on in your name and in the name of Jesus Christ!

And, I want you to know that most of the institutional challenges we face are the product of rapid changes in culture and economics rather than failures of leadership. Just as so many congregations are reeling from the pace of change in the world, so are our general and regional ministries struggling to respond to the changed landscape. It is hard enough to maintain a sense of mission in a time of shrinking resources. It is even harder to remain open at the same time to new things the Spirit may be trying to do, to remain open to experimenting and taking the kinds of risks that must always be taken if institutions are to move forward.

There is no question but what this institution, this Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in all its expressions, is a “clay jar.” If we ever thought we could simply organize the world into compliance with God’s vision for it, then we were just committing idolatry of ourselves. If we think there was ever a time when being the church was easy, or that we can make it easy now by simply finding the perfect leadership or the perfect structures, then we are just being silly. It is always hard to be the church and especially hard in a time of rapid change like this! The good news is that, as we seek to be faithful in the face of these harsh challenges, as we “hold together” in true community, proving that the Gospel is stronger than the world (stronger even than The Design!), it is indeed made clear to all that the extraordinary power that holds us together belongs to God and does not come from us.

The Christian Board of Publication, like all church publishing houses has been shrinking and struggling for decades to keep up with technological changes as well as changes in the needs and interests of churches and church members. While CBP is not out of the woods, real progress has been made in stabilizing the House and addressing the contemporary and future needs of Disciples in particular and Christians generally. I encourage you to use the resources and products that CBP offers.

While we were shocked and saddened by the loss of The Disciple magazine, I want to say here that it was not publisher Russ White's intention that the magazine close so suddenly. I think we can all celebrate the fact that the marvelous entrepreneurial spirit that is so much a part of us Disciples has generated a new magazine which deserves our support and readership. But in order to survive, this publication, too, will have to continually adjust to new needs and realities.

It has been a tough couple of years for the Christian Church Foundation due to the economy. But, by its very nature, the Foundation is here for the long haul and it can wait out the ups and downs of the stock market. As poor as the economy has been, the Foundation distributed over ten million dollars to ministries across the life of the church. There has been a smooth transition from so many years of effective leadership by Jim Johnson to the new leadership of Gary Kidwell. Disciples continue to contribute their accumulated resources through the Foundation every day and earnings are now going up!

Church Extension has also experienced stress due to the economy, and yet, under Jim Powell’s excellent leadership, they have adjusted to the new environment and are moving out with bold initiatives to address the church’s 2020 Vision. They are re-emphasizing the Great Commission as the heart and soul of Church Extension. We are all thrilled by the establishment of so many new congregations and grateful for the work of Rick Morse and his team.

No unit of the church has seen greater change in its day-to-day work than the Church Finance Council. With the leadership of president Lois Artis, they have been responding to the broad changes in our funding system, which require new methods of interpretation, promotion, accounting and distribution. We are grateful for the Herculean efforts of the people of this unit, and we also need to have patience with the inevitable challenges that arise in such a changeover.

The Council on Christian Unity is a small but mighty unit of the church. It represents one of our very core values: Christian unity. The old face of ecumenism was institutional merger. But the new face is ecumenical partnership, and there are a myriad of new initiatives springing up among the churches. In fact, this may be a new springtime of ecumenism! The point is not to merge institutions but to engage in relationships that will allow new life and ministry to e-merge. Churches Uniting in Christ is only one of many initiatives that provide for such relationships. Our partnership with the United Church of Christ continues to bear fruit overseas and at home. John Thomas, GMP of the UCC and Lydia Velico, UCC ecumenical officer have become wonderful friends and I am delighted that they are with us in this assembly. Also, you need to know that, among all the churches, Robert Welsh is deeply respected and has in many ways become the dean of ecumenical officers.

The Disciples of Christ Historical Society continues to provide us with a means to stay in touch with our heritage, which is so important as we move into God’s future. It’s pretty hard to know whom you are and where you are going if you don’t know where you come from! And yet, the Society continues to struggle financially and I hope we can find ways to assure its future. Peter Morgan, who has done such wonderful work with the Society, will be retiring in 2004 and he will be greatly missed!

The Division of Higher Education keeps before us our historical commitment to holding faith and reason together. But it is also providing for the needs of our future by implementing marvelous initiatives in leadership development for the whole church. President Dennis Landon “gets it” and he is an excellent partner in the realization of the Vision.

Homeland Ministries faces special challenges as it seeks to reinvent itself. The Board approved a vision two years ago that points to developing partnerships and networks across the life of the church that will strengthen congregations for the mission. This is the right approach, I’m convinced. But there is no clear model for this kind of a unit. Thus, Arnold Nelson and his staff are trying to figure out what this means and how to accomplish it. We know it means some pain, as change always means pain, and we know it means moving away from the old “centralized resources” model. But it will take some time and experience to figure out what it does mean.

The Division of Overseas Ministries continues to extend our church’s mission and ministry of presence around the world. But it also makes the world present to us and helps keep us globally connected. I always enjoy reading DOM’s reports because they are like a short course in “the world!” David Vargas is the new president, but he is not new to DOM, having served for 20 years as Latin American executive.

The National Benevolent Association has been experiencing something of a “Perfect Storm,” as an economic downturn, increases in costs, and a drastic reduction in government investment in health and social services have all hit at once. In order to grow its ministries larger than what was possible if it remained dependent on church giving only, NBA went to the marketplace to secure additional financing. Now, in this tight economic time, the lenders (rather than the donors) are necessarily driving many of the decisions that must be made. In many ways, the NBA has been organized exactly like this denomination: with an emphasis on local control. But this is unacceptable to concerned lenders who naturally want centralized control. There is no easy way to reconcile these two very different approaches. This is painful...particularly when cherished ministries are lost or diminished. I call upon us all to pray for Cindy Dougherty and all the NBA staff, that they have wisdom and strength to do what needs to be done and to do it as well as possible. Pray also for the tens of thousands of people served by NBA who watch anxiously.

The Pension Fund continues to do its work extremely well, securing the futures of church employees through wise investment and low overhead. Though the economy has struggled, the Fund was wonderfully diversified in its investments so that it remains in excellent financial condition. We are all stunned by the increases being experienced in health care insurance, but this is not the fault of the Pension Fund. The premiums are directly reflective of the cost of the medical services provided, and we are an aging group with higher than average medical expenses. The Fund continues to look for new ways to control costs and to keep premiums down, but the ultimate answers are, in my opinion, to be found in some kind of universal national health care. Most everyone in Washington agrees, but few agree on exactly what such a national approach should look like.

Some have wondered why the Fund does not use Pension Fund monies to supplement the cost of health insurance. The answer is pretty simple. Art Hanna and his staff do not want to go to jail!

As Art retires, we look forward to the leadership of Jim Hamlett.

Coming to this role in 1993 from regional ministry, I hoped to help strengthen regional ministry. Overall, I think we now have the strongest group of regional ministers we have ever had. It is a good thing, because just as some general units are finding it necessary to reinvent themselves, so regions need to find new, more effective ways of doing their ministry. The natural tendency for any institutional structure (local, regional or general) is to try to secure itself by making itself indispensable. In the case of regions, this is the temptation to become a “hub of control” rather than a “web of relationships.” But it is the “web of relationships,” relationships that both nurture us and hold us accountable to each other, that is the model that will best “strengthen congregations for the mission” and that will best serve the Vision and the whole church. Still, there are few existing models to draw from, so the challenge is to create such models in regions while also dealing with the day-to-day workload.

In regard to both regional and general ministries (and congregational ministries, too), in a time of rapid cultural change and the obvious need for corresponding institutional change, the trick is to drain the swamp at the same time you are swatting the alligators!

Speaking of institutional change, I want to say a word about the fundamental nature of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I believe any fair-minded person would have to conclude that what was accomplished in Restructure was in many ways remarkable. Perhaps most significantly, it helped us see ourselves as a “church” rather than as an association or convention of churches and agencies.

We should appreciate the scholarship and the institutional leap forward that Restructure represented. Nevertheless, we should not be surprised that, while the theology of The Design is remarkably relevant and fresh yet today, some of its provisions for governance were and are increasingly inadequate. No reform, however well thought through, can be complete and everlasting, and it must be admitted that Restructure represents a number of pragmatic compromises made for the sake of “what was possible” in the face of how the various parts and pieces of the church were already relating to each other by historical precedent.

It is, therefore, in my judgment, time for a fundamental review of The Design. The Standing Committee on Renewal and Structural Reform will begin that process this spring. I have made known some of my concerns to the Committee and to the General Board. I am confident that important and helpful reforms can be identified. But the preparatory step I believe we must take in this Assembly is to change the percentage of votes needed to amend The Design. The Design currently requires a 75% approval of any amendment to The Design. But it is hard to get 75% of Disciples to agree on anything! The last time we considered this issue, we almost had the needed 75%, but not quite. It is my judgment that we need this change in order to have the flexibility to move in responsive ways as an institution.

Now, I want to say just a word about the “state of Dick Hamm.”

Lots of people have asked me why I resigned really. There are no deep, dark secret reasons.... you can take my resignation letter at face value.

In the letter I said, “I am not discouraged, I am not depressed, but I am tired.” There are two primary reasons why I am tired. The first has to do with some of those systemic issues in our institutional life to which I referred a moment ago. Suffice it to say this morning that, in this office, one feels a great responsibility to lead, and there are great expectations of one called to lead, but one has little authority to lead.

The second reason I am tired is that the work is hard, as work in ministry is hard everywhere these days, and in ways that are unique to this kind of an office. Life as General Minister and President is something of a whirlwind. The long hours and the travel are wearying. Having said this, I admit there are times when I could have managed my time and energy better than I sometimes have. For my failure in this regard, I ask your forgiveness.

What is needed by the church in a time of high anxiety, is what Friedman called a “Anon-anxious presence.” But I was beginning to take myself too seriously and was becoming “spiritually attached” to the work, and spiritual attachment creates an intensity that leads to emotional disconnection. Thus, I felt myself becoming an “anxious non-presence!” Of course, this is a temptation for all leaders, especially when we live in a culture of hysteria and crisis, both in and out of the church, when many of those whom we lead are also taking themselves too seriously. Their complaints are often shrill and overstated. And this reinforces the tendency to become spiritually attached.

As hard as I tried to spiritually detach while in place, I just couldn’t seem to do it. Goodness knows there have been plenty of things to react to in the past couple years, but I was over reacting to things. I was becoming a real case study in how spiritual issues become emotional and physical issues!

I finally felt it was my responsibility to resign.

So, I want you to know that while I very much regret having to leave this post early, it was necessary...otherwise I might have become a real problem to the church as well as to myself. I am just so grateful that people have understood and accepted my decision with such grace! Making the decision has already begun my process of recovery. My hope is that I have perhaps modeled something useful here.... not resignation, but self-care for the sake of both ourselves and the church we love.

After a little rest, I am expecting that God will call me to some new ways of working within this church we all love.

I leave this office with joy, satisfaction and few regrets. The friendships developed over these ten years in this church and in the church ecumenical will bless me all of my days. 2020 Vision is right and it is taking root.

I am more convinced than ever that, while we have some change we need to make in order to faithfully move from the modern era into the post-modern era, we are a church for “just such a time as this.”

I guess we have all seen in new ways recently that...Alvin is clay, I am clay, you are clay, this church is clay.

So may this be our prayer: “Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Thou art the Potter, we are the clay. Mold us and make us, after thy will, while we are waiting yielded and still.”

Friends, the Good News in Jesus Christ is that...God...just...loves...clay!