District Alignment

Six recommendations have been made to help our districts order themselves for the adaptative challenges of the 21st century. (See previous communications from February 8.) Specifically, the two changes that have been announced are as follows:

1) Eight District Superintendents have been appointed for the 2021-2022 year. Each DS will lead two districts during that appointment year.

2) A new position, that we are calling the “District Developer,” is currently being developed. We anticipate there being 17 District Developers appointed under the leadership of eight District Superintendents, two for each district (three for the district encompassing the Eastern Shore), taking their first appointments during the 2022-2023 appointment year.

A move to eight District Superintendents, each having two Districts, offers a great opportunity for the District Superintendents to explore in an intentional way their role as adaptive, effective, and efficient Missional Strategists enhancing their ability to help churches thrive. Adding the role of District Developer further equips our churches for the adaptive challenges of the future. Other conferences are also moving to larger districts with fewer District Superintendents. Most have already made this shift in many ways and for many different reasons with varying results. Our District Alignment Team has been studying the movement and streamlining of other conferences and are excited about what this shift could mean for the life of our churches.

In our own streamlining of district structures, informed by the needs voiced in our quantitative and qualitative interviews, surveys, and research, the Virginia Conference is committed to streamlining in a way that enhances the support of our clergy, laity, and churches. We agree that it can be hard to understand how fewer district superintendents over larger districts can accomplish this goal, but let us explain:

First, as each DS leads across two districts, they will have the opportunity to work with the current people and structures in place to discern how best to go about leading and adapting a larger system.

Second, once they discern the strengths and challenges across their districts and begin to implement new leadership approaches that take these into account, the District Developers will join their team, helping the entire system more easily scale up (as we grow) and scale back (if we shrink).

And third, through this process, our District Superintendents will have learned how to effectively lead larger geographic districts alongside District Developers who will aid them in better knowing and resourcing clergy and the unique cultures, opportunities, and challenges of the churches they serve as well as help to facilitate collaboration among clergy and across churches for wider community engagement and missional impact for the Kingdom of God.

Every DS will keep the current staff on each district in place for at least the first year. So, while the DS is learning & discerning how best to lead a larger district, s/he will have the same level of support that is now in place. Over the course of 2021-2022, the District Superintendents may discover new areas of shared opportunities between their two districts. Also as mentioned above, the District Developer role goes into effect in July 2022. At that time, District Superintendents may choose to change the configuration of district staff. In addition to the staff support, District Superintendents will continue to engage in collaborative leadership with each other, including spiritual, physical and mental support through covenantal self-care. 

As mentioned above, the new District Developer position is being created to do three important things:

1) Resource our clergy

2) Foster clergy-clergy and church-church collaboration

3) Collaboratively engage our communities in new ways 

This will be the entire focus of District Developers: encouragement, resourcing, and support, so that our clergy, laity and churches can better work together to engage our communities outside the walls of the church with the urgency of the Gospel and the Kingdom of God in mind, rather than just the survival of and competition between individual congregations.  The people in our churches are already attending church less amidst the growing irrelevance of the church in our communities at large. And the current pandemic has effectively ended the “attractional model” of church forever. We must meet people with the Good News of Jesus Christ, which is uniquely the news the church still has to give, where they are in the spaces that they live, work, and play.  

The only motives are those of connecting with our communities and offering them Christ. This is not primarily a cost-cutting measure. In fact, much of the savings from moving from 15 to 8 District Superintendents will be used to cover the new District Developer positions. So, while costs decline slightly, this is more of a realignment of expenditures to get new, focused structures in place to help take our churches to a new future. As mentioned above, this change also positions us well for the future because it allows us to be more nimble as we respond to potential growth or decline.

Yes! There are many other pieces to this District Alignment movement. See the full list of recommendations in the February 8 FAQs. This entire process is an invitational one that recognizes more input is always better. You can add your voice to the process by responding via the feedback form below or by attending one of the virtual listening posts that will be conducted over the next 12 months. Information will be forthcoming about those events.

These changes position us for the future regardless of how that future looks after General Conference. Through the implementation of these recommendations, we believe we can become committed anew to the mission of the Gospel driving the institution, rather than the survival of the institution driving the mission, and move into our communities with the always urgent and compelling news of Jesus Christ, while streamlining to become more nimble as we respond to future growth and/or decline.

The members of the iDAT team are listed in the original communication from February 8. They are simply a group of humble servants (clergy and lay) who agreed to commit significant time and energy over nine months to do the hard work of vetting the six recommendations of the District Alignment Team. They are diligently researching possible pathways forward and always keeping an open mind.

Feel free to put your comments in the feedback form below and/or attend an upcoming virtual listening post. But, just as importantly, lead in your congregation by supporting the bold assertion that now is the time to rethink how we do church in order to reconnect with our fellow Christians and those outside the walls of our churches.

You are free to discuss this at any time with members of your congregation. You can provide them with links to the original communication as well as this one. You can also provide written materials as provided in the original communication linked above. (This document is offered in PDF and Word form for printing as well at www.vaumc.org/DAresources.)