April 12, 2007

“Geography Lessons”

Since being assigned back to Indiana to serve as Bishop here, I have been learning some new geography lessons about our state. Even though I grew up in Indiana and have lived in this state most of my life, my travels around the state have helped me learn some new geography lessons.

Here are a few basic facts:

• Indiana is 270 miles long and 140 miles wide
• Indiana is comprised of 35,870 square miles which makes it the 12th smallest state in the union (only Maine, South Carolina, W. Virginia, Maryland, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island are smaller).
• 550 square miles of Indiana are covered by water (lakes and rivers).
• The highest point in the state is Hoosier Hill in Franklin Township at 1,257 feet above sea level, and the lowest point is in Posey County where the Wabash River flows into the Ohio River. Over all, the mean elevation in Indiana is 700 feet above sea level.
• The state of Indiana, in terms of topography, is composed of three main regions: the Great Lakes Plains in the north, the Till Plains in central Indiana and the Southern Plains and Lowlands in the south, the hilliest section of the state
• The geographic center of Indiana is located in Westfield, just north of Indianapolis.

I have also been reminded about other facts about our Hoosier state, including the fact that Indiana was the first state to complete its interstate system (although you can’t tell that by the continuing talk about extending I-69 from Indianapolis to Evansville). The city of Indianapolis and Marion County was the first major city in the US to move into a “Unigov” system of combining city and county services, but that process is also still continuing with the most recent merger of the police departments and the sheriff’s department. Indiana was one of the last states to move from a single-class to a multiple-class basketball tournament system (something which I still have mixed feelings about). Indiana has growing ethnic and immigrant populations, similar to most other states, although I find that not many Anglo people in Indiana are fully aware of these changing demographics. Indiana is a highly-churched state, although that percentage has been steadily dropping, until now most estimates agree that less than 50% of Hoosiers belong to any religious organization and on any given Sunday less than 20% of the population actually attends worship anywhere.

I am sharing these facts as a way of reminding myself and all of us – especially United Methodist clergy – that we are serving in a mission field which requires us to study, learn, adapt, and discover how to be effective ministers of the Gospel. We clergy, and the lay members of our churches, can’t just keep doing church like we always have. Being in ministry means we must know the current facts about our mission field and not just rely upon frozen conceptions from our previous knowledge and experience.

I recently heard someone say that “itineracy” (our system of moving pastors to serve churches) is not about serial geography, or just repeating our ministry in one location after another. No, being an itinerant clergy means being a missional pastor, one who learns about each new mission field one serves, or even about the changing mission field if one stays for a long time in one appointment.

Ministry is changing because the mission field – the people both inside and outside the church we are called to reach – is changing. Change is not easy, it is just necessary if we are going to remain faithful.

from Bishop Michael J. Coyner

Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church
"Making a Difference ... in Indiana
and around the world"

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