59: Weaving Spirituality and Community: Glenn Conaway on Faith Leadership

We're glad to welcome Glenn Conaway this week as he joins us to illuminate the responsibilities and joys of a district superintendent in the Greater New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church. Glenn shares the essence of the Hope Centers initiative, where church walls expand to embrace the pulsing needs of the community, breathing new life into both sacred spaces and neighborhoods alike. As we converse with Glenn, his journey from his family's spiritual roots to spearheading regional church missions unfolds, revealing a landscape where faith doesn't just meet tradition but innovates to serve humanity.

Glenn also helps us better understand the nuanced path of pastoral appointments, where the art of matching a pastor's unique gifts to a congregation's needs is as delicate as it is profound.  Join us for an episode that promises to enrich your understanding of the interplay between faith, leadership, and community.

Thanks for being a part of the HOPE community as we continue conversations about faith and hope! You can learn more at meethope.org or find us on socials @meethopechurch. Join in for worship on Sundays at meethope.live! Have a question? Contact us at podcast@meethope.org.

Transcript

Intro: 0:04

Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope. Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online. We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others. Welcome to Hope.

Jeff Bills: 0:29

Hey everybody, welcome to the Meet Hope podcast. I'm Jeff Bills and I am honored and thrilled to have as my guest today the Reverend Glenn Conway. Glenn is the district superintendent in the district that Hope is a part of, and so, glenn, welcome, thank you, thank you. It was great to be here today. I want to talk a little bit about yourself.

Glenn Conaway: 0:54

Okay, well, I grew up in Glassboro, so I'm South Jersey all the way. Yes, grew up there, went to Glassboro United Methodist Church, that's where I came out of, felt my call from there and I went off to Asbury University in Kentucky and then was over at Eastern Seminary, and you know that because that's where I met you. Yes, I'm married. We have two grown children my wife Holly, and then our two grown children, tim and Bethany. Tim is a pastor in our conference and Bethany is a social worker.

Intro: 1:36

Nice.

Jeff Bills: 1:37

Is she here in Jersey?

Glenn Conaway: 1:38

Yes, she is working out of Millville and Vineland.

Jeff Bills: 1:42

So, glenn, a lot of our listeners were not raised in the United Methodist Church and so aren't familiar with our system. We are divided into conferences and each conference structurally has a bishop that presides over that conference, and then the conference itself is divided into districts. So tell us a little bit about that. How many districts does the Greater New Jersey Conference have?

Glenn Conaway: 2:14

Sure, so the Greater New Jersey Conference has six districts and we break ourselves actually into regions, so the Meadow Highlands District would. The easiest way to think about it is to use 195. That goes across the interstate, that goes across the state, go north and everything north of that is the Metro Highlands. Everything south of that will be the coastal plains, which is a part of where we are, and then we make up three districts down here, three districts to the north, and so that is how districts are set up. District superintendents actually oversee anywhere between 80 and 90 churches in those districts, and so it keeps us pretty busy.

Jeff Bills: 3:06

Yeah, so your district is.

Glenn Conaway: 3:09

So my district is Delaware Bay District and it's our district, yeah our district and the boundary lines.

Glenn Conaway: 3:15

To think about that is to think of Route 73. So, or in Camden, so. So follow Route 73, go all the way over to the Delaware River and follow it all the way. If anyone knows where Fortescue is, go down past Salem, keep going around and you'll get to the bay. And where Fortescue is meeting the bay, that's, that's where my district ends. And then, if you follow 55 coming back north, everything east of that, or I mean west of that, is actually the Delaware Bay District.

Jeff Bills: 3:55

So and so, 90 churches on your district, 90 churches is what I oversee, and so talk about that, what, what you know, just at a high level. What do you do as a district?

Glenn Conaway: 4:07

superintendent. So so, by the discipline which is what we have is, you know, next to the Bible. We always say our book of discipline is what you know is kind of the easiest way of describing is our rules of what we set up and how we function as a church. But a district superintendent is a mission strategist. That's what it gives us for a definition and that's that is a high level, and so part of it is we're supposed to be looking at what could the United Methodist Church do in that region, in that district.

Glenn Conaway: 4:38

You know, what is it that we're looking at? Do we want to look at planning churches? Do we want to look at hope centers? Do we want to look at bringing people into ministry? You know what colleges or universities sit within our districts, and so it's part of our responsibility to oversee how we're reaching out into the communities and all of those, and so that's part of it. Part of it also is to work directly with clergy. It could be everything from just encouraging clergy of, you know, helping them along, trying to find resources for them that they may need to grow, or they're just struggling with something. Sometimes we'll go in and help when there's a conflict in the church, so sometimes we'll come in there and work with some of those things too.

Jeff Bills: 5:27

You mentioned hope centers. Talk a little bit about those, because that's kind of an interesting part of your work, sure.

Glenn Conaway: 5:34

So hope centers are something that we have created in probably the last five to seven years. And what hope centers are is that, instead of just abandoning churches that are no longer, that we're no longer using or an area where the dynamics are changing greatly, we try and repurpose those churches in such a way that they help the community. And so what a Hope Center does is they'll actually look to see what some of the needs are of that community and try and set up ministry just to do that and then bring them back into the life of the church. But instead of just opening up a church and saying, hey, come on in and worship with us, we kind of work what we would call backwards and where you really get that is John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, really did that when he went into the coal mines and in other areas and left the church and went out into the community and started preaching and teaching and helping people with certain things. So that's what we do.

Jeff Bills: 6:35

Love them. So you're meeting people where they are. You're assessing what the needs for a specific area where a local church is no longer functioning but the building is still there, so I know there's one in Camden. You've been particularly excited about Yep. Talk about that a little bit.

Glenn Conaway: 6:52

So the one in Camden that we, which is the newest that we're working on is out of what used to be the Bethel United Methodist Church. Bethel closed. We went in to look at the building. The building structurally was really good. We did a lot of work inside. But we started looking and saying we really did not want to leave Camden. We do not have a huge urban presence there and we wanted more of an urban presence for the United Methodist Church. It was a church that really has worked well with the community right around it.

Glenn Conaway: 7:26

So one of the gentlemen who's working with me, tim Merrill, who is just a few blocks away, lives there. He started working. He's going to be a local pastor and he's working in that direction, but he has got lots of contacts and he started working with the community so we cleaned it all up. He was able to get Harvard Fellowship funds to come, so some of the Harvard Fellows actually donated money so we were able to put some furnishings back in and now they are running programs for former incarcerated men. They have their own Bible study. That's going. They have another Bible study that's functioning. On Sunday mornings they are having drums and karate groups that are meeting there. Yeah, and then they are looking to do a STEM program with education and some other programs that they are dreaming of for the future. So they have gotten off to a good start. They have gotten off to a real good start.

Jeff Bills: 8:32

Yeah, so you have shared that with our lead team and we have been actively talking about. Is this something that we can partner with, with the district and with the folks who are involved in Bethel Sure? So I'm sure we are going to be talking about that over the next year.

Glenn Conaway: 8:52

Yeah, yeah, because actually some of the people from your congregation grew up.

Jeff Bills: 8:55

Going to Bethel, yeah, going to Bethel.

Glenn Conaway: 8:58

That was a surprise and that was great, absolutely.

Jeff Bills: 9:01

Yeah, we have been really involved in urban promise, but this congregation has such a heart for Camden. There are some folks in our church who gosh I don't know 10 years ago or so, maybe more started a ministry called Urban Mission Fellowship, and so it's just gathering kids middle school and younger I think and I think they also have a high school group and basically just created a youth group for kids and so it's expanded out. There are volunteers from other churches that are part of that. Great, and it just grows out of this heart for Camden and underserved people in Camden. So one of your other jobs has to do with the appointment process.

Glenn Conaway: 9:59

Yes.

Jeff Bills: 10:00

So, again for our non-hope, or non-hope for our non-united Methodists. Our system is an appointment system, which means that pastors are appointed to a local church by a bishop, were appointed for one year terms and that appointment is either renewed at the end of a year or a pastor. There may be a pastoral change where a pastor in one church is appointed to a different church and then somebody else fills in that church. So I've been appointed here for 33 years. Glenn, when do I get to move? Not yet, not in a hurry.

Jeff Bills: 10:50

But I thought it would be really helpful again, just since you're here to talk about the appointment process, so give folks a little idea how that actually works.

Glenn Conaway: 10:59

Sure. So an appointment process and, as you shared, we're not a call system, we are an appointment system, and what ends up happening for us is that we start the appointment system. So we're getting ready. Actually, this week I'm going to the cabinet appointment retreat and we will start to look at all the open churches that we have and those churches will be on the table and then we'll start to look at pastors that we think can go and serve, be a good fit and be a good fit in those. But I guess what I want to really share with you is that when we're actually doing this, this is not the bishop and the cabinet just coming in and telling a church hey, this pastor is leaving, this pastor is coming in.

Glenn Conaway: 11:48

We work directly with the congregation and the way that we do that is well, one is that all pastors fill out what we call a pastoral profile. So I look at that profile every year and I find out what it is that you like, what it is that you know are your strengths and things like that, what are some things that you might want us to be aware of, why you can or you can't move, and those kinds of things. So I'll look that over. I'll also meet with the SPRC, which is the Staff Parish Relations Committee, and for you you have a lead team and off of that lead team, some of those people will be known as the SPRC committee and I actually meet with them and I do again what's called a survey, and I start asking all kinds of questions like you know, what's the attendance like, what are their hopes, what are their dreams, some of their strengths as a church, what are some of their struggles as a church, how many staff do they have, salary ranges, and I'll start looking at all of that and that's what we take back to the table when we're looking for pastors.

Glenn Conaway: 13:03

We don't just arbitrarily just grab a name and say, hey, that would be great, and it's not a system anymore. If anybody's growing up in the Methodist system they might have thought, oh well, you got moved up the ladder, so to speak. Yes, it doesn't necessarily work that way anymore. It really works of looking for the gifts and the great what we call the gifts and the graces that really match. So does this person coming in have what's necessary? So, can they lead, can they preach? What is it that is really needed in that setting?

Jeff Bills: 13:37

I know you guys just from what I've heard. I've never been at the table, of course, but it's a very prayerful process as well.

Glenn Conaway: 13:48

So we actually, when we come into our meetings we're the Bishop always says make sure we have our homework done. And what that means is we have been looking for names, we've been praying about it at home, we've been trying to research that out, we're trying to see where the Spirit is leading us. We'll actually meet.

Glenn Conaway: 14:06

So when I was talking about district superintendents and regions, the three in our region will actually talk and pray together about that process and looking to see you know, where's God, kind of nudging us and moving us. And then when we come together around the table, we don't just necessarily put names out there and then walk and just say, okay, that looks like the best person, that's the end of it. When the names are out, the Bishop will actually lead us in a time of prayer and there'll be moments of prayer. Sometimes we'll sing praise courses or prayer courses together. Sometimes we'll sit in silence for some time and then and sometimes he's actually after that, said okay, I want everybody to go out and take, you know, five or 10 minutes break, move around, and then we'll come back in and see where the Spirit's leading us. So it is done, you know, looking for prayerful consideration and not just trying to put a name out there.

Jeff Bills: 15:07

And there's no. You know, I've learned this early in ministry, in fact, when I was wrestling with, because when I got a call into ministry I was attending both the Presbyterian and a Methodist church. And so, you know, god called me into ministry, not to be a Methodist or a Presbyterian, but into ministry. And I remember talking to a wise pastor and he described the various systems of how clergy get appointed to a church or called to a church and said there's no perfect system.

Glenn Conaway: 15:45

No, there is not.

Jeff Bills: 15:46

Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses.

Glenn Conaway: 15:49

If you're in a call system, it's a group in the church that has to do a lot of searching and has to go out and interview a lot of people. There are churches that can be without a pastor.

Glenn Conaway: 16:01

Pastor yes, you can be without a pastor for two or three years before and so you're working on an interim. It keeps a church really from moving forward. If they've got some kind of visions or dreams and in our system the advantage is that one pastor is going out, another pastor is coming in right behind them, and especially in larger churches like Hope, they become a top priority because we've got to look at them very carefully, because there's a lot of people that are involved in the life of that. And the other that we realize is we're affecting people. We're affecting you know, it's a season where I say I don't sleep as well as I do any other time because I realize I'm having an impact on someone's family, a pastor's family.

Glenn Conaway: 16:45

I'm having an impact on everybody in the congregation and this is going to be upsetting for people, and so it's not taken lightly. Our joke is that it's probably the one season most DS's do not sleep.

Jeff Bills: 17:01

It's the reason I wouldn't want your job. But I'm glad you're there. For those again who may not have heard, Glenn pastored a large church in Mullica Hill. It was actually a much smaller church when he went there and he and his team grew the church and actually Hopon and Trinity were similar sizes and similar kinds of size staff and and all of the joys and complexities of that. So having you as a district superintendent I find really helpful because you get what it's about.

Glenn Conaway: 17:38

Yeah, moving into, I think that was one of the hard things. You know, serving a large church that had grown just like hope has done, you know, and you're making those those leaps and bounds growing and you're trying to figure out when do you bring on the next staff person, how do you finance that, how do you keep that from becoming? You know, administratively, you know top-heavy, so that you're doing ministry and all those things. You know that was a challenge through the years and that's what keeps me up at night.

Glenn Conaway: 18:11

Yeah, yes, yes and so I think, moving into this position, it's been nice to be able to understand that when I walk into larger churches, I already know and I have an idea of what they're up against, because it doesn't you know. People sometimes think larger churches have all the benefits, they have all the staffing, they have all the finances, and that's not true. I say they still have the same complexity of issues that they have to deal with as the smaller church does. It's just on a much larger, larger scale.

Jeff Bills: 18:46

Well, thanks, glenn. I really appreciate you being with us for worship and appreciate you being taking the time to do this podcast. If you have any questions about anything we've talked about, feel free to reach out to me, jeffatmeethopeorg, and if it's a question for Glenn, I'll be happy to pass that on to him. And so, glenn, god bless, thank you.

Glenn Conaway: 19:10

Thank you.

Jeff Bills: 19:11

Continue to serve the Churches of Greater New Jersey. Thank you, it was great to be here today. It really was Alright. Have a great day everybody.

Intro: 19:23

Thanks for being a part of the Hope community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope. If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand. You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at meethopechurch.