Greenwood District

Greenwood District Superintendent

A hockey puck sits on top of a piece of paper on her desk at the Greenwood District Office.  And that paper contains one of her favorite quotes made by professional hockey great Wayne Gretsky. 

“I skate to where the puck is going, not where it’s been.”

And for Rev. Mary V. Teasley, Greenwood District Superintendent, it’s a reminder that the church needs to be moving forward to what can be and not stuck behind on what used to be.

When her “move” to the Greenwood District as District Superintendent came in 2006, it was a sort of homecoming for Teasley.  After all, she had served four appointments and a student internship in the district and had knowledge of the churches and people.

She laughs as she says, “I already knew all the roads and shortcuts!”

But that knowledge of the Greenwood District and its churches paid early dividends.  “It shortened the learning curve – just in knowing the lay of the land,” she said. “I already had an idea of what was going on.”

Ask her about the duties of the job of District Superintendent and she first points to the Book of Discipline.  The work begins with all of the duties mentioned there including meeting deadlines, administering reports, meeting with committees and providing supervision.  In addition, the task includes frequent meetings from those at the Conference level to meetings in the local churches with pastors and pastor parish relations committees.  And, during the year, she also takes a tour of the district as she officiates over the annual Charge Conferences.

Teasley, however, sees her role as going beyond that.  She views one of her primary responsibilities as serving as a “coach” for pastors and churches. 

“It’s my job to ask questions, to explore and direct, and to try to get pastors and churches to think about what is next,” she says.  And she’s had the opportunity to do a lot of thinking about the district and its people.

When she looks at the Greenwood District, which stretches from Laurens to North Augusta, Teasley sees an incredible opportunity for growth.   

“The biggest plus for the Greenwood District is that there is a lot of untapped territory,” she says. “My sense is that there are lots of pockets of ‘unchurched’ folks.”

In addition, there’s also an opportunity for churches in communities where there has been a great transition in recent years.  Areas of Greenwood, Newberry, Laurens and McCormick have seen a shift away from the textile industry and an influx of other types of jobs including services and manufacturing.  Populations and demographics are changing and new opportunities are arising.

But same opportunities presents a challenge for churches.

“There’s a potential for churches in these transitional communities to minister in new contexts,” Teasley says.  However, she also understands that it’s not always easy to do this.  “I know it’s a challenge and it’s hard. The greatest potential and opportunity is usually the greatest challenge.”

Existing churches can also be challenged by the growth and the influx of new, and potentially different, populations.  Many studies on membership and culture suggest that more and more individuals are growing up outside of churches. 

“The greatest challenge might be making room for nontraditional folks in our traditional churches,” she says.

The United Methodist Church recently announced an initiative that asks, “What if?” when it comes to the way that we think about the church. The Rethink Church effort, launched this year, proposes thinking of church in terms of what is happening seven days a week in the live of believers.  Church, then, is moved beyond the walls of a building and back into the world through missions and outreach.  The initiative includes an advertising campaign directed at 18 to 35 year olds.

Teasley is excited about the prospects of this Rethink Church initiative because she sees it having real potential for her daughters and the generations that follow after that. 

“I think this is where we are,” she says, of Rethink Church.  “I think it’s exciting to think about how we think of church.”

She also joined Facebook, an online social networking site, as another avenue of keeping in touch with clergy.  Members of Facebook can send “buttons,” or pieces of flair, to one another to post on their pages.  She recently sent one that said, ““Don’t go to church – be the church.”

Church today, she says, is a “paradigm shift” away from the church that she grew up with.  Church is more than just a building, it’s a community.

“You have to start seeing yourself as a seven-day-a-week church,” she says.  “It’s not about having something going on at the church seven days a week, but it is enabling people to move the church beyond the walls of the building. 

As District Superintendent, she’s had the opportunity to encourage churches to participate in projects that take them beyond the walls and into the community.  Two years ago, she attended a worship celebration for Project WARM at Wightman UMC in Prosperity.  Project WARM (Weatherization and Repair Ministry) was an effort by the church to repair homes of those in the community.  That weekend, more than 200 volunteers worked through Wightman to perform repairs on 15 homes in the Prosperity area.

After attending and seeing the impact that Project WARM on Wightman, Teasley decided to challenge all the churches in the district to take part.  In January 2009, churches in Prosperity, Newberry, Greenwood, Laurens, Troy, McCormick and all across the district went out into their communities and worked on homes.

Not every church was able to participate this time, but, in the churches that did, “the people have been transformed by what they have done,” she says.  And, she hopes that Project WARM will become an ongoing ministry in the district.

“I hope more people will be able to take part,” Teasley says.  In addition, she hopes there will be an opportunity for some of the churches that did participate this year to partner with other churches so that they can also participate.

It’s a project that Wayne Gretzky himself might have been proud of.  Like many of the other projects promoted in the Greenwood District, “Coach” Teasley continues to encourage churches and members to “skate where the puck is going and not where it’s been."