Archive: Around Town

To parishioners at the Lansing United Methodist Church (LUMC) it seems like just yesterday when their new pastor arrived to lead his first Lansing service at Myers Park.  That was in July of 2003.  Today Pastor Bill Gottschalk-Fielding is getting ready to move to a new position within the church, to be replaced in Lansing by Pastor Jane Sautter.  He is looking forward to his new assignment even as he will miss the people that have been a part of his life for the past seven years.

"I love worship," he says.  "That is the place where I consistently find the most joy.  And those informal times like having lunch at the 'mother of all rummage sales' -- just fun times like that.  Unprogrammed, just sitting down and joking and working together.  Those are really good times."

That fondness is reciprocated.  Last week the congregation held a party for their outgoing pastor, complete with a blow-up of a picture of Leopold with a caption joking that Leopold the camel puppet is really the brains behind the sermons.

Gottschalk-Fielding served as pastor in Trumansburg for 7 years, then Geneva for six years before coming to Lansing.  After 20 years of leading congregations, his next post will be a distinct change.  He will be filling the role of Director of Connectional Ministries for the new Upper New York Conference.  Currently LUMC is part of the North Central New York Annual Conference.  That conference will be merging with the Western New York Annual Conference, and the parts of the Troy and the Wyoming Conferences that are in New York State.  Bishop Marcus Matthews, who currently presides over the North Central and Western conferences, will be the Bishop for the new conference.  The conference office, currently in Cicero, will move to Syracuse in the beginning of next year.

Gottschalk-Fielding will be responsible for helping the churches within the region with shared projects such as the camping ministry that handles six camps like the one at Casowasco.  He will also coordinate 'Volunteers in Mission,' helping churches share mission initiatives such as the one LUMC has established in Haiti.  Youth retreats are another example of areas he will be involved in facilitating.

"I think because it is a new conference there will be a lot of program development in what I do," he says.  "We want to do some new things.  One of the key things we want to do is help churches be more engaged with their local community.  This congregation does very well in that, but many churches are kind of like an island in the midst of a sea that they don't relate to as well as they could because of changes in demographics.  So we want to find ways to help churches connect, and groups of churches."

Gottschalk-Fielding has been a part of creating the new conference for the past five or so years, and as a delegate to the local conference he has participated in the larger church structure.  So being a part of it at the next level is an exciting challenge for him.

"It was very complicated," Gottschalk-Fielding says.  "It wasn't a simple merger.  Two of the prior conferences needed to split in half.  It was very interesting, but it's coming together.  It has been a learning experience and a place where I've discovered gifts that i didn't know that I have.  "

The biggest change will be that Gottschalk-Fielding won't be engaged with a congregation on a day to day basis.  He says he especially enjoys preaching, but for now will be on the other side of the pulpit.  Once he has become acclimated to his new position he will have opportunities to 'guest preach', but for now he will be sitting in the pews with his family every Sunday.

"That's going to be a little weird!" he says.  "I want to make sure that when I do start again that folks are glad that I'm in the pulpit.  Sometimes people from the bureaucracy come in and have never preached or it's been a long time, and they can be rusty and not very engaging.  I don't want to put a congregation in that place, but down the road I look forward to doing that."

He says that he anticipates going back to being a parish minister after serving in this new ministry.  But for now the new position will mean working less with partitioners and working more with pastors and church leaders.    Gottschalk-Fielding says that what is happening in Methodism today is of concern, and that he has found that he is suited to the kind of work that may contribute to revitalizing the the church.

"I'm realizing that if I am really concerned about it I need to be involved in helping us go in some new directions," he says.  "We've been in decline for 40 plus years.  We're either going to rein gage and find our new mission in this context, or we're just going to not be relevant.  I love being a parish pastor.  There is nothing about this experience that hasn't been renewing and refreshing and enjoyable.  But it comes down to putting your money where your mouth is, putting your life where your passion is.  I really would like my two girls who are 14 and 10 now be able to bring their children to a vibrant United Methodist Church somewhere in upstate New York."

On a personal level moves are traumatic, and the Gottschalk-Fieldings are coping with uprooting their lives, something that becomes harder as children grow older.  He says that as much as possible they have made it a family decision, and the fact that Syracuse isn't that far from Lansing makes it a bit easier.    He has been taking violin lessons with his daughter Tasha, and the two plan to come down to Ithaca regularly to continue with that.

The girls have been home-schooled, which also takes some of the sting out of leaving because they won't miss their school-mates, but they do have friends in the community and through the Lansing congregation.  But they are also excited about moving, about being in a new house, and being in a neighborhood with children.  And Gottschalk-Fielding will be able to spend more time with his family on a more stable schedule.

"At this point Dori and the girls are excited about having me sitting with them in the pew," Gottschalk-Fielding says.  He laughs.  "I said 'after  a few Sundays you may say to me -- get back up there!'  But we haven't had the opportunity to be together in that way, and I'm looking forward to that."

He laments that the toughest part of moving as a pastor is stepping back from the people in the congregation he has grown to love in order to make space for the new pastor.  Pastors typically disconnect for a year or more.

"That's really hard," he says.  "I want to stay connected.  I will still get the newsletter and I will certainly keep folks in my prayers.  But I can't come back for funerals or weddings unless the pastor who replaces me feels that it's important that I do that, and it doesn't happen very often.  It's just making room so that those relationships can form.  The last thing a congregations needs is a pastor that can't let go.  It's an awful part of it, but the amazing thing is that congregations do just fine."


Looking back over the past seven years Gottschalk-Fielding says he feels good about building an excellent staff in the church, building on those who were there before and bringing on others.  He notes that the youth pastor position has grown from five hours to thirty.  Additionally the church added the 'Fireplace Service,' an alternative evening service that involves a lot of the church youth and more people from the community.

In keeping with that, he says he has really enjoyed working with children and their families here.  A camel puppet named Leopold has become beloved among children and adults alike.  Gottschalk-Fielding had never used puppets in his services before, but wanted to find a way to lower the kids' anxiety level about being preached to by an adult. 

"I think there has been some healthy growth in that area," he says.  "Continuing the good work that (Pastor Marty Swords) did, and there is a lot of energy that comes from that.  We've done a lot of things around the children's ministry, integrating children into worship as full participants.  We get them involved.  They're not little people -- they're people."

Going forward he speaks of his hopes and dreams for the Lansing congregation as a whole.  He says that the congregation is very engaged, and that 'rest' is a four-lettered word here.  But he hopes people will also make time to nurture their souls.

"I would hope that this congregation would focus on developing their spirit and their soul," he says.  "And understanding that is not selfishness. This is a very active, committed, busy, engaged congregation.  As a pastor I have to say that is wonderful.  As you deepen your soul you are able to give back more. That happens here and I hope that it will continue."

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