Entries Tagged 'United Methodist Church' ↓

Delegates from all across the United Methodist Church have gathered in Fort Worth, Texas for 10 days of “holy conferencing” under the slogan of “A Future with Hope.” The UMC’s General Conference takes place every four years. Please pray that God’s Spirit will be evident at General Conference 2008.

You can follow the events of General Conference, including the latest news as well as some audio and video of some of the events here. You can also read petitions and track their progress throughout the 10-day event.

Joleen and I will be tracking Petition 81320, which, if passed, would appear to allow us to be ordained in 2009 instead of 2012. Well, we’re not holding our breath, but it will be interesting to watch. [EDIT: This petition did not pass, but a similar petition did, which changes the name of "probationary membership" to "provisional membership," and more significantly, shortens the commissioning process from 3 years to 2. This means, if all stays on track, we will be ordained in 2011.]

Finally, you might want to read United Methodists seek change in tone at assembly. The article includes the following guidelines which were developed to provide an atmosphere where “holy conferencing” can take place …

• Every person is a child of God. Always speak respectfully. One can disagree without being disagreeable.
• As you patiently listen and observe the behavior of others, be open to the possibility that God can change the views of any or all parties in the discussion.
• Listen patiently before formulating responses.
• Strive to understand the experience out of which others have arrived at their views.
• Be careful in how you express personal offense at differing opinions. Otherwise dialogue may be inhibited.
• Accurately reflect the views of others when speaking. This is especially important when you disagree with that position.
• Avoid using inflammatory words, derogatory names or an excited and angry voice.
• Avoid making generalizations about individuals and groups. Make your point with specific evidence and examples.
• Make use of facilitators and mediators.
• Remember that people are defined, ultimately, by their relationship with God - not by the flaws we discover, or think we discover, in their views and actions.

Good guidelines for all of us engaged in ministry together!

We returned from Annual Conference Saturday evening. It was a long, but good, four days. There was a lot of intense (but respectful) discussion this year. Overall, it was a very good conference.

We had great guest speakers, Dr. Tex Sample and Dr. Charles Yrigoyen. Tex is an excellent communicator and storyteller and Chuck did a good job of sharing about our history / heritage as United Methodists.

As we mentioned earlier, we both write for the Annual Conference publication, The Daily Link, where several stories are now available online. Two articles we wrote include Drop Your Nets and Take a Leap of Faith (Opening Celebration, including drama by pastors of Hot Metal Bridge as well as Bishop Middleton’s address) and God’s Gifts for Leaps of Faith (Bible study led by Dr. Tex Sample).

We’re looking forward to the 2-DVD set that is expected to be shipped within the next few weeks. The DVDs will include the drama, “Sticking with Fishing” (by Jim Walker / Jeff Eddings), Bishop Middleton’s keynote address, all the Bible studies by Tex Sample and Chuck Yrigoyen, the message by Tex Sample, and a sermon by Anthony Alexander. The DVD set will come with a “Leap of Faith” study guide.

We both bought Buzzkill t-shirts from Cokesbury. The shirt is part of the effort to raise awareness and money for the Nothing But Nets campaign to send nets and save lives in Africa. See also Malaria Initiatives of The United Methodist Church.

Again, we’re excited about what God is doing in the United Methodist Church, and specifically what God is doing in our conference. May God continue to use us to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!

The rest of the week is set aside for “holy conferencing.”

This evening, we’re heading to Messiah College, where members of the Central Pennsylvania Conference will gather for Annual Conference, Wednesday through Saturday.

The theme of Annual Conference will be “Leap of Faith!” Earlier, we wrote a brief preview. John Wesley described these types of gatherings as “holy conferencing.” May God bless our worship, our fellowship, our conversation, and our “worshipful work.” Conferences have been improving in recent years, so we enter this one with high expectations.

We both will be writing for the daily publication, The Daily Link, starting tomorrow. The first preview issue has already been printed and posted online. We’re not sure if/when Thursday, Friday, and Saturday’s issues will be available online, but you can check, if you’re interested.

We’ll post some thoughts, reviews, and reflections upon our return.

Reflections on the direction of the United Methodist Church.

We just read an article describing Bishop Janice Riggle Huie’s address to the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church: Bishops’ President Calls For New Church Movement. Bishop Huie, President of the Council of Bishops, challenged the leaders to reclaim the denomination’s heritage as a movement, saying …

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to loosen up a little. I’m ready to move. I’m ready to follow Jesus. I am ready for The United Methodist Church to rise up and dance before the Lord. I’m ready for The United Methodist Church to step forward into God’s reign on earth as it is in heaven. I believe this Council of Bishops is ready to lead that movement.

It’s an encouraging sign for the future of the UMC, we believe. The UMC is facing many challenges today, not the least of which is that we have become more of an institution, less of a movement. In the US, it has been in steady decline for decades (although it is growing rapidly outside the US).

But we believe there are some positive developments in the UMC, including …

Leadership. There is a growing emphasis on the importance of transformational leadership, and many leaders are stepping up and leading. While the turnaround will not happen overnight, we are convinced that it can indeed happen. And we want to be part of the transformation!

A renewed sense of biblical mission. Along the journey there have been many issues battling for our attention by various church and para-church agencies. But in recent years there has been a recommitment and return to God’s call to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Our Conference. While we’re not very familiar with other conferences, we believe our conference, under the leadership of Bishop Jane Allen Middleton, is headed in the right direction. In fact, we’re looking forward to next week’s session of Annual Conference (see the preview we wrote last month).

One of the things sure to stir things up is the session featuring Jim Walker and Jeff Eddings, pastors of Hot Metal Bridge Community Church (Pittsburgh, PA). BTW, Jeff Walker was at an Annual Conference session in Maryland recently, and we’ve been following an online conversation among some Maryland pastors, including a comment from Jim Walker. It’s a taste of what we’ll hear next week.

We’ll give a report on some of the highlights of Annual Conference in our respective churches on the following Sunday (06.10.2007), and we will post more in-depth reflections here on the blog after we get back.

Please pray for the United Methodist Church, that we will follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, and that we will indeed reclaim our heritage as a Spirit-led movement!

The United Methodist Church expands its ministry around the world!

It was recently reported that the United Methodist Church, after cutting some of its missionary efforts in recent years, is re-igniting its missionary recruitment drive. We’re excited about that!

As reported, while the UMC continues to decline in the US, it has grown an amazing 177% in the last decade outside the US! The denomination is becoming much more global. That’s a reality that church leaders (i.e. the Council of Bishops, who met recently) have been wrestling with recently, specifically their leadership “role in the growing global denomination.”

May God help the UMC make a difference for God in the world by meeting people’s needs and helping people follow Jesus!

United Methodists in Central Pennsylvania will gather June 6-9 for Annual Conference 2007.

Our Conference publication, The Link, just published a preview of this year’s Annual Conference (which will have the theme, “Leap of Faith”): Not Your Grandparents’ Annual Conference. Annual Conference will take place at Messiah College in Grantham, PA. We’re looking forward to it!

Annual Conference is a good time to catch up with friends and colleagues we haven’t seen for a while. Also, we both will be writing for the daily publication during conference, The Daily Link, as we have done for the past several years. It’s especially fun when you’re writing late at night and you’re up against the deadline!

It looks to be a very meaningful few days. One of the things we’re especially interested in is the opening celebration where Jim Walker and Jeff Eddings (founding pastors of Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community, a United Methodist Church in downtown Pittsburgh) will be featured. There’s an article in The Link about Hot Metal Bridge. Incidentally, Hot Metal Bridge was also featured in the latest issue of Interpreter magazine.

Watch for our reflections after Annual Conference.