Annual Conference, Part Two

I'm coming down off my Conference high while spending some time with my wife's side of the family in Baltimore, MD. It's been a good couple days, but I have to try to avoid starting every other sentence with the words "Oh, so at Conference...". You see, my father-in-law is a Baptist pastor in a Baptist denomination that has no idea what it means to be connected to something. I once asked him what kind of Baptist he is and he really wasn't sure. He used to belong to some sort of Association, but he doesn't think that he does anymore. My sister-in-law and her husband belong to an independant, young adult-ish church here in Baltimore that doesn't really pretend to be connected to anything else. Needless to say, they don't quite get Conference and when I talk about it around them, I get looks like I'm growing antennas. They try to understand, and they know that it's important to me, but they really don't know why.

Here's the problem...there are many Methodists who don't get Conference. Many of lay people have no clue why their pastor leaves for a weekend in June. Even the lay people who attend Conference don't always get it. I had one lady say to me this weekend "I'm not really sure what's going on." In fact, many lay people in our local churches see the Conference as their enemy. While we were in Hyndman, there were church members who had no idea what the Conference was, only that someone had told them that the Conference could stroll in and shut down there church whenever they might so choose. One of the churches where I did pulpit supply had members who spoke with their voice full of venom when they spoke about the Conference, especially when the decision was made to close down the church (A good decision, might I add. The church was 20 miles from civilization, had about 10 regular attenders who drove past a vibrant UM congregation to get to their dying one and they were getting to the point where they were paying so much for building upkeep that they couldn't keep up with any other bills. A no-brainer in my book, but they sure didn't think so!). My concern is that this lack of understanding stems from a lack of importance that clergy place on Conference. I know that there are clergy who attend as little of Conference as possible, and who dream of the day when they don't have to show up anymore. There are many clergy who find Conference to be a waste of time. There are many soon-to-be clergy who don't get Conference, either. Last semester,after my UM Polity final, I had a guy walk up to me and say "So, I know that Conference is important, but I really don't get it. Why does Conference matter that much? How does it affect local churches? Why should I care?" I've been thinking about that question ever since, and throughout last week I tried to think of an answer.

Last weekend, Conference truly was a means of grace in my life. I was able to spend time with my Dad and with my good friend Erik who is a student at Candler. Together, we dreamed about the day that we would come back to the Conference as clergy and we talked about the ways that we saw God at work in the Conference and how we might be called to be a part of God's work. I worshipped with the Hot Metal Bridge folks until tears were streaming down my face. I realized that not all "Contemporary" worship is the same (more on this later). I was inspired by the leadership of our Bishop and by the preaching of Bishop Fisher. And I legislated. As I stood up to deal with Special Sundays in my legislative section, I was reminded that God's Kingdom is big...big enough that we have Sundays for youth, people with disabilities, camping, rural life, children's ministries, and social outreach. When our local churches band together to support these Sundays, our impact across Western PA is expanded and God's Kingdom is furthered. That's what I really was reminded of at Conference...God's Kingdom is found in many places and God's Kingdom is at work through the work of many people...in Ambridge, at the Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community, in Hyndman, in Erie, in Pittsburgh, in Louisiana and Mississippi. God's Kingdom is here on earth, and Annual Conference showed me the many ways that we are called to be a part of that. See, Conference matters because when we gather as God's people to worship, to fellowship, and yes, even to legislate, we have the opportunity to be witnesses to the Kingdom of God and the work of God in the world. We have to opportunity to discern what God is doing and how we might be a part of that. CONFERENCE MATTERS!! Hopefully, we can show that when we get home to our local churches throughout the Connection.

Annual Conference, Part One

As I headed home from Annual Conference yesterday, I was exhausted. Conference always seems to have so many people that I need to catch up with and some many other new people to meet and greet on top of the "business" that needs to be done that I never seem to go to bed when I should. As I drove to meet Beth at her sister's house, I attempted to think about and process the weekend. There are too many thoughts for one blog post, so I'll spread them out over a couple of days.

First, I was certified as a Candidate for ministry this week. This was a very exciting step in the process for me, as it means that I get to continue on and that the Committee sees that I have things to offer to the Western PA Conference. Thinking about being Certified made me excited, but it also made me a little jumpy. When I would tell people that I still have three years left of school, it seemed like a very long time, while I know that those three years will fly by. I know that I have much to learn and many ways in which I need to grow (and that will take me more than three years!) but at the same time I'm so excited to come back and begin that stage of ministry that it makes me relatively impatient. Nonetheless, that was an exciting event in my continued journey.

When I arrived at my sister-in-law's yesterday, my Baptist pastor father-in-law asked me if we did anything important. I mentioned the Strategic Plan and attempted to explain it the best I could, but I think that he was confused. Honestly, I was conflicted about the Plan at Conference. I'm sure that our Conference needs a direction and a vision, and I agree wholeheartedly with the vision, mission and core value of the plan, but after that I got a little conflicted. I felt that it was difficult to deal with the plan when we weren't dealing with Appendix D which laid out the specifics of the plan. For example, I wasn't all too keen on the idea of hiring a PR firm to recruit clergy back to Western PA. For one thing, I don't want clergy who are recruited, I want clergy who are called. Too many people are recruited into ministry and are not called to it, and I think that this is a major issue. More than that, I wasn't quite sure what good it will do to have a PR make up a glossy brochure to send to colleges, seminaries and job fairs. A glossy brochure won't entice me to come back to Western PA, and while I realize that we're at a distinct disadvantage economically (I know this because representatives from other conferences have mentioned that I might think about a place like North Georgia or Florida where the minimum salary is almost more than $10,000 more than it is in Western PA), but I don't think that a PR firm is going to help us overcome our economic disadvantage. If I'm going to come back to Western PA (which I'm 99% sure that I am...I'm leaving the door open for God to call me elsewhere, but that's not been God's call at this point...so far, God is calling me strongly back home), I'm going to come back because I believe in the direction of the Conference, because I believe in the leadership in place in the Conference, because I know that my home church cares about me, because I know that my District Committee and my DS is concerned about me and thinks about me. I won't come back to Western PA because of a PR firm...I'll come back because of relationships...relationships with clergy and laity. After all, as one of profs says, Ministry is about relationships. Maybe we should take the $25,000 we'll pay a PR firm and invest it in Camping, a place where so many young people feel their call to ministry. This is just one of the areas that I'm conflicted about when concerning the strategic plan. Hopefully we'll continue to refine and discern what God is doing in our Conference and that will continue to become our strategic plan.