Conference!

I am just back (and recovering) from the Southwest Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, and thought I might share a little with you. Even if you are not United Methodist, I would be willing to wager a bit that most large church conferences are just about the same. The Southwest Texas Annual Conference has approximately 1,500 lay and clergy delegates, representing about 350 churches. The territory includes the Corpus Christi coastal area, down to Harlingen and picking up a large part of the Rio Grande River area, up to San Angelo, across the Hill Country to Kerrville, down a little to Austin and all around San Antonio and Victoria. It is a large and diverse area. It is a fun bunch of Christians. There are a few “mega churches”, many, many small chapels and every size in between. We have ethnic diversity among and within these churches and there is a mix of wealthy and not so wealthy congregations. The big equalizer is our “Connection” through which we all care for each other, support one another and share resources. Our pastors are appointed rather than called and usually spend around six years with a congregation before being moved to another congregation. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, but always in the tradition of the itinerant pastor.

We have the usual business sessions at Conference where we vote to fill our numerous conference committees, adopt a budget and hear reports. Some of the reports are very exciting, and there are a few that are not so much. I looked around the room one afternoon and I might have seen a few people dozing and I am pretty sure several of the clergy were writing Sunday’s sermon. I must admit that my eye lids drooped a few times. The sessions last from early to sometimes late, and we meet from Wednesday afternoon to about noon on Saturday. We don’t get as much sleep as we like and that is a long time for me to be away from home. So, why do I go? I go for the spiritual refreshment. I go to see friends I have not seen since last Conference. I go to learn how to do ministry better. I go to learn what the churches in the Southwest Conference have done during the past year and what they plan to do this coming year. I go so that I can worship God in a beautiful setting, with friends old and new.

The Conference usually structures itself around a theme. In our General Conference (all of the United Methodist churches), we are focusing on “Re-Think Church”. That means that we are considering how we can reach new people in new places. At our Conference, we are working on “Developing Principled Christian Leaders for the Church and the World” and our Bishop Dorff saw the theme as “Creating a Culture of Growth”. Not just in numbers, but growth in our leadership abilities. All that we do is based in Scripture and John 12:24 became a focal point for the Conference.

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”

In our context, that means that we have to invest ourselves in order that we grow and become fruitful in our ministry. As you can imagine, the preachers, musicians, choirs, speakers, dancers and others planning worship and events were able to mine the imagery from this Scripture to create great sermons, music and presentations. I must say that we had some lively worship services. The Rev. Tyrone Gordon from St. Luke’s Community UMC in Dallas is one of the more dynamic preachers you will ever hear.

I came away from this Conference with a better understanding of the role of leadership in our church and how good leadership in every aspect of the church is critical to making disciples. As laity, not only do we lead our churches, but we must be vigilant in identifying and cultivating the leadership potential in others. The preachers and the presenters pointed out that strong principled leadership is required if we are going to be successful in planting new churches, conducting stewardship and capital campaigns, offering quality Christian education and of course, having dynamic, life changing worship. Good leadership requires personal growth in prayer, reading and understanding Scripture, better strategic planning, embracing the diversity of our congregations, building consensus and avoiding destructive and divisive courses of action. I believe that we have to take advantage of educational opportunities and invite others to join us. I think we have to challenge each other to embrace Bishop Schnase’s concepts of radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk taking mission and service and extravagant generosity(1).

It is going to be an exciting church year, filled with possibilities.

Joy!

Bill



(1) Robert Schnase “Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations” Nashville: Abington Press 2007