Day Two – The First Full Day
By DSC Delegate, Jim Nibbelink
I’m not sure what God intended when humidity was created, but the Texas version of matching heat to humidity, both in the 85 range, doesn’t sit well with your six DSC representatives! There is a stark contrast between the clinging, moist air outdoors and the meat-locker chill of the auditorium. It’s like migrating between two climate zones several times each day!
Prior to the official beginning of every day, there are many informal gatherings of interest groups based on regions, ethnicity, common perspectives or special agendas. These groups share information, plan networking and voting strategies and keep attendees up to date with the progress of petitions deemed key to the interests of the group. Most of our DSC folks participate in the gathering of the Western Jurisdiction delegates. All of these meetings begin around 7 AM, followed by the daily opening worship at 8:15. Nights are short, since work continues until at least 11 PM. Serving at General Conference is not for the faint of heart or lover of eight hours sleep each night!
Today’s worship embraced the Episcopal Address, a message on behalf of the Council of Bishops, presented to the church by Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher. Maintaining the theme of hope, Bishop Christopher reminded us of John Wesley’s “three simple rules” for Christian living: First, do no harm. Second, do good. Third, stay in love with God. The message was conveyed through the spoken word, music, dance, video, lighting, liturgy and a second sharing of Communion. The Bishops are sending the church clear signals that business as usual is no longer adequate to serve the needs of the 21st century. A couple of key thoughts that were shared ... “We can’t teach forgiveness, we must live forgiveness!” We must threaten the world with resurrection!” the focus is on truly doing God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.
Leaders of four of our General Agencies collaborated to share with us four areas of ministry that the Council of Bishops has laid out for the UMC.
1. Ministry with the poor. Change the world order to eliminate poverty.
2. Global health. Insure access to health care for all of God’s people.
3. Creation or renewal of communities of faith. Find the people not now connected with the Good News of Christ and invite them to the table.
4. Develop leaders who can equip the UMC to do the inviting, set the table and serve the needs of the world through social justice.
The message is not about building the church as an institution. It’s about a movement, a dynamic spirit coming from God that moves with us and through us to transform the world. Can we do these things? We met Katherine, a seven-year-old girl who heard the message about world health and decided that she could help out with the “Nothing but Nets” campaign to eradicate malaria by providing mosquito nets to peoples of Africa who are afflicted with this disease. So far, Katherine has raised $40,000 for the project! That’s a lot of nets! Can we do these things? A pertinent question.
We heard how our General Agencies have developed the budget proposal for the next four years. They have studied the four focus areas, collaborated to discover ways to work together on achieving measurable outcomes and merged their normally-silo-mentality budget requests into cooperative financial plans that assure accountability and joint project work. This is a big step forward!
The first-ever Young People’s Address was presented by six youth and young adults in an upbeat, multi-media message of “it’s time to get with it!” Their bottom line is, “Don’t let possibility wait for the future!” Meet the needs of the people of the world now ... stop talking and just do it! The young people are asking us to act like the early Christians who heard Jesus’ message of hope and saw him acting on that message. The time is now!
Lyn Powell, Lay Leader of the North Georgia Conference, presented this year’s Laity Address and again, the focus is hope. Lyn challenged every single member of our congregations to find and serve in one active ministry on behalf of Jesus Christ. She’s not talking maintenance here, but stepping out into the community to invite others, serve others and equip others. This General Conference is not about keeping on with what we’ve always done. It’s about stepping up and stepping out in ministry. We can learn to focus on something other than ourselves and get about transforming the world for Jesus Christ! Are we listening?
Grace and Peace, Jim Nibbelink