General Conference opens with hope
Personal ministry makes disciples
UMC formally admits Ivory Coast
Madam President, Mama President
Church retains stance on human sexuality
Pain and protest: A Good News response
Young people: a church to call home
Doubts arise following cellphone gifts
Sometimes a cellphone is just a cellphone
Deeds, not words, make disciples
Former abortion clinic owner shares story
U.S. Christians don’t feel persecution pain
Moved by the “water and the Spirit”
Church key to fighting AIDS crisis
Episcopal address focuses on hope
General Conference tackles global issues
Points of order, points of grace
CONFERENCE COMMENTARY
United Methodist teambuilding: Acevedo
Looking to the future with hope: Hamilton
Priorities transcend differences: McCurry
The dilemma of 3 Simple Rules: Reisman
COLUMNS
Editorial Reflections on the 2008 General Conference
RENEW Women’s Network Aftermath
Culture in View To Be a Friend of Caspian
Next Generation Responding to Speakaphobia
The Great Commission Brokenness
From the Hear Prison Praise
In light of the tragic loss of life during the recent cyclone that hit Myanmar, the 2008 General Conference of the United Methodist Church seems somehow less important than it did when I left Fort Worth. Our prayers must go out for comfort and healing for the people of Myanmar who have lost loved ones, as well as for guidance for their leaders and the nations of the world for how they and we can best help the people there.
Having had several days to reflect, I have a few final thoughts regarding General Conference. The theme of the conference was “A Future with Hope” and I came away from the conference feeling genuine hope for our denomination.
This was my third General Conference to attend (the first two were as an alternate delegate), and this conference felt different to me. The preaching and worship was, for the most part, outstanding. The Council of Bishops, along with the heads of several of the general boards, cast a vision for our denomination that was compelling. The goals will stretch us, but they are attainable and will have a positive impact upon the world.
We were told about the “Four Areas of Focus” (we’ve got to come up with a better name than this!) which we will pursue as a denomination in the next four years: 1. Developing outstanding leaders, both clergy and lay, 2. Starting new churches while renewing existing churches in order to reach new people for Christ, 3. Addressing root causes of poverty, 4. Fighting killer diseases including malaria and HIV/AIDS. I believe all four of these are important. The congregation I pastor is already invested in each of them and this will only serve to encourage us to continue to work in these areas. I found it energizing to think about all 34,000 United Methodist churches uniting together around these four visions.
Among the most inspiring moments of General Conference, for me, was watching the Hope for Africa Children’s Choir sing and dance, and hearing President Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia speak. Both pointed to the difference Christ is making through our churches in Africa. They were visible signs of hope in a place that has faced so much hardship.
In other important work, the church agreed to develop a plan for reorganizing in order to allow each region of the church (other nations or continents) to have a bit more autonomy and to see the denomination become a bit less U.S.-centric. It agreed to form an ongoing Faith and Order study committee to focus on Christian doctrine and practice. It entered into a formal agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in which we each recognize the other as faithfully presenting the gospel. And we once again reaffirmed our current position on homosexuality (yet even this time the debate was conducted with a somewhat different spirit than in years past).
Regarding this last issue, I came away from General Conference more convinced than ever that we must find a different way to approach the homosexuality debate. Every four years it feels like a wound is opened again. This issue is underlying much of the legislation that is debated and is just under the surface of some of the larger issues of the conference, including Judicial Council elections and how we’re organized as a denomination.
Even here I feel a bit of hope. I see many of the younger clergy wanting to work to find a new way forward. I believe we have to name the underlying issue—the different ways each side understands Scripture—and focus on clarifying where we agree and disagree on this issue, and why. Next, I think it may be possible for the younger clergy, who are tomorrow’s leaders, those from the left and the right in the denomination to come together to find new approaches to these issues that will help us move forward. I am tentatively planning on inviting some of these young leaders who were delegates to General Conference to join me here in Kansas City for a twenty-four hour event aimed at doing just that sometime early next year.
Overall, I left General Conference more convinced than ever that our denomination has a future with hope.
Adam Hamilton is the founding pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, and most recently the author of Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White: Thoughts on Religion, Morality, and Politics.
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