General Conference

In just over a month delegates from around the world will travel to Portland, Oregon for the 2016 session of our United Methodist Church General Conference. This will be my ninth General Conference to attend, which boggles my mind more than a little. As a student at Candler School of Theology in 1972, I attended many sessions of that Conference held in Atlanta, admittedly because it was required for a class I was taking. Then I served as an alternate delegate in 1988 and as a delegate from Mississippi in 1992, 1996 and 2000. Finally the last five have been as a bishop of the church.

Over the years I have observed and learned several things about General Conference, not the least of which is that it can be very unpredictable. Over the last several months people around Western North Carolina have asked me often what I thought would happen in Portland. My honest answer has been, and continues to be, I do not know. Generally the question posed to me has focused on one of several social matters: human sexuality, abortion, war, guns and violence to name a few. Questions have very seldom been about the overall mission of the church or how the conference will act to provide resources and support that will increase the number of vital churches.

Here’s what I hope will happen in Portland.

First: that there will be an outpouring of God’s Spirit in and among the delegates and visitors. Since January 1 United Methodist Christians around the world have been engaged in a prayer vigil that has been going on every hour. I believe our prayers will be answered and that God will break through the deliberations in Portland. My continuing prayer is that all of us, delegates, visitors, and members will be responsive to that Spirit movement.

Second: that we will focus our time and energy on the ways in which we can strengthen the church’s witness in the world. As I have written previously we are sent on God’s mission into the neighborhoods and communities that surround our church buildings. We are working toward recovering a sense of being a movement, serving God faithfully and fruitfully. My prayer is that the General Conference will continue to point us in this direction and help us align our resources to accomplish that mission.

Third: that we will seek to prayerfully create an atmosphere of civility, respect, and honest dialog in the midst of our deliberations. There will be hundreds of delegates gathered from around the world, and to think that every one of them will think and see things from “my” point of view is not realistic. There will be many disagreements along the way but I pray we keep our eyes focused on Christ and act toward one another with the mind of Christ, loving and encouraging one another.

Fourth: that we will reclaim our Wesleyan heritage of developing and making visible holy habits, claiming as our way of living both personal holiness and social holiness. Above all that from the opening worship service on May 10 to the closing business on May 20 we will model and practice the General Rules that are foundational for the people called Methodist: do no harm, do good, and attend to the ordinances of God.

I encourage every church across our conference to remain in constant, daily prayer for the General Conference. Pray for our own delegation and for the hundreds who will be coming from around the world. Through it all, pray that we will glorify God and advance God’s mission