 |
|
 |
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
July 2004
My Point of View
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
July 2004
My Point of View
Annual Conference is over; the Bishop has spoken; appointments have been made for another year, and most delegates and clergy are back home. The task of telling you what happened at Conference sounds easy. After all, the Advocate will have articles or comments about everything that went on in Hampton. Yet, I want you to know that the story is hard to tell.
Don't misunderstand what I mean by the story being hard to tell. The votes and the decisions are easy enough to relay, but the event we call Conference is difficult to describe. Hordes of people, energy, emotion, sleepiness, dog tired and just plain glad to see colleagues and friends are a few of the words that come to my mind. Conference is always more than the votes, far larger than the decisions. The preaching, the singing, the inspiration and renewal are just as real as the resolutions that get passed.
The large number of lay delegates who give of their time to attend Conference always impresses me. We are blessed to have so many laity who are deeply committed to the Christian faith and to United Methodism. I know this to be true of the Conference and I know this to be true of our own congregation. I also know that if the Church was solely in the hands of the clergy it would have run aground centuries ago. Dedicated laity, women and men, the young and the elderly, have from the beginning been the strength and lifeblood of the Church. Without their efforts and vision the Church could not have survived.
One more thing I know: Those who have given of their time, talent and resources to the causes of Christ and the Church have found their lives pulled from the mire of destructive self-centeredness and set free to live abundantly. No one has ever given themselves to the Christ and His Church and then laid it aside as a destructive waste of time and effort! The more centered we are in Christ, the more rich and fulfilled our lives become.
Which brings me to the "Standards for Lay Leadership in the Churches of the Virginia Conference" which follows in this issue of The Central Connection. Please read them, study them, pray about them, make them your guide; but most of all know they are meant for you and not some specially selected other group. Through these "Standards" God is calling you; and a world, unaware of the depth and the hope of God's love, awaits your response.
Grace and Peace,
David