On holy conferencing

 If plans had held up, The United Methodist Church planned to convene the 2021 General Conference this Sunday, August 29.  Due to Covid-19 restrictions, that will not happen.  The church has re-scheduled that gathering for August 29 – September 6, 2022.  The General Conference normally meets every four years in order to set budget, elect leaders, evaluate ministries and set programming for the coming four-year period (quadrennium).  When the General Conference finally gathers this time around it will consider some momentous ideas in the life of the church.  There will be plenty of time to consider this as time moves along.

 I want to think about the event more theoretically than practically for a moment.  The history of Methodism has considered “conference” to be a verb rather than a noun.  It is true that Methodists assemble at various levels of administration in gatherings called “conferences.”  But in its intention, “to conference” was the purpose of coming together.

 The session of which I spoke earlier – the General Conference – is a congregating of lay and clergy delegates from all over the world for the purposes that I mentioned above.  The General Conference is the only body in Methodism that can alter our Book of Discipline.  It is the sole entity that can speak officially on behalf of the entire denomination.

 The General Church divides itself into Jurisdictional conferences for the sake of administration and ministry.  We are members of the Southeast Jurisdiction.  That designation includes the churches that make up the Alabama / West Florida, Florida, Holston (East Tennessee & Southwest Virginia), Kentucky, Memphis, Mississippi, North Alabama, North Carolina, North Georgia, Red Bird Missionary (Southeast Kentucky), South Carolina, South Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and Western North Carolina Conferences.  Jurisdictional Conferences meet every four years and mirror the functions of the General Conference in terms of its business.  In addition, it is the Jurisdictional Conferences that elect, consecrate and assign bishops within their bounds.

The several conferences within the Jurisdictions meet yearly at their Annual Conference meetings.  Again, these assemblies deal with issues of program, leadership, finances and ministry.  It is at this level that the bishop of a Conference appoints ministers to churches.  Like the other assemblies, an equal number of laypersons and clergy constitute the membership of the Conference.

 Although they are a rarity in modern times, there is provision in the Book of Discipline for a Conference meeting at the district level.  Again, that body would deal with matters of mission and ministry at a more local level.  The only District Conferences I have ever attended dealt with matters of real estate.  The District was looking to buy or sell the buildings that house the district Offices, and under certain circumstances that requires a gathering of delegates from throughout the District.  Our Tennessee River District includes the West Tennessee churches of Henry, Carroll, Benton, Madison, Henderson, Decatur, Hardeman, McNairy and Hardin County (west of the Tennessee River).

 Finally, there is also a designation for conferencing at the local church level.  Pastors serve appointments that we call “Charges.”  This may be one church, two locations, or a larger number of congregations.  But whatever the number, churches that we yoke together in the care of one clergyperson comprise a pastoral charge.  The churches within a charge will hold regular administrative meetings.  But, once a year, that church (or those churches) meets for a “Charge Conference.”  It is here that churches elect officers, adopt ministry goals, evaluate programs and set salary for their pastor.  We have an upcoming Charge Conference December 4.

That’s a lot of meetings.

And, as I describe them, they seem to reflect a lot of paper-pushing and not much ministry.  I hope that is not accurate.

In the history of our church, John Wesley would call together his Methodist preachers yearly “to confer.”  Wesley’s terminology was “to conference.”  The heart of the conferencing matter was to converse together in order to hammer out the church’s theology.  The discussions centered around the questions, “What to teach?” “How to teach?” and “What to do?” (How to regulate our doctrine, discipline and practice?)  The talk of nickels and noses came along much later. 

Wesley considered these “holy conversations” – and all spiritual talk – one of the ways in which God reveals God’s nature to human beings.  Wesley called these revelatory activities the Means of Grace (and there will be more about that later).

All of this is to say that, when we get back on track, these several conferences will gather and consider some weighty matters.  This will not be a season of “going through the motions.”  It is a time of decision-making that could shape our denomination for a generation.  I hope that our church finds the will of God as its representatives come back together.