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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
July 2001 |
Nobody asks to go
"Well, nobody asks to go to annual conference!"
When I surveyed a little group of pastors about how their churches' lay representatives to annual conference are named, the answer took me by surprise -- especially when they laughed. I expected them to say their lay representatives had been elected at the charge conference or perhaps "drafted" by the pastor.
It can work either way, but it's apparently not at all common that someone actually seeks out the honor. There are reasons for this.
It's a huge responsibility and demands three to four days away from work and family to sit in a darkened auditorium for 10 to 12 hours a day ... concentrating. Even after having studied hundreds of pages of reports, petitions and resolutions before arriving at the conference site, members have to be on their toes to follow the often complex proceedings (e.g. "So, are we voting on an amendment to the amendment or on the original motion . What was the original motion, anyway?")
Annual conference is work!
There's a new crop of lay members each year, and I sympathize as they struggle to keep their conference journals in order with all the updates and daily schedule changes. On the periphery of the plenary sessions are myriad promotional pitches for church missions and initiatives, caucus agendas, UM agencies and institutions -- a stunning street fair of possibilities, all worthy and interesting. The mind is on overload.
At the heart of all this is, however, a foundational commitment to Christ. The worship services and ordinations are deeply affecting; and there are moments of delight and pride in the glimpses of the church bringing "goodness and light" here in Indiana and beyond. There's a clear sense of comradeship, even in moments of division -- an awareness that we're all a part of the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Although nobody asks to go to annual conference, maybe that's why they keep coming back.
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Last updated on 01/14/2004