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Connectional Table discusses vision for church
LINK: Click to open full size version of image
A UMNS photo by Cintia Furtado

'We're all bound together by something larger than ourselves,' says Charlene Black (center), a member from the Southeast.
Nov. 8, 2005

By Cintia Furtado*

LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. (UMNS) - "What are the concerns facing the United Methodist Church all over the world?" "Where is God leading the church in the future?"

Those were some of the questions United Methodist leaders from around the world discussed during the Nov. 4-7 meeting of the Connectional Table.

Created by the 2004 General Conference, the Connectional Table brings together bishops, staff executives and officers of denominational agencies, and representatives of ethnic caucuses and jurisdictions around the world to help guide the mission and ministries of the global church. The 60-member table, led by Bishop John Hopkins of the Ohio East Area, met for the first time in January.

During the second meeting, the Connectional Table members reflected on seven "vision pathways" referred by the Council of Bishops on Nov. 4. The bishops had met in Lake Junaluska during the week leading up to the Connectional Table gathering.

The bishops developed the pathways as part of their focus on "Making Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World." The pathways were passed on to the Connectional Table and general church agencies to guide their visioning, strategic planning and funding work.

The seven pathways emphasize developing new congregations; transforming existing ones; teaching the Wesleyan model of reaching and forming disciples; strengthening clergy and lay leadership; reaching and transforming the lives of children; eliminating poverty in community with the poor; and expanding racial/ethnic ministries (primarily a vision for U.S. conferences).

Throughout the meeting, the Connectional Table discussed what those mean for the church.

"This time, we're getting more to the vision," said Forbes Matonga, a member from Zimbabwe.

LINK: Click to open full size version of image
A UMNS photo by Cintia Furtado

The Connectional Table comprises 60 United Methodist leaders from around the world.
"We're beginning to see how the Connectional Table is relating to the Council of Bishops," he said. "We from the outside of the U.S. are beginning to look at the church from a global aspect. In the past, we were getting a feeling that the U.S. concerns tended to dominate the discussions, but at this meeting, we tried to look at everything from a global perspective."

Lonnie Chafin, Northern Illinois Annual (regional) Conference treasurer, said the meeting offered a time to consider prayerfully where God was taking the church.

"We are trying to figure out how the general church can better enhance the future of the Methodist movement," he said. "It's crucial that the church have a vision for its future," and having everyone in the same room helps the group move into that future, he said.

Main speaker Lovett Weems, director of the G. Douglass Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, helped the Connectional Table with its focus. Charlene Black, a member from the Southeastern Jurisdiction, found that helpful.

"I applaud Lovett Weems' presentations on leadership and helping us discern (a) vision," she said. "I learned a lot about process. While we bring different perspectives, we're all bound together by something larger than ourselves, which is the love of Christ and Christ's vision for the church."

Representatives from central conferences - regional units of the church in Africa, Asia and Europe - met before the full table meeting. During their report, they encouraged the Connectional Table to meet in different countries around the world, to visit the church in the Philippines and learn more about its challenges, and to see God's work in Bulgaria when it meets April 27-29 in Varna.

At that next meeting, the Connectional Table will focus on identifying global issues and celebrating God's work in the central conferences, Hopkins said.

In other business:
  • The Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, announced a gift from the Korean Methodist Church of an additional $100,000 to help United Methodist churches destroyed by hurricanes along the Gulf Coast this year.
  • Day and the Rev. Larry Hollon, chief executive of United Methodist Communications gave a report on the Nov. 1-3 TIME Global Health Summit, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They challenged the Connectional Table and the entire church to get involved in the United Methodist Community Based Malaria Prevention Program, which will be launched in Sierra Leone in early December. People can donate mosquito nets for $5 or help fund a radio station to improve local communication.
  • The Connectional Table worked on the state-of-the-church report to be presented to the United Methodist Church in 2006.

*Furtado is a communications specialist with the United Methodist Church's Southeastern Jurisdiction office.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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Resources

Wesley Theological Seminary

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