wfn.org | Lay Address Calls for Partnership

[George Conklin <gconklin@igc.apc.org>]

SEARCH: United Methodist, General Conference, laity, lay people,
partners, ministry

002                                                 April 17, 1996

General Conference '96

Laity address calls for partnership
between laity, clergy for 21st Century

     DENVER (UMNS) -- On the threshold of the 21st Century, United
Methodist laity and clergy urgently need to become partners in
ministry to chart new possibilities for mission and ministry,
according to a Laity Address given at the denomination's top
legislative assembly here April 17.

     James Lane of Sherwood, Ark., representing the church's 9.7
million lay members worldwide, focused on "Partners in Ministry: A
Vision for the Year 2000."

     Calling United Methodists "God's ambassadors and ministers,"
Lane told General Conference delegates here that laity "must
convince the world of the reality of the gospel or leave it
unconvinced."

     In order for the church to enter the 21st century
effectively, he said laity "must thrust open the doors of our
churches, ... quit sitting around in meetings talking about what
we ought to do, and get out and about, and be in ministry." 

     In the traditional Laity Address, given on the first full day
of the conference, Lane said partnership calls for everyone having
a place for service and ministry where they feel worthy and are
valued and where each has equal voice regardless of the
certificates, diplomas and credentials acquired.

      Partners in ministry, according to Lane, is not another
"program" for the laity to consider, but a "new way" for people in
ministry to work together. "It is an attitude, an ethos, something
that permeates how we do church," he said.

     When people understand the principles of a ministerial and
missional partnership, he said, a different model of church
leadership will emerge -- sharing in ministry and leadership
between the pastor and the local church laity.  He called for a
"deep" level of trust, commitment and communication on both sides.

     Lane called for churches first to become "full service
mission stations", centers of spiritual renewal, community centers
of wholeness and healing, and beacons to seekers. "Our churches
must become stations where everyone standing in the need of prayer
will find love, forgiveness, acceptance and haven," he said.

     Second, he urged local congregations to become "saving
stations" where Christ as Savior is offered to the people, to the
community and to the world.  

     The third possibility he cited is for churches to become
"empowering stations," where vital opportunities for worship and
learning will be offered. "We are people of the book," Lane said.
"It is absolutely essential that we know and understand our book."

     He also called for revitalizing worship services so that they
may be filled with the "Pentecostal fires of a church in mission
and ministry," provide opportunity for conversion, and "address
our heart-felt and gut-felt needs with the integrity of the Holy
Scripture."

     A fourth possibility, he continued, is for congregations to
become "sending stations" from which people are equipped for
ministry and sent out into the community and world.    

     Noting the importance of "equipping the saints," he called on
every church to have a director of volunteers who would prepare
others for mission and ministry.

     Finally, United Methodist churches must become "community
outreach stations," Lane said. These stations will provide
programs for youth, scouting, recovery groups, community agencies
and assistance to people with immediate survival needs. 

     He called on United Methodists to be committed to peace in
families, communities and the nations and to serve as agents of
change.

     Declaring that "the spirit of the Lord is upon us," Lane
concluded, "we are God's station keepers ... partners in
ministry."  
                               # # #
                                                    -- Linda Green

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