wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 629-Connectional Table discusses vision for

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Connectional Table discusses vision for church

Nov. 8, 2005

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

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.

"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.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

----------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this group, go to UMCom.org, log in to your account,
click on the My Resources link and select the Leave option on the list(s)
from which you wish to unsubscribe. If you have problems or questions, please
write to websupport@umcom.org.

Powered by United Methodist Communications http://www.UMCom.org