Day 3: Minister Matters, Ministers Matter

Today was my first full day of conference. It began as I left my friends’ house at about 7:30 am to catch the train into London. Before i came to this country, i had never ridden a train so the fact that i get to take one every morning is a treat. Now as I write this at 7:30pm I realize just how long of a day it was!  To be honest, though I am not as exhausted as I thought I would be or probably should be. I imagine that this will change as the week goes on, but as the saying goes, time flies when you are having fun.

Once again I got to take pictures for the first half of the day. At the end of the conference I should write a post about my favorites because today was a good picture day. There were some humorous ones and some more somber both of which make my job as a photographer fun.

John Wesley is a delegate ex officio.

Today was the last day of the Presbyteral session of conference. As a person who is looking forward to (hopefully) being ordained it was interesting to watch the presbyters at work.  One of the phrases that is used a lot in the UMC for elders (presbyters) is “covenant community.” Yesterday, during the opening prayers, the ordination vows formed the basis for some of the petitions along with the Covenant prayer. I thought that was a really nice way of reminding the gathered clergy of the things that hold them together.

I think the moment that stood out the most to me was the service of remembrance for those who had died in the past year. As I talk to many members of conference this service rivals the service of ordination as the favorite moment if worship of the week. There is something really special about celebrating not just a life well lived but one that was dedicated in service to God and God’s Church.

Candles to honor those ministers who have died in the past year.

The service was followed by a report on ministers with ill health. At one point, someone pointed out the significance of the placement intentional or not. In a lot of ways, I wish that this session had been during the full session of conference. Ministers stood up gave stories of mental burn out, family moments missed and the other sacrifices of ministry. Others, however gave moving stories of congregations that helped them protect time and held them accountable to care for themselves.

I am by no means suggesting that clergy have tougher careers than those in the pews, or that they are more busy than the average person whose time is taken up trying to make ends meet. However, statistics show that clergy in the US have more health problems than the national average and many leave ministry with their faith in pieces, and thus clergy health is something that needs to be at the forefront of the Church’s mind.

As we enter into what will be a very grueling week let us be in prayer for the Methodist Church, as well as the delegates to Conference as they make important decisions, but let us also take time to rest and pray for those people, lay and clergy, whose service to the Church costs them and their families. Let us also work to create environments where sabbath is taken seriously and rest and retreat and self-care are seen as a am important piece of a successful life and ministry.

(This is a series of blog posts during the British Methodist Conference. For other posts click here: Day 1, Day 2)

Day 2: And so it begins!

It was an easy start for me today. Because the main business of Conference began in the afternoon I got to sleep in a little and have the morning to be a bit of a tourist.  🙂

US embassy building in London

Because it was July 4th, a trip to the US embassy only made sense. It proved to be less exciting than I expected because like everything else in America it had the day off. The guards were friendly, but definitely not letting any tourists in, no matter their nationality.  I did get to enjoy the many presidential statues all around Grosvenor Square. There was FDR, Eisenhower, and Regan (not to mention the one of Lincoln next to the Houses of Parliament!)

The morning ended with a simple midday communion service at the not-so-simple St. Paul’s Cathedral. It really is a beautiful place!

Conference began after lunch with the Presbyteral (ordained Elders/minister) session. Conferences used to be only for the clergy and local preachers. As the movement grew, however, the church realized that the leadership needed to be shared with the laity–and it has been the stronger for it!

My main task was to walk around MCH and capture the feel of Conference with pictures. For a shutterbug like myself this was a dream come true! See the gallery below for some of my favorites, or go to the Methodist Church’s Flickr page for more.

Walking around I got to talk to many of the staff and volunteers who were helping to make the conference run. A little while ago a message went out to the circuits around London requesting volunteers and the people who stepped up have a passion for Methodism and a seriousness to their task. Methodist Central Hall is a very open place, so as one woman told me her job was to “help the right people in and keep the wrong people out.”

In the session, the highlight for me, and many, was the pastoral address given by the outgoing president of Conference, Mark Wakelin (click here to listen). He reminded the presbyters of three simple truths:

1. God is God
2. God is with us
3. God believes in us.

There is going to be a lot of business done in the following days which is the result of the decline in membership of the Methodist Church in Britain. This reality can be responded to in many ways, however, I believe that if we as faithful people of God (who are also called Methodist) can  keep those three truths in mind we will witness God doing amazing things in and through our churches and the wider Connexion.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

(This is a series of blog posts during the British Methodist Conference. For other posts click here: Day 1)

Day 1: Holy Conferencing

Greetings from London! Over this year, London has become one if my favorite cities. It is full of life and has a sort of personality to it that I cannot really describe. Every other time I have been here I have always been a tourist, showing people the main sights. This time, however, I have a job to do.  I am helping with the media team at the British Methodist church’s Annual conference.

Conferencing is one of the defining features of Methodism. Ever since John Wesley gathered his local preachers for the first time in 1744 Methodists have gathered together yearly (if not more often!) to share in fellowship, worship, but most importantly to make decisions about the future direction of the movement.  My first Annual Conference in 2007 was where I made my First public declaration of my call to ministry, so these meetings will always have a place in my heart.

Site of Conference 2013

Conference this year is at the Methodist Central Hall. It is a beautiful venue right across from Westminster Abby in the heart of London. As I walked in from the train station past the Eye and Big Ben it was hard to believe that this was my life!

I am really looking forward to experiencing how our British cousins do Annual Conference. There will be a lot of things that are the same. Budgets need to be passed, elections need to be had and presentations need to be made about the various ministries of the church. There will also be a lot of things that are different.  A president will run the meeting instead of a Bishop, the Archbishop of Canterbury will be addressing the Conference and nature of the issues will be different as well. The best part, however, is that I will have the front row seat to it all. As part of the media team, I will be keeping the website up to date as the conference goes on, live tweeting conference events, helping with speakers and anything else that the team needs me to do. The days are going to be long, but my commute to and from London will provide some time to write and reflect on the days events. If you would like to follow the events of Conference you can go to: http://www.methodistconference.org.uk or follow #methconf on Twitter. You will undoubtedly see me and many of my friends on there with updates, thoughts and more than a few humorous asides. It is going to be a great time!

(This is a series of blog posts during the British Methodist Conference. For the following posts click here: Day 2)