 Annual
Conference 2005 Report: Day 1
Rocky Mountain Conference Completes First Full Day; Cabinet Changes
Announced
The Rocky Mountain Conference of The United Methodist Church is
meeting at the Renaissance Hotel in Denver with the theme of "Growing
The Church." The logo of the 2005 Conference is a tree with
its roots in the United Methodist cross and flame. This report hopefully
will give those of you who are interested but are not here something
of the flavor and some highlights of the events. A much shorter summary
will be provided at the conclusion of the Conference.
The Conference completed the first full day of business with a special
worship service this evening. The service featured a combined Korean
Choir made up of members from Asbury and Christ-Central Korean UMCs.
Directed by Myung Soo Lee, the choir sang in Korean "It Is Well
With My Soul" and "The Pilgrim's Song" (a traditional
Korean song).
Preaching at tonight's service was Bishop Jeremiah Park, from the
New York Area. He chose Romans 12:1-2, and spoke of the need for
transformation: of the world and of our churches, if we are to grow.
Bishop Park told a number of stories with grace and humor, noting
the difficulties of preaching in a language not one's native tongue.
Park highlighted the decline of the membership of the UMC, falling
from 11.5 million in 1968, at the formation of The UMC, to 8.2 million
US members (+1.75 million outside the US). He pointed out that this
decline is not inevitable, but can be reversed if we "catch
the waves" that God is sending our way (using the images of
Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose-Driven Church").
Calling for the transformation of the church, he said that if we
get stuck in "the seven last words of the church ('we've never
done it that way before')" we become irrelevant. He pointed
out that Charles Wesley's greatest fear about the people called Methodist
was that they would become irrelevant.
Bishop Park recalled a statement by Bishop Johnson, "Transformation
comes when the culture of the church changes," and then outlined
3 "waves" of culture change needed for the transformation
of the church. First, there is a yearning for leadership, and the
culture change needed is a change in expectations for our leaders,
from low to high. Second, the wave of diversity needs to be caught,
with a change from inwardly-focused hospitality to outwardly focused
hospitality with intentional inclusiveness. Third, we need to catch
the wave of mission opportunities, moving from a maintenance to a
mission priority.
He ended the reflections with a story about himself as a 5-year-old
in Korea being attacked by a rooster. His father went with him back
to confront the rooster, which left him alone after that, because
the rooster now knew that young Jeremiah "had a power greater
than I with me." This was to be our metaphor for our confidence
in facing our challenges.
The day began with a Missions Parade: members of churches from around
the conference carrying signs representing mission activities of
their churches.
After some housekeeping items of the opening session, Bishop Brown
addressed the body, urging us to listen better to each other, especially
when we are sure we are right, to move beyond the polarizations of
various issues to true dialogue. Continuing themes from last night's
sermon, he urged us to develop a passion for welcoming: since we're
not the host of the gatherings of the church, we didn't get to make
the guest list. God is the host, and God invites people who make
us uncomfortable and people who don't look like us.
Bishop Brown cited some statistics which are signs of hope in our
Conference: of the 257 churches in the RMC, 52 have shown growth
in worship and membership; 33 in worship attendance and 36 in membership.
He pointed out that RMC has 12 churches with membership greater than
1000, which is more large churches than any other Conference in the
Western Jurisdiction.
He said that "we are called to stand on the promises of our
God, not sit on the premises we've inherited." He invited Rocky
Mountain Conference churches to "live into a vision of a community
that welcomes all."
Dan O'Neill, Conference Treasurer, reported that RMC churches had
given over $487,000 to the Tsunami earthquake relief, which he said
was phenomenal.
He highlighted the treasurer's report printed in the program booklet,
and then moved to an explanation of the new pension program which
will be initiated in 2007. He pointed out that we are United Methodists,
not United Airlines, that we have even some overfunding in the part
of our pension program that covers the defined benefits for pre-1982
service.
He pointed out that the best way to control health insurance rates
is to get healthy, and joked that lunch would be celery today.
The report on the proposed budget, also printed in the program booklet,
was given by Paul Murphy-Geiss, chair of the Conference Council on
Finance and Administration (COFA). The new budget represents a 4.25%
increase over last year and it is divided now into 3 categories:
Benevolence and Program Ministries, Spiritual Leadership Ministries,
and Administrative Ministries.
Ignacio Castuera, UM clergy and chaplain for Planned Parenthood,
brought greetings and commented that the religious right had succeeded
in demonizing the organization, and suggested that the UMC social
principles in fact support some of the work of Planned Parenthood.
Randy Jessen, senior pastor of First UMC in Colorado Springs, in
a point of personal privilege objected to Castuera's characterization
that Colorado Springs was "out of step" with UM positions.
Bishop Brown reminded the community that applause sets up a contentious
and polarizing atmosphere, and that during debate no applause would
be allowed.
Completing an action begun at last year's annual conference, Tim
Reickhof-Faris, director of the Templed Hills Camp and Retreat Center,
reported on the plan for growth for the camp, and what progress had
been made.
The Bishop expressed appreciation for the members of the cabinet
during an especially challenging year. He announced the leaving of
John Thompson for local church ministry (Park Hill); Steve Burnett,
Dean, moving to Mile High/Pikes Peak as interim DS; Eric Smith joining
the cabinet to serve Peaks and Plains; and the leaving of Nobuko
Miyake-Stoner on October 1 to serve an ethnic Japanese church in
Honolulu.
The bishop pointed out that these changes were to respond to the
passion for mission and the needs of local churches, and that interim
leadership for Metro district would be announced later.
The Cabinet report focused on the processes of management that are
central to their work and the values that they affirm. The report
closed with a quote from the book "Trust" by Francis Fukuyama
(NY: The Free Press, 1995): "Any society that has to enforce
compleance carries more overhead than one in which relationships
voluntariliy work together."
The final part of the morning session was the learning time brought
by Kent Millard, senior pastor of St. Luke's UMC in Indianapolis.
He challenged churches to create more open congregations where everyone
is welcome. He pointed out that "passion + vision = transformation."
After special meals, members of the Conference worked on petitions
in legislative groups. The results of these groups will be reported
as they are dealt with by the body.
Gratitude to Alane Currier Griggs, who contributed to this report.
Blessings,
Ben Roe
Information Administrator
RMCUMC
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