 Annual
Conference 2007: Making The Invisible Visible
Embracing diversity *
Racial Acceptance *
Celebrating inclusiveness
June 13-16, 2007, Denver
Thursday, June 14
Thursday Afternoon Plenary Hears Budget Process
Each plenary is begun and ended with a prayer by a member of the
Conference representing thediversity of people in this 3-state
region.
Thursday afternoon, the Conference Council on Finance and Administration
presented the process of developing a conference budget as well as
the proposed budget for 2008. The budget process has changed this
year, focussing not on a budget that will be developed and then reduced
to 70% or 80% "spendable" according to the income from
apportionments. Instead, the income for 2008 is proposed to come
from a "church tithe" of 10 or 11% of most of local church
income (previous e-mails have described this in more detail).
Based on projected income, a budget of $5.77 million was described
with verbal and video presentations. Included in this budget is a
- General Church apportionment of 1.7 million, or 29%;
- Conference Benevolences (the program of the Conference, "where
the conference works to make a difference") of $1.131
million or 19%;
- Spiritual Leadership (to develop, train, deploy and support
spiritual leadership, including pension and retirement benefits);
and
- Administration of $655,000 or 11%.
The $5.77m represents a 14% increase over what was actually paid
of last year's apportionments.
The "church
tithe" method of supporting the Conference
budget was then presented.
Legislative Committees Work Through Petitions
Thursday afternoon also held the legislative committees, each one
taking several of the proposed legislation, "petitions," for
the Conference to consider. Each assigned piece was presented, amended
sometimes, and debated before being either approved for passage on
a "consent calendar" by the whole body or not approved.
The consent calendars were presented and approved on Friday.
As an example, legislative committee E was given AC06, Equitable
Salary; AC21, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice; and
GC53 and 54, Prohibiting Discrimination in Receiving Members (one
for
the Book of Discipline and one for the Constitution). During the
discussion of each petition, valuable points were raised and either
resolved with information or discussed.
Sometimes typographical errors were discovered with resultant amendments.
Sometimes the petition would be modified considerably, as AC21
was, to where it changed from "prayerful consideration" of withdrawal
from the RCRC, to requesting withdrawal.
Results of Conference action on these petitions will be reported
with Friday's report.
Balloting Adds Suspense
The balloting for the General and Jurisdictional Conference delegations
always adds suspense to the meetings. The laity process involves
lay persons completing documents which give each a chance to identify
who they are and something of their view of important issues. The
clergy process this year included a place on the web-based Community
Bulletin Board where clergy could write about their interest and
availability, or support specific candidates with their own witness.
The first ballot was taken at the Thursday evening plenary, after
a prayer by Anne Marshall, Native American (Creek) who spoke at the
Native American Ministries lunch.
And after many instructions. That ballot was counted and reported
that night, with Josh Davies being elected on the first lay ballot.
There was no clergyperson elected yet.
The cabinet report closed the evening.
Members challenged to embrace
opportunities for Native Amercan Ministry
by Stu Davis, Communications Intern
Former General Secretary
of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Concerns and Muskogee
Creek Tribe member Anne Marshall
spoke
at an Annual Conference Session luncheon Thursday, urging those
attending to go back to their congregations truly embracing
this year's Annual
Conference session theme.
"
Making the invisible visible, embracing diversity, racial acceptance
and celebrating inclusiveness," Marshall echoed. "That's
a wonderful and ambitious focus. How many of you will remember
that next year? And how will you live this theme out in your
neighborhoods when you leave this place?"
Drawing on examples from her heritage, Marshall explained how
the Church can seem foreign--even foreboding--to Native people.
She explained
that her anscestors were Creek Indians from Georgia--before
being forcefully relocated to Oklahoma--some of whom may have
heard
the evangelistic preaching of John Wesley during the early
days of his
ministry.
" My mother's people were all Christians; my father showed me how you
could embrace both its teachings and those of the Indian ceremonial
grounds. He used to say that part of knowing who you are is remembering
that we Native Americans were spiritual people long before the
Methodists came along. 'They can take our land, and our culture, but they can
never take our spirit away,' he used to say."
She reminded the gathering that to Native Americans, everything
is about relationships: with nature, with God and Creator,
and with
each other. She suggested looking and listening to the children
of the world for the way to live our lives. "They embrace and accept
each other no matter what," she said.
Marshall also cautioned those who might be launching a Native
American ministry in their local churches to be patient, since
Native peoples
tend to be good at listening and waiting and slow to trust
those that are not part of their inner circles. She suggested
a minimum
three year period.
" Spend time listening to the stories, discover needs and wants, develop
trust. Find out what you can do as congregations to meet needs
and what you can do in worship to attract others who are different from
you."
She urged those in attendance to serve on the conference committee
on Native American ministries and to do what they can in their
local congregations to foster the outreach, reminding them
that there is
a significant Native poplulation within the Rocky Mountain
Conference that is unchurched. One way of attracting them may
be through
a process of repentence, one that will be part of the 2012
General Conference.
In the meantime, she suggested two actions towards this goal. "Look
at who you elect to General and Jurisdictional Conferences: do they
make the invisible visible, do they embrace diversity and racial
inclusiveness?" She also suggested that local churches do
what they can to foster reconciliation through outreach to Native
Americans.
"
If we're going to have reconciation in the church," she said, "we
need to have active repentence...In the meantime, lets live it,
lets create new ministries, repent, reconcile and become children
of God...together."
Missions celebrated at packed Hope UMC dinner
Every seat was filled in the Hope UMC social hall for Thursday
evening's Annual Conference Session Missions dinner, where leaders
were recognized,
churches recognized for their mission work, and the Conference
celebrated for having the greatest number of workdays (over 6,600)
given in mission
work of all conferences in the Western Jurisdiction.
Conference Bishop Warner Brown thanked the Conference for its "wonderful
mission work," commenting that we are more effective when our
missions are coordinated together.
"
If we only focus on what's happening in our own congregations, we
will starve. When we support missions and missionaries in the myriad
of ways we do, we will see the transforming power of God's love."
Keynote speaker the Rev. Dr. Donald Messer, executive director, Center
for the Church and Global AIDS, based his address "Dancing in
Hope: Positive People Changing the World" on a sign near an
AIDS-ravaged village in Kenya that reads "MAPP." Messer
explained that the sign is an acronym for the Meru Association of
Positive People, and continued by explaining that when this group
gathers you realize the double-meaning in its name, since many of
those who attend are HIV Positive, and others are just positive people.
After reciting some alarming statistics about the worldwide AIDS
epidemic, Messer celebrated the fact that we can make a difference,
because "we are a people of courage and anger." He celebrated
the United Methodist Church's presence in Kenya, stations in Angola,
missions and hospitals in Asia and presence around the world.
"
This is not a time for despair, for gloom and doom, we're going to
do our part and join in partnerships with other agencies and governments
and we can and will change the world. We are going to fulfill the
command of Jesus."
Messer told the story of how this was realized in India, a country
that would give medical treatment to individuals with leprosy but
didn't want a thing to do with AIDS. He cited the failure of the
church to deal with those of other sexual orientations, of intravenous
drug users, etc. But the church did make a difference, it stepped
in and now 40,000 AIDS patients are under tratment in India.
He urged the Church to "break the silence of the pulpit" and
address HIV/AIDS and other difficult issues that too often remain
unspoken in our congregations.
"
I invite all of you to find ways to respond and share the wonderful
fellowship and love we have as Christians," Messer said. "Truly
we can be the METHODIST Association of Positive People and we WILL
change the world.
Churches recognized for missions work
The following churches were recognized at Thursday's Missions Dinner
as having a Missionary Covenant Relationship. This is a relationship
in which a church provides financial ($2500 or $5 per church
member per year) and prayer support to a UM missionary.
First UMC, Casper WY; Fort Morgan UMC; Aldersgate UMC, Brigham
City, UT; Crossroads UMC, Grand Junction; Trinity UMC, Kearns,
UT; First
UMC, Glenwood Springs; Delta, CO UMC; Christ UMC, Salt Lake City;
Steamboat Springs UMC; Estes Park UMC; First UMC, Greeley; First
UMC, Limon, CO; First UMC, Loveland, CO; Howard UMC, Woodrow, CO;
Mountain View UMC, Boulder; St. Paul's UMC, Boulder; Castle Rock,
CO UMC; Central UMC, Colorado Springs; East UMC, Colorado Springs;
First UMC, Colorado Springs; Good Shepherd UMC, Security, CO; Littleton,
CO UMC; Mountain View UMC, Woodland Park, CO; Parker, CO UMC; St.
Paul's UMC, Colorado Springs; Applewood Valley UMC, Golden, CO;
and Trinity UMC, Denver.
Applewood Valley UMC in Golden, Christ UMC in Salt Lake City, and
Estes Park UMC were recognized as Global Mission Partners: churches
that have a Missionary Covenant Relationship and pay 100 percent
of apportionments, provide financial support to a person in mission
in their own country and tell the mission story to other churches.
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