Mixed Bag
February 11, 2025
"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:11
The Connection
Each night at dinner, our family works on the New York Times Connections puzzle together. And let me tell you — it takes all of us. Some references are only known by the kids; some references are only known by my husband and me. We are truly connected trying to figure out Connections.
Most Sunday mornings, you will hear Randy, Shelley or me say our church’s values of mission, justice, inclusion, openness, and connection. Our big church, the United Methodist Church, is a denomination, also called "the connection." Since its beginning, connection has been central to how our church functions. Methodism's founder, John Wesley, recognized the need for an organized system of accountability and developed the "connexion," a network of classes, societies, and annual conferences.
Our connectional system “enables us to carry out our mission in unity and strength" (Book of Discipline, ¶ 701). Every local church is connected to other local churches that can work together and leverage strengths in mission and ministry, allowing us to accomplish far more than any one local church or person could alone.
Our current annual conference, the Rio Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, is both a geography and a meeting. I am writing this from an annual conference clergy meeting in San Antonio. Our annual conference spans from Austin to the Rio Grande Valley; from Del Rio to Corpus. Much of Southwest Texas is in our annual conference boundaries. We have a new bishop, Bishop Cynthia Harvey, who is also the bishop for the Texas Annual Conference (East Texas and Houston). She is smart and inspiring and I hope she can come to Saint John’s soon.
As for Saint John’s and conference leadership, Randy serves on the District Trustees, District Strategy Team, and the Board of Ordained Ministry for the annual conference, the board which evaluates and encourages candidates for ordained ministry. Shelley serves in conference and national leadership for LGBTQ+ advocacy and inclusion ministries, and led annual conference worship for many years. I serve on the District Committee on Ministry along with Rev. Andy Smith and Pat Stewart. The District Committee on Ministry is the local committee that meets with people early in their ministry journey. Member Dr. Debra Johnson is a district lay servant, dedicated to leadership and care ministries. Member Pat Stewart also serves on the Rio Texas delegation, representing our annual conference at world-wide United Methodist meetings. Each of these committees require prayer, listening, leadership, and discernment.
At every level of the United Methodist connection, members come together to discern the Spirit’s leading for the church. The word “conference” is describing both the assembly of people as well as the process of discerning God's call together. In this work, we have the gift of God’s presence and the gift of each other as we seek to follow Christ. We need all of us and each of us. Connection is a value at Saint John’s and a way we United Methodists work together. Thanks be to God.
A Prayer for Connectional Work
O God, give us clean hands and pure hearts, hearts like yours, and break them for what breaks yours!
Give us strength. Be our rock, our firm foundation. Provide us with the spiritual grounding we need for the life ahead. As we build our lives on Christ, the solid rock, develop your character in us!
Give us favor with the people you call us to reach and the people you call us to be in ministry with, especially the leaders and influencers in our churches.
Give us wisdom to lead well, and discernment to sift through all of the distractions in order to focus on those things you call us to be about.
As we navigate the journey ahead, give us patience and persistence to stay the course in the midst of the challenges and obstacles that will arise during the slow-going work of transformation and revitalization.
Give us courage. Help us to follow you, even when it’s hard!
And as we serve you faithfully, give us fruit for our labor!
Through your leadership in our lives, expressed and lived out in the places we serve, create communities of faith that will be engaged in the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!
Lord, raise, equip, and empower transformational leaders for the work of your Church. Amen.
