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BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

Prayer wove itself through every element of the 227th Baltimore-Washington Conference session, May 26-28 at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore, connecting the 1,200 lay and clergy members from 665 churches with one another, the world and with God.

More than 100 conference leaders came to the altar for prayer to renew their ministries and recommit themselves to God following the state of the church address; Lisa Jordan prayed in sign language at the ordination service, where seven people were ordained Elders, three were commissioned as provisional Deacons and 14 commissioned as provisional Elders.

Prayers of blessing were said for all of the special presenters, including Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Children’s Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman, who challenged the church to raise its voice against the injustice being done to children in this nation; and the Rev. Katie Bishop prayed before a controversial vote that God be present in the heart of each annual conference member.

More than a dozen times during its business sessions, conference members bowed their heads together in prayer led by people from diverse backgrounds and traditions; Rev. Emora Brannan prayed for the conference’s 55 honored dead, and Bishop John Schol prayed a heartfelt prayer that the church would change so that it would reach the “nominally religious,” as they seek an understanding of God outside of the traditional church. “It is to the non- and nominally religious that the church must reach out if it is to survive,” he said.

As the conference drew to a close, members prayed for and commissioned 36 delegates who will represent them at next year’s General and Jurisdictional Conferences and wrapped the delegates in prayer shawls, knit by the conference United Methodist Women. Shawls were also given to those ordained during the conference.  Leftover shawls were presented to the families of sick children at an area Ronald McDonald House, a gesture symbolizing that the faith present at annual conference flows out into the world.

Answering a Call to Action

While prayer undergirded the work of the conference, much of the focus was on the new United Methodist Call to Action, a call to address our adaptive spiritual challenges – 1) eliminating mistrust within the denomination, 2) embracing metrics and goals, 3) recruiting and developing more turn around leaders, and 4) connecting with the non and nominally religious people in our community. The key to change is creating vital congregations. All United Methodists are called to address our adaptive spiritual challenges and create vital congregations to become more vital in the world.

In his state of the church address, Bishop Schol explained that technical challenges focus on fixing problems; while adaptive challenge “forces us to face our weaknesses and vulnerabilities. It forces the people inside the church to change, to change our hearts and minds, for we have to change before we can expect others to change.

“For times such as this,” he said, “in a world besieged by war and poverty, environmental calamity and economic uncertainty, hunger and conflict – and, yes, in places, even hopelessness – God calls us to be forward-leaning people. We are not to turn away from the fierce oncoming wind. God’s challenge to us as the people of The United Methodist Church is to lean into it.”

Forward-leaning action taken

That forward-leaning leadership was reflected throughout the conference in a number of ways. During the three-day session:

+ Members collected more than $21,044 for homeless ministries in the conference and $58,866 to go to assist victims of earthquakes in Haiti and Japan and recent storms and flooding in the United States.

+ The Rev. Alfreda Wiggins of John Wesley UMC in Baltimore preached on the Ascension and connection, calling on people to “stop gazing,” and get busy, making room for everyone at God’s table.

+ Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake commended United Methodists for their heritage of spiritual development and social action, thanked them for productive partnerships and encouraged them to continue to go beyond the walls of the sanctuary to the heart of where people live.

+ The Council on Finance and Administration announced its commitment to lower the benevolence factor over the years so that in 2016 it resembles a tithe, with churches paying 10 percent of their total income. An $18.5 million budget was adopted and the benevolence factor for 2012 was decreased from 19.5 to 18 percent.

+ The Board of Pensions reported that 34 churches are not paying clergy pension and health benefits, which creates arrearages of more than $750,000 a year, and that we will no longer be able to appoint pastors to churches that are not paying the full clergy pension and health bills. It was also announced that 50 churches are facing challenges so severe it may take $2 million and several years to turn them around.

+ Conference leaders outlined eight key goals to serve local churches which include the development of a comprehensive leadership training program, assisting in repurposing buildings for mission and ministry, the enhancement of the Gateway database system and the planting of 20 new congregations over the next 10 years.

+ Children’s Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman spoke about how incarceration is becoming the new American apartheid and challenged the church to sound the alarm against the growing threat of this country’s criminalization of children. “If we believe every child is sacred, we must be out there fighting for every sacred child,” she said.

+ Sandra King Shaw reported that nearly 75 people are finishing two years of training that will enable them to be Certified Lay Ministers.

+ Betty S. Katiyo and Kennedy Mhondoro, lay leaders from Zimbabwe, shared news of the impact of the partnership between the BWC and United Methodists in Zimbabwe and gifted members with a rendition of “Amazing Grace,” sung in Shona.

+ Members voted to refer a number of petitions to the 2012 General Conference, including a resolution that gives pastors the right to determine if a same-gender marriage or civil union may be held in their church in civil jurisdictions where such unions are allowed; a resolution calling for the denomination “to end its financial involvement in Israel’s occupation by divesting from companies that sustain the occupation;” and a resolution to remove from the Discipline the statement that “the United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.”

+ At a service of transition, 28 clergy retirees, collectively representing 689 years of service, were honored.

+ A motion to discontinue payment of retiree medical costs for people newly appointed or newly hired after Dec. 31, 2011, was referred back to the Board of Pensions for a review of possible additional options.

+ Thanks were given for the ministries of the congregations John Wesley UMC in Joppa and Mahnes UMC in Berkeley Springs, W.Va., which were closed.

+ A motion concerning the struggling Albright was referred to the Cabinet for re-consideration of a new alignment.

Connecting as One

Worship experiences at the conference session, including a Service of Ordination at Lovely Lane UMC, the Mother Church of Methodism, were designed and created by a group of African-American clergy, under the leadership of the Rev. Carletta Allen. Music was provided by Mark Miller and the band Subject to Change. The worship focused on the theme of “Connect as One through Radical Hospitality.” Throughout the conference, a quilt was made that will be completed at this summer’s School of Christian Mission.

This theme of connecting reverberated throughout the prayers of conference members.

“God’s grace is bigger than anything that divides us,” said the Rev. Katie Bishop in her prayer.

Bishop Schol agreed, encouraging members to go forth to engage in dialogue and action over the hard issues of the day, daring to live as the Body of Christ. 

“I encourage you to find places in your community to talk about adaptive spiritual challenges,” the bishop said. “We can disagree and still love each other and have one heart as we seek to become more like Christ.  … I encourage you to keep on the journey. We’ll keep praying for each other as we live each day.”

The 228th session of the Baltimore-Washington Conference will be held May 30 through June 1 at the Waterfront Marriott Hotel in Baltimore.