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BY ERIK ALSGAARD
UMCONNECTION STAFF

As the first of three 2006 Leadership Days began Jan. 14 in Inwood, W.Va., with Bishop John R. Schol teaching on spiritual leadership, more than 420 people gathered to go deeper on the Discipleship Adventure.

By the time all three Leadership Days had finished, another 2,000 people had joined their ranks.

Leadership Days, an annual training event for local church leaders, was held in three locations around the Baltimore-Washington Conference. A session in Baltimore drew more than 900 people, and the final session Feb. 4 outside Washington, D.C., drew more than 1,000.

'This year, a lot of Leadership Days hits home for the local church,' said J.T. Blake, pastor of Asbury UMC in Hagerstown. 'We can actually take this home and it?s real practical.'

For Cindy Gunderson, member of Hedgesville UMC in Hedgesville, this was her first time at Leadership Days.

'It?s just wonderful,' she said over lunch. 'I went to a wonderful class this morning on ?Leadership 101.? When I took my leadership position at church, I was afraid I wasn?t leadership material, but the teacher really instilled some confidence that I could learn how to be a leader.'

The meaning of discipleship

Bishop John R. Schol used his morning plenary time at each session to reflect on the meaning of being a disciple. The plenary followed a 90-minute class time where participants could choose from one of more than 40 classes.

Using the biblical story of Zaccheus from Luke 19, Bishop Schol said that just because you are a United Methodist church member doesn?t mean you?re a disciple of Jesus.

'Just because you?re a believer doesn?t mean you?re a disciple,' the bishop said. 'Just because you?re a Christian doesn?t mean you?re a disciple.'

Disciples, the bishop said, put the life of Jesus into practice every day and engage in five things throughout their lives. Disciples: celebrate in worship, connect as one, develop their faith, serve like Christ, and share their faith. These five pieces are the elements of the Discipleship Adventure.

Taking the Discipleship Adventure one step further, discipling congregations center all their activity in Christ, the bishop said, engage worshipers in the full Adventure, and become centers where people 'make clocks.'

'Wouldn?t it be amazing,' the bishop asked, 'if you knew someone who, at any moment, in any place in the world, could know the exact date and time of where they were? Wouldn?t that be amazing?'

The church today, he said, is really good at producing these kinds of people, which the bishop called 'time tellers.'

What the church needs instead, the bishop said, are 'congregations that are ?clock builders.?'

In other words, congregations need to be created that have systems in place that will enable discipling leaders to create more disciples and help bear Acts 2 fruit, the bishop said.

Noting that several items in today?s church gums up the works of clock building, the bishop said as an example, 'Some of you have my permission not to call meetings anymore until you start making disciples.'

Spiritual leaders, he noted, do three things in helping to pursue the vision of becoming like Christ and create systems in local churches: honor because of the vision; disturb around the vision; and align everything with the vision.

'Honoring the past and the present builds relationships,' Bishop Schol said. 'It shows that leaders care about those whom they serve. Honoring helps to increase understanding and equip others for the Discipleship Adventure.'

But these leaders also need to disrupt at certain times; to open things up. 'All the time, spiritual leaders should be looking at other leaders in the church to open them up to the possibilities that God has for them,' the bishop said as one example.

And spiritual leaders align. 'Getting the right people in the right seats,' the bishop said.

A careful balance between the three must be maintained, he said. Too much of one or two of these items and the system will bog down.

Discerning faithful opportunities

In the afternoon session, local church leaders sat with their own church members to discuss questions and topics lifted up by the Rev. Rod Miller, director of connectional ministry, the Rev. Helen Fleming, assistant to the bishop for leadership development, and the Rev. Rodney Smothers, director of congregational development.

Fleming led a teaching exercise on discernment, showing how a persons? emotion, intellect, will, self and God must be aligned in order to follow where God is leading.

Miller explored the faithful opportunities each church and each person has had in their past and will have in their future in making disciples.

And Smothers shared a powerful story of being told where to stand on a train station platform, waiting for a train to arrive, by a woman who turned out to be blind. He used this as an illustration that faithful opportunities to engage in the Discipleship Adventure may not be nice and neat.

'We just have to let go sometimes as we move into the future,' he said. 'What are you willing to relinquish to gain Christ?'