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The 40-member delegation of the Baltimore-Washington Conference met Sept. 15 to begin its preparations to help shape the future of the denomination at next year's General and Jurisdictional conferences.

One of the most interesting things about the meeting, said Delores Oden, the conference lay leader who leads the delegation, was noting the vast diversity of the group.
The delegation has 22 white, 15 black, one Asian and two Latina members. There are 22 women and 18 men, 20 clergy and 20 lay people. Its members also represent a wide range of diversity in their status, age and theological points of view.

Sixteen of these 40 members will represent the Baltimore-Washington Conference at the General Conference. They are also an inclusive delegation with seven white and nine black members, 10 women and six men.

For the first time, the delegation is being led by two women, said Oden, who is co-chairing the group with the Rev. Laura Easto, pastor of Westminster UMC.
'I'm impressed by the people the annual conference elected as delegates,' Easto said. 'We've gathered a diverse group representing many points of view. I think this will
create a strength among us.'

General Conference, held April 23 through May 2, in Fort Worth, Texas, will set the course of the church for the next four years, setting an anticipated $642 million budget, along with polity and priorities for the denomination.

The Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference will be held July 13-18 in Harrisburg, Pa. The United Methodist Church is divided into five jurisdictions in the United States and seven central conferences abroad. The jurisdictions provide programs and leadership training. Bishops are elected at the jurisdictional conferences.

At the Sept. 15 meeting at Westminster UMC, the delegation heard about four areas of focus that the denomination's Connectional Table and Council of Bishops will be endorsing at General Conference.

These areas of focus, created initially as 'provocative proposals,' could provide an emphasis for the quadrennium, explained Mike McCurry, a member of the Baltimore-Washington delegation who serves on the General Commission on Communications.

The areas of focus address a crisis in leadership; creating new churches; poverty, especially among children; and global health, particularly malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, McCurry said.

According to the United Methodist News Service, statistics indicate that the average United Methodist is 57 years old. United Methodists under age 18 account for only 4.6 percent of church members. Currently there are only 850 ordained and commissioned Elders under age 35. During the next four years, the denomination is being called upon to devise and develop ways to attract young adults to leadership positions in the church.

The second focus, on church growth, calls for 350 new churches a year in the United States, with 80 percent of those churches averaging 250 new people in worship within five years of their launch. If successful, the denomination would welcome 87,500 new members in five years.

Partnering the poor, especially children, would be considered from a holistic approach, drawing in resources from a variety of denominational boards and agencies.

The focus on global health will draw extensively on the denomination's current 'Nothing but Nets' campaign, which provides insecticide treated nets to alleviate the spread of malaria in Africa.

Many members of the delegation are hopeful the four focuses will provide a rallying point for the church that lessens the political infighting, which has occurred at past General Conferences, around such issues as homosexuality, Oden said.

Easto said she is also intrigued by the focuses. 'At General Conference we define who we are as a denomination. But then we often fail to invite local churches to own it or live it out as a denomination. The four proposals will begin to address that,' she said. 'People will be able to find their passion and pursue it.'

There is also a deep sense of discipleship implicit in each proposal, Oden and Easto agreed, making the focus on leadership, new churches, poverty and health a natural fit for the members of Baltimore-Washington Conference.

During the coming months, the delegation will be learning about a variety of issues they'll be asked to vote upon, including a study on the ministry that explores the role of deacons in full connection, among other topics.

The delegation is eager to hear from anyone with concerns or comments about General and Jurisdictional conferences. To contact them, e-mail or .