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Erik Alsgaard

I recently spent several days in Anaheim, Calif., working in the pressroom of the United Methodist Women?s Assembly. The quadrennial gathering attracted more than 7,000 women from around the world under the theme, 'Rise! Shine! Glorify God!'

One of my reporting assignments was unusual. For a segment called 'Taking it Home,' I was asked to interview several people working behind the scenes to find out not how they did what they did, but rather, how local United Methodist Women?s units could duplicate what they saw at Assembly back home.

It was an interesting assignment.

For one piece of the article, I interviewed Roger Sadler, the person behind the Exhibit Hall. The exhibits at Assembly are top-drawer and cover issues like peace with justice, membership in United Methodist Women, racial justice, the environment, Palestinian/Israeli issues, globalization, education and more.

He offered some tips for people to duplicate an 'exhibit hall' in their own local church. Here, in a nutshell, is what he said.

? Offer a variety of topics and experiences.

? Exhibit space is different than church or Bible study space. Church space generally consists of sitting in pews and worshiping; Bible study space is also the same; exhibit space is hands-on, tactile and visual.

? Put faces with the issues ? people are more visual today than ever before, Sadler said; use lots of images (with permission) to convey your story.

? An exhibit space can be as simple as a table with brochures, posters, banners and handouts; or as elaborate as you can make it.

Another piece of the article was about creating a prayer and meditation room. Liz Williams, a United Methodist Woman from Dallas, Texas, told me how she put together the room at Assembly, and how local UMW units could do the same.

Rule #1, was to keep everything focused on Scriptures. Rule #2, she said, was that there was no Rule #2; see rule #1.

The prayer and meditation room at Assembly was also very experiential, including a labyrinth for prayer walking, prayer shawls to wear, music to listen to, books to read, and hands to hold.

Williams told me that any local unit could set up a prayer and meditation room. Start small. She suggested, for example, simply placing an overstuffed chair in a lounge in the church, with a CD player and headphones nearby. Offer a selection of several Christian CDs for people to listen to.

Or, start a small library with a hand-full of Christian books people can check out and read. Or, establish an intercessory prayer location, where people may come either before or after worship to literally join hands with another person and pray.

Or? well, you get the idea.

Other pieces of the article were to include 'Taking it Home' segments on online giving, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, using the arts to communicate with each other and for the common good, and how doing childcare is an opportunity for Christian education.

I think this is a wonderful article I?m working on, not because it?s me writing it, but because it?s providing resources for the local church, the local United Methodist Women?s unit, to multiply what they?ve seen, heard and experienced at Assembly. It?s planting seeds.

It?s what we?re seeking to do in this newspaper, more and more.

As the Baltimore Washington Conference takes the Discipleship Adventure deeper, wider and further, we will intentionally be bringing you more and more 'how-to' stories and articles. When a local church does something that works and works well, we want to know about it so that other churches can try it for themselves.

Will everything work in every setting? No. But that?s okay. It is we who are already disciples that plant the seeds; the Holy Spirit (the catalyst) provides the 'water,' and God enables the growth.

So I?m excited to share the seeds I received at Assembly. I can?t wait to share other seeds with you here, on our Web site, www.bwcumc.org, and in e-connection, our (at least) weekly electronic newsletter. But I need your help; I need you to send me your 'seeds' so that I can scatter them in fertile soil. Send them to

What the seeds grow into we know not. That?s okay, too. Our calling, our mission, is to grow disciples, not to grow disciples that look/act/ speak/smell/behave just like us.

And it all starts with a seed.