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By Melissa Lauber
UMConnection Staff

Equipping lay leaders as they bring the Discipleship Adventure to their churches was the theme of a training event that drew more than 250 people to the Conference Center in Columbia March 31.

The conference?s nine district lay leaders led the session. They have been studying together for the last nine months with the Rev. Helen Fleming, assistant to the bishop for leadership development.

'Find your passion, so you?re working for Jesus Christ,' Fleming advised the leaders about focusing their ministries. 'Who you are should be aligned with what you are called to do as a child of Christ.'

She also encouraged the church lay leaders to focus on their own spiritual growth and maturity as they begin working with district lay leaders to equip their congregations to become Acts 2 churches.

'We need serving hearts, not controlling hearts. And we need leadership with integrity,' she said.

Strong spiritual leaders are essential if churches are to withstand the disruptions that occur in the process of growing into disciple-making churches, Fleming said. 'Are you ready for God to shake the house you?re in?'

The development of lay ministry will occur on a regional basis, Fleming explained, as church lay leaders meet with their district counterparts in the Baltimore, Washington, Western and Annapolis-Southern regions of the conference.

This regional alignment reflects the new alignment of the conference, which is seeking to focus ministry and the making of disciples on the local church level, explained the Rev. Eugene Matthews, dean of the Cabinet.

Churches in the Baltimore-Harford, Baltimore North and Baltimore West districts are in the new Baltimore Region. Those in the Annapolis and Washington East districts are in the Annapolis-Southern Region. Congregations in the Washington-Columbia and Wash-ington West districts are part of the Washington Region and those in the Frederick and Cumberland-Hagerstown districts are in the new Western Region.

During the daylong training, participants also watched a two-act play, 'We?ve Come this Far by Faith,' written by Marvin Wamble of the Washington East District and performed by the district lay leaders.

The play tells the story of the church council of United UMC and its journey to adopt the Discipleship Adventure.

The characters in the play explain: 'The Discipleship Adventure is about making disciples. It?s about reaching the lost and developing Acts 2 churches. It?s also about moving forward with the work of the Lord and dong what churches should be doing: bringing people to Christ.'

Using the principles of celebration, connection, development, service and faith-sharing, United UMC discovers how change can 'usher in a new day' in the church and community.

As the play drew to a close, Baltimore-Washington Conference Lay Leader Delores Oden prayed: 'We believe that churches in this conference can and will change, church by church, by adopting the principles of the Discipleship Adventure.

'It really is about what we should be doing all the time: loving one another and spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ by honoring, disrupting and aligning with the vision,' Oden said. 'We?ve come this far by faith. Let our faith adventure continue as we grow deeper, further and wider in Christ.'