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NEWS AROUND THE NATION/WORLD

By Richard Peck
United Methodist News Service

An annual state-of-the-church report will be presented to members of the United Methodist Church around the world.

That's the first major decision made by the newly created 'Connectional Table,' meeting Jan. 20-23.

The 60-member body is comprised of staff executives and officers of denominational agencies and representatives of ethnic caucuses and jurisdictions around the world. Among them is Sandy Ferguson, an associate council director for the Baltimore-Washington Conference.

The Connectional Table was created last April by General Conference, the top legislative body of the 11-million member denomination. Delegates to that gathering eliminated the General Council on Ministries, a Dayton, Ohio,-based agency that had served as the program coordinating agency since the Methodist Church and Evangelical United Brethren Church merged in 1968

General Conference delegates made it clear that the Connectional Table would represent a new way of discerning and articulating a vision for the global church. The table was also asked to ensure that the church is a careful steward of resources for mission and ministry.

Bishop John Hopkins of the Ohio East Area was named by the Council of Bishops to serve as chairman of the Connectional Table. In his opening remarks, Hopkins noted that the church is in the liturgical season of Epiphany, when wise men visited the Christ child and returned to their homes by another way.

'We are modern magi who have come to experience God's love, and our expectations are high,' Hopkins said. 'I don't expect the journey of the Connectional Table will be easy, but our goal is to help people know who Jesus is.'

The advantage of having people from around the world gather about a common table became apparent following a report on a recent visit to Indonesia by the Rev. R. Randy Day, top staff executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries.

After Day told of the need to rebuild churches in Banda Aceh and Meulaboh, Bishop Michael Coyner of the Indiana Area pledged $150,000 to rebuild a church/community center/clinic in Banda Aceh, where the Dec. 26 tsunami killed more than 92,000 people. The Rev. Carl Schenck, pastor of the 3,500-member Manchester (Mo.) UMC and a member of the Connectional Table, followed suit by pledging $50,000 of the $100,000 needed to build a similar facility in Meulaboh, where 80 percent of the town was destroyed and most of the 50,000 residents died.

Throughout the four-day gathering, table members met in 10 covenant groups, which will continue to convene at the table's next seven meetings for the next three years. In these groups, members shared hopes and dreams for the newly created body.

Ferguson said that she was excited about the process the Table used throughout the meeting. 'We're not putting old wine into new wine skins,' she said.

The gathering's agenda was established by a 10-member Transition Team, chaired by Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher.

That group also handled all the details related to closing the GCOM offices in Dayton. The building, which once housed offices of the Evangelical United Brethren Church before the 1968 merger, is on the market with an estimated value of almost $1 million. With few tenants still occupying the building, the church is operating the structure at a loss of $5,000 a month.

With help from Irene Howard, general counsel for the denomination's General Council on Finance and Administration, the Transition Team transferred all GCOM assets and liabilities to denominational trustees and drafted articles of incorporation for the Connectional Table. Individual severance dates were set for each of the 13 GCOM employees, with the last person terminated Dec. 31. Team members expressed thanks to Dan Church, former top staff executive of GCOM, who helped the team through the process of closing the agency.

Hopkins told members that he had developed a checklist for the Connectional Table:

• Confront reality and discern a vision for the church.
• Focus on Christian formation with the Council of Bishops, including Kerygma (proclaiming the Gospel), Kononia (developing nurturing communities) and Diakonia (engaging in servant ministries).
• Form a respectful learning community.
• Appreciate the strength of the church at all levels.
• Understand the flow of resources in the church.
• Understand the work of general agencies.
• Understand how conferences develop healthy churches.
• Support efforts to coordinate programs and budgets.
• Share a vision with the 2008 General Conference.