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BY TERRI COFIELL

Ask 10 United Methodists to define "mission" and you might end up with 10 different answers. Go to Google or an online dictionary and the results could be the same. For some, the word evokes images of 19th century Christians setting off for distant shores to advance the Gospel (and, often, western imperialism). For others, "mission" means traveling with a group to another nation to build a school or to another state to repair a storm-damaged home. To another, "mission" means planting a church and, to yet another, taking canned peaches to the local food bank.

So what will it mean for 15,000 "missionaries" from the Baltimore-Washington Conference to come together the weekend of Oct. 8-10 with the denominational mandate to "Change the World?"

It will mean fulfilling our United Methodist mission to "make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world," itself a restatement of our Lord's Great Commission in Matthew 28. It will mean teaching and doing and reaching others as Jesus did: hands on, no holds barred. And it may look different in every community within our conference bounds.

Harmony UMC is located in a rural area now considered a bedroom community for Baltimore and Washington. We aren't close to a soup kitchen or homeless shelter, so we are organizing teams to do home repair for our low-income neighbors. Our youth will participate in a Saturday CROP Walk for hunger with the Berkeley County Cluster. Between now and October, we hope to identify projects suitable for every age group in the congregation, trusting the old adage that God doesn't always call those who are best equipped, but will always equip those who answer God's call. We'll hold a brief commissioning on Sunday, Oct. 9, before sending our disciples into the community to serve. If you think "Imagine No Malaria" is catchy, think what a hit "Imagine No Sermon" will be!

Perhaps re-thinking Sunday morning worship as a launch-pad for the more down and dirty work of discipleship rankles your Sabbath sensibilities; if so, I commend to you the 11th and 12th chapters of Matthew and the words — and actions — of our Lord: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice…. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath." (Oh, you'd better stay out of Wal-Mart, KFC, and M&T Stadium that day before voicing an objection.)

Do I expect universal approval for upending our regular schedule? By no means. Will this stop us from trying something new in order to bring the Falling Waters community to Jesus Christ by bringing Jesus Christ to the community in a profound and unprecedented way? By no means. My hope is to have us gather in the evening for a service of celebration and thanksgiving — smack in the middle of football season. With God, nothing is impossible.

What will mission look like in your backyard? Ask God to show you what needs to be done wherever you live, and do it to the glory of our foot-washing, mob-feeding, Sabbath-healing Savior, Jesus Christ. If you're still struggling to understand "mission," I'll share with you my favorite illustration, written by then 15-year-old Tyler Giles, when he returned from a week of hands-on discipleship at Camp Joy: "God can send his message through us. God does work miracles, and I'm so glad to have been able to make a miracle happen for the four houses we worked on."

Imagine 15,000 United Methodists as the conduits for 15,000 messages and miracles from God! You might be someone's miracle — the answer to someone's prayer. And you just might change the world.

The Rev. Terri Cofiell is pastor of Harmony UMC in Marlowe, W. Va.