Are We Ready to Follow?

Have you ever said something and then said to yourself, "What did I just say!" not so much as a question but as an exclamation? That's what I did when I told Victoria Rebeck, Minnesota Conference's Director of Communications, that I wanted to do a blog about what I was experiencing at general conference and that I would begin about a month before with at least a weekly entry into my blog. First of all, I didn't have the faintest idea how to blog -- the technical aspect of it. Secondly, would I have anything to say? I knew I would have things to say once I was in Fort Worth and General Conference had begun, but what would I say beforehand?

As an English major, I was subjected to James Joyce and thus knew a little something about stream of consciousness writing even if I never could really understand what Joyce was trying to say. We all have thoughts, but would it be anything worth saying to someone else or even if it was, would anybody care?

Well, the first entry occurred late last week. I woke up at 3 a.m. today -- for some strange reason I do that from time to time even when my mind isn't particularly whirling about anything and perhaps not even turning, to say nothing about whirling. As I came more awake I realized I was thinking about leading and following. My thoughts just seemed to go to General Conference. For the last couple of General Conferences there has been some clamor for the Council of Bishops to lead. There's no question that there are some excellent leaders among our bishops, not to mention a few managers as well. Something happened in 2004, though that we still don't fully understand and won't for awhile yet. We elected a class of bishops across the United States (I don't pretend to know enough about those who were elected in other countries to make an inclusive comment.) that are taking leading seriously and have not waited any respectful moments t o say nothing about years before beginning to lead within the Council. I am proud to say that our Bishop Sally is one of those leaders. I'm pretty well-connected across this denomination and regardless of where I go and I have friends from across both the political and theological spectrums as soon as Minnesota is mentioned, and sometimes before, people begin to talk to me about our bishop. They are impressed. They have heard her speak at an order of elders meeting in their conference, at their conference session, at a seminary graduation. Regardless of the situation or reason for the gathering they are impressed because of the content of what she has to say and because of the passion and commitment that are obviously behind the message.

As we move toward General Conference 2008, it is clear that Bishop Sally Dyck, along with her episcopal colleagues on the Council of Bishops, are prepared to lead our church. They have put forth Seven Vision Pathways: 1. Teach the Wesleyan model of reaching and forming disciples of Jesus Christ. 2. Strengthn clergy and lay leadership. 3. Develop new congregations. 4. Transform existing congregations. 5. expand racial/ethnic ministries. 6. Reach and transform the lives of new generations of children. 7. Eliminate poverty in community with the poor. The question is, are we prepared to follow? You cannot have good leaders unless you have good followers. Are we willing to be good followers and embrace these areas of collaboration: Leadership, Congregational Development, Elimination of Poverty and Global Health? I've been reading the recent book, Jim and Casper Go To Church. It tells the story about a pastor and an atheist who travel across the country and write about their experiences in a variety of large and emerging churches. Casper, the atheist is always asking the question, "What do you want me to do?" As Christians we tend to be more centered on pronouncement than on action. The Council of Bishops is issuing a Call to Action: Live the United Methodist Way; Start New Churches; Reach the Children; Stamp out malaria and HIV/AIDS. Can we put aside ideology and mobilize for action?

This is our central question as a denomination! Are we prepared to follow our bishops and transform who we are as a church? Will we take seriously the call to make disciples and to live out our discipleship in world-transforming ways? Four years ago I addressed General Conference during the opening session as the Chair of the Commission on General Conference. I held up a vision of working together and loving one another as we made decisions. Any semblance of that vision had been swept aside even before I had gotten off the platform. It was obvious that there were folks present in Pittsburgh as there are at every General Conference, who had come to do battle, and battle was more important than relationships.

As I get older there is a softer side of me that suggests that it is all about relationships. Whenever we are more concerned about our position and posture on any issue than we are about our relationships we have forgotten one of the basic tenets of our movement – holy conferencing.

Positions that are shaped out of ideology tend to become more rigid. When we are more rigid we are less open to change. Sometimes fighting, regardless of the issues, has more to do with an unwillingness to change and to admit that maybe we need to change in order for a greater good to happen. We can fight about guaranteed appointment, we can fight about issues of human sexuality, we can fight about social positions. The issue doesn’t make any difference if that issue and our need to be right keeps us from going to our knees in admission that we need to change. Our church will not grow until we put the Great Commission and the Great Commandment ahead of any ideological position. Both of these "Greats" were calls to action by Jesus to his followers.