Dear Church,
Grace and Peace to You.
First, let me pray that you are all well and safe after yesterday’s storms. Our evening picnic was cancelled as we all huddled down in safe places. We pray that you, too, were safely sheltered under the wings of God.
There is something powerful when 2000+ Christians meet together for holy conferencing. There is such a strong feeling that God is at work among us.
Today was a long day of celebrations of ministry and hard conversations about the business end of being church. We heard inspiring reports from our Conference Connectional Table’s work to help local churches create intentional, context appropriate Disciple-Making Ways. Reports from the Methodist Home for Children, our Institutions, which include UM Camps and Retirement Homes, Campus Ministries, and Higher Education (highlighting our Methodist related schools) helped show us how broad the ministries of the UMC in NC really are.
Your Lay Member, Adam, is doing such a good job of being part of the Connection. His friendships from UNC Wesley Fellowship have followed him here, and I understand that tonight he was invited to join the young clergy’s dinner. Adam and I are looking forward to sharing Conference with you Sunday as we gather for worship.
The Bishop’s Office announced a new initiative that I will look forward to sharing in more depth with you called ” The Hannah Project.” If you recall, once barren Hannah dedicated her son, Samuel, to the Lord. The Conference Hannah Project calls us to cultivate a culture of call to ministry among the youth of our congregations, dedicating ourselves to the Lord through servant ministry.
Holy Conferencing takes time, and this afternoon, Bishop Hope gracefully led us through some difficult conversations as we made decisions regarding Past Service Liabilities, Insurance, and Equitable Compensation.
Again, I pray that you are all okay after yesterday’s storms.
May God’s Peace guide you through this new day.
Peace,
PG+