GEN-X RISING: Can we learn to conference together? Andrew C. Thompson, May 14, 2007
Andrew C. Thompson
By Andrew C. Thompson Special Contributor
John Wesley, his brother Charles, four other Anglican priests and four lay preachers gathered together in June 1744 for a conference.
In his book Wesley and the People Called Methodists, Richard Heitzenrater writes, "The purpose of this conference was outlined in some basic questions: 'What to teach; how to teach; and what to do.' Wesley had drawn up a corresponding three-part agenda, raising particular questions on how to regulate doctrine, discipline and practice."
The 10 men spent several days working through the agenda under Wesley's direction. At the conclusion, they went out renewed for their mission in the towns and cities of England.
Each year since that first historic conference, Methodists have gathered again in a long, unbroken line of annual conferences. We are approaching that time again, as the annual conferences within the United Methodist Church will gather between late May and mid-June. In those conferences, Holy Communion will be celebrated, hymns will be sung and preaching will be heard.
Ordinations will be conferred, retirements will be celebrated, deaths will be mourned and appointments will be read.
And of course, reports will be heard, business will be transacted and petitions will be debated.
Because we are preparing to gather together again, it is worth asking ourselves how 'conference' has changed from the early days of Methodism.
Some changes are obvious; John Wesley was no democrat, it is often pointed out, and the only laity involved in his annual conferences were lay preachers.
Other changes are not so obvious. Annual conferences today tend to spend an inordinate amount of time debating resolutions on various issues. Spirited debate on various doctrinal issues certainly took place in Wesley's day. But the idea of passing a resolution as a public statement of the annual conference on a given issue is a more recent invention. It calls to mind the social gospel legacy of the later American church, but in a time when most public officials couldn't care less about what a Methodist gathering thinks about public policy, it also seems rather quaint.
I spoke recently with a retired pastor about changes he has seen in annual conferences over the years of his ministry. He points to several issues that inhibit true, Wesleyan conferencing: The enormous growth in the church's bureaucracy requires time-consuming reports. The seemingly endless debates on resolutions divide conferences into shallow, liberal/conservative camps. The jealousy over appointments keeps preachers from treating one another like brothers and sisters in the same family.
These issues have been present for a long time, of course. But my retired preacher friend believes that they have grown significantly in recent years.
The result of the breakdown of community within the annual conference is a cynicism shared by many pastors and laity toward the concept itself.
Many treat the annual conference as if it were passé. They would rather act more congregational in their approach to ministry. At best, the annual conference seems like a relic that has to be endured.
But such an attitude amounts to a repudiation of John Wesley's vision for ministry: that of a connected band of brother (and sister) preachers who gather together annually to renew, refresh and recommit to one another and to their common ministries.
The annual conference is the place where the church membership of every elder and deacon is held. It should be the place where our hearts are held as well. If we take a Wesleyan view of conferencing and of the covenant relationships that are nurtured through it, we can gain a model of how to survive and thrive in a world that is decidedly inhospitable for ministry in the church.
Dr. Heitzenrater writes of that first conference in 1744: "The length of this conference, the seriousness and thoroughness of its discussions and the broad representation of the participants indicates that this meeting was not just another gathering of friends. This conference was an organizational watershed for Wesley and the Methodists -- a gathering of their forces, a recapitulation of their ideas, a sorting out of their structure and methods, and a plan for their growth."
As it was with them, so let it be with us.
The Rev. Thompson is working on a doctoral degree at Duke Divinity School. He blogs atwww.genxrising.com.
Andrew C. Thompson
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