Annual Conference Reporting

The Task Force completed one phase of its responsibility/task and on a conference call on May 25 and approved the material from that phase for presentation at the conference session on June 7. Mike Ramsdell (chair of the task force) will make the presentation in a question and answer session. No action is to be taken until the called session of conference in November 2010.

I have been privileged to take part in several “restructurings” over the years. In each of these instances, we presumed that our work was done for some time to come. The structure in some of those efforts was greatly dictated by The Discipline in effect at the time. As time has gone on, more and more freedom has been granted in the way that an annual conference carries out the ministries set to its hand. Each time we vote on a structure; spend time assimilating and learning to use that new and “complete” methodology and process. As the Alignment Task Force began reviewing data and several books on the rapid and radical changes in our world and society, it became apparent that something different had to come out of our efforts. The authors and chroniclers of the day see and ever-changing landscape unfolding in front of us. I began to understand the feeling of Adam and Eve as they left Eden; when, they might have said to each other, “The world is really changing.” We were coming to realize that change is no longer (and probably will never again be) linear and sequential. It will continue to be sporadic and episodic. All of that is to say that whatever we as an annual conference do will not be a fixed position. Bishop Lowry made mention of the need to accept the reality that we will need to fine-tune the efforts by addition and deletion for the foreseeable future. He reminded us that the church is moving from a representative process model to a leadership model. I believe that we should continue to keep Isaiah 43:19 ever before us as we look with wonder on “God’s New Thing” each day.