Today was the first full day of business at the 2008 General Conference of the UMC. The three main addresses (episcopal, lay, young people) were all delivered, and then there was business-as-usual as delegates struggled to keep the business straight.
One interesting development is the new “Four Areas of Focus” for the UMC:
- Developing principled Christian leaders for the church and the world.
- Creating new places for new people and renewing existing congregations.
- Stamping out diseases of poverty by improving health globally.
- Engaging in ministry with the poor.
These four areas were gleaned from the “Seven Vision Pathways” defined by the Council of Bishops earlier this quadrennium:
- Teaching the Wesleyan model of reaching and forming disciples of Jesus Christ.
- Strengthening clergy and lay leadership.
- Developing new congregations.
- Transforming existing congregations.
- Ending racism as the church authentically expands racial and ethnic ministries.
- Reaching and transforming the lives of new generations of children.
- Eliminating poverty in community with the poor.
Thus the General Council on Finance and Administration has drawn the UMC’s budget for the next quadrennium according to these “Four Areas of Focus.”
While I appreciate the need to organize ministerial/fiscal priorities, I must admit that the Church’s language about itself often disappoints me. Perhaps I’m too aesthetically sensitive to language use (as a sophomoric undergrad, I didn’t like the word “pastoral” for some stupid reason…perhaps I thought it too “soft” and “sheepish”!), but I get tired of words like ”vision” and “focus.” I prefer traditional ecclesiastical terminology over the corporate mentality of folks like Bill Easum (who, incidentally, was referenced in today’s Laity Address).
