Liz Lennox, Director of Communications SUSUMC & WPAUMC
During the second week of January, the extended cabinets from the Susquehanna, Western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia Conferences will come together at Jumonville Camp & Retreat Center in Hopwood, Pa., for their third annual joint cabinet retreat. The group will participate in professional development and strategic planning and while I can only speak for myself, I sense that others also might feel that the value of the time spent together goes beyond just the educational training we will receive.
The ability to learn, fellowship, and worship with our colleagues outside of our own conference is a gift. When we do so, we deepen the connection that is a core value of The United Methodist Church - the Book of Discipline even tells us that our connectional system “enables us to carry out our mission in unity and strength.” When we come together, we’re granted the opportunity to see different perspectives and other ways to do ministry. We leave our time together with fresh ideas, renewed vision, and an awareness that we have a team of people beyond our conference boundaries.
Last October, I had the opportunity to come together with other United Methodist communicators from around the country for the United Methodist Association of Communicators annual meeting, my first as a director of communications. I quickly recognized when talking to other communicators that we had all experienced similar challenges and frustrations, joys and triumphs. My soul felt lighter realizing that there were people I could relate to within the denomination, who knew exactly what I was experiencing and feeling. I came away assured that there are so many people who I can lean on and seek help from.
Recently, our tri-conference collaboration went beyond Conference leadership. In early November, participants from the three conferences came together for Level Up, a learning and equipping event focused on new places for new people. The seed for this event was planted in the minds of the tri-conference congregational developers (Rev. Dr. Kathleen Kind, Ken Willard, and Rev. Rob Wilson), who have been a collaborative team for over two years. The three recognized the benefit of collaboration and mutual support because of their own continued work together, and dreamt up an event that would bring local church leaders together from all three conferences.
The two-day event involved keynote speakers, workshops, worship, games, and a dinner. Participants had the opportunity to get to know new people and many took advantage. At the end of the event, the three developers anointed and sent forward the participants. Rev. Wilson recounted that some came up in groups of two and three, joining together as they took the next steps in their ministry. He shared that two women from different conferences who had just met the day before also came up to be anointed together. This moment speaks to the relationships that can be built and perfectly demonstrates the power of our connection.
Embracing your own connection doesn’t have to be across conference or jurisdictional boundaries. You can urge your congregation to take intentional steps to connect with other churches nearby; join together for worship, create a Bible study or hobby group, or develop a shared ministry. Get creative! Additionally, you may consider connecting more fully with conference-level ministries like United Women in Faith or Volunteers in Mission. There are countless opportunities to more fully live into our United Methodist connection - you never know what you might discover about yourself, your neighbor, or our beloved denomination.
