I attended as a lay delegate from Riverview United Methodist Church in Brooklyn Park. I am also an Inquiring Candidate for Ministry with my eye on becoming a local pastor.Upon arriving on the evening of Tuesday, June 2 I was able to make it to the 7:30 p.m. worship service. After checking into my Bed and Breakfast I scurried over to the Ritchie auditorium on the Saint Cloud State University campus. I ran into my mentor Rev. Bill Eaves from Anoka United Methodist, one of many "connections" I would make.

 

The worship was lovely, and we all took communion. The retiring clergy were honored, and I stayed around to listen to the speeches. It was also with great sadness that I learned of the death of Rev. Sue Zabel. I had known her when she was at United Theological Seminary and had played guitar for her and she played flute. She was very talented and a wonderfully warm person who was very helpful to me when I first attended United.

 

Wednesday morning was filled with Plenary, Laity, and worship. What I found most interesting was the Laity session in which we were introduced to the Russian Conferences Superintendent from St. Petersburg, Russia. He gave a fascinating presentation of one who lived during the Soviet Union and now more democratic Russia. In his conference there are approximately 11 churches that worship between 8-80 people. A partnership was proposed with the Minnesota Annual Conference and the Russian Conference to exchange resources and people to help their tiny churches grow. The main problem the Russian Conferences struggle with is worship space (or the lack thereof). In Russian society, he explained, a building is very important as there is an emphasis on the church being a "building" or place. It is hoped through this partnership that such buildings can be constructed.

 

We met in the afternoon for Conferencing groups as each person was assigned a conferencing group. The group I was assigned to was of little interest to me as it was a very non-controversial item regarding the merging of a position. We were able to attend other conference groups if we were interested in them, although if it was not the group you were assigned to you would be given voice but no vote. I attended a group on a rather bizzare Action Item suggesting that the clergy be 100% responsible for dependent health care, retired clergy be 100% responsible for any health care over and above Medicare, and that the clergy be responsible for 50% of all utilities, as well as some issues with the Cafeteria Plan. Being that I am looking at becoming clergy, this session interested me. The action item was recommended for rejection after some discussion. It seems to me that Conferencing Groups can get a little out of hand as we set about amending and amending until I pointed out and another beside me did that this was not really an item we were in favor of and we would save a lot of time to just reject it. It was rejected 22-0.

 

Being that we finished with our group early, I had the afternoon off from about three pm until worship that evening at 7:30. I found a really good sub shop. Also during this day, I made connections with Rev. Linda Kohlman (North UMC), Rev. Judy Myers (Champlin UMC), Chatted with Kathi Mahle briefly, David Bard (he was my polity instructor), and kept running into 5 of the other polity students that were in my class this last term at United.

 

By far the highlight of the day and the Conference for me was the sermon by Vance P. Ross, the Associate General Secretary of the General Board of Discipleship. He spoke at the Service of Reconciliation in which the church was acknowledging the sins of racism. Many speakers spoke,and Rev. Ross spoke on connection. His emphasis on the first church as described in Acts and how it differs from today's church was startling. I bought a copy of his address and have watched it a few times since. His topic was starting the "Love Takeover." He also drove home the point that Christianity is not a solitary endeavor, and nowhere in the Christ's teachings does it state that we are to go it alone. It was fantastic.

 

Thursday, June 3 brought more morning worship and an address from the Conference speaker who had been drawn at random last year. Then we began more celebrations of ministries, Plenary sessions, and commissioning.  We also took action on many action items, most notably a Unity Resolution in which we agreed, in essence, to disagree on those more controversial points.

 

An action item was passed that spoke against pre-emptive military strikes. This was a volitile item, yet eventually passed. It basically states that it is immoral to start wars, and that as Christians starting a war is not what we are about. As the conversation degenerated into what came close to flag waving and the more right wing might makes right arguments, the pastor from Herrron UMC spoke eloquently that comparisons to World War II, etc. were not valid. This resolution does not talk about reacting to something that has happened, but standing against reacting to something we think MIGHT happen. Pre-emptive first strike, from what I can see, is not compatable with Christian teaching. It passed with what seemed close to a two thirds majority.

 

The only excitement left was to read appointments, and a brief service which ended the conference.

 

What was most interesting to me was having just finished a class on United Methodist History and Polity, I actually got to see a lot of this "in action." I made a connection with the pastor at the Lansboro Church who does concert series there. I met Bruce Ruggles, my former pastor at Champlin UMC, as well as some retired clergy. All in all, it was a wonderful experience.