In Our Connection

An e-mail from my friend Cynthia reminded me how important it is that the local UMC church share the stories of our connectional ministries. She had heard of the four areas of focus for the UMC as named at the 2008 General Conference and was excited to know that we are involved in these matters. Over the next quadrennium, the church will seek to focus the work of making disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world around these areas of ministry:

• Combating the diseases of poverty by improving health globally.
• Engaging in ministry with the poor.
• Creating new places for new people and revitalizing existing congregations.
• Developing principled Christian leaders for the church and the world.

For further discussion see this UMNS commentary.

This week the Council of Bishops approved a pastoral letter asking church members to participate in the healing. This document, “God’s Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action,” was started by the 2004 United Methodist General Conference. More than 5,400 United Methodists around the world have had input into the final document. “We cannot help the world until we change our way of being in it,” the bishops said in adopting the letter. The bishops recommend that this letter be read to congregations during the season of Advent.

If we understand that the Church exists to serve the world and that the congregations of the UMC connect with one another to effectively do so, we need to be more intentional about sharing connectional news and to be in conversation about it.