By Amy Lignitz Harken
Minister, Mattapoisett Congregational Church, MA

I just finished participating in one of the "Together, As One " webinars intended to help people understand the proposal to create a brand new conference encompassing the current Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut conferences and their churches. (See highlights video, above)

I have to say, I'm a little proud of myself for tuning in because I usually find these administrative-type discussions frustrating, if not dull. First, they quickly grow tedious as we lose our way in the weedy details. Second, there's often a presumption that many of our problems will evaporate if only we were better organized.

This webinar, however, wasn't focused on structure. Granted, the topic of structure garnered a lot of airtime, but responses to such questions were mostly, "We don't know yet." There were also honest acknowledgments of the various declining numbers. Those kinds of shifts, however, are being taken as perhaps a divine summons to perceive new movements of the Holy Spirit. The language was that of ministry and mission, not money or membership. And nobody, at least as far as I heard, used the word "messy."