The Rev. Gary Graves is secretary of the General Conference. As The United Methodist Church approaches the special called General Conference taking place in February 2019, the Rev. Graves shares some of the procedural aspects of a special General Conference and questions he's hearing about this upcoming legislative gathering.

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The  meeting’s most anticipated ruling  involved a review of legislative plans in the Commission on the Way Forward report. The court found the One Church Plan to be largely constitutional, but noted constitutional problems in the Traditional Plan. It declined to review the Connectional Conference Plan.

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by Tim Tanton

Churches must align themselves around spiritual formation and become “studios of love” as they face a time of significant change, author the Rev. Brian McLaren told Christian educators.

“In the world of organized religion, we’re in a time of great upheaval,” he said. Human brains are wired for facing fear, he said, and he encouraged his listeners to let go of their trapeze and reach out to something new.

“We don’t face mere technical challenges right now,” he said. “We face adaptive challenges. …. This isn’t just a matter of slight tweaks; this is a matter of rethinking the entire system of what we’re doing from scratch.”

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Join us for fellowship, food, and fun! All proceeds go to ENMU Wesley Foundation to benefit our students.  We are asking churches and members in the Clovis District to help by coming and supporting our Wesley Event.

You can also help by donating homemade items or baked goods for our auction. Everything is greatly appreciated. Please bring your items to the Wesley on Saturday or Sunday afternoon for the auction. Contact Elizabeth at 575-356-6721 or 620-770-9643.

United Methodist Student Day is November 25th!

by Rev. Matt Bridges

Last year, I accepted an invitation to represent the Council of Bishops at the National Council of Churches, or, NCC for short. I was honored to represent the Council and the New Mexico Annual conference at the annual meeting called the “Christian Unity Gathering.” This was a three day conference in Maryland to report on the work being done by the NCC and to work toward new initiatives the NCC takes on. While the NCC will have sets of initiatives which change with seasons throughout the life of our country, the group is further broken down into what are called “Convening Tables.” The four current convening tables are Faith and Order, Interreligious Relations, Christian Education and Faith Formation, and Advocacy. The NCC’s overall theme going on right now is the “A.C.T. to End Racism” initiative, ACT standing for “Awaken, Confront, Transform.” I sat at the Christian Education and Faith Formation table.

Each convening table had the task in this annual gathering to address issues of racism from their unique perspectives and try to come up with practical ways to take the lessons learned and solutions back to our local congregations. For example, the table I sat with began the task of seeking and compiling youth and young adult resources of how to address and teach against racism in our local communities. Over the next four year period, I plan to faithfully serve and learn with the NCC to address these issues and others in our community, all for the goal of growing in unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ across not only our communion, but all Christian communions.

Whenever Christians can unite to live out the Gospel in ways that build up God’s creation rather than tearing it down, we can celebrate as servants in the Kingdom of God. If there is any way I can serve you as your brother in Christ to help with ecumenical dialogue, I stand at the ready to serve: pastormattbridges@gmail.com