Dear Friends, I'm just back from our Annual Conference. On the whole, it was a dismal affair and I left feeling rather sad. Naturally, it was great to see friends, colleagues, and former parishioners. And at the Ministers Mates' Lunch it was fun to connect with old friends and meet some new folks.
But as far as the business is concerned, the news was not so good. And we are a growing conference. We did elect delegates to General and Jurisdictional Conferences, and some of them will represent us well. But the politics of getting elected far overshadowed who was elected. On the lay side, the delegates were largely folks with experience with at least one young adult, who also happens to be a clergy spouse. On the clergy side, the young women clergy came in very organized and pretty much had their way. All that is fine, but with one or two exceptions the clergy delegation is totally inexperienced. And there were no delegates over 50, save one, who was our bishop candidate last time around. No DSs or conference staff were elected. I'm not sure what that says about our current leadership.
Perhaps this bodes well for the church. But I believe we are still too focused on what is politically correct. Guess I also feel a little passed over too. Still no sour grapes. It is God's church after all and God has a plan. I just wish I could feel better about the whole thing.
Grace, Kathy
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