Prayers for General Conference

Over the next week and a half, nearly 1000 delegates plus hundreds of staff and volunteers from United Methodist Churches, boards, and agencies around the world will gather in Fort Worth, Texas for the quadrennial (every 4 years) gathering known as General Conference. This is the only body that can officially speak for The United Methodist Church, and delegates spend 10 days in "holy conferencing": prayer, discussion, reflection, debate, worship, and witness regarding legislation affecting the denomination's social teachings, organizational structure, finances, policies and procedures, and other matters of church law.

Rocky Mountain Conference, which includes Colorado, Utah, and 2/3 of Wyoming, sends 3 clergy and 3 lay delegates, plus alternates and volunteers. They are keeping a blog of their preparations and experiences if you'd like to read along. The main General Conference site will have live streaming audio and video available of some of the worship and plenary sessions, in addition to news articles and reports.

Please keep all the delegates, staff, Bishops, and volunteers in your prayers over the next two weeks. My own prayer is that our church will continue to move in the direction of welcoming all of God's children with love and acceptance, and move toward Jesus' vision of the kin'dom of God, where justice and mercy are available to all.