The World Methodist Conference is now in session. We began this morning with magnificent worship. The Africa University Choir sang. A South African mass choir sang. The energy and vital Christian faith of the African church and the power of the Holy Spirit were present as we worshipped and we were revitalized as a community. We heard Rev. Dr. John Barrett, British Methodist Church, preach a word of hope. Then we heard a call to cooperation of church and state to solve the problems of poverty and violence by the governor of the KwaZulu-Natal Province. Lastly we heard from Rev. H Myume Dandala, the former presiding Bishop of Southern Africa and the current executive of the All Africa Council of Churches as he called us to see the world as it is.
The World Methodist Council, where we deal with more administrative issues, has been meeting for three days. We are updating the Constitution of this body of Wesley's descendants - Nazarene, British Methodist, United Methodist, several kinds of Wesleyan,s and multiple national Methodist Churches from Latin American, Asia, and Africa. When we say the Lord's Prayer, each in our own heart language, it sounds like Pentecost.. Since its inception in l887 this body has been largely made up of Wesleyan Christians from the Northern Hemisphere and now there is a shift. The newly elected Executive Secretary is Bishop Ivan Abrahams, Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of South Africa. He will begin this full time ministry in December. The newly elected President is Bishop Paulo Lockmann, Methodist Church of Brazil. There are now more Christians in the global south than in the global north. and our leadership reflects this shift. The structure of the organization and the new Constitution and by-laws are also taking cognizance of these shifts. These are painful , yet exciting conversations.
Our own United Methodist Church is also dealing with these same issues. You will soon see some new legislation related to the worldwide nature of the United Methodist Church which is going to our General Conference in 2012. The world is changing. The church is changing because God is calling us to respond to the world in which we now live. It is an exciting time of new learnings and growth.
The World Methodist Council and the United Methodist Church can be God's agents to help us see the world as it is - the disparities between rich and poor peoples and nations, the tension between economic and person centered relationships, the polarized and often violent political struggles around the world, the deep hunger for meaning and purpose, the longing for a right relationship with God and neighbor. We have to move outside of our comfort zone to see this world in all its complexity.
Yet we are also connected. I have followed happenings in the US and around the world each day on TV no matter where we were. Almost everyone, even in remote and very poor areas, has a cell phone and can do SMS. We live in an interconnected and complex world.
Our task is to speak the truth about this world as we understand it and to listen to the truth as others standing in a different place understand it. When we know where we are hurting others we need to confess that sin. We need the word of forgiveness and changed life patterns that come through Jesus Christ and make reconciliation and new life possible. We need the hope of a new heaven and a new earth which God longs to offer. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a message we must share. Transformed lives and new ways of living make our sharing of that Gospel more powerful and authentic.
Another first happened at our opening session this morning. A Sheik here in Durban came with the Methodist Bishop of this area to bring greetings. He spoke of how we as Abraham's children could bring hope and peace together. We are in a new era of inter faith dialogue.. How do we learn to live together, each holding our own beliefs and each respecting the other? .Here is yet another challenge for this century which comes to us in every locale around the globe.
I am grateful to share in these conversations. Hold us in your prayers. God wants to work through the Methodist movement. We long to know how to be God's people in such a time as this.
With hope,
Bishop Ann
Please remember the orphan, widow and alien at the end of the line of oppression, with the orphaned having no voice with you and other leaders bringing those identities into our lives starting with our Book of Discipline, Our Connectional Table, our Council of Bishops, our Agencies, our District Superintendents, our church families -- the orphan has no family without us. Please. And, thank you.
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