Prior to the Start of General Conference

I write from Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Council of Bishops has been meeting prior to the start of General Conference. Over the next few days, delegates, volunteers, and observers from around the world will arrive as the long-awaited General Conference begins. 

There is a pensive hope that pervades our meeting, hope that we are nearing the other side of the chaos and contention we all experienced during a difficult season of disaffiliation. 

How many of us have brought tender hope to the start of each General Conference, only to have that hope crushed in painful ways as the delegates reaffirmed or tightened restrictions about the role of LGBTQ+ people in the life and ministry of the church? 

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” 

Today, on the eve of the start of General Conference, I am drinking from the well of infinite hope. 

I am hopeful that this General Conference will be an experience of God’s grace beyond what we have ever experienced. 

I am hopeful that this General Conference will provide a witness to the world that there can be unity in the midst of diversity. 

I am hopeful that this General Conference will be spiritually enriching for the delegates and all who are assisting and watching. 

I am hopeful that this General Conference will remove the harmful language about LGBTQ+ people, so no one will question whether they are welcomed in the household of faith. 

I am hopeful that at the conclusion of this General Conference, we will be a new church, with a renewed sense of identity and purpose. It has been a long pregnancy. The labor has been particularly painful. But there is a birthing in our midst and we are the midwives. May we be attentive as we listen for sighs too deep for words, for the stirrings of the Spirit, for the movements of new life seeking to see the light of day. 

And then, when the last person leaves the convention center and returns home, may we all participate in raising this new church to be a strong presence in every community around the globe. The world is in need of the generous grace and deep love found in Jesus Christ that is the
bedrock of United Methodism. 

Please cover the delegates in prayer as they begin their work. May the Holy Spirit sustain and guide them in the days to come.