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RENEW
 Holy Conferencing
By Faye Short

“Holy Conferencing” is the method being recommended by which we should conduct our church business at General Conference 2008. Since Holy Conferencing has become significant in relation to General Conference, we need to take a closer look at it.

“Christian Conference,” as Wesley called it, referred to group interaction in the Christian context.  Wesley considered Christian Conferencing one of the five instituted (ordained by Christ) means of grace that God uses to enable a believer to grow in grace. The other four are prayer, Bible study, Holy Communion, and fasting.

Wesley organized early Methodists into bands, classes, and societies to promote faithful discipleship and accountability. He was convinced that the loss of this Christian conferencing would result in the loss of Methodism’s vitality. While the dynamic was different on each level, the total experience provided a nearly comprehensive experience of nurture and discipleship.

General Conference organizers have endorsed “Guidelines for Holy Conferencing—What God Expects of Us” as a blueprint for conversation at General Conference 2008. The guidelines were issued by the United Methodist Council of Bishops and the church’s Commission on the General Conference. To read the ten guidelines, go to www.umc.org, click on 2008 General Conference and proceed to the article, “United Methodists Seek Change in Tone at Assembly.”

These guidelines are identified as based upon Colossians 3:12-16a, 17. It is important to note that 16b is omitted. This part of verse 16 more closely identifies John Wesley’s understanding of Christian Conferencing: “…as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”

Much that is in the guidelines is common courtesy—and Christian charity. Yet, the guidelines raise serious questions and pose some theological sticking points. For example, in agreement with the guidelines, it is our common Christian understanding that God can change the views of any or all of us, and that we should respect others and listen carefully and patiently to them, striving to understand what has shaped their thinking. Even so, as Christians, we are centered in a traditional understanding of Biblical faith and truth that must inform our thinking and actions, regardless of our personal experiences.

Or, take another example. While we certainly don’t need to use “inflammatory words, derogatory names, or an excited and angry voice” as we address divisive issues at General Conference, it is still important to allow for passionate expression of opinion. “Too often these days civility is defined as giving in to the way the media [and sometimes the Church] define the issue under debate,” said cultural commentator Michael Novak recently, “whereas honesty demands insisting upon a different way of looking at things, even when this attempt is treated as a nuisance.”

Finally, one is led to ask what the underlying purpose of the emphasis upon Holy Conferencing is when six out of ten United Methodist-related articles randomly pulled from the web on Holy Conferencing relate directly to homosexual practice.

The Holy Conferencing recommended for General Conference is not the same as what John Wesley originated as Christian Conferencing. The current understanding of Holy Conferencing relates more directly to Charge Conferences, Annual Conferences, and General Conferences—and asserts a desire to reclaim a spirituality that accompanied many early Methodist conferences, but does it?

In his daily journal, Henry Boehm, traveling companion to Francis Asbury, captured the essence of the early Methodist General Conferences held in America. Boehm wrote of one early General Conference he was privileged to attend: “The General Conference of 1800 was one of the most remarkable in the history of our Church. The revival at that time was the greatest that has ever occurred during the session of any General Conference.” He shared Bishop Asbury’s account of the Conference: “The unction that attended the word was great; more than one hundred souls professed conversion during the sitting of the Conference.”

Bishop Whatcoat’s assessment of the Conference is also recorded in Boehm’s book: “We had a most blessed time and much preaching, fervent prayers, and strong exhortations through the city, while the high praises of a gracious God reverberated from street to street and from house to house. It is thought that not less than two hundred were converted during the Conference.”

Now that was Holy Conferencing. Dare we ask God for this kind of Holy Conferencing at General Conference 2008?

For a detailed analysis of Holy Conferencing contact the RENEW Network.
RENEW is the women’s program arm of the Good News movement. Visit us at www.renewnetwork.org or contact us at renew1@hemc.net; P.O. Box 889, Cornelia, GA 30531; 706/778-4812. Your contributions to this ministry are appreciated.



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