2018 North Texas Annual Conference

The 2018 North Texas Conference met June 3-5 at First United Methodist Church, Richardson, with Bishop Michael McKee presiding

At opening worship, the music was provided by chancel and youth choirs from First United Methodist Church, Dallas, and by St. Luke "Community" UMC Sanctuary Choir. In a sacred time of remembrance, ten ministers and eight ministers' spouses were remembered for the life of service to others they had lived. Bishop Tracy S. Malone, East Ohio Annual Conference, bishop, was the speaker for the evening. Her message was "Therefore, Go…!" based on Matthew 28:19-20.

Bishop Malone proclaimed that if the church would allow the spirit of God to take up residence in our lives to lead and guide, the church would be a powerful force. She stated that we are a big tent church and when we think small, we begin to shackle the Holy Spirit. God is not calling us just to "do" church; God is calling us to "be" the church.

Malone then asked what it means to "be" the church. She referenced John 3:17 and professed that the church is called to be an instrument of that mission of loving the world, asking, "What if the church were to love the world the way God loves the world? God is saying, "Go!" she said, then asked, "How are we doing in our going beyond our comfort zone? Who are the new faces among us? What new spaces are we creating for the none and the done?"

At the end of the service, more than 100 young adults were commissioned as summer interns at local churches, Bridgeport Camp and Conference Center, Connect to the Kingdom, GO Camp, Lydia Patterson institute, Project Transformation, and QuadW Missional Internship. The offering for the evening went to support Project Transformation.

During Monday's business sessions, Bishop McKee delivered his Episcopal Address. He asked the Annual Conference the traditional questions asked at baptismal services. He then spoke of the Uniting Conference 50 years ago and the sermon preached by Dr. Albert Outler, then a professor at Perkins School of Theology. Since 1968, much has changed but much has not. In his sermon 50 years ago, Outler talked about the three things the church would have to be: truly catholic, truly evangelical and truly reforming. Truly catholic means that the church has to be inclusive and open, bound only by the essentials of Christian faith. Being truly evangelical means that we are called to be mission-centered, the bearer of the good news of Jesus Christ, and we must love others as God does. Being truly reforming means that it must be new and renewed, and we must realize that we will be judged more by the future than the past. "We are the prophets of a future we shall not inhabit." Following the Episcopal Address, the annual conference participated in a Service of Baptismal Renewal.

The theme of the Annual Conference was "New Faces, New Spaces." Throughout the business sessions five videos telling the stories of North Texas churches who have gathered new faces in new spaces were shown. Three of the conference centers combined their report and focused on casting the vision for New Faces, New Spaces – the chief missional strategy of the NTC – as well as sharing how the conference intends to be a catalyst for this kind for pioneering work. In short, a new space gathers new faces, meets regularly, relates to a UMC entity, and forms disciples. A special toolbox session was offered that featured a panel of six clergy and church staff who shared stories and answered questions about how to create new spaces for new faces. The Laity Address was entitled "Unleashing the Power of the Laity" and emphasized the critical role laity will play in creating new spaces.

The first of two keynotes speakers was the Rev. Adam Hamilton, founding pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. In three presentations, he focused on leadership, effective worship and preaching, and mission and evangelism. The second was the Rev. Dr. Leanne Hadley, who has developed a ground-breaking approach to ministry with children called "A Time for Children."

At the Service of Ordination on Monday evening, music was provided by Highland Park UMC. Twenty servants of God were presented, on behalf of the Board of Ordained Ministry in this Annual Conference, for commissioning and ordination. Bishop McKee's sermon was based on John 21:4-14. The offering for the evening went to support Bridgeport Camp.

During Tuesday's business sessions, the four conference centers made various reports: the Center for Leadership Development presented a report detailing the conference's policy and process for handling sexual harassment of clergy perpetrated by laity; the Center for Missional Outreach celebrated the conference's relief and recovery efforts to date in response to Hurricane Harvey and cast a vision for sending 300 mission teams to the Texas Gulf Coast over 2018, 2019 and 2020; and the Center for Connectional Resources presented reports from the Board of Pensions, Trustees, and the Council on Finance and Administration.

Bishop McKee also gave a report "A Way Forward." He began with the statement that people with opposite views can all be faithful Christians. He described the recent Council of Bishops (COB) meeting in Chicago as one of the most inspiring. Even though there are differences, all are committed to The United Methodist Church and its mission. After conversations, prayer and times of discernment at COB meetings over several months, a majority of the Council recommended the One Church Plan. The other two plans are being sent as a part of the historical narrative. Bishop McKee specifically asked the conference to stay focused on our mission and to continue to invite people to join in the Praying the Way Forward initiative.

Regarding legislative action, the annual conference voted again on Constitutional Amendment One. Bishop McKee noted the significant concern from women and men about the amendment's failure the first round. Various resolutions related to human sexuality were brought to the annual conference; however, a motion to table all such resolutions 2018 was approved.

On Tuesday afternoon, the members joined together in a Closing Service of Holy Communion as appointments for the 2018-2019 year were presented.

Some conference statistics:

Number of people ordained, commissioned or received into associate membership:

Ordained – 12
Commissioned – 8
Associate members: 0

Number of people retired: 16

Membership stands at 134,197, down 3,103 (2.3%) from the previous year.

Worship attendance stands at 62,897*, up 7,227 (13.0%) from the previous year. *This was the first year to include online worship attendance in this figure.

Church school attendance stands at 23,536, up 500 (.004%) from the previous year.

Professions or reaffirmations of faith for 2017 stands at 3232, up 235 (7.84%) from the previous year.

Annual Conference 2019 will be held at Christ UMC in Plano.

Submitted by the Rev. Andy Lewis, assistant to Bishop McKee

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