May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. — Romans 15:23, NRSV
Every Year, Conferences of the United Methodist Church host a yearly gathering for pastors and lay leaders of their local congregations. These yearly meetings are called Annual Conferences.
The meeting is usually two to five days and includes worship, preaching, teaching, Bible study, fellowship, meals, business, budgets, reports, celebrations, lay and clergy sessions, memorial and retirement services, a service of recognizing, licensing, and ordaining new Clergy, and the setting of pastoral appointments for a new year.
This year, with 14 days, I had the opportunity to represent Gammon Theological Seminary at seven Annual Conferences across our connection. I was privileged to preach the Communion Service at the Western North Carolina Conference, and the BMCR Luncheon. I preached at the BMCR Luncheon in Florida and the Gammon dinner in the Louisiana Annual Conference. I was the Sunday Bible study teacher at the Missouri Annual Conference.
Gammon, Paine College, and Clark Atlanta University participated in the North Georgia Conference Black Ministers Fellowship. In partnership with Dr. Loretta Felder McKelvey, we launched a new $100,000.00 matching funds endowed Scholarship Fund, named for our 14th President, Dr. Walter L McKelvey Sr., in the South Carolina Annual Conference.
Our Rev. Geraldine McClellan Endowed Scholarship Fund in the Florida Conference was part of Bishop Tom Berlin’s Conference offering, and people gave generously to this scholarship fund. I finished my Conference tour by attending the Mississippi Annual Conference. I had a chance to share our Gammon report and participate in the joint dinner hosted by BMCR and Gammon Seminary at that conference.
As we navigate this season of churches disaffiliating themselves and separating from the United Methodist Church, one central message that resounded in every Annual Conference visited was a message of HOPE. This resounding HOPE included honesty about the grief and pain of seeing Clergy, Laity, and Congregations disaffiliate. This HOPE admitted the necessary budget cuts required, with fewer churches contributing. This expectant HOPE acknowledges today’s losses and trusts that God’s presence and power continue to abound with the people called United Methodist. Each conference concluded with Clergy and Laity experiencing a renewed sense of call and commitment to serve this present age.
In our Scripture above from Romans 15, the Apostle Paul prays that the God of Hope fills us all with “joy” and “peace” as we walk in faith, believing, so that we may “abound” in HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit. The word abound in Greek means to have an abundance of quality and quantity that there is enough to share. I pray that we receive the HOPE given to us by God through the power of the Holy Spirit and that we do not keep this HOPE to ourselves but that we share generously with others so that they, too, might remain hopeful as we navigate these challenging times.
In closing, Gammon Theological Seminary continues as one of our 13 approved United Methodist Seminaries and is our denomination’s only historically Black Theological Institution. Gammon is committed to theologically training Clergy and Lay leaders in our shared mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ to transform the world.
With Appreciation,
Rev. Dr. Candace M. Lewis
