I have lost my Conference virginity. Since Monday I have been attending Methodist Conference in Southport on placement with the Methodist Media Team (who are a lovely bunch of people) helping to ‘tweet’ a digest of Conference on Twitter and keeping an eye on the Conference Twitterfall page.
There were many highs and some lows during the four days, but I genuinely came away feeling proud of Conference and all that it achieved, grateful for the hard work put into Conference not only by Connexional Staff but also by the hard working volunteers and immensely proud to be part of a connexional church, The Methodist Church of Great Britain.
Two things particularly stood out for me.
The first was the prayerful and worshipful atmosphere in which the important business of Conference is conducted. It is, perhaps, not surprising, that each day starts and ends with worship and prayer, but there is worship and prayer throughout the day as well and spontaneous prayer as the Spirit led. The Conference Communion Service on Wednesday morning was particularly powerful, especially during the memorial section where the names of Presbyters, Deacons and other Methodists who died during the year were read out and prayerful thanks offered for their life and faith. It was also very moving and humbling to share Communion with Methodist brothers and sisters from all over the Connexion.
The second thing that stood out was the debate on Poverty and Inequality on Wednesday afternoon. As I listened to the thoughtful and impassioned speeches of Methodists expressing their genuine and Scriptural concerns for the socially and economically disadvantaged in our society my heart ‘was strangely warmed’ and I felt genuinely happy and proud to be Methodist; part of this band of brothers and sisters seeking faithfully to share the good news not just in word, but in deed as well. If this genuine passion is shared by Methodists throughout the Connexion then we really could help to bring about a transformation in our society.
On a personal note I was immensely pleased to hear a quote from one of my personal tweets read out by the Vice-President of Conference at the opening session this morning, where I had tweeted that the Poverty and Inequality debate had made me happy to be Methodist. The second personal highlight of today was when the whole Media Team were thanked by the General Secretary Martyn Atkins for all our hard work. It felt good to have made a contributing to the communication of Conference to a wider audience.
As Methodists we should value our Conference. Although some of it seems boring, confusing and even a bit like naval gazing the vast majority of it was inspirational and God centred. I left Conference convinced that the Methodist Church has good and genuinely servant leadership and that it is a church dedicated to the mission of God and to the outworking of Christian discipleship in twenty first century Britain; a church I can feel proud, in the best sense of the word, to belong to!
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