Pastor’s Page
Methodist Building Blocks
“From the Heart” is what I have called my monthly newsletter article since I was appointed to First Bethel in 2021. That means this July will be four years! I am desiring to go a different direction with these articles for several months. As we are entering conference season shortly (District Conference is this Saturday, the 26th!), I’d like to take advantage of this space to help all of us understand the function each conference plays in our United Methodist Church.
I’d like to call this series of articles “Wesley’s Legos”. We all have enjoyed building things with Legos or the like. Our United Methodist conferences are building blocks that compose an exceptionally well-crafted church structure. Each month I hope to shed light on each conference meeting, illuminating its purpose and value to our connectional church system. I hope to do this in a light-hearted, fun way.
Here is a list of conferences/meetings I will use and present each month.
- Charge conference
- District conference
- Annual conference
- Jurisdictional conference
- General conference
- Constitution & Judicial Council
I’ll begin profiling each conference from the list, beginning with next month’s article.
It may help to keep the following in mind as you read and interact with the upcoming articles. Methodist origins rest in England, where John Wesley started the Anglican church revival movement that eventually would become Methodism. He was a loyalist to the British crown and was not a supporter of the new colonies in America. But the developing structures of government had their influence on the development of Methodist organizational structure. I’m sure you will be able to notice that in this series of articles.
I’m looking forward to playing “Wesley’s Legos” with you all!
Journeying Together,
Pastor David
