What must we agree on?

To move forward with a petition to present at each Annual Conference, the Transition Team agrees that we must agree on doing something new. The team is aware that everyone does not agree with the decision - that things are fine the way they are. We have also concluded that creating a new conference will challenges us all to become better a making disciples for Jesus Christ. Not everyone agrees on this either.

So, is there something we can agree on?

Believe it or not, this causes me to think about the first Continental Congress as they discussed the governance of England over the colonies. They didn't talk about pensions - they talked about taxes and representation. They didn't agree to declare independence- they agreed to meet again in the following year if England didn't respond to their demands. They didn't "declare independence" - they declared unification on becoming independent if necessary and were ready to move to make that happen.

Of course -we must also remember that those who made the decision were not fully representative of all involved - women, slaves, native populations, so many unnamed groups and people. Yet, I'm glad the decision was made to unify under one vision. Even without full representation and the absence of complete agreement - a new path was set - a new platform to work out the concept of "freedom" was produced. Eventually, their work would lead to a Declaration that would lead to something new called The United States of America. This new platform, as we all know, was not mistake- free or sin-free, but it was on this new platform that we came to find our identity as Methodists.

The Transition Team is aware that we don't have "everyone" at the table and that this new platform we propose would not be free of issues we need to discuss in order to create a more perfect union. We've opened ourselves up to listening, hearing, recording answers, even having people scoff about this proposal right in front of us. I'm sure that this kind of "discernment" was experienced by our early Fore-fathers and Fore-mothers. I hope you understand that the team is aware of the emotional and logical struggles you're going through. We've gone through them too.

We can't deny that this struggle keeps bringing us back to the decision that we want a "more perfect union". What that fully looks like, we don't know. Every time we meet - we discuss, pray, bring your voice to the table as much as we can. We're hoping we can all work on that together over the next several years. We're hoping to move onto perfection!

I'm aware that the three conferences are not colonies and the General Conference is not a Monarchy. Compared in scale - the ramifications of our decision wain to those days of Adams (both of them) and Jefferson. Yet - we do have an important decision to make, a decision to unite or not to unite. Are we willing to decide on a new path? Are we able to consider doing our ministry on a new platform -expanding past our borders - sacrificing some of the things we hold dear in order to create more perfect union? Even if it doesn't start as a "more perfect union" - can we agree that uniting is a good place to start - and then come back - year after year until it is "more perfect" than before? Are we called to "go onto perfection" in this new way?

The Transition Team is not trying to create a new country called Nekansas - but we have come to agree to create a MORE perfect union. We're already united by our common vision to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We hope to unite even more -under one vision, one budget, one mission and one platform - not just under one bishop.

Our two states are a result of a united vision cast 237 years ago, that came to unite people into a grander vision that's still a work in progress. Can we look ahead with the same kind of vision? I think we must! If there's one thing we must agree on it's that we must look ahead with vision that sees the perfection we're trying to attain for Jesus Christ!

Please pray for the Transition Team that meets in Topeka on April 7th-9th!

Grace, Jan

So What's It Like Being a Transition Team Member?

Well - I've got to say- my Prius has enjoyed stretching its gas mileage these last two years. Indeed, I've enjoyed stretching my imagination as I've cruised over the plains and rolling hills to go to the Nebraska-Kansas Area Transition team meetings. As I've passed the green highway signs, pointing out nearby towns and small cities along the way, I wondered to myself -if we become a NEW conference, would I ever serve this town? What would it be like and what are the greatest challenges facing the area? How can God use me to connect with so many in such a vast amount of space?

When I've crossed the Nebraska border I couldn't help but recall all the Willa Cather images, displayed in my mind like sweet reminders of college literature . I thought about the great skies and the unexplored territory, the possibilities and of course the people - the wonderful people. Yes- Nebraskans are wonderful people - I now count several of them friends! I've also found that the Nebraskans think Kansans aren't so bad either. Indeed - as we've roamed together, gathering at each others common space of ministry, we have found we just plain like each other. We've all passed little green town signs along the way - wondering what this un-easy work is all about and how it will affect each person in those areas. Each time we meet, however, we seem to see glimpses of a real call - an audacious ministry - even though it's un-easy to think about.

That's really what it feels like to be a Transition Team member - un-easy. Not like the uneasy queasy feeling from cruising over a hill too fast (who says a Prius has no pick-up!) No - it is the un-easy work of getting to know folks - even if you were born and raised in their conference but now serve another. Learning to trust each other is un-easy work. It's un-easy talking about change and hope and reality. It's un-easy putting our heads together and trying to let Jesus Christ guide us across the Great Plains of ministry when the roadblocks of pensions, health insurance and the appointment process keep stumbling in. It's un-easy going through story after story about our decline - knowing all our churches, small or large, need a gentle push to step out and shine in the Great Plains sun. And it's certainly un-easy talking about the pain and grief of how things could change (and already have) as we face our great task of making disciples.

This work is just plain un-easy. It is also the greatest hope I have for our future. Not the only hope, but the greatest. Time and time again, I have found this team asking the right questions. We're no longer afraid to step out on the Great Plains like we're stepping out of the boat - or a tractor - or a Prius if you choose- and ask this great area - "how do we need to adapt best make disciples for Jesus Christ?" Our answer as a team is to become a NEW conference. We hope to land on solid ground with that claim, but the soil can have just as much of a sinking feeling as water does.

I'm putting my bets (even though we're not supposed to bet) on that un-easy, sinking feeling that might just land me in ministry to the Vast Great Plains rather than just a portion of my home state. I know there's a chance that we might not land there - that makes me uneasy -but I HOPE we land there. I don't want technical questions to keep us from missing the boat. Because I seem to recall that Jesus always redirected the technical questions he received. He kept pointing to larger areas, filled will people, beyond the borders of his hometown, even going as far as Samaria to call God's people to be adaptive and expansive in their call. I will even go so far to say that he wanted them and us to be un-easy.

I have technical questions too and I understand the feelings and worries of all of those who feel uneasy (and even queasy) about fully working these issues out until after we take a vote at Annual Conference. I'll have more to address on that subject in my next blog. But for now - I hope you can sink with me, just for a moment, into the un-easy driver's seat of a vehicle that could serve the Great Plains - and just try - for a moment - to imagine what the transition would be like if each little green sign you passed in Kansas and Nebraska were yours to serve.

Grace, Jan

"They tilled their land in peace;
the ground gave its increase,
and the trees of the plains their fruit."

1 Maccabees 14.8