Bishop Ward shares with us the details of General Conference and the Clergy Day Apart on Thursday, March 18 at 10 am.
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ. I give thanks for you every day as I pray to God. I echo the prayer of the apostle Paul in the New Testament as I greet you this day.
We have heard from the Commission on the General Conference. They have released to the entire Church their discernment relative to the possibilities of the General and Jurisdictional Conferences gathering in the year 2020-2021. The 2020 General Conference has been further delayed as a result of the global pandemic. Virtual gatherings however are being configured so that we can care for essential business and advance our life together.
I look forward to meeting with clergy of our Annual Conference on Thursday, March 18 at 10 am so that we might have conversation together, pray for one another, worship together and commit ourselves anew to our shared work. Let us remember that the Annual Conference is the basic unit of The United Methodist Church according to our Discipline, that the local church, according to our Discipline, is our mission station. We are connected in profound ways, community by community across eastern North Carolina and with all United Methodists in every place at this time.
Thank you for your prayers for all our life together and for the connection of United Methodist people as we move forward step-by-step into the future God is giving.