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Orders and Fellowship Meeting — Day 1


Clergy from all across the Great Plains United Methodist Conference are meeting at the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan., for spiritual renewal and fellowship.
Evoke ministry everyday, everywhere is the theme drawn from the Rev. Dr. Robert Martin's writings and presentations.

God will take your gifts and multiply them in amazing ways

by Kathryn Witte, communications director

“I am Scott Jones and it is my privilege to be the first bishop of the Great Plains Conference,” said Bishop Scott Jones to begin his message in the opening worship service of the first Orders and Fellowship meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 14.

Jones affirmed that it is often hard to get to a big meeting like this when personal lives, family and church obligations are all vying for priority and said, “I hope all three days are a blessing.”
The gathering is a time for reminding ourselves that none of us are lone rangers and we can’t do ministry by ourselves, he said.  

He called some of what will happen during the three days “balcony” time. Time spent getting away from the action of the day and reflecting on the larger “dance floor.”

The meeting is intended to help clergy return home with renewed energy, insight and recommitted focus on their calling. He asked worship participants to consider, clarify and connect to their call and to the power of God in their ministry.

Consider
“Our call is to be disciples of Jesus Christ, that is what it’s about,” Jones said. And then asked, “How did you come to follow Jesus to start with?” Jones said it is a privilege to be in ministry serving Christ in a way that pays us to do it.

He asked clergy to remember their call to follow Jesus Christ and then recounted his own through a video clip that is part of his “The Wesleyan Way” bible study. He talked about how he did it backwards. He emphasized how you can come to Christ at any time in life.

He noted that not all Christians get to be leaders and not all are called to professional ministry. He said that professional ministry takes the call to a new level and can lead to pastors forgetting their original call as their ministry becomes something we do as a job rather than what we do as disciples and followers.

Clarify
Jones said it is about changing people’s lives so they will change the world. Jones introduced another video clip from “The Wesleyan Way.” Andy Nixon talked about his call experience and how his commitment supplies clarity to his ministry.
                     
Jones emphasized that it is through discipleship that people are changed. Clergy get to be part of the high and holy moments in people’s lives. It requires discipline to remember the big purpose of the call in the midst of the demands of Sunday, the weekday work and all the functions of ministry.
 
He said, “We have to have our eyes on the purpose.”  Pointing to Mathew 28 and paragraph 120 of “The Book of Discipline.”
 
It is our job to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, he said. We are to help those who don’t know Christ, help them make a commitment and help new believers grow in their faith.
 
Bishop Jones said when he gets to heaven the first question he wants to ask God is why He chose humans to deliver his message. He pointed to the self-centered, self-absorbed nature of humans and how perhaps God should have made another selection.

He said, “Whatever the problems are (in your church) let me tell you I see the worst of all 1,035 churches. I have stories to tell, I see the worst of the worst.”

Jones offered an analogy, “When you’re up to the neck in alligators it's hard to remember that your original purpose was to drain the swamp.”

The three days of the Orders and Fellowship meeting are to help clergy reconnect with their ministry call. Pastors were asked to remember why they entered ministry and to take advantage of the time to be renewed.

Jones asked clergy to step back and take spiritual focus on who God is and what we’re trying to do as a conference — challenging and touching people’s lives and helping people find answers. “Let’s see how far we can trust God, being connected to Jesus every day. Love God and love neighbor,” he said.

Connect
Clergy in The United Methodist Church are people engaged in people’s lives and equipping them to go out and change the world. Social justice, relieving poverty and ending other social ills are very Wesleyan ideas on being Christian. Clergy help recruit people, who help other people see what God is trying to do.

“Connect your calling to the power of God," said Jones. He said we are to remember our calling and live it out in humility. “Oh God how can I be faithful and how can I get it done?” asked Jones, acting out a pastor’s plea. He said that’s when connecting with the power of God is so important.

Jones said that if we are faithful and do our best, God will do the rest. “If I’m faithful and put out what I can, God makes use of it,” said Jones.

Jones read the lyrics projected on the sanctuary screens from “Oh the Faith of Love Divine.” In this hymn by Charles Wesley we are but feeble elements and yet when we offer ourselves and we gather as God’s people God shows up. Grace happens, said Jones.

Jones said, “Being the best person you can be, God is going to take your gifts and multiply them in amazing ways.”

Worship includes consecration of orders

The Rev. Gary Beach began the opening worship with a declaration of purpose, “We have come together to inaugurate a new covenant of the Orders and Fellowship of the Great Plains Conference of the United Methodist Church, which is a part of Christ’s holy church. Let us dedicate ourselves to this purpose.”

Worship scripture was from Ephesians 4:1-7, a clergy choir sang “A Covenant Prayer” by Allen Cote, followed by the consecration of orders and fellowship. Each order was recognized, the litany shared and closed with a laying on of hands by the worshiping body of clergy.

Fellowship of Local Pastors was represented by Warren Schoming, chair. The Order of Deacon was represented by Karen Nyhart, chair. The Order of Elder was represented by Jim Keyser, chair.

A video featuring stories of ministry, mercy and justice was celebrated as an example of what dozens of churches and congregations are doing in ministry across the conference. Bishop Jones asked, “How’s it working in your place?” He encouraged the Great Plains community to encourage each other and teach each other by the sharing of stories.

Bill Selby, from the Center for Pastoral Effectiveness of the Rockies, gifted a tri-mascot hat to Bishop Scott Jones at the first Great Plains Area gathering of clergy in Topeka two years ago. The hat represented the major public post-secondary institutions in each of the former conferences. On Tuesday evening, Bishop Jones unveiled Selby’s additions to his hat with pins from every school in the Great Plains Conference with a ministry.

After a dinner of Kansas barbecue, the Rev. Dr. Robert Martin began his sermon series on evoking ministry. His first talk contrasted directing ministry vs. evoking ministry. Directing ministry is summed up by ministry that tries to get others to do things they might not do on their own for a preset vision, where evoking ministry encourages others to find their own passions and love of God to fully engage in ministry as a called person.
 
 
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