FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mary Brooke Casad
Phone: 972-608-0567
Email: casad@umc.org
The Connectional Table Sets Quadrennial Priorities at Spring Meeting
Plano, Texas, June 17, 2009
On May 12-14, members of the Connectional Table (CT) met in Nashville, Tennessee for the first meeting of the new quadrennium to engage in the work of advancing the church’s mission, vision and stewardship.
A top priority for the CT was to discuss and deliberate on the “Call to Action” issued by the Council of Bishops at their meeting just days before the CT gathered. The bishops’ “call” outlines the need for urgent response to the US economic crisis and its impact on an already declining Church in the US. The bishops proposed forming a steering committee to envision and plan ways to “radically refashion and reorder the life of The United Methodist Church.”
“I am grateful the Council of Bishops engaged the Connectional Table with the need for significant change in our church through the ‘Call to Action.’ It is crucial to begin conversations about reordering the connection early in this new quadrennium even as we experience an economic downturn,” said Bishop John Hopkins, chair of the Connectional Table. “If there was ever a time for us to face realities and initiate change in our church, it is now.”
With recommendations from the CT, the new steering committee will be comprised of eight bishops, six general secretaries, three Connectional Table members, and a young adult. The committee is slated to meet three times between July and October and will report to the Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table in November 2009.
In addition to the Call to Action, the CT heard a report from the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits describing the impact of the economic downturn and the need to increase conference contributions to achieve long-term funding goals.
“It was a productive meeting that both grounded us in the realities of the current sobering economic realities and gave us a clearer sense of the importance of how we engage in God’s work to transform the world in the name of Christ,” said Mary Brooke Casad, Connectional Table Executive Secretary. “The Holy Spirit is at work among us as leaders from throughout the UMC who come together at the Connectional Table and we have readied ourselves to further the vision and mission of the Church in partnership with our bishops, general agencies and United Methodists around the world.”
Members focused on prioritizing their work for the next four years based on the CT’s essential functions outlined in the UMC Book of Discipline. Taking into account input from directors of connectional ministries, annual conference lay leaders and treasurers, and leaders from central conferences, CT members discerned their top three priorities for the quadrennium. They are to:
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Review the United Methodist general agencies to evaluate their alignment with the denomination’s Four Areas of Focus and their relationships to central conference partner agencies,
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Model transformational learning based on the Four Areas of Focus for annual conferences and local churches that can demonstrate making disciples for Jesus Christ, and
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Ensure that budget priorities, through its joint work with the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) match the mission, vision and values of the general Church.
These priorities will serve as focal points for conversation, learning and work of the CT for the rest of the quadrennium. Many of essential functions of the CT are carried out through various task groups and teams. Assignments to those groups were affirmed at the meeting.
The Connectional Table as a Learning Community
Since its inception, the CT has been committed to living as a learning community, inviting experts and teachers to present new and innovative ways of thinking about how to carry out its mission. Craig Robertson of Spiritual Leadership, Inc. spoke to the CT in May and challenged members to examine effective leadership team models and evaluate the CT’s capacity to carry out the much-needed “adaptive” work that seeks to address larger questions that do not have immediate or obvious solutions. He explained that such work requires long-term “operational” teams grounded in trust. Robertson’s framework provided a way for CT members to engage in dialogue about effective strategies that can guide their work together in the years ahead.
The CT celebrated ministries across the globe related to the Four Areas of Focus with a presentation prepared by United Methodist Communications and heard reports from Path 1 and the Global Health Initiative to gain a more in-depth understanding of their work and mission goals for the quadrennium and beyond. The meeting concluded following a joint session with GCFA to review the World Service budget process that both the CT and GCFA oversee. The general agencies addressed the joint session to give both bodies in a more comprehensive understanding of their work on behalf of the denomination.
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Created at the 2004 General Conference, the Connectional Table was formed to serve as both the visioning body of the church and the steward of resources to carry out the vision of the denomination worldwide. The 60-member body of the Connectional Table includes lay and clergy members elected from U.S. jurisdictional and overseas conferences in Africa, Asia and Europe; a bishop selected by the Council of Bishops; general agency top executives and most presidents; one youth and one young adult from the Board of Discipleship’s Division on Ministries with Young People; and members from the denomination’s racial and ethnic caucuses. For more information, visit: www.connectionaltable.umc.org.
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