Call for ‘Holy Conferencing’
requires new worldview

United Methodist bishops are doing a profound thing. The effort is so countercultural that I doubt many people in the pews fathom the possible significance. If they did, we might have heard grumbling about what church leaders are advocating.
Our bishops want to change the way United Methodists relate to one another. The bishops want to banish the partisan push to forge consensus within the denomination (a human-centered approach). Instead, they want us to discern where God is leading us (a heaven-focused approach).
To do that, the bishops have called us—especially as we approach the quadrennial General Conference April 23-May 2 in Fort Worth—to return to a traditional Methodist approach to decision making: “Holy Conferencing.” The Council of Bishops issued 10 Holy Conferencing guidelines in August.
Let’s be clear: Holy Conferencing doesn’t mean that church leaders must “make nice,” avoid controversies and agree on all topics. Holy Conferencing encourages us to discuss issues honestly, vigorously and thoroughly.
But Holy Conferencing requires us to adopt a different worldview concerning decision making from the secular norm. Doing that may be a challenge. We have long accepted secular political concepts, strategies and tactics in the church.
Secular political practices assume that community is based on shared beliefs or agreement about issues. Building a majority consensus is the goal. The biggest threat to the majority consensus is dissent. Therefore, people with minority views need to be silenced, marginalized or banished.
“In much of the Western world, results are measured in terms of winners and losers,” Bishop Janice Huie of Houston said in August. “Holy Conferencing doesn’t work that way. It focuses on discerning where God is leading us.”
Holy Conferencing assumes that community is based on relationships established by God. All people are God’s children. Even when we disagree, we remain God’s children and in relationship with each other. Through dialogue, we discover God’s truths.
The biggest threat to a relational community is an effort to limit dialogue. Since none of us can comprehend the vastness of God, we all may have a small revelation. Each of those could lead the community to a clearer understanding of God’s will.
By silencing any brother or sister—especially those with whom we strongly disagree—we risk losing that child of God’s insight. That loss may diminish our understanding of God.
In Holy Conferencing goodwill is a given. Bishop Mary Ann Swenson of Los Angeles says in the January/February Interpreter magazine, “In relationship, in coming together, in conferencing, we experience God’s grace through one another.”
Holy Conferencing reflects what many Southwest Texas United Methodists have learned in Partners in Ministry training since 1995. That leadership development initiative, led by the Board of Laity, promotes the H-E-A-R-T principles:
> Hear and understand me.
> Even if you disagree, please don’t make me wrong.
> Acknowledge the greatness within me.
> Remember to look for my good intentions.
> Tell me the truth with compassion.
The goal of Partners in Ministry and Holy Conferencing is to find win-win situations in which we do God’s will.
This year’s Southwest Texas Conference delegation to the General and South Central Jurisdictional conferences is taking the bishops’ Holy Conferencing call seriously. Conference Lay Leader Jay Brim, who heads delegation, included training in Holy Conferencing at a Dec. 1 meeting.
We’ll have to wait to see if other United Methodists make Holy Con-ferencing a characteristic that distinguishes us from others in society.
Our bishops contend that Holy Con-ferencing isn’t just a unique Methodist way of relating. Holy Conferencing is what God would have us do.