Cabinet convocation focuses on UM way

United Methodist News Service
LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C.—”Do no harm. Do good. Stay in love with God.”
Nearly 1,000 United Methodists from across the globe learned those three simple rules Nov. 9-11. Church leaders committed to teach them to others as they extend the denomin-ation’s mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
The occasion was the first joint meeting in almost 40 years of the United Methodist bishops and their cabinets. Three Simple Rules: A Wes-leyan Way of Living, a newly released book by Bishop Rueben Job, was one of the convocation’s guides.
In the church’s general rules, Job pointed out, John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, fleshed out how to live faithfully, practiced it and taught it.
“And now it is up to us to see if we will take it, teach it and practice it until it becomes our natural way of living—a way of living that will mark our life together and our lives as individual Christians,” Job said.
Throughout the “Convocation of Extended Cabinets,” bishops indicated their commitment to teaching the rules of United Methodist living so people and congregations may be strengthened and grow in faith.
The convocation was designed to bring together district superintendents and others charged with leading annual conferences to develop clarity about the church’s purpose, mission and identity and to prepare to lead the church forward in new ways.
“If our church is going to reach its potential, we have to lead the church differently,” said Kansas Area Bishop Scott Jones. While bishops and their cabinets are not the only leaders in the denomination, Jones noted that they are crucial to moving the church into the future.
“We are people who, through our offices and through our full-time service, shape the lives of annual conferences in significant ways, and we wanted to have a conversation together to move the church forward in effectiveness of living the United Methodist way,” he said.
The convocation was the first gathering of bishops and cabinets since 1969, just after the merger of the former Methodist Church with the former Evangelical United Brethren Church to form The United Methodist Church.
Gathering the cabinets and bishops together six months before the 2008 General Conference potentially builds momentum to help the church consider what God is calling it to do and be in the future, Jones said.