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Laity “move” through many topics during AC2019 session
June 5, 2019 / By Kathleen Christiansen
The more than two-hour Laity Session during the 2019 Upper New York Annual Conference session covered a plethora of topics – from the service of United Methodist Women to the work of UNY young people and a statement from United Methodist conference lay leaders regarding new peace and unity.
Laity session began with an address from Bishop Webb, who thanked all lay members for attending AC session as well as for their service.
Following an address by Kae Wilbert, UNY’s Committee on Native American Ministries (CONAM) chairperson, recognizing Native sisters and brothers and a welcome message from Conference Lay Leader Susan Hardy, Upper New York Area Resident Bishop Mark J. Webb greeted the laity.
“I give thanks to God for all that you do,” he said. “God is indeed at work in you and through you … Thank you for being the people of God.”
Bishop Webb encouraged AC session attendees to have conversations in spirit of love and respect, “and I hope joy.”
Carmen Vianese – president of UNY’s United Methodist Women who has also served as the finance chair of Global Ministries and UMCOR – then greeted the “beautiful souls” in the audience.
And these souls didn’t let a little technical glitch with a video get them down, as the crowd burst into song filling the room the lyrics of “This Little Light of Mine.” At the song’s conclusion, the video was up and running, informing laity about the history of Global Ministries.
Following the video, Carmen elaborated on that history and the development of United Methodist Women. She said there are common threads in UMW: prayer, purpose, and presence.
“Because of that intentional prayer, purpose, and presence, the UMW still supports 128 international missions the world over and 131 national missions throughout the U.S. to this very day,” Carmen said.
Conference Council on Youth Ministries (CCYM) Co-Chair Rachel John took to the stage next to discuss CCYM’s theme, “Love: Digging Deep and Branching Out.”
“Through God’s grace, we have been able to set aside our differences and grow together in unity as the youth of The United Methodist Church,” Rachel said. “The youth who attend our events have been given the opportunity to grow spiritually along with us, as they learned new ways to show love and practice being Christ-like.”
In addition to traditional CCYM events and gatherings, this year UNY youth packaged meals for the Samaritan Center and made prayer blankets for a children’s hospital.
Susan then introduced the Helping Hands Fund, which raises money to be used by the Cabinet to assist congregants in need of financial support.
After the HHF collection, Neil Law and Sharon Bassett, members of the Oneonta District Leadership Team, relayed information about how their district is working together to use community building to bring about change.
Utilizing Community: The Structure of Belonging by Peter Block, they and other community members created a cooperative parish of 11 United Methodist parishes.
“The goal is that the people invited to the table stay committed throughout the process and will end with steps they can employ that make their church stronger, developing tools to bring others to Christ, and be in a position for building a strong body of Christ for making disciples,” they said.
J.J. Warren and Elyse Muder, co-chairs of the Young Adults Ministry Team, briefly updated laity on the team’s progress, including hosting a seven-week Bible study and an event at Dave & Busters. Plus, the pair gave a preview of what’s ahead for Saturday’s Young Adults Worship Service.
“We continue to ask for your prayers as we embark on new tasks to bring the young people of our Conference closer to God,” Elyse said.
Susan closed out the session touching on this year’s AC session theme – “Together in Prayer: Moving Beyond Our Comfort Zones” – encouraging attendees to “move.”
“Each of us is here by invitation,” Susan said. “Each of us has particular gifts to exercise on behalf of the body of Christ, as The Church of this time. All of us are challenged to exercise those gifts. And to do that for our Creator often means moving beyond our comfort zones.”
She also detailed how she has “moved” as Conference Lay Leader this year – including attending Extended Cabinet meetings and a gathering of Northeastern Jurisdiction conference lay leaders. Susan set aside time to read the “Conference Lay Leaders’ Statement – New Unity and Peace,” which addresses the current climate of The UMC.
Before departing, General Conference laity delegate candidates were recognized: Linda Barczykowski, Robert Bour, Ted Cooper, Ted Finlayson-Schueler, Dan Fuller, Rachel Giso, Drew Griffin, Thomas Holmes, Samuel Mudge, Barbara Nelson, Kevin Nelson, Riley O’Flynn, Sheila Rader, Margot Rankins-Burd, Sam Smith, Deborah Spratt, Marthalyn Sweet, Ian Urriola, Carmen Vianese, and J.J. Warren.