Do you have the charge conference blues?

Are You Prepared for Charge Conference?

I'm in the final stages of preparing our charge conference booklet.  Our annual meeting has a different format this year.  Next Sunday we are joining other Irving congregations for a joint worship service at Plymouth Park UMC, then each congregation moves to a room for their own charge conference.  In part, I suppose, this helps eliminate administrative hours for the D.S.  That was one of the goals of the conference realignment.

Hopefully, Oak Haven will respond the same way we have the past couple of years.  We have had most of our church represented at our meetings.  I really try to emphasize the celebration aspect of the meeting.  Every year we were able to be in ministry together; that is a blessing in itself.  Sometimes we were able to do what we usually do; sometimes we didn't get to do what we wanted; sometimes we were able to try new things.  In any case, we were in ministry together.

There are three questions I hope each member takes time to consider and answer.  Our conference booklet has space to answer them.  Having the questions helps (doesn't define) us put into perspective the activities we have been involved in, and what the point of our mission is. I'm of the opinion our churches don't do enough reflecting.  To that end the questions are:

1. How has your faith been encouraged, strengthened or challenged the most this past year at Oak Haven?
2. Provide (3) strengths and (2) weaknesses of our ministry here at Oak Haven:
3. What areas of ministry would you like to see developed more this coming year?

If someone answers those then they will celebrate what God has done.  They will have taken time to reflect on our mission and how we need to make sure we are working towards that end.  Finally, it helps direct the goals of what the church will be doing in the coming year.

What about your charge conferences?  What kind of mood does yours have?  Do you look forward to the meeting, or is it a necessary evil?  Do you get in and get out?  The longest meeting I've had lasted just over two hours.  The shortest meeting lasted 29 1/2 minutes!  Happy Charge Conference Season!

Stay blessed...john