Northern Europe-Baltic Conference Photo
Leaders confer
RIGA, Latvia – Members of the Northern Europe-Baltic Central Conference confer at their recent meeting.
Special to United Methodist Insight
Conversation, laughter, thoughtfulness and joy filled the room when 42 leaders from Ukraine, Norway, Lithuania, Finland, Latvia and Denmark were gathered in Riga, Latvia to worship, pray, share, reflect and talk about our future together in the United Methodist Church.
Some came with anxiety fearing others would try to convince them of their position. Some still had the tense and difficult extra session of the Central Conference earlier this year fresh in mind and were not very hopeful. Some just came with an open mind.
In the end when the group came together after worship to summarize their experience, much had happened. One said, “I was worried what would happen to our church, but I go home with hope. There was much love and understanding” Another said: ”We have had peaceful and civilized conversation, no one was hurt or abandoned. We fight for our family. The world is not united, but we must stay united.” Yet another said, “I was grateful to be here, I expected argument, but God has made our hearts meek. I hope that people with different views will not judge each other.”
The leaders were brought together in Riga by the Central Conference Council at a time, when the Estonia District has left the denomination (on 1. July 2023) and four Eurasia annual conference have started the process to leave the denomination at the Central Conference in 2025.
The participants represented all the annual conferences who will stay in the United Methodist Church or are waiting until after the General Conference 2024 to make up their mind.
The purpose of the gathering was in a spirit of Christian conferencing to prayerfully discern God’s direction for the church sharing perspectives, concerns, and dreams, and offering advice and recommendations to the Central Conference Council to inform their work leading to the Central Conference in 2025.
Northern Europe-Baltic Conference Photo
Many Nations
RIGA, Latvia – United Methodist leaders from Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Finland, Norway and Denmark gathered to discuss their future together in the United Methodist Church.
The conversation and sharing took place in a worshipful atmosphere with few talks, and none of them longer than 15 minutes. Most of the time was spent sharing, listening and praying in groups, and then more sharing, listening and praying in one big circle wisely facilitated by rev Øyvind Helliesen.
Methodist identity in the Nordic , Baltic and Ukrainian area was the first theme, which led into a focus on mission and its implications for our future. This moved us into a conversation on the meaning of relationships to our self-understanding.
For the first time since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, leaders from Ukraine were able to meet, fellowship, talk and pray with other leaders in the central conference. It was a very emotional moment, when the three leaders from Ukraine shared how the war affects the population and the church, and how the church continues to minister and bring comfort and hope to the people. The entire group laid hands on the Ukrainian leaders prayed for them and blessed them.
After the groundwork had been laid, we finally focused on our common future. Even though there was an awareness of the need to look at United Methodism in a larger European perspective, the group had little appetite for discussing organizational matters, they were more interested in what a common future might look like.
The annual conferences represented are theologically diverse, and concerns were expressed as to whether there will be freedom to stay conservative. Several other leaders expressed their commitment to protect the rights of all to remain true to their beliefs.
From different positions several expressed the need for each annual conference to be able to set their own policies and standards for marriage and the licensing and ordination of clergy, and to be able to hold on to these policies and standards without interference from the general church. As one expressed it, “Different standards and policies may not be the best but perhaps the better option”, and many nodded in agreement.
Throughout the weekend the atmosphere was warm, respectful, and loving. At the close of the gathering one said: ”I bring back a sense of belonging to the family, I have hope of relationship where we perceive each other as God’s children.”
This report was distributed via the office of Bishop Christian Alsted, episcopal leader of the Northern Europe-Baltic Central Conference.