Kim Goddard
The Rev. Kim Goddard, New River District superintendent, says the last year has been her "hardest year" on the Cabinet. (Holston Conference Photos by Buzz Trexler)
LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. -- The new “D” word for Holston Conference is not disaffiliation. It’s discipleship.
That’s what the Rev. Kim Goddard said on the final day of Holston Annual Conference, joining other speakers in sending United Methodists forth with an urgent call to follow Jesus – and to teach and lead others to follow him, too.
In Stuart Auditorium on June 7, Goddard told church members to go home and tell their friends and communities “that Holston Conference is alive and well, that we still believe in and love and worship Jesus, that we are doing our best to love God and our neighbor, that there is deeper work to do, and that we are committed to the journey together.”
Speaking as dean of the Cabinet and New River District superintendent, Goddard also talked about the pain of disaffiliation over the past year.
“We have been called upon, over and over and over, to do something that is completely antithetical to our calling as Christians and our calling as clergy. We have been asked to help people, to help colleagues and friends, to help churches, walk away. And we have administered those votes, and it broke our hearts.”
– The Rev. Kim Goddard
“We have been called upon, over and over and over, to do something that is completely antithetical to our calling as Christians and our calling as clergy,” Goddard said, referring to her fellow district superintendents. “We have been asked to help people, to help colleagues and friends, to help churches, walk away. And we have administered those votes, and it broke our hearts.”
Goddard said that a covenant group, one of several formed among conference leaders and ministry teams, has changed her life and deepened her relationship with God. She thanked Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett for setting the training in motion to form other groups and take discipleship-developing actions to sweep the conference.
"We've switched gears," Goddard said. "The conversation in cabinet meetings and the work in the districts has shifted to a new 'D' word. Not disaffiliation. That word is discipleship."
In his third time to preach in Stuart Auditorium this week, Bishop Gregory Palmer spoke about the doubt that some of Jesus’ disciples felt in Matthew 28:16-20 and the doubt church members might feel as they look upon Holston’s future. “Are you doubting, and is that about self-doubt more than anything else?” he asked.
Preaching on the Great Commission and Jesus’ promise to be with his people always, Palmer said, “As you go today, I want you to straighten up your back, square your shoulders, and grow some new confidence, that the claim and the call of God is on you to bear witness to the good news of the Gospel.” Palmer is resident bishop of the West Ohio Conference.
New faith expressions
Becky Hall, chair of the Congregational Development Team, and the Rev. Susan Arnold, director of congregational development, emphasized that prayer-led movements and “fresh expressions” will be key to building up new and existing churches in Holston Conference.
“We have to pivot to be the church now, and to be the church future,” Arnold said. “We cannot plant churches the way we have in the past. It will not work for this context or culture.”
In addition to new “dinner church” gatherings and a “book club in a bar” already in progress, Arnold said she hopes to help 25 “new expressions of faith” get started in 2023-2024. Trainings are planned for Aug. 18-19 in Knoxville and Sept. 16 in Southwest Virginia and Chattanooga.
Annette Spence serves as Editor of The Call, Holston Conference's news publication. To reproduce this content elsewhere, please email the author for permission.