Nominate someone to be a speaker at the World Methodist Council 2016 Conference!
While the focus of this blog is on the global nature of The United Methodist Church as a denomination, the UMC is part of larger global contexts of Methodist/Wesleyan traditions. The World Methodist Council is an important forum for bringing together these larger groups of Methodist/Wesleyan/Nazarene/Uniting/United denominations. In addition to the ongoing work of the Council (which you can read about on their website), they convene the World Methodist Conference every five years. The next such Conference will be held in September 2016 in Houston, TX with the theme "One."
What's more, you, dear readers, have an opportunity to contribute to and shape this conference. The WMC has announced a nomination process for speakers, preachers, and workshop leaders. You can suggest United Methodists (or others) who you think would reflect well the global diversity of our denomination and Methodism in general and be able to speak to the conference theme of "One."
The nomination form is online or can be printed from the PDF form and mailed in. You can nominate multiple people, and indeed the WMC encourages people to nominate at least two people. Nominations are due on August 1st, so submit your nominations soon! This nominating process is an important way to help shape conversations about Methodism as a global movement, and I hope you will contribute thoughtfully and prayerfully.
Meanwhile, The World Methodist Council's Youth and Young Adults branch has issued a call for youth and young adults (ages 35 and under) to contribute prayers to an upcoming e-book entitled "weWorship." The theme for the book is "Our Faith and Human Rights."
The WMC is looking for prayers of approximately 300-word prayers that express the connection between you or your youth/young adult group to human rights in your context. To some, it may initially seem confusing to have a worship resource focused on human rights. Human rights may seem to be much more the stuff of social justice educational campaigns or political lobbying, not praise bands or Taize services.
Yet combining human rights and worship shows the true Wesleyan spirit of this project. John Wesley understood that concern for social justice and personal piety were not separate things, but intricately linked things in the Christian life. Our worship of God should lead us to serve others, and our service of others should draw us closer to God. Worship of God thus motivates us in our pursuit of justice and gives us strength for the journey. Without a personal and active connection to God, our work for human rights and other forms of social justice devolves into mere politics. Worship is necessary to keep our efforts within their proper transcendent frame. Thus, writing prayers about human rights to use in a worship resource should make complete sense from a Wesleyan perspective.
Not only does this project well-reflect Wesleyan understandings of faith, I hope it will also appeal to young United Methodists (including many of those in the UMC social media/blog world). My sense is that many young United Methodists care deeply about human rights as an important matter of faith. I hope, then, that this call will be of interest to some of this blog's readers, and that it will encourage them to continue to develop a faith that sustains engagement with important justice issues such as human rights.Prayers can be e-mailed (along with a selfie and a 150-word explanation of who and where you are) to youthya@worldmethodistcouncil.org or lolliedubes@gmail.com. Entries should be submitted by the end of September.
David W. Scott is assistant professor of religion at Ripon College and curates the collaborative blog UM & Global for United Methodist Professors of Mission.