On Friday, March 3, 2022, The Commission on General Conference announced the postponement of General Conference until 2024.
The General Conference is the body that sets official policy and speaks as the entire denomination.
You can read the announcement here.
As stated in the news release, “This marks the third delay of what many have expected to be a pivotal global gathering. After decades of intensifying debate and defiance of church bans on same-sex weddings and “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy, the coming General Conference faces multiple proposals for denominational separation.”
With the news of a delayed General Conference, leaders of a planned new denomination announced that they are moving up the launch date to May 1, 2022, without waiting for General Conference to act.
I share all this information as your pastor for the sake of transparency. It is essential that, as United Methodists, we stay informed on what is happening in our beloved denomination.
I am working closely with our church council chair and vice-chair as we navigate these challenges. In addition, the pastors have met with our lay delegates and plan to do so again soon before Annual Conference.
I am also working with Mr. Ferrell Singleton to put together a task force that will create a system whereby the congregation listens to one another and the Holy Spirit through discernment, the study of scripture, and prayer.
We hope that we will come out of the process seeking God’s will for Gainesville First United Methodist Church and a way forward that demonstrates God’s love, respect for the authority of scripture and enables us to be a faithful witness of Jesus in our community.
The work of discernment is challenging work. Taking up the task to listen to God, paying attention to God’s presence among us, and going after God’s leading is a lifelong journey.
I am committed to the task of discernment as a pastor because I believe that through it we discover our individual callings and shared mission as a congregation.
It means going beyond the headlines. And trust me, since the news of a delayed General Conference has come out, there have been plenty of headlines from all sorts of groups and organizations around the world of Methodism.
As your pastor, I am committed to seeing beyond the headlines to the work of God among us as the people of God. Therefore, I will not be sidetracked by the propaganda of individuals or entities trying to force on us headlines that are different than those that the Lord is writing among us.
It is time we choose to write our own headlines. Let us celebrate what God is doing at Gainesville First United Methodist Church.
The book of Acts is a good place for us to start.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. Acts 2: 42 - 47
Suppose we do a quick reading of the book of Acts. We soon discover that the accomplishments - miracles and wonders, one heart and one mind, sharing of possessions - are not the sign of extraordinary individuals.
It is the sign of the Spirit of God within a community of rag-tag followers of Jesus trying to understand themselves as the people of God.
The sensational, almost unbelievable story of the early church is not a story of extraordinary people who come together to do great things. Instead, it is the story of a group of people coming to realize that if there were going to be anything extraordinary about them, it would be because of God who was at work among them.
And the same is true for us, Gainesville First United Methodist Church. If there is anything extraordinary that happens through us, it will be the result of an ordinary group of Gainesville people letting an extraordinary God do wild and adventurous things through us.
Who knows, someone might be writing an Acts 2 chapter about us one day.
Your Pastor and Friend in the Work of the Kingdom of God,
Rev. Jamey Prickett
Pastor
Gainesville First United Methodist Church