Rosemary Molinaro, Wesley Church’s lay delegate to Annual Conference, shares her reflections of the recent conference sessions:
BELONG – That was the theme of this year’s Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference, held May 21-23. The location could not be more inviting: the ocean-front Convention Center in Wildwood NJ! Communion on the beach started the morning, followed by full days of worship, praise, celebrations, and of course, attending to the work of the conference.
Over the three days of the conference, everyone BELONGing was echoed in the music, the prayers, and the presentations. All God’s people – regardless of any difference between us on the outside – all BELONG in our spiritual connection to our Creator God. It is up to each of us to follow the command of Jesus to “love one another, as I have loved you” (John 13:34).
Clergy and Laity were asked to vote on several important resolutions. A new hand-held voting device was used for quick and accurate voting results. Voting was not always easy, and anyone who had a comment, concern, or amendment was heard before voting took place. Some of the resolutions presented were: rental/housing allowance for retired or disabled clergy; equitable compensation for clergy; approval of seven churches to be closed; 2025 budget, a Memorandum of Understanding for GNJ and EPA to work together in a collaborative partnership, and many more. All resolutions carried, with one as close as one vote (207-206), and another voting five times before reaching the require 2/3 majority.
And then we celebrated! We celebrated the commissioning and ordination of new clergy, the vote to reinstate our Christian sister Beth Stroud to BELONG in the UMC, the election of two episcopal candidates, the celebration of life remembrance of those who have been called home to the Lord, and the celebration of new assignments to local churches.
What a blessing it was for me, personally, to be involved in this conference. There was so much to take in over three days. If you have the opportunity to attend an annual conference, I think you would feel the same way. Anyone can attend as a guest and sit in on the session (but as a guest you would not be eligible to vote). It is an amazing way to BELONG! Thank you for allowing me to attend.
