INSTRUCTIONS FOR CHURCH CONFERENCE WORSHIP
Pastors: Please read these instructions ahead of time!
Why church conference is conducted as worship…
“The annual meeting in a discipleship congregation is shaped to serve the mission and vision of the community of faith.” [p. 148] “Annual meetings in a discipleship congregation are concerned with much more than approving budgets, receiving reports, and electing officers. First and foremost they are about the spiritual life of the church. Worship, therefore, is first on the agenda at the annual meetings of discipleship congregations.” [p. 148]
From Power Surge, Michael Foss.
Announce this as a Church Conference …
Please announce this as a “church” conference. Do not announce it as “church/charge” or a “charge” conference! All church members have voice and vote in a church conference (see ¶248, 2012 Book of Discipline). Also, please follow the directions in ¶246.8 regarding the announcement of the church conference. “Notice of time and place…shall be given at least ten days in advance by two or more of the following…from the pulpit of the church, in its weekly bulletin, in a local church publication, or by mail.”
THIS YEAR’S THEME: Planting Seeds of Trust
HOW TO SET UP FOR THE CHURCH CONFERENCE WORSHIP EXPERIENCE
The Church Conference includes activities in small groups of 4-6 people. If your conference will be held in a space where tables can be set up, place 6 chairs at enough tables for the number of people you expect to attend. If using a sanctuary with fixed pews, ask the attendees to cluster in groups of 6 (3 each on 2 rows works well).
Set a table in an appropriate place for the presiding elder and pastor.
Provide an altar area, either as part of the presider’s table or a separate table or altar, depending on the space being used.
ADAPTATIONS– This order of worship suggests that the “business” of the church conference is part of “the work of the people” (liturgy). It is “worshipful work” and as such, placing the items for the church conference in the context of worship is appropriate as a response to the Word proclaimed and before we recommit ourselves to community, hospitality and service through the celebration of Holy Communion. If the combining of worship and worshipful work does not resonate with your cultural context or community, engage in discussion with your district superintendent as to how this worship might be modified.
BULLETIN—The bulletin content and cover art can be downloaded and fine-tuned to your church’s special worship requirements. You may include page numbers in the bulletin that reference the various church conference reports. Items in blue are for the district superintendent’s/presiding elder’s copy of worship. Please provide a bulletin (separate document attached) for all attendees.
QUESTIONS?---Ask your district superintendent for guidance. And, consult your district superintendent if your Church Conference will occur as Sunday morning worship.
WORSHIP SUPPLIES AND VOLUNTEERS NEEDED:
➢ Popsicle sticks (or garden planter sticks, tongue depressors, etc.) for each person. These should be distributed before the church conference begins perhaps along with the bulletins and conference booklets.
➢ Permanent markers to share (Sharpies are good).
➢ Part of this experience will include small groups of persons sharing with each other in a “circle process.” If you are 6 or less, you can be one group all together. If you are more, try to create circles of 6 each or some subdivision of persons that does not exceed 6 people so that everyone has time to share. If you are in a fellowship hall, perhaps you will decide to be seated in small groups at tables. If you are in the sanctuary, you will simply have people divide themselves into groups of 6 or less (make sure that there are not multiple groups of 3 or less… put them together).
➢ Grape juice and bread for communion – the broken bread and juice will be shared as part of the circle process. If you will have several groups in the circle process, you may want to prepare more than one cup.
➢ Napkins to cover the communion elements before and after communion and additional napkins for the bread during communion and to hold under the cup.
➢ Plates – one for each small group – to hold communion bread after it is broken.
➢ Hand sanitizer.
➢ A Christ candle (pillar or taper) and lighter(s) for the altar.
➢ A cloth to cover the altar table or the table in front of the pastor and DS/presiding elder where items will be placed.
➢ A bulletin with the congregational responses and order of the church conference agenda. Words to hymns are printed in the bulletin resource. You can copy this bulletin, making changes and inserting your church conference booklet page numbers.
➢ Copies of your church conference booklet for all attending.
➢ Lay volunteers to read the scriptures, to light candles, to prepare communion, to help with communion if needed for larger group.
➢ Musicians and singers as needed.
CHURCH CONFERENCE WORSHIP 2016
New England Annual Conference
United Methodist Church
LEADER SCRIPT
Theme: “Planting Seeds of Trust”
ENTERING GOD’S PRESENCE
CALL TO WORSHIP
Presider:
I hereby call the Church Conference of [church name] into session and ask for your response.
We are here as a United Methodist community of God to account for our ministries, order our life together, and to resolve that in the year ahead we will answer the call of Jesus Christ to his disciples, leading this church into active ministries of love and justice.
Let us pause to open ourselves to the power of God’s abiding presence as we sing together:
SONG Sung Response “The Word of God” (Tune: OLD 100th, UMH 95)
During the singing, the candle is lighted, and the bread and cup are uncovered.
The Word of God is source and seed;
it comes to die and sprout and grow.
so make your dark earth welcome warm;
root deep the grain God bent to sow.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE
Pastor: Forgive us, God,
when we insist on seeing ourselves
as the source and seed of all we do.
Forgive us, God,
when we forget that you have sown the seeds
we are simply to receive, to tend.
Open us to make our earth welcome warm;
Open us to receive your love
that is being planted within us.
Usher that love into the dark places of our lives
and help us to trust that
what feels dormant is life-sustaining hibernation.
Help us be patient… willing… attentive…
in ways we have not been.
Silent confession.
Assurance
Pastor: Trust the transformation that God has in store for us,
know that nothing is impossible with God.
We are forgiven. We are freed.
All: Glory to God. Amen!
[Sung]
The Word of God is breath and life;
it comes to heal and wake and save.
So let the Spirit touch and mend
and rouse your dry soil from its grave.
WE HEAR GOD’S WORD
SCRIPTURE Luke 8:1-15
Reader 1: When a great crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from one city after another, he spoke to them in a parable: “A farmer went out to scatter his seed. As he was scattering it, some fell on the path where it was crushed, and the birds in the sky came and ate it. Other seed fell on rock. As it grew, it dried up because it had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorny plants. The thorns grew with the plants and choked them. Still other seed landed on good soil. When it grew, it produced one hundred times more grain than was scattered.” As he said this, he called out, “Everyone who has ears should pay attention.”
Reader 2: His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “You have been given the mysteries of God’s kingdom, but these mysteries come to everyone else in parables so that when they see, they can’t see, and when they hear, they can’t understand.
Reader 3: “The parable means this: The seed is God’s word. The seed on the path are those who hear, but then the devil comes and steals the word from their hearts so that they won’t believe and be saved. The seed on the rock are those who receive the word joyfully when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while but fall away when they are tempted. As for the seed that fell among thorny plants, these are the ones who, as they go about their lives, are choked by the concerns, riches, and pleasures of life, and their fruit never matures. The seed that fell on good soil are those who hear the word and commit themselves to it with a good and upright heart. Through their resolve, they bear fruit.
This is a Word of God!
Thanks be to God!
A WORD
Presider: Too often we interpret the Parable of the Sower by casting ourselves in the role of the sower. We imagine spreading the gospel among others who may or may not be in the “right place” to receive the word and flourish. But perhaps God is calling us to be the soil. To be good soil. To tend and nurture and nourish our soil, the foundation of growth, so that all might flourish. Today we commit to be good soil in which the seeds of our trust in God may be planted. [other words can be spoken here by the DS/Presiding Elder as a brief message to the church]
SUNG RESPONSE “Trust and Obey” UMH 467 (vs.1 & 2)
When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will, he abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus… but to trust and obey.
Not a burden we ear, now a sorrow we share,
but our toil he doth richly repay;
not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
but is blest if we trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus… but to trust and obey.
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S CALL
CHURCH CONFERENCE
Presider: Having been reminded that we are all called to ministry together, lay and clergy alike, let us enter into the business of your Church conference.
1. Election of Secretary (please have a volunteer ready to take minutes, with paper and pen available)
2. Approval of Minutes of 2015 Church Conference
3. Lay Leadership/Nominations Report and Election of Church Leaders and Trustees (if not to be done at this time, provide list of current leadership for affirmation)
4. Examination and Recommendation of Candidates for Church Related Vocations. ¶247:10 (if any)
5. Reaffirm Candidates for Ministry and Lay Servants (be sure each lay servant has their paperwork, has it completed, and has had it approved and signed by the pastor)
6. Paper Ballot for any New Candidate for Ministry (DS must be notified ahead of time.)
7. Staff Parish Relations Report: Approval of Pastoral Compensation, and Other Staff Appointed by the Bishop (the base compensation, housing exclusion, and reimbursement amount must be separately included in the vote - should be reported that way by SPRC chair)
8. Retired Pastor or Extension Ministry Report (if any)
9. Trustee Report (Particularly if there have been any Bequests since last Church Conference - must be received by vote)
10. Year-to-date Finance Report
11. 2015 Audit/Fund Balance Report
12. Membership Report and Remembrance of the Saints (moment of silence after they have had a time to share memories, and then a prayer)
13. Any other Business or any Additional Remarks
The church conference will be adjourned after our sharing together and communion.
SHARING HEARTS AND THE LORD’S SUPPER
Presider: As we have seen in our time of church conference business, the work of each church and the work of the leaders and all people within the church is so important. Yes, the denomination’s work as a whole is an important witness but the work of love, justice and inclusivity really is planted here, made real here, given tangible life in our local churches when people are greeted with love, respect and offered an opportunity to walk alongside a community in the presence of Jesus, who invites us all to the journey and to his table.
Today we want to give you an opportunity to share what’s on your heart–what you are feeling and thinking. This is called a circle process where everyone who wants to, has a chance to share. We will do this in [small groups/around your tables/all together]. (Make certain each person has a garden stick.) Would you take a moment now to write a word or a phrase on that stick that represents a message you would want to be planted, nurtured, and grown in the garden of this house of God?
[piano plays the next song softly to allow time for this writing to occur, then the song refrain is sung]
SUNG RESPONSE “Sanctuary” (FWS 2164)
Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary
pure and holy, tried and true
With thanksgiving, I’ll be a living
sanctuary for you.
INVITATION TO COMMUNION
Presider: Because we are a forgiven and freed people, precious in God’s sight, we bring all of who we are, all of what we feel and think, all that we question and/or affirm, as we prepare to share this meal. All are welcome to the bread and cup of communion who desire to live in the love and peace of Jesus Christ that draws us into care for each other and all the world. And so, I invite you to pass the peace of Christ with each other within your small group.