I had the opportunity to attend a rally yesterday afternoon
at Batesville First United Methodist Church.
It was a “challenge” rally to hopefully inspire clergy and laity to
begin to examine how to reignite the fire in our lives, churches and
communities. Being a United Methodist
gathering, there was a rather large emphasis on connectional relationship. (“One church with 1100 locations,” as our resident Bishop, James E.Swanson puts it.) As I heard Andy Ray,
Blair Jernigan, Cheryl Denley and John Garrot share wonderful words of encouragement
about the exciting possible future, and the potent promise of God in the UMC’s
current context, I began to think…
What is meaningful
relationship with our congregations and our communities?
