Column: What to expect at the 2011 Detroit Annual Conference

• By Jerry Devine, Detroit Conference Director of Connectional Ministries •

“Lord, when was it that we saw you?” (Matthew 25:37 NRSV)

Within just a few days we will welcome one another at our 2011 Detroit Annual Conference session. 

Our theme this year, “When Did We See You, Lord?” is grounded in Jesus’ teachings in the Gospel of Matthew. It is an expression of one of our four denominational foci — ministry with the poor.

To incarnate our theme we intentionally requested practical items for the Adrian area outreach. We offer our gratitude to Adrian First United Methodist Church and Rev. Gary Dawes for coordinating this effort.

Jesus made it very clear in his way of living and teaching that his followers were to be aware of and responsive to the needs of others, and that in doing so we are connecting to Christ himself. See our DAC website, www.detroitconference.org for a list of the items being accepted to help the local food pantry and other denominational initiatives.

The hope of the DAC Program Committee is that when over a thousand United Methodist disciples gather together, life for others will be made better because of our presence. Additional opportunities to be in ministry at annual conference will be to bring Haiti medical supplies, Bishop’s “seat covers” (new undergarments that will be distributed across our conference), and to be prepared for a special Covenant Offering for Haiti and Liberia.

Once again, this year we will live-stream all of the worship services and plenary sessions so that local churches can not only be informed but be a part of the gathering. We have expanded the Ministry Fair table space so there will be an even more creative environment. This year we have arranged for the Fair to be on Friday evening at the same time and location as the Methodist Children’s Home Strawberry Shortcake Social. It will be a festive opportunity to see one another and to see how Christ is working through various ministries.

We have business to care for as well. There are 10 resolutions related to our annual conference and 16 petitions related to the 2012 General Conference.

One of the ten resolutions is the proposed creation of a modified New Church Development Committee.

It is an intentional strengthening of this work of creating new places for new people. How we organize our shared life and structure says a great deal about where our priorities are. Likewise, how we spend our shared funds says the same. This year you will see a reduced and more focused 2012 budget request. 

The Conference Leadership Team portion prioritizes church growth, leadership development and congregational vitality in a diverse demographic.

For those who love details you can peruse the Standing Rules and Structure. While much remains the same each year, this year we will see a streamlined structure for the Board of Global Ministries. The board brought this forward in order to free people up to be directly involved in areas of passion and calling. The desire is to connect people directly to ministry, not simply place them on an agency.

Finally, we will make decisions about leadership. We will see this in the immense work done by the Conference Nominations Committee as they sought to bring appropriate gifts and more diverse voices to many of our conference agencies.

At a time when multiple studies are taking place on the future of our denomination and our methods of recruiting, credentialing and deploying clergy, we will discern and elect four ordained clergy and four laity as our delegates to the 2012 General Conference.

We will elect an additional equal number for the 2012 Jurisdictional Conference. We will celebrate the leadership of those clergy who retire from active service this year, along with celebrating with those who are now to be licensed, commissioned or ordained. Developing principled Christian leaders is yet another of the four foci of the denomination.

We are United Methodists as we gather. May we see Christ in one another.

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Global Leadership Summit gives Michigan Area ideas to consider when planning for the future

• By RJ Walters, Editor •

More than 4,000 United Methodist members and leaders joined together electronically on April 6 to focus on the short- and long-term changes necessary to meet the future challenges of the church.

The consensus was accountability, creativity and the improvement and coordination of the clergy leadership system are integral to growing more vital churches.

But a lingering question remains — one that has been debated for years prior to the first-ever United Methodist Church Leadership Summit: “How does a global church of roughly 11 million members get there?”

Three gatherings of clergy and lay people around the Michigan Area joined the webcast conference hosted in Nashville to discuss how churches and conferences could better direct their resources toward meeting the physical and emotional needs of communities by looking at “measurable fruits” and statistics that tell the stories of local congregation.

“Think of how our mission will benefit if we give more attention to careful collection of key information and share it with each other more often,” said Charlotte Area Bishop Larry Goodpaster, president of the Council of Bishops. “Some annual conferences are now receiving weekly reports and telling the story of fruitful ministry using Internet dashboards.”

A comprehensive report by the Call to Action Steering Team — a 16-person committee charged with creating a plan that will lead to reordering the life of the church for greater effectiveness and vitality — strongly suggests using the following factors to get an initial look at the “vitality” of a church: regular worship attendance, faith professions during a calendar year, the number of and participation in small groups and statistics that indicate how much money is being given to mission, how many people are engaging in it and how many people are being reached.

The report also states the status quo of an aging UMC membership in the United States is “toxic and unsustainable” and the denomination’s “adaptive challenge” is to redirect the flow of attention, energy and resources to create a sustainable model.

The conference asked groups connecting to the webcast to discuss several key concepts presented in the Call to Action report.

Benton Heisler, West Michigan Conference Director of Connectional Ministries, shared impressions from the group of WMC clergy and lay leaders he was a part of on April 6.

He said the group wondered out loud whether or not local congregations are now supporting conferences instead of the other way around and whether or not the “moral and leadership will” are in place to discontinue churches that are no longer “producing fruit” and/or not viable.

There was a general consensus in Heisler’s group that strategic planning should be done based on demographics and population instead of where churches have always thrived or survived.

“Can we reclaim the circuit and put the pastor on the screen instead of the horse?” Heisler asked in an email.

Heisler also noted that his group thought guaranteed appointments should be examined and perhaps eliminated and the duties of a bishop should be more focused on his/her conference as opposed to a bevy of national and international responsibilities.

Jerry Devine, Detroit Conference Director of Connectional Ministries, said the Summit provided a jumping off point for future conversations, but he expects the next seismic shifts in the strategic planning of the church won’t take place until the 2012 General Conference in Tampa, Fla.

“The conversations were good, yet people were leery of whether this will lead to anything of substance,” he said in an email. “We all desire a transformed and vital future, yet we know the themes that were discussed are not new to us. They simply come with more urgency now then before.”

Goodpaster said the online conference was only the beginning of the critical thinking and he encouraged people to create focus groups to share the video of the Summit with their local church.

The Summit in its entirety will be available for viewing the next 18 months at www.umc.org, along with a survey of roughly 1,000 participants from the event.

Want more? 

Watch the full UMC Leadership Summit, archived at www.umc.org/leadershipsummit. Also check out results from the post-Summit survey.

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Column: Perspectives on hope through life and death in the midst of a royal wedding and bin Laden's death

• By Jerry Devine, Detroit Conference Director of Connectional Ministries •

It has been an historic week for many.

On Friday, April 29th, at 4:30 a.m. I was awakened. No, it was not a divine epiphany, though it was a DeVine invitation. Again, Sunday, May 1st, at around 11:30 p.m. I was once again beckoned, another DeVine invitation.

In both instances it was my wife that invited, perhaps encouraged and implored me to pay attention to two totally unrelated events with global and individual significance.

Early Friday [Eastern Daylight Time] the wedding of two young adults took place that captured global attention, and then late Sunday night the announcement of the death of the key figure of al-Qaeda had the world listening.

One event the sign of life that bridges past a prior tragic death and offers a hope for the future.

The other story a death following many deaths, and yet many hope will now mark a shift toward life. We pray for all involved in either story, for both events will impact more than just those immediately involved.

Both of these events have caused me to wrestle with what might the Church learn from them.

To be clear, I am not a “royals watcher”. I have historically had little appreciation for any form of authority that cannot be challenged or replaced when found necessary. Following the tragic death of the late Princess Diana, I even thought that the British public might determine they have moved beyond that system of former governance and current obligation. The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton showed otherwise.

However, I was particularly impressed by how this young adult woman, out of her love, made a conscious choice that would require a role in leadership for the rest of her life. More than ever before I saw that while there is great wealth and prestige to be gained, for her there will also be significant sacrifice and service.

She became someone new yet still the same. Sounds theological and biblical.

The media assisted us in making the constant connections to the late princess Diana, mother of Prince William. My hat is off, if I wore one, to both Prince William, and the now Princess Katherine, for thoughtfully moving into the future while being aware of and appreciating the past. Out of an untimely and tragic death comes a promising future hope. They made a conscious choice to choose life coming out of the previous death. Who knows, they may even transform the approachability of the monarchy. Sounds like an Easter message to me.

The other event of these past few days is equally complex, and not as easily considered.

For some of those who lost family members and friends during the several terrorist plots guided by Osama bin Laden there is a sense of justice and closure now that he has been killed. It took a death to try to bring about release for new life. Yet, as most officials reminded us, this will not end violence. Justice and equity for all and relationships with all will ultimately bring that about.

This event can be the invitation to a different way of transforming communities and nations. This too is an Easter message, though much harder to swallow or appreciate than a beautiful wedding. Jesus gave himself up for us all, and didn’t need a fenced-in compound to save himself.

We call ourselves an Easter people, a people shaped by the sacrificial service of God through Jesus Christ. We are an Easter people shaped by the choice to go from life through death to choosing new life.

As in the life of Jesus Christ and the early apostolic disciple community, this choosing new life is not only a spiritual issue. It has current temporal implications. It shapes how one is to see and address the needs of the wider community. It shapes how resources are sacrificed so that new life may come forth. It calls forth self-giving service more than self-preserving isolation.

I invite you to respond with what you may have learned as a disciple leader from either of these two current events. Keep them in prayer please.

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‘Vital’ new church development program being piloted in both conferences

By RJ Walters, Editor

In an effort to better equip motivated congregations to respond to God’s call, a collaborative Michigan Area Leadership Excellence Task Force has rolled out pilot versions of a clergy and lay member development program called the Vital Church Initiative (VCI) in the Flint and Albion Districts.

The voluntary initiative has been in development since the fall of 2010 and it will aim to intentionally use coaching to facilitate learning and increase accountability among leaders and members of churches of all sizes.

Bishop Keaton created the Task Force in late 2009 with the intention of addressing clergy excellence, believing that the health and vitality of local churches is often directly related to the leadership skills of clergy members.

Clergy and laity who agree to be part of the pilot programs are in covenant to attend each four-hour session, read the preparatory materials and take care of travel expenses.

Each church will come out of the VCI program with an action plan.

They will also have the opportunity for a full-day consultation of their church with a trained consultant.

Based on a comprehensive learning model called the “Healthy Church Initiative and Small Church Initiative” in the Missouri Conference, the “large church” component (more than 100 members worshipping on average) will be piloted in the Flint District and the “small church” component (less than 100 members worshipping on average) has already started in the Albion District. A similar pilot program is expected to begin in the Lansing District later this year.

The large church VCI includes parallel clergy and laity leadership development tracks for pastors and for chosen lay leaders

Twelve clergy will gather one Monday morning each month for eight months at the Detroit Conference Office in Flint, with approximately 24 laity meeting the following Saturday each month for their session.

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Details divulged for 2011 Detroit Annual Conference

The 2011 Detroit Annual Conference will run May 19-22.

By RJ Walters, Editor

With a distinct focus on engaging in ministry with the poor, the 2011 Detroit Annual Conference will strive to answer the question, “When Did We See You, Lord?”

The May 19-22 session at Adrian College will highlight the text of Matthew 25:35-40 to educate attendees on one of the United Methodist Church’s Four Areas of Focus.

As part of this focus area, The United Methodist Church seeks to “promote awareness of poverty and advocacy for change, support adequate funding for antipoverty initiatives at all government levels, and engage local congregations as advocates of justice and economic development.”

Matthew 25:35-40 was an inspiration for annual conference committee members to plan around: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me … whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (NIV)

As part of engaging in ministry with the poor, attendees are encouraged to participate in a medical supplies collection for Haiti (see www.detroitconference.org for details), which is being coordinated by the conference Board of Global Ministries.

In addition, the Program Committee and Adrian FUMC are partnering to do a collection of food pantry items that will be distributed in Adrian.

Clergy and lay members are asked to bring any of the following items: diapers and wipes for infants through size 6, toilet paper, boxed milk (that does not require refrigeration), canned fruit and cereal.

“We want to be able to say that when the United Methodist Church comes to your community, how is the community different because of that?” said Jerry Devine, Detroit Conference Director of Connectional Ministries. “How does the light of Christ shine because we have been there? Does it matter? It aught to, and I think we can ask that of any one of our churches.”

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Addition by Subtraction: Detroit Conference begins process of making itself the 'right size' for 21st century ministry

By RJ Walters, Editor

One era is coming to a close and another is preparing for liftoff in the Detroit Annual Conference.

Michigan Area Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton officially announced on Jan. 12 that the conference will be reduced from seven districts to six on July 1 in an attempt to save money and re-fashion itself for ministry in the 21st century.

Keaton relied heavily on the recommendations of a 16-member Redistricting Task Force he put together after legislation was passed at annual conference on May 22 to reduce the number of districts.

“After consulting with the cabinet according to paragraph 415.4 of the 2008 (United Methodist) Book of Discipline, I have determined the boundaries of the new districts,” he said. “Most of the churches in Detroit East and West Districts will become a part of a Detroit Metropolitan District. Other districts will undergo minor changes, with one exception, namely Ann Arbor."

The new districts are based on slight modifications to the “conservative model” presented to Keaton by the Redistricting Task Force in December.

The other model presented was further reaching in changes to current district boundaries.

Three districts — Ann Arbor, Flint, and Saginaw Bay — will see increases in their number of churches, while the Marquette and Port Huron Districts will see a slight reduction in the number of churches.

The Conference Leadership Team will go through the process or renaming the districts in the next few months.

The biggest geographic shift will be seven churches leaving the Detroit West District for the Ann Arbor District.

Detroit Conference Director of Connectional Ministries Jerry Devine sees the fusion of the two

Detroit districts into one as a wonderful opportunity for new growth and partnership.

“I really believe at this time it’s beneficial to bring together Detroit as an entity…because re-thinking and re-birthing Detroit is going to take everybody,” he said. “The church is a part of resurrection — that’s our theology — so as we look at the future of Detroit and its surrounding communities and people, the church needs to come together as one body to really collaborate on a new level.”

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Column: What are 'they' looking for?

By Jerry Devine, Detroit Conference Director of Connectional Ministries 

Perhaps you’ve heard a conversation like this:


“Do you know them?”


“No, they don’t look familiar. I wonder if they are just visiting from out of town or if they live around here?”


“They are probably just curious during this time of year. A lot of people are travelling through.”

I love Epiphany each year. Two wonderful professors from my early college days, Drs. Linda and Dwight Vogel, had invited the religion class to their home. The home had the rich character of the late Victorian era and they had decorated their home for the journey from Advent to Christmastide to Epiphany.

My young understanding of the length of time that is actually suggested in the Gospels was given a visual image through the symbols in the Vogels’ home.

The shepherds and their flocks were still on the hillside in one corner of the room, a respectable distance from the inn/manger scene where Joseph and a pregnant Mary had recently arrived.

Then, at a distance, there were sojourners that had a particular spiritual hunger and cosmic curiosity.

They were the Magi that had seen an unusual star in the sky and undertaken a journey to find the source of this mystery.

Had the Magi come to your local community would someone know where they might find the light that had shown in the darkness?

While working as a Ministry Consultant a few years ago I took a convoluted route through many back roads to find a modestly small town tucked into a rural community.

MapQuest could not identify exactly where the church was located so I stopped at a local gas station/convenience store. When I asked where the United Methodist Church was in town the two young workers looked at each other with a blank stare.

One of them named a couple of non-denominational or non-connectional churches she thought she knew about, but neither had any knowledge of or encounters with the local United Methodist community.

Did you catch that?

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Detroit Conference announces program staffing changes

Rev. Terry Gladstone

By Paul Thomas, Detroit Conference Director of Communications

The Rev. Dr. Jerome (Jerry) DeVine has announced several changes to the program staff of the Detroit Conference, effective immediately. All changes are within existing positions and budget.

The Rev. Dr. James Parkhurst, who has been on staff since April 1 as interim conference director of outdoor and retreat ministries, has been promoted to conference director of outdoor and retreat ministries, while the Rev. Terry Gladstone, conference director of discipleship, has accepted a position as the program development specialist for the Lake Louise Christian Community, Camp, and Retreat Center.

In addition, Ang Hart, conference director of youth and young adult ministries, and Paul Thomas, conference director of communications, will have their positions increased from 1/2-time to 3/4-time effective January 1, 2011.

“Aligning resources to fulfill the conference vision of creating and nurturing dynamic and fruitful congregations includes focusing the time and portfolios of those whom God has called and gifted for various strategic ministries,” said DeVine, who is in his second year as the conference’s director of connectional ministries. “These recent staff changes are focused heavily on equipping and connecting leadership for discipleship in a changing environment.”

Rev. James Parkhurst

Before moving to the Detroit Conference, Parkhurst spent the past 12 years as the Director of Discipleship Ministries in the Desert Southwest Conference. During those 12 years, Parkhurst oversaw the conference’s camping and retreat ministries that encompassed several sites and staff spread across two states. Parkhurst, with over 18 years of experience in outdoor and retreat ministries, is currently a member of the National Camp and Retreat Committee, an affiliated organization with the General Board of Discipleship.

An ordained deacon and member of the Desert Southwest Conference, Parkhurst earned a Bachelor’s degree in Recreation and Religion Studies from Morehead State University and received a Master’s degree in Christian Education from Scarritt College in Nashville, Tenn. Parkhurst also completed his diaconal studies at Claremont School of Theology and received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Wisdom University in Oakland, Calif.

“Jim brings a depth of faith and knowledge along with breadth of experience in spiritual formation through outdoor and retreat ministries,” DeVine said. “Originally from Kentucky, he has served as site director for several camp ministries, including one in the North Central Jurisdiction. He brings thoroughness, strategic planning skills, leadership development and organizational experience, and a keen understanding of networking communities to make disciples of Jesus Christ leading to the transformation of the world. We welcome him as part of our ministry.”

Gladstone, who has been on the staff of the Detroit Conference since 1994, will remain employed by the conference with a significantly reduced consultative staff role and a revised portfolio. Details of her new conference responsibilities are being worked out with the personnel committee, but her duties will focus particularly on aspects of effective leadership development, clergy and lay, for equipping and strengthening vital local congregations.

As the program development specialist for Lake Louise, Gladstone will be responsible for increasing ministry outreach and to help the community, camp and retreat center effectively utilize their facilities and natural environment to fulfill their purpose and mission. Her position will involve organizing and evaluating multiple educational functions and activities, focusing on continual improvement and growth.

She will also have responsibilities for recruiting and maintaining a resource pool of leaders, along with training and supervising of some staff.

“I have known Terry for over ten years,” commented DeVine. “While my own roles have changed over that time, she and I have been part of the Michigan Area Ministry Team during that decade. She has vast experience, and has already gifted this Detroit Conference with numerous ministries that now have their own strength and direction.

"Her decision to pursue a new ministry position with the Lake Louise Christian Community and Camp builds on her own family history and life-long love for that community. I am grateful that she will remain in a consultative staff role with us because of the extensive experience and skills that she offers. We will obviously be focusing her available time very intentionally, particularly around some new avenues for congregational health and vitality that we are developing.”

For a directory of Detroit Conference staff, please visit www.detroitconference.org/staff.

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Column: Are you dressed for action in your ministry?

By Jerry DeVine, Detroit Conference Director of Connectional Ministry

It was a teaching moment. To learn how to live life with substance and readiness sometimes we need to observe, listen and integrate the way of life we see in those leading the way. Who is watching you to learn a way of life?

I do not recall when I first heard my father tell the story, but it obviously stayed with me in a manner that actually helped form how I would make choices in my own life. My father grew up as a farmer and a trapper.

By the time I was an infant he had become a business man, complete with starched white shirt, suit and tie. To feed our growing family he had become an insurance salesman, providing both health and life insurance options to help others care for their own lives or families. He was dressed for the occasion and profession he was now in, quite a change from denim overalls and work boots.

Here is where the story changes, however.

Selling anything to farmers and ranchers in South Dakota and Wyoming is no small feat. Working from before sunrise to after sunset, often doing hard labor, does not leave much room for worrying about getting one’s shoes scuffed up.

Dad told the story of one particular farm that he visited. He came to the farmhouse first and was told that he would need to go out to the barn to talk to the farmer himself, though not to anticipate any interest.

Dad was not one to be dissuaded easily so he walked out to where the farmer and his workers were throwing hay bales. The farmer looked down at the man with the tie and suit, making some kind of comment about “readiness to work”. Within moments the suit coat and tie were off and this stranger was throwing the bales six tiers high, surpassing the workers’ efforts.

By the end of the day Dad had shared a meal at the farmhouse table, and developed a client/provider relationship that lasted for many years.

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Inside the Pages Book Review — Take the Next Step: Leading Lasting Change in the Church

Take the Next Step: Leading Lasting Change in the Church, by Lovett H. Weems, Jr. (Abingdon Press, 2003)

Review by: Jerry Devine, Detroit Conference Director of Connectional Ministries

After five years as a ministry consultant followed by five as district superintendent, I have heard many clergy say, “If only I were appointed to a church that was ready to change, I could _____!” (You can fill in the blank, but it usually has something to do with vitality, growth and fulfillment.)

Having served in several local church appointments as a pastor, I would agree that some parishes are more ready to embrace change than others.

However, I have almost never found a setting where no change is possible. With God all things are possible. How we identify and bring about needful change may be the issue.

In Take the Next Step: Leading Lasting Change in the Church, Dr. Lovett Weems, Jr. takes on the dynamics of change in a manner that makes it accessible for any size church.

He helps to demythologize the dynamics of change that can so often lead to polarization and demonization among church leaders. By looking at congregations as cultural communities and family systems he identifies the factors that will influence how positive change can be approached. While radical change is sometimes called for, in most local churches the methodology that will work best will be more “evolutionary than revolutionary,” Weems suggests.

Because we are an itinerant, appointive, and connectional system, addressing issues of change requires the building of trust. That is not the same as building consensus.

Caring for the basics of relationship provides a foundation for naming, defining and reframing reality.

Weems lays this out as the precursor of beginning a visioning process. Learning the essential art of asking questions to invite insight is vital as one infuses accurate information into faulty assumptions.

New insight becomes a base for considering vision and direction. It moves into an accurate picture of the present without losing aspects of the past.

Weems writes very clearly for clergy and lay leadership whose responsibility it is to guide their congregations into considering where God is moving them. His approach is non-threatening yet clearly aware that we cannot assume that our present reality is where God intends us to remain.

He reminds the reader that in order to seek vision and the subsequent change required for fulfilling that vision, one must also understand the “phases of thriving and declining organizations”.

He also helps make visioning a more practical “looking for clues” rather than the abstract approaches that have often been used. This allows a more natural discernment, and builds a bridge between past and future.

It is an easy read with pithy quotes. Even if not used as a guide for your visioning process, it can be an instrument of study and holy conferencing among your leaders as you seek regeneration.

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Column: Evangelism — getting past the fright!

By Jerry Devine, Detroit Conference Director of Connectional Ministries

“… over 90 percent of the so-called new converts come from the 40 percent of the population who are already 'in the choir,' and less than 10 percent come from the 'unchurched majority.' So we have a lot of Baptists becoming Pentecostals, and Catholics becoming Episcopalians, and so on, but surprising few 'unchurched people' getting connected with the church. (5)” —From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith by Brian McClaren

Most studies will show that at least 70 percent of any community in Michigan does not connect regularly, if at all, to any organized church. Yet those same studies are clear that at least 90 percent of the people are spiritually interested.

Perhaps our very idea of what “church” is has gotten away from the idea of being born as a movement of faith exploring/discovering, community-building and community-transforming people.

When we are part of something that is exciting and moving it seems natural to invite others to explore it with us. When we are aware that the purpose of the movement is larger than just our own self-focused needs, important as those may be, we often project a passion and hope that is easy to get others interested in.

Some of the most compelling “evangelists” I have encountered in my life have no clear relationship to religion, they just had a clear vision for the cause they were involved in and were eager to help others see how they could make a positive difference in the world.

The very word evangelism tends to frighten most mainstream church members in the United States.

Images of knocking on doors at awkward times to hand out tracts and engage in “do you believe …” conversations may come to mind. Or, perhaps it is the image of the haranguing street preachers that want to condemn everybody to their version of hell if the passerby doesn’t quickly “repent and believe”.

Is it because we cringe at the idea of sharing our faith in these ways that we have, in most places, failed to invite people to explore faith at all?

What if we approached it more naturally? Two examples have been shared with me recently that I think merit a closer look.

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Column: Why you matter and how to become the change you seek

By Jerry Devine, Detroit Conference Director of Connectional Ministries

You may have seen the television ad that shows one person helping another, who then helps another, who then helps another … until the circle reminds us of a way of life that is compassionately attentive to the environment we are in. Large or small, the decision to be “incarnationally” involved in the world makes a difference. That is why YOU MATTER. 

On the afternoon of Sunday, May 25, 1986, more than five million people joined hands to form a line that stretched 4,152 miles—from New York City to Long Beach, Calif. A young couple and their three young sons joined the line, hand in hand, along Philadelphia Pike in Claymont, Delaware. They had not started the movement to raise funds and awareness for hunger relief programs; they had not signed up early, partly due to struggling to make a personal donation beyond the needs of their own family.   

Perhaps they were even a little skeptical about large events and the media hoopla surrounding them. Even so, as the day approached, they felt compelled to move out of their personal space into the world, linking with others for a public witness of concern and involvement.

On that day participants joined hands across the United States and sang“We Are the World,” “America the Beautiful,” and the Hands Across America theme song. I would have to ask my adult sons if they remember that sunny Sunday afternoon where we had a sense of the larger world and the need to care and be involved — I still do.  Large movements and moments are made up necessarily of small decisions to make a difference. 

Change the World is a United Methodist invitation to make a difference. April 24-25, 2010, has been identified as a day for local congregations and individuals to join in an effort to make a larger visible public difference—to make the love of Jesus Christ visible in the world. 

With some skepticism I decided to read Mike Slaughter’s new book, visit the Web site, and then decide whether it was worth my time and attention. As I freely decided how I would be involved, I was convicted with the awareness that people with hunger do not have that choice. 

People with malaria or other diseases of poverty do not have that choice. People that live without health care or housing do not have that choice. Many of us have the luxury of deciding how and when I feel like making a difference, while others are forced to make decisions in the midst of their unjust realities.

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