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e-Review Florida United Methodist News Service | ||||
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Conference creates oversight groups to strengthen connection By J.A. Buchholz | Aug. 5, 2010 {1203} LAKELAND — Change — it’s a constant, in life and in the life of the church. The Rev. Beth Fogle-Miller says both The United Methodist Church and the Florida Conference have seen their fair share of changes during the last four to five decades. She noted the merger of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1968 to form The United Methodist Church, followed closely by the merger of the Florida Conference of the Central Jurisdiction and the Florida Methodist Conference in 1969 to form the Florida Annual Conference. Those were times of readjustment for the denomination and the annual conference, said Fogle-Miller, director of the conference’s Connectional Ministries office, to laity and clergy attending the 2010 Florida Annual Conference Event in June. They were also times of uncertainty, as members wrestled with the potential pros and cons of the changes. The sustaining idea, she said, was that it was better to connect as one than remain apart. That idea continues to guide changes taking place today, Fogle-Miller said, specifically the creation of two new groups to help ministries better connect with each other and the vision and mission of the conference. Members attending the annual business session agreed, voting for the development of the new oversight groups. Fogle-Miller says the need for the groups stems from the recognition that many conference ministries have had little idea what other ministries were doing. A new Key Leader Connection will address that concern, helping increase the exposure and knowledge of the working parts of the conference among the conference ministries and their constituents. The team will be responsible for oversight of the ministry areas, facilitating input, feedback, coordination and communication among them so their leaders and members can better connect. Members of the group will include the director of Connectional Ministries and conference lay leader as chair and vice-chair, respectively; volunteer and staff leaders for each conference agency; and five at-large positions nominated by the conference Committee on Leadership and elected at the annual business session. The team will meet at least twice a year.
Florida Conference Bishop Timothy Whitaker will nominate members for the leadership team in consultation with the conference lay leader and director of Connectional Ministries and serve as its chairperson. The Key Leader Connection will provide advice and feedback to the group. The two new groups replace the Conference Table, which grew out of the Common Table initiative begun in 2000 and became a town hall-type forum where anyone in the conference was welcome to discuss issues affecting the conference, and the Leadership Connection, adopted in 2004 to create task teams to focus on specific ministry needs and visions. Large town hall forums, like those of the Conference Table, will continue as needed. As with past decisions made by the denomination and conference, Fogle-Miller said the changes taking place today will help conference ministries learn to function “as one.” Fogle-Miller likened the ministry areas to trees in a forest. In the past, she said, every ministry had a champion who looked out for the ministry’s individual areas of interest. “There was not a group responsible for watching out for the well-being of the forest,” she said. The new groups are designed to do that for the conference’s ministries, Fogle-Miller said. More details about the groups are included on pages 16 and 45 of the 2010 Florida Annual Conference Event workbook supplement at http://www.flumc2.org/page.asp?PKValue=1723. A complete listing of the conference’s ministries and their leaders and members is also included in the supplement. Related stories Leadership Connection helps conference take next step in putting new structure in place Leaders plan first common table News media contact: Tita Parham, 800-282-8011, tparham@flumc.org, Orlando |
