2019 Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conference

May 30-June 1, in Wilmington, Delaware

The 2019 Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conference took place May 30-June 1, 2019 at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington, Delaware.
 
When we live as God intends, we will be “Connected Christians offering the hope of Jesus Christ to today’s world.” We will accomplish that vision through living out our Mission: Cultivating Christ communities through our CALL — Connecting, Acting, Leading and Loving. 

Our theme for annual conference comes from the “A” of our CALL — Acting, where we put our faith in action by advocating for the marginalized. The theme for the year, “Proclaim Release,” comes from Jesus’ declaration of his mission in Luke 4:18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” We gathered around this theme at the Chase Center.
 
We began our work before opening worship, holding our clergy executive session and laity session on Thursday morning. At the clergy session, we heard a testimony from Rev. Eric Warner for devotions, as he shared how God had given him release. Our Black College Ambassador, Brittani Levine, also shared her story of God’s work in her life through our apportionment giving. Our work included hearing an update about the clergy eight-year assessments, voting to approve candidates for commissioning and ordination and retirement, and organizing our life and work together. The lay delegates also heard testimonies and participated in a Bible study on racism to support the theme of “Proclaim Release” led by Denise Snyder and Debbie O’Neal.
 
After lunch, we gathered for opening worship, with music led by the Buttonwood United Methodist Church Choir. Shawn Elbert, a former member of the staff of the board of child care, brought the message, using Mark 5 as his text. He reminded us of the power of labels to inhibit relationships and keep people chained in their illness or circumstance. He shared how Jesus healed the man possessed by demons, by first seeing the man. In response to the word, we served one another communion around the tables, after a Great Thanksgiving written by the Rev. Michael Johnson. 

Continuing after worship, the Rev. Shane Moran, one of our pastors of Native descent from the Mohawk tribe, blessed the land. We offer these blessings each year as a way to honor and remember that the land once belonged to Native tribes, before the Europeans stole it and claimed it for ourselves. The ground remains holy, both because of its connection to Native peoples and because of the way it provides a connection with our Creator. Bishop Johnson then called the session to order and we sang together, “And Are We Yet Alive.”
 
We adopted the agenda and procedural motion, and then the Clergy Lay Leadership Team presented changes to the rules, as Resolution R-3. In response to Dragonfly, a task force created to respond to a systemic racism audit, the Clergy Lay Leadership Team adapted a few rules to make the process more transparent and include greater diversity on our leadership teams. They also added a timeline to include posting the open positions online and working with the district lay leaders. After no questions or debate, R-3 passed unanimously. We then approved the rules of order and the consent calendar.
 
We introduced a new balloting system to vote for delegates for General and jurisdictional conferences, only. The company introduced the process, and we ran a test ballot. Balloting continued throughout the annual conference. 

The Rev. Jennifer Kerby introduced the monitoring process. Annual conferences monitor our proceedings for our reflection of diversity, especially racial diversity; however, we also measure age, gender, abilities, etc. She invited people to pay attention and participate in our own monitoring by using the feedback cards on the tables. She read from these cards throughout the conference.
 
Our Clergy Lay Leadership Team, which also strives to reflect our diversity as an annual conference, brought the nominations to the floor. The co-chair, Denise Snyder, invited people to bring additional nominations or corrections to the team for the final vote on Friday. Our statisticians, the Revs. Tom Pasmore and Tracy Mooney, then brought their report, highlighting that although our membership continues to decline, our giving remains steady and our missions and small group participation (outside of Sunday morning) continues to grow. Simultaneously, our poverty rate and number of older adults continues to increase in our geographical area, reminding us that our mission field remains wide open. These statistics remind us that we can still make disciples and transform our world! 

We also heard a call to support our clergy leadership. The Commission on Equitable Compensation presented a resolution, calling for a 2.8% increase to minimum salaries for full time clergy. The Rev. Yvonne Paxton reported that the commission had examined various options and decided to utilize the Social Security Administration’s cost of living increase as the basis. The resolution, R-8, passed without question or discussion.
 
The conference funds equitable compensation as part of the Covenant Funding Plan. The Rev. Lawrence Pelham and Bill Westbrook presented resolution, R-9, for consideration. The plan represents support for both local ministries through the annual conference and general church giving. You can find further information about the seven general church apportioned funds here. Again, after no questions or discussion, the resolution passed. 

After dinner, we heard from three teams who receive annual conference apportionment support — the Vision Team, Congregational Development Corporation, and Strengthening the Black Church. During the Vision Team report, we heard an update on the Call to Action, a Northeast Jurisdictional mandate to address the evil of racism. The Rev. Vicki Gordy-Stith highlighted our goals in this matter (intentional heart change, accountable mind change and transformational behavior change), and some of the steps we have taken to address both systemic and personal racism. These include racism conversations; cluster ministry including cross-cultural cross-racial dialogue and relationships; and policy updates for more equity in clergy lay leadership, congregational development, equitable compensation and the board of ordained ministry. 

Several people presented ideas connected with ministries around our theme. Brandon Harris introduced an idea for a ministry to veterans. Himself a veteran, Brandon has a heart for this outreach, called “REV,” which stands for “Reach Every Veteran.” If you are interested in helping him, contact him at: [email protected]. The Rev. Carlos Reyes-Rodrigues presented several ministries which are part of the Hispanic-Latino ministry of the annual conference. He spoke about a “church within a church” for Hispanic-Latinx people at Wesley United Methodist Church in Dover, called “La Caminante.” He shared about his work with immigrants sharing their stories. He also introduced Kevin Noriega, who shared about partnering for ministry with Dreamers at Delaware State University, with the conference, Wesley United Methodist Church and the Methodist Action Program. 

The Rev. Joe Archie then presented the renewed focus of Methodist Action Program on advocacy — giving a voice to the marginalized and oppressed. Their work included immigration, racism and work with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. We closed this section out by hearing an invitation to get involved in addressing the opioid crisis.
 
The Rev. Barry Steiner Ball had presented a workshop and gave us permission to use his “What If?” campaign, which includes video clips and Bible study as well as ideas to get involved. You can find that resource here.
 
Our Congregational Development Corporation presented next, with Tonya Pritchett, president, presenting about changes to by-laws. Again, in response to the Dragonfly Task Force, we changed our policies to make them more transparent, easy to use, and equitable. We adopted a new mission for resourcing local churches to understand community opportunities to launch and revitalize ministries; and a new vision for empowering local churches to thrive. These changes highlight our emphasis on engaging the community with new ministries, rather than bolstering ministries that primarily only serve the congregation. We hope to provide these resources to revitalize and to begin new ministries so that every church will thrive in making disciples for the transformation of the world. We also watched two videos giving thanks for Congregational Development Corporation and the annual conference’s support — one from Arise United Methodist Church, and one from Connection Community Church.
 
Finally, the Rev. Lester Justice, our director of Strengthening the Black Church, presented the team’s focus for the year. The team focused on moving from leader-shape to leader-shift to leadership. We have to be in good leader-shape, including spiritual vitality, emotional strength and Biblical knowledge, in order to offer leadership. But, sometimes, we need to make a leader-shift in our style of leadership and our tactics. The task force utilized this theme to design its programs this year.
 
After this presentation, Regina Nichols, chair of the conference board of pensions and health benefits, introduced their three resolutions. R-10 addressed the decision to allow retired clergy to designate up to 100% of their pension for housing expenses. It passed without question or debate. She then offered R-11 to the body, setting the past-service rate of $650 per year for those with pensions before 1982. It also passed without question or debate. Finally, she presented the resolution to address the increase of dental and health coverage for clergy, R-13. The board recommended an increase of 4%, which passed.
 
The deacons then shared a version of “Family Feud,” with information about the role of deacon in The United Methodist Church. The Rev. Kymm Hockman kicked off the presentation. Other deacons shared their ministry area following the game.
 
The Rev. Robert Hall presented a series of resolutions, next. Two of these resolutions, R-5 and R-6, celebrated anniversaries of the dioceses of other Christian families. R-5 highlighted the 150th anniversary of the Easton Diocese of the Episcopal Church and R-6 highlighted the 150th anniversary of the Wilmington Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church. Both passed. Continuing our focus on the Christian family, R-12 invited people to acknowledge our historic relationship with the Episcopal Church and to work toward shared ministries as we continue to work toward shared communion. This resolution also passed.
 
In recognizing our common humanity, resolution R-4 brought attention to children at risk throughout our world, both in war-torn countries, and among immigrants, including our own border crisis. The resolution asked us to support at-risk children throughout the world and to have our bishop write to our U.S. congressional representatives to express our desires to protect children. The resolution passed. We finished the night with a beautiful address by our conference lay leader, Yvonne Jackson.
 
On Friday morning, after some worshipful singing, our speaker/teacher for the annual conference, Harold Trulear, brought us wonderful teaching about mass incarceration and prison ministry. He shared his personal stories as well as expertise. His teaching offered something that every church can do — including praying for those arrested, in jail and in prison, and writing to them. You can find his handouts here and his PowerPoint will be made available in the coming days. You can also visit his website to learn more about Healing Communities USA.
 
After lunch, we heard from Bishop Peggy A. Johnson, who acknowledged our division while encouraging us to be united. She shared that she understood the pain and she also shared her heart — inclusion for all people. She celebrated ministries on each district and throughout the conference. We moved into a celebration of ministry after she finished, recognizing retirees and admitting candidates into membership.
 
• Those commissioned include: The Revs. Kevin William Benjamin, JoAnn Bordini Koskol, Angel Manuel Marrero and Tonya Anne McClain.

• Ordained as deacon: The Rev. Robyn Sheina Brown.

• Ordained as elder: The Revs. Kelly Anna Conner, Blair Alan Hall, Gary Wayne Priddy, Bradley Allen Schutt, and Amor Del Rosario Woolsey. 

• Also, we recognized the Rev. Phillip Glenn Ealy, who was elected to associate membership.

In continuing the celebration, we recognized scholarship and award recipients, including Marva Thomas, who received the prestigious Francis Asbury Award. 

Our afternoon business involved voting on the consent calendar, which is the reports which had been submitted before annual conference from the various committees, and approving the clergy lay leadership list, which we did. We heard a monitoring report update from Kerby and a presentation from the Rev. Jack Shitama about Pecometh Camp and Retreat Ministry and from the Missions Board, including the Congo Partnership, volunteers in mission and disaster relief. We addressed three final resolutions on Friday.
 
The Commission on Archives and History brought R-7, a resolution recognizing Charles Albert Tindley and designating St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Berlin as a conference historic site. It passed. The conference board of trustees brought resolution R-15, a resolution intended to honor Native American grounds. The cabinet, trustees and Committee on Native American Ministry (CONAM) collaborated on this effort to identify land that may be sacred burial grounds or have archeological significance for Native Americans and to research it before it gets sold or renovated. This resolution resulted from our Act of Repentance toward Native Americans. It passed without question or discussion.
 
The final resolution of the day, R-14, came from FIRE (Faithfully Inviting and Reconciling Everyone) Ministries at Epworth United Methodist Church. The original resolution asked that we be in ministry with and to our LGBTQ siblings as equal partners. The author of the resolution, David Garrett, met with people from the opposing side (Wesleyan Covenant Association) to see if they could come to agreement. Although they had wonderful dialogue, the two parties could not come to agreement as to how to present a resolution that satisfied everyone. Instead, David decided to withdraw the resolution. He offered a prayer, and the president of the WCA thanked him for the dialogue efforts. We witnessed the ability to love in spite of differences in this display at annual conference.
 
Friday night concluded with the highlight of annual conference — ordination. Our preacher, Bishop Hope Ward Morgan, shared the good news of moving the center to the margins and the blessings we receive (and give) when we allow others, especially newcomers, to lead. She relayed a beautiful story about a rotating homeless shelter and the gift of offering that hospitality at Christmas. After commissioning our newest missionary, the Rev. Carlos Reyes-Rodrigues, we commissioned and ordained our newest members. Several people responded to the call to ministry.
 
Saturday morning, we closed with hearing from our youth and young adults. We had the final monitoring report and shared our gratitude. We then went into our service of remembrance. We remembered the great cloud of witnesses who have gone on before us. The Rev. J.T. Seymour brought the good news about release to those who mourn, and rebuilding and renewal as a response to God’s presence.
 
Throughout the annual conference, we had elections for our General Conference and jurisdictional conference delegates. Here are the results. Clergy delegates: The Revs. Vicki Gordy-Stith, Megan Shitama Weston, David Bennett (reserve), Jackie Ford, Kari Jones, and Jonathan Whitney. Lay delegates: Yvonne Jackson, Bill Westbrook, Erin Schutt, Carl Samans, Regina Nichols and Chelsea Spyres. 

The 236th session of the Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conference will be held, June 4-6 2020, at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

— Doug Lanter, communications coordinator for Peninsula-Delaware Conference