Bishop's Day Apart with ALL Clergy: "Our Calling to Fulfill"
Starts: 3/8/2010
Ends: 3/8/2010
Cost: $7.00
Start Time: 9 a.m.
End Time: 3 p.m.
Location: St. James UMC, Montgomery, AL
Coordinator: Linda Swayne
Contact: bishop@awfumc.org
All clergy under appointment are invited to a day apart with Bishop Paul L. Leeland on March 8, 2010
Alabama-West Florida Conference Bishop’s Day Apart
St. James United Methodist Church
“Our Calling to Fulfill”
Featuring Three Teaching Sessions with Bishop Will Willimon
Cost is $7, which includes lunch.
REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED
01.06.2010
Dear Friends,
With very little effort most of us can recall the excitement and happiness we felt when we acknowledged our call to ministry. There is a sense of joy in being called to preach. It brings us into a unique community of people whose lives are being shaped by God to be the instruments of God’s design in this world.
Only days before I identify the appointments of clergy serving our conference for the coming year, I invite you to gather at St. James United Methodist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, with all clergy serving appointments in our conference for worship, encouragement and learning. This is a time to both affirm our common work, our individual calling, and support of one another.
Bishop Will Willimon, Resident Bishop of the Birmingham Episcopal Area (North Alabama Conference), will be our guest as he explores the issues of Calling, Service and Character. Our theme for this day together will be “Our Calling to Fulfill .” There is so much more to affirming one’s calling into ministry than simply recognizing one is ready to serve and then sending that individual to their selected appointment as if we serve in isolation of one another. Our calling is fulfilled in communion with each other as we are individually shaped into the image of Christ and collectively made into the Body of Christ. Regardless of our current status, deacon, local pastor, part time, full time, elder, extension ministry, it is our affirmation of the work of Christ through us that creates this Church Family.
It is my expectation and joy to receive each of you on March 8, as we worship together and affirm our common ministry. Bishop Willimon will stretch our expectations, broaden our vision, and inspire our personal dreams for ministry. We will gather in the Presence of Christ and renew our vows to serve Him. Our Book of Discipline reminds us in paragraph 301, “Within the church community, there are persons whose gifts, evidence of God’s grace, and promise of future usefulness are affirmed by the community, and who respond to God’s call by offering themselves in leadership as ordained ministers.”
Thank you for offering yourself and responding to God’s call. Thank you for submitting your gifts and life to Jesus in fulfillment of the Great Commission. Thank you for your faithfulness and work in our Alabama-West Florida Conference. I look forward to our worship, time of study and fellowship at the Bishop’s Day Apart.
Epiphany Blessings,
Paul
About our Guest Speaker: Bishop Will Willimon
The Reverend Dr. William H. Willimon has been a Bishop of The United Methodist Church since 2004. He leads the 157,000 Methodists and 792 pastors in North Alabama. For 20 years he was Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.
Agenda
| 9 a.m. | Gathering & Registration |
| 9:50 - 10:10 a.m. | Music & Gathering Singing |
| 10:10 - 10:15 a.m | Welcome by Rev. Lester Spencer & Introductions of Speakers |
| 10:15 - 11 a.m. | First Teaching Session: Bishop Willimon |
| BREAK | |
| 11:15 - Noon | Second Teaching Sesson: Bishop Willimon |
| Noon - 1 p.m. | Lunch & Table Conversations |
| 1 - 1:30 p.m. | Clergy Groups meet for discussion by districts, led by DS |
| BREAK | |
| 1:45 - 2:30 p.m. | Third Teaching Session: Bishop Willimon |
| 2:30 - 3 p.m. | Bishops Leeland & Willimon lead Holy Communion & Benediction |
| 3 p.m. | CEUs distributed upon dismissal |