MIND Annual Conference Witness 2008
We’ve talked the talk.
It’s time to walk the walk.
Will you walk with us?
The annual conference meeting of the New York Annual Conference (NYAC) of the United Methodist Church (UMC) will be June 11-14 at Hofstra University in Long Island . As we come to conference this year, we are faced with a clear moral challenge. The UMC’s General Conference voted in April to reaffirm its prejudice and discrimination against lesbian and gay people. Despite our own conference’s long record of resolutions and petitions opposing these rules and calling for inclusive ministry, the promise of “affirming the full participation of lesbians and gay men” in the conference (as we voted in 1987) remains unfulfilled.
As people called to mirror God’s extravagant welcome in our own lives, we are compelled to respond. We must find ways to bring the words off the page and into our congregations, into the daily work of the conference, into the lives of God’s LGBT children. At our annual conference meeting—where we celebrate the work of our conference and set a course for the next year—it is especially important that we insist that the Church must move beyond words opposing injustice to action embodying the living, loving Gospel. There are many ways Methodists in New Directions (MIND) will make this witness. We need your help to for it to reach every member of the annual conference:
Rev. Gil Caldwell will speak at the MIND luncheon on Friday, June 13, 12pm (Greenhouse Room, Student Center), His topic is “The United Methodist Church: It’s déjà vu all over again!” You can help by coming to the lunch and urging others to come.
Immediately following the luncheon, Rev. Caldwell will convene a gathering of reconciling people of color. You can help by spreading the word, and coming to the gathering if you are a person of color.
At the ordination ceremony —Sat., June 14, 1pm—we will once again hand out blue armbands in silent honor and memory of those who have been called by God and rejected by their own church. You can help by handing out armbands!
Friday, June 13 is our “t-shirt day,” when we will be asking everyone to wear their MIND t-shirt, especially on the plenary floor, as an unavoidable, visible reminder of the shirt’s message: “closed doors, broken hearts, we mind.” You can help by wearing your t-shirt on Friday (buy one at the MIND table if you don’t already own one), by selling t-shirts and by asking delegates to buy and wear t-shirts.
On Wednesday, June 11 , during the opening gathering of conference, and on Friday, June 13, MIND will stage a creative visual presence of our theme – “We’ve talked the talk. It’s time to walk the walk. Will you walk with us?” You can help by being part of this presence.
Throughout annual conference MIND will have a table with t-shirts, buttons, books and other resources, and up-to-date information on all our activities. It is also a place for one-on-one ministry as people stop by and ask questions and take literature. You can help by stopping by to sign up for any of these activities and by helping staff the table.
We have a flyer called “10 Things You Can Do” that will be available throughout conference. It’s a concrete list of possible ways we all can take steps moving from words affirming the Gospel to action living it. You can help by carrying a handful with you wherever you go and engaging people in conversation.
Join MIND! If you are not already a member, please become one today. Your membership adds to our numbers and our visibility and strengthens our reconciling ministry. Click here to join MIND now .
To be a part of this witness,
please fill out a volunteer sign-up form. For more information, contact MIND Chair Dorothee Benz.