Board of Church and Society
The Conference Board of Church and Society is tasked to help local congregations discover ways and understand how to employ our social principals in connecting their faith communities to the world God has located them in. In the gospel of John chapter 17 we hear Christ praying for his disciples – praying for the Spirit to keep them strong and effective in continuing the work of salvation left for them. As such, this work is both individual as well as societal. It is the sacred and transforming work inviting faithful disciples to lead the world (individuals and societies) into the world of Christ.
We have reordered our board into three key working groups that will provide particular foci in interpreting our social principles. Our call to the conference will not be what is politically correct but what response is gospel faithfulness. Using the recent Bishop’s Document: God’s Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action, we believe the board will be most effective in meeting conference needs by narrowing our focus and employing of our energy through their vision and the vision of our social principles. It is our hope that in this way it will help us focus on our Biblical mandates to address poverty, speak out against questionable uses of God’s creation, and the exploitation of the human race through the worship of violence.
Under the guidance of our conference common table we are envisioning ways to better integrate our ministry efforts with the Conference Board of Missions. We are embracing this effort because we understand our collective work is a perfect partnership where we seek to do no harm (example role of the board of church and society) while we apply our efforts to do all the good we can do (example role of the board of missions).
Finally, the board has established an advocacy piece to of work efforts called Disciple University: Advance Training for Peace with Justice Academy. Through this Academy, beginning this year and into 2014, we will offer across the conference four to five repeat educational retreats designed to help us draw closer together in our collective understanding of God’s call for peace with justice.
And one more celebration: This year our United Methodist Legislature Day tops all previous years. Our maximum participant number for this event is 300 people and for the first time ever we have had to stop registration, receiving 302 registrants. We look forward to our continued partnership with the United Methodist Women and the VA Interfaith and Public Policy organization in this important faith and politics initiative.
Securing Services
Staff, Glenn Rowley, the Virginia United Methodist Center, 10330 Staples Mill Rd., P.O. Box 5606, Glen Allen, VA 23058-5606. Telephone: (804) 521-1143 or toll-free 1-800-768-6040, ext. 143.
Chair of the Board of Church and Society, John Fair, john.fair@p2-planningforpeace.com
The General Board of Church and Society, 100 Maryland Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20002. Telephone: 1-800-455-2645.
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