Church of the Resurrection Leadership Institute
What Happened and How Can We Share It?
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City hosted its annual Leadership Institute September 25 – 27, 2019. This year the gathering focused on the future of the UMC, and ways to build a more inclusive church as the denomination prepares for General Conference 2020. Over 100 clergy and lay people from the Virginia Conference were among the 2,500 people in attendance.
Following is a summary of the event, with links to videos and additional information. Many of the links below will invite you to register for Church of the Resurrection’s free SharePoint website in order to access the material.
Rev. Dr. Michelle Chaney reflected on her experience at the Leadership Institute in this blog post for Virginia Methodists for a New Thing.
The first session Thursday morning included reflections on where we are and the history of race, gender, sexual orientation and inclusion in the church. This video runs about 2 hours and 17 minutes. It includes speakers Ken Carter, Junius Dotson, Ginger Gaines-Cirelli, J.J. Warren, Jan Lawrence and more.
The second session Thursday morning included presentations about the Indianapolis Plan and the Next Generation UMC Plan. These are two of the many plans submitted as legislation to the 2020 General Conference. The video run time is about 1 hour and 20 minutes, and includes presenters John Stephens and Tom Berlin and four Bishops.
On Friday morning, participants heard about the vision that four United Methodist Bishops have for the future of the church. This video run time is just over an hour.
The Leadership Institute has many more resources available on the SharePoint site that you can explore, including copies of presentation slides and more videos.
Attendees from the Virginia Conference also gathered on Friday morning, as all annual conferences were invited to do. We shared in robust and holy conversation around our hopes and dreams for the VAUMC, as well as what resistance to the traditional plan might look like in Virginia. Please talk to a participant to learn about their experience of that time. Virginia Methodists for a New Thing will continue to shepherd and share strategy and events as they unfold in the weeks and months to come, including building out the group’s leadership team.