Pastor’s Message – October 4, 2022

A Charge To Keep

On Sunday, October 16, we will host United Methodist churches from across Clay County for our annual Charge Conference. All members of the Administrative Council are voting members of the Charge Conference, and we hope those of you on this committee will attend at 2PM that day.

If you’re not familiar with this annual meeting, it is a time of celebrating what God has done in the life of our churches. We also tend to important business matters. We will approve the roster of church officers for 2023, which has been approved by the Nominations Committee. We will submit paperwork about our finances, property, and congregational life, which keeps us accountable with an annual examination of all that God has entrusted to our care.

So, why do we call it a ‘charge conference?’ In the early days of Methodist, multiple congregations had to share one pastor, and those congregations served by the same pastor made up a “charge.” We still see this in Methodism where most pastors are serving more than one church. The charge conference brought them together.

Something wonderful happens when churches come together, doesn’t it? Charles Wesley’s hymn, “A Charge to Keep I Have,” comes to mind: “
A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify,
A never-dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky.
To serve the present age,
My calling to fulfill;
Oh, may it all my pow’rs engage
To do my Master’s will!

To glorify, to save, to serve… this is a charge entrusted not to one of us but to all of us! Will you do your part to fulfill what God asks of us?

all good things to each of you,
Dr Darian

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