In the lead up to the gathering, the Council of Bishops is working with United Methodist Communications to host a series of three webinars open to all United Methodists. These webinars will focus on how the vision statement’s call to “love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously” connects back to the denomination’s mission and Wesleyan theology. The webinars are free and recordings will be made available publicly. Each will be roughly an hour and half in length.
The second webinar is themed "Serve Joyfully" and examines Wesleyan approaches to mission, with attention to mutuality, formation, and decolonial perspectives. Participants will engage how mission is practiced in relationship, shaped by context, and grounded in a call to serve with humility and joy.
The webinar occurred on February 21, 2026 9:00am Central Time. A recording of the webinar and a discussion guide are available.
View Video RecordingDownload Discussion Guide
Hosts & Speakers
Rev. Dr. April Casperson (moderator)
Rev. Dr. April Casperson is Director of Enrollment Management at Methodist Theological School in Ohio and an ordained deacon in The United Methodist Church. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, vocational discernment, and the systems that recruit, educate, and equip leaders for thoughtful, intentional ministry. Rev. Dr. Casperson previously served as Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the West Ohio Conference and as Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Methodist Theological School in Ohio. She completed a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Organizational Leadership in November 2025. She holds a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theological Studies from Methodist Theological School in Ohio and a Bachelor of Arts in history and philosophy from Otterbein University.
Rev. Mark W. Lewis
Rev. Mark W. Lewis serves in Denmark as a pastor and missiologist, including congregational leadership in Copenhagen and service connected to the Danish Methodist missions board. He holds degrees from Guilford College, Duke University, and Asbury Theological Seminary and teaches as an adjunct with the European Methodist e-Academy. His intercultural ministry integrates pastoral leadership, theological education, mission strategy, and music.
Rev. Shandon Klein
Rev. Shandon Klein is a provisional elder serving in the Minnesota Annual Conference and a Ph.D. candidate in Religious Ethics at Southern Methodist University. As a womanist theological ethicist, her research examines resistance and control in political activism, the role of religion and spirituality in shaping these dynamics, and the ethical frameworks that sustain activist engagement. She is passionate about cultivating multiethnic churches within the United Methodist Church and promoting discipleship within faith communities that embody the Wesleyan principles of social holiness and justice.
Darlene Marquez-Caramanzana Deaconess Darlene Marquez-Caramanzana serves with Global Ministries as Area Liaison for Asia and the Pacific, strengthening mission partnerships, supporting regional collaboration, and equipping churches for faithful, community-centered engagement across diverse cultural contexts.
Transcript
United Methodists are God’s people, shaped by a profound Wesleyan heritage, and we are stepping in faith into a new season of ministry.
The Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table are proud to unveil a new vision for the United Methodist Church, a vision that reflects our deep commitment to embodying God’s dream for the world. The United Methodist Church forms disciples of Jesus Christ who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously in local communities and worldwide connections. Let’s briefly explore this vision and what it means in action.
Love boldly. We passionately love God and, like Jesus, embrace and include people of every age, nation, race, gender, and walk of life.
Serve joyfully. With the heart of Christ, we journey alongside the most vulnerable, offering care and compassion with joy.
Lead courageously. And following Jesus’ example, we resist and dismantle all systems of evil, injustice, and oppression, striving for peace, justice, and reconciliation.
This renewed vision is more than words. It is an invitation to embrace the joy and hope as we live God’s mission. It also provides us with a clear, Christ-centered framework for missional unity and collaboration across the worldwide connection. Together, we will discern how each of us can participate in the new thing God is doing.
Bishop Ruben Saenz, Jr.: Good morning! Good morning, good day, and good evening, friends. Grace and peace to you in the name of… Our Lord Christ Jesus. I'm Bishop Ruben Saenz, Jr., and I bring you greetings from the Council of Bishops. It's a joy and a privilege to gather with you for this Leadership Gathering 2026 webinar. As we continue discerning how God's Spirit is shaping the future of our beloved United Methodist Church. This is the second in a three-part webinar series that invites us to live into our renewed vision. The United Methodist Church forms disciples of Jesus Christ who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously in local communities and worldwide connections. In our first conversation, we focused on what it means to love boldly. Today, We turn to the second movement of our vision, Serve Joyfully. Our conversation today will focus on how mission is practiced in relationship. Shaped by context and grounded in a call to serve with humility and joy. As we move through this webinar, you're invited to submit questions using the Zoom Q&A tool. Near the end of the session, our moderator and panelists will respond to as many of those questions as we are able. We also encourage you to complete the survey at resourceumc.org/survey. This will help us hear from you beyond today's conversation. Your responses to the survey will give voice to your hopes. which will guide the work in Calgary and help shape the outcomes that will flow back into our Episcopal areas, annual conferences, and local churches around the world. Stephanie will now guide you through the technical details of this webinar and help us navigate the platform together. Stephanie?
Stephanie Henry: Thanks, Bishop Saenz. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening for everyone around the world. I am Stephanie Henry, co-convener of the design team with Bishop Saenz, and I am thrilled to add my welcome for our second webinar. We have language interpretation available for French , Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and American Sign Language. You should see a notification that interpretation is available, and to select your language channel. Click the interpretation icon. It often looks like a globe or speech bubble in your meeting controls. You may need to select the three dots where it says More to see interpretation. Select the language you want to see or hear from the list. If you select American Sign Language, a separate window will appear. If you select French, Korean, Portuguese, or Spanish, you will hear the translated audio from the interpreter, and you will hear the original speaker at a lower volume to hear the speaker's tone, but you can mute the original audio in the same menu if you prefer. Interpreters have an icon next to their name in the participant list. You will hear all speakers speaking at a moderate pace, which ensures clarity, prevents fatigue, and maintains a smooth flow of communication. You may also select to show captions in your meeting controls. This webinar is being recorded and will be made publicly available via the Resource UMC webpage. Finally, as Bishop Saenz said, we have reserved time for questions and answers with the panelists. You may submit questions throughout the webinar using the Q&A icon, the speech bubble with the question mark. We'll address as many questions as possible at the end. That's it for logistics, so I hand it back to you, Bishop Saenz.
Bishop Saenz: Thanks, Stephanie. So, let's prepare our hearts for this webinar. Let us pray. Holy and gracious God, we give you thanks for the gift of your Holy Spirit. Who calls the church into being and sends us out on mission to the world you so love. You form us into disciples of Jesus Christ. Who, empowered by your Spirit, love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously in every place and circumstance. Today, as we focus on serving joyfully, open our hearts and minds to your presence. Free us from the temptation to see mission as something we do for others, and teach us instead to see mission as something we do with others. Listening, learning, and walking alongside our neighbors you already love. Guide our conversation. Our questions, our reflections, bless our panelists and our moderator. Help us to recognize your spirit's work in our communities, and name the fruits of that work, and to imagine new ways of living into mutual, life-giving partnerships and mission. May everything we do and say today bring glory to you and help shape a more just. compassionate and hopeful future for your church and your world. We pray this in the name of Jesus the Christ, who loved boldly, served joyfully, and leads us courageously into your future. Amen.
Stephanie Henry: Amen. It is my joy to introduce our theme and panelists for today. We will be discerning what it means to serve joyfully. Specifically, we will explore Wesleyan missiology, what mission is, who we are called to be in mission alongside, and how disciples are formed through service empowered by the Holy Spirit. Our moderator for today is the Reverend Dr. April Casperson. She is an ordained deacon in the United Methodist Church. and Director of Enrollment Management at Methodist Theological School in Ohio. Our panelists today are Reverend Mark Lewis, who serves in Denmark as a pastor and missiologist. The Reverend Shandon Klein is a provisional elder serving in the Minnesota Annual Conference, United States, and a PhD candidate in religious ethics at Southern Methodist University. And Darlene Marquez Cara Manzana, who serves in the Philippines with Global Ministries as Area Liaison for Asia and the Pacific. Thank you all for taking time out of your Saturday to help us examine the Wesleyan approach to mission. I pass it to you, Reverend Dr. Kasperson.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much. Reverend Lewis, we are going to begin with you. Can you help us understand what is mission, and how does the Holy Spirit call and send the church into mission?
Rev. Mark Lewis: Thank you, April, and greetings to everyone out there. It's a simple question, and at the same time, an entire course could be taught on that question alone. We can start by saying the Christian mission is central to the calling and the identity of the church. In mission theology, we talk about the missio dei, which is the mission of God, and how we understand that this is God's calling for all of us to be reaching out beyond our own boundaries, and to be connected with those beyond ourselves. Really what mission, involves, ultimately, is, crossing or traversing boundaries. Boundaries such as, cultural boundaries or national boundaries, boundaries of worldview. It's also maybe boundaries that meet non-faith with faith, or boundaries that meet injustice with justice, or disparity with equality. And we do this in order to positively impact others by conveying God's love and compassion for the world. Now, I've tried to, you know, for myself, try to define mission in the simplest terms. And, the simplest, definition, I guess, that I've come up with so far is that the gist of mission is showing up. And we believe that this is the urging and the leading of the Holy Spirit, to show up, that is, to be present as ambassadors and as disciples of Jesus Christ wherever these boundaries may exist. Now, the starting point for mission, at least in the Bible, is, is the Great Commission. I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about from Matthew 28, where Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded of you. And, we, we recognize that this, means, and of course, this is echoed in other parts of Scripture as well. For example, in John, 20, where Jesus says, as the Father has sent me, so I have also sent you. So this idea of being sent out, this is the movement in mission, outward, to be sent outward. And, Really, then, what mission implies is a vision and strategic efforts to take the teachings of Christ beyond our own gathering points in order to facilitate transformation. And we also want to add, we do this through peaceful. encounter, because we know that sometimes when people go out. It is not always in the spirit of Christ, and we know this from our history books. There are things like, conquest and, and, colonialism and, crusades and things of that nature that, where, where… where the idea of mission can be greatly misconstrued to support an agenda that really is antithetical to the Spirit of Christ and what the Holy Spirit would be leading us to do. So in this sense, we talk about the Great Commission, and therefore, we must also speak of the Great Commandment. And the great commandment, according to Jesus, is to love God with your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and… Your neighbor as yourself. And by neighbor, we don't mean just people that look like us, or a part of our family, or our tribe, or our nation, but it is all-encompassing. It is the most inclusive, understanding. It is radically inclusive. Neighbor means the entire world. So this is the essence of mission. And, we see that the Great Commission and the Great Commandment are inseparable. Now, the church's mission can be expressed in a number of ways. We can talk about things like, church planting, holistic evangelism. We can talk about service among the poor, we can talk about developmental work, we can talk about justice advocacy, we can talk about emergency response, we can talk about Cultural studies. We can talk about global partnerships, we can talk about interfaith encounter and dialogue. Migrant and Refugee ministry, and so forth. And, though mission is often associated with global outreach, it does not neglect local concerns. So, so a word we might want to add to our vocabulary is the word glocal. It is both global and local. As long as we are out there by the urging of the Holy Spirit, crossing boundaries in the name of Christ to create a connection with God and with each other. So being present in the midst of crisis and suffering within one's own cultural context is also an expression of the Great Commission. There's much more to be said, and I think I better stop now before I get completely carried away. Thanks.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much, that was wonderful. Reverend Shandon, what is distinctive about mission in a Wesleyan or a Methodist way, particularly in how the Spirit forms us for a grace-filled service?
Rev. Dr. Shandon Klein: Yes, thank you so much, and thank you, and thank you so much for bringing me here. So when I like to talk about mission in the Wesleyan way, I like to start with our mission statement as the United Methodist Church, which, of course, is to create disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. And that phrase is really important because it says both what we're doing and why we're doing it. So, across Christian history, as Mark was speaking to, including our own history, mission has often been focused mainly on conversion, that Turning them into us to save souls, which was too often that approach that was entangled with colonialism and imperialism, and we still live in that painful legacy today, and even John Wesley's early efforts in the Americas were shaped by some of those assumptions, but as Wesley and the Methodist movement matured, and as we continue to mature, the focus of the mission becomes clearer. That mission is all about grace and the Holy Spirit. That mission isn't just a project that the church invents, it's… our way of joining what God's already doing in the world, like, bringing healing and reconciliation and justice. It's a ministry with others, and not just 2 or 4 others. And when we talk about making disciples. The most important part of that mission statement is the purpose, that second part, for the transformation of the world. These… Disciples of Jesus aren't just called to keep the world as it is, with its injustice and oppression and evil. We're called to transform ourselves as we move on into this perfection in Christian love, and to be instruments of God's transforming grace in the world around us, we… also as Methodists, believe that the grace that puts us in right relationship with God is the same grace that sends us out and continues to shape us over time. So this Holy Spirit keeps forming us to look more like Jesus, of course, and practically, that happens through what Wesley called the means of grace. things like worship and scripture, prayer, Holy Communion, that honest conversation that we have in Christian community, and acts of mercy with people who are poor and suffering, or pushed out to the margin. Those practices that we have, enable that spirit to work on us from the inside out, so… For Wesleyans, mission isn't just a program for a few enthusiastic people, right? Mission is what naturally flows out of a community that's being shaped by grace, and we keep returning to these means of grace, this spirit that grows in us, this character that mission requires. that love… that joy, the patience, and courage, and deep compassion for our neighbors. Another distinctive piece is what Wesley called social holiness. He insisted that there was no holiness that was only private, right? That there's no holiness but social holiness. Our relationship with God is always tied to our relationship with other people, especially those who are suffering. So, a Methodist approach to mission always holds together the sharing of the good news in words, and living out the good news through works of mercy and efforts of justice. We… We care deeply about changed hearts and changed systems, that personal piety and that social piety, and loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves. So, in the end, a mission in the Wesleyan or Methodist way is grace-centered and, we hope, spirit-led. That Spirit uses everyday practices to form us into the people whose holiness is social, so that our words and our relationships and our public engagement become signs of God's hope and God's transforming love out in the world.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much. Deaconess Darlene, why is mission important, and how do we see the Spirit bearing fruit through the Church's witness in the world?
Deaconess Darlene Marquez-Caramanzana: Thank you, April. Just before I answer that question, I would like to say something about, like, what deaconesses are? So, I am a deaconess from the Philippines Regional Conference. The Book of Discipline states that deaconesses are laypeople who are called by God to be in a lifetime relationship in the United Methodist Church for engagement with a full-time vocation in ministries of love, justice, and service. We function Through diverse forms of service directed toward the world to make Jesus Christ known in the fullness of His ministry and mission, which mandate that His followers alleviate suffering. Eradicate causes of injustice and all that robs life of dignity and worth. Facilitate the development of full human potential, and share in building the global community through the Church Universal. Deaconesses in the Philippines are appointed by the bishop. Served in Ministry of Christian education, early childhood education in the context of the local church. And some also serve in church-related agencies or institutions, in ecumenical ministries, in the work of justice and peace, among others. Now, to go back to your question, Reverend April. I grew up in a local church in a small town within Metro Manila in the Philippines. I remember when I was about 12 years old, the church would send us to communities around the church to conduct extension classes for children. The communities are among the poorest. Every Saturday, we would go to these communities together with our deaconesses then, and teach children. We would sing, play, sing songs, and pray. We would eat together, as we usually bring simple snacks so that we can eat with the children after the class. But one thing remains in my mind. And that is the beautiful smiles and warm welcome that children and their parents would always meet us whenever we arrived in the community. Children would leave everything. So they can meet with us and welcome us with hugs and greetings. Parents would join them in welcoming us. Friends, this was my very first encounter with mission work. Young as I was then, I learned that going to communities means encountering people in their truest selves. And that these encounters brought smiles to children and their parents, because once a week, they would be visited by people from the church. They would feel, that they are important, valued, and seen. And since they are in low-lying communities and very prone to flood. Which sometimes takes weeks to subside. The church would visit them amidst the flood. Bring something to ease their hunger, clothes to keep them warm, and pray with them. No politicians ever visited them, for they would only see them During pre-election time, with all sorts of promises under heaven. But after elections, they are forgotten. But the church is there. Visiting every week. Praying with them, singing and playing with their children, and telling stories, sharing food, and having fellowship with them. And when a child Or a parent in the community becomes sick, the pastor would visit them. Some of these people even decided to become members of the church. Because they felt that the church saw them. The church gave attention to them. The church went out and reached out to them. From that experience, My understanding of mission and witness deepen. That our reason for being a church. It's not within the four solid walls of our beautiful churches or cathedrals. that to be a church in mission is to live within communities and let the light of God shine through our engagement and encounters with people. These encounters had been life-changing for me, and I believe that our mission work Are also life-changing for others.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much. For all of you, our new vision statement speaks of serving joyfully. How does the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit shape what joyful service looks like in your specific context? Mark, would you like to begin?
Rev. Mark Lewis: Yes, thank you, April. Just to remind you, my, my context in ministry, really for the last 30 years, is, is Denmark. I'm part of the Denmark Methodist Conference. I'm a U.S. expat, so, so I'm originally from North Carolina, but, moved here with my Danish wife, and now our family. So, I've been here for quite a while. the Methodist Church… Methodism in Denmark is a very small minority. And, we are, again, there's the… the national church is the Lutheran Church, and all other churches are essentially regarded as free churches, meaning we do not receive any kind of, government, sponsorship. And, the thing is, is, even though we have a, I think, what I would consider a, a very fine, working relationship with, with our Lutheran, sisters and brothers. Nevertheless, it creates challenges for us in a context where where to be part of any free church, including a Methodist in this part of the world, we have to First of all, try to convince people that we are not just some kind of weird sect. And… And, so, so, so anyway, but having said that, I, I can also say with, with, with a great deal of. of joy and honesty that I think we have a very… a rather vibrant profile in ministry and in mission in this context. And I think it's largely due to, to the creativity. Of how mission is, is often, is implemented here. Just to mention some of, some, some areas of joyful missional engagement. We could talk about, our, our social outreach. Methodists are known as being, those that are, that, Have, have designed programs, for, that, that, that, that aid and assist, people that are impoverished, even though in Denmark, you know, there's not quite the same disparity between rich and poor that is found in many other parts of the world. And it's… which is one of the great things about, even though Christianity is often not talked about on the surface, nevertheless, they've had Christianity for a thousand years or more here in Denmark. And so there has been this kind of cultural implanting here that bears fruit in ways like that. So, but nevertheless, social outreach is a big, is a big, thing for… we're also, not only our central mission organization, which is, which is our church's representation of social outreach here in Denmark, but also Many of our congregations are very involved, for example, in helping people that need help around Christmas time or others. Something that I think is also very unique and special here has been, over the years, our outreach, especially to refugees and migrants. And, our engagement here, I think, has been somewhat impressive, especially, You may recall back in the, around 2014, 15, 16, there was a large influx of of refugees, especially from Afghanistan, from Syria, and other places. a lot of calamity in the world, and Europe was hard-pressed to find out how they were going to respond. to what was going on. And, they talked about crisis here, but really, we helped people to try to help people to understand that the people experiencing the real crisis were those that were forced to flee from their… from their homelands because of, wars and such terrible oppression and injustice. So, so we, quite often were involved in refugee centers, ministries, and the main thing was just establishing relations with people who were here, and, and just showing, having, using this as an opportunity to, to show kindness. And, and more recently, we've, a lot of, refugees from Ukraine. So we have been, very much involved with, with Ukrainians in, in, in, in many parts of Denmark. Something that I want to mention, and of course, this is also near and dear to my heart, because of my own personal involvement, as a… also as a musician, and, also somewhere that I wrote my PhD dissertation, and that is on the diffusion of Black gospel music. And what that has meant for speaking missionally, for people. The establishment of choirs, of course, getting, through, through, through, for example, gospel festivals, going back to the 90s. and whatnot, where we're inviting some of the best artists from the U.S. and from Britain to come and share and teach this style, and many musicians and others here really caught on, and And a lot of people have, around in areas, especially in many of our Methodist churches, we've established gospel choirs, and this has been, a quite, quite a fantastic movement of the Holy Spirit, to, to, to get in touch with so many people, who otherwise were would not darken the footsteps, would darken a church, you know, a church building. They would not go in through that, through that boundary, but gospel choirs have been a way of both reaching out. In ways that are both non-imposing, but also, reaching people through joy. Through, through a come-as-you-are, kind of ethos, and, and helping to establish, these, this kind of, these kind of relationships, which then has also been a foundation for, for, for rediscovering, or discovering, for the first time, Christian faith. So, so this has been just a fantastic, kind, kind of, outreach and ministry. Another thing, of course, it doesn't happen enough, but church plants, we, church planting and, or, or new, new fellowships, we have, for example, a, a migrant church. We're actually mostly West African, mostly Ghanaian congregation in Copenhagen, and for a while, I had pastoral oversight there, but it was just a beautiful, place where people were gathering in that context, and this is also a way of just. just showing that the Kingdom of God is much larger than any one culture, any one population. It is also, it is also global. And, we also, through our international ministry, we have, an outreach or partnership, especially, for example, with the an area in southern Congo around Mulungwishi, where we have helped through the years, build, water stations, help, with schools, help to build and, and run a clinic. And again, this is also in partnership with the, with the, with the, with the conference, the annual conference in, in Congo, through their bishop, and… Where we, you know, just, you know, again, Denmark has had, more than a 100-year, mission history with the Democratic Republic of Congo. And, so, so, but, but we've also just, again, been very involved in helping to establish projects, through the guidance, and the interaction, with, with our partners in Congo. And we have also similar things going on in India, in Honduras, and in Latvia. So these are things that also are expressions of joyful, joyful mission and ministry, where our little church here in Denmark has had a big role.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much, Mark. Darlene, would you like to share?
Deaconess Darlene Marquez-Caramanzana: Yeah, I would like to share something. In August 2025, Global Ministries held a mission partners roundtable meeting in the Philippines. Around 15 mission partner organizations made up of Episcopal area, church-related agencies and institutions, ecumenical partners, and educational institutions attended the meeting. Their mission engagements were varied, ranging from congregational development, leadership development, peace and justice work, community development, community organizing, youth work, disaster response, livelihood, land development, gender justice, and many more. One particular partner. the Ecumenical Center for Development. which gave birth to an organization called Rise Up for Rights and for Life, or Rise Up. Is currently ministering to families of victims. of our former president, Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs. For the former president, it was supposed to stop or eliminate drugs in the Philippines. But the truth is that it is a war against the poor. The poor were targeted. Thousands were killed, young men, elderlies, women, people with disabilities, and yes, even children. This generated widows, orphans, and families of victims. They were never brought to court or charged, just gunned down in the dead of the night, in dark alleys, isolated streets, and poor communities. It was done with impunity. And up to now, only very few state personnel were charged. This prompted the establishment of Rise Up. Visiting families who were too afraid to speak up and tell their stories for fear of retaliation. But knowing that those reaching out were from the church. They later agreed to meet with the Rise Up staff. Rise Up is being led by two United Methodist deaconesses in the Philippines. The initial meetings became a safe space for them to tell their stories. Rise Up gathered testimonies, accompanied families in services. In the morgues to claim their kin's bodies, they helped negotiate for the price of funeral services, provided support for documentation, connected them with lawyers, and regularly met with them To listen to their stories and support them in their legal battles and advocacies. Was it an easy ministry? No. It was hard to accompany the victims' families, especially that even them were targeted by the government. Harassing them and putting them under surveillance in the governor's effort to silence them. But it was grace. That led the two deaconesses to bring them to encounter the victims' families. Believing in their call to serve those who were robbed of their dignity and uphold their rights, they immersed themselves into their communities. In our roundtable, one of the deaconesses, Norma, said, and I quote. If we are not able to laugh or smile in the midst of our work. then we must be in the wrong struggle, unquote. Because for the two deaconesses, the same people who were victimized and who lost their loved ones. Are the ones empowering and strengthening them to persevere in this kind of ministry. Joy in service in many of our engagements is always in the context of communities. In vulnerable communities where we encounter God in the phases and daily struggles of people. Serving joyfully, not because we are free from challenges or difficulties, but because we have learned to be in solidarity with God's least, last, and the lost. Joy, because people are given respite from the daily grind of oppression and exploitation that make life harder for them. It is in fellowship and communion with others that we experience joy. And as Paul in his second letter to Timothy states, for God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and love. joy, because in our mission engagements, it is us that are blessed by the people's grace and love. It is us that are sometimes ministered unto, and not just us ministering to them. We learn deep and valuable lessons of life because of the people we engage with.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much. Shandon?
Rev. Dr. Shandon Klein: Yes, and thank you, April. This question always really makes me smile, honestly, just when I think about my rural congregations that I serve in. Minnesota and North Dakota. So I'm relatively new to commissioned ministry as a provisional elder, and I can remember the initial visits that I had with the churches, and many of the congregants would apologize for their small numbers. We have a very small church. The one that is in North Dakota, we have now around 10 to 12 members that are there. It's in a town of 300. And our other one, we worship about 40 to 60 people on a Sunday, and it's a town of, like, 3,000. It's a rural town. They would always apologize, like, I'm sorry, it's not as big as your church down in Texas, but I'll tell you, whenever I looked at their local missions, I… like, their hearts were just so incredibly large for service. It did not matter how small we were. In fact, it helped us with our flexibility, and their passion just flowed from who they were as Christians, and it shaped, and… was really empowered by the Holy Spirit, so… In our farming community, as you can imagine, there's some congregants who are farmers themselves, or avid gardeners, and I remember the first few weeks when we were getting close to harvest season, they would bring in tomatoes and squash, or whatever they had grown in abundance, and they would place it in a box that was at the church entrance with this Sign that read, free to take. And we live in a town where 22% of our population lives at or below the poverty level. But like many Midwesterners, we tend to be very stoic, and so it can be really challenging for them to be vulnerable and ask for help, so these little offerings can be really incredibly meaningful. And also, early on with this congregation, I learned that a retired congregant was a volunteer at the food pantry, and they described the needs of the pantry and asked if I could help communicate the needs of that to the congregation. And I noticed that, the contributions were never tracked. I knew that the… the congregation was very generous whenever I'd asked them to share specific items, and so I made it a point to remind them weekly about the monthly needs, and promised to report to them on how well they had done. So imagine their amazement when they discovered they had collectively provided over 1,000 pounds of food and non-food items to their local neighbors that were in need. And this was from, you know, churches that average only, like, you know, 40 to 60 congregants, and they were just so excited, you could see it in their faces. And so, each week I see, you know, right when I'm sitting there each day, they'll pass by the office and kind of wave into the office as they're carrying in their bags, saying. Hey, Pastor, I just came in to drop off my items for the pantry. You just see the joy that radiates from them. But on a broader scale, in Minnesota. That joyful service. Albeit not without heartache. comes from all of our colleagues, especially those around Minneapolis right now, who are working together to ensure our immigrant neighbors not only know their rights here in this country legally, but also know their right To be loved and valued for who they are as human beings. So, those who don't feel safe leaving their homes right now due to the ongoing presence of immigration and Customs Enforcement are being provided food for their families, rides to appointments, or to the grocery store. legal representations, or just… just spaces to breathe and to grieve. And so it's really a beautiful time to be living out our faith in action, to love our neighbors, and to share the love of God through all of the gifts that each of us have been given.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much. For all of you, how does United Methodist Theology, guided by the Holy Spirit, help us to understand mutuality in service? Mark, would you like to start us off?
Rev. Mark Lewis: Yeah, I'll try, but thank you for this wonderful question, an important question for us, too. And I think I would start off by just encouraging everyone At some point, grab the Book of Discipline and read our social principles. You know, there is just, there's just a lot of beauty and goodness and truth. in that statement, and talk about mutuality, talking about the Lordship of Christ in all areas of life. And, and how, how we are to… as Methodists, how we are encouraged to look upon, again, our neighbors. In the spirit of mutuality, in the spirit of love. And, so… so that should be our starting point. Again, there are a lot of areas, I mean, talking points, I guess you could say, that we could… you know, I won't go into too much detail here. I know there are probably other… a lot of theologians out there, too, that would love deeper discussions about all of these, but I'll just lift up some of these… some of the points. We could start, for example, with, what we might consider to be a Wesleyan or Methodist view of of human nature, what we might call our theological anthropology, if you want, if you're looking for something, you know, and though Wesleyan theology, we're not naive about the reality of sin, the reality of evil. both personal, communal, systemic. We are experiencing so much of that in our world today. Even how the beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ is also being misused and abused and misconstrued to support agendas that, are basically, Really, count, running counter, antithetical, to mutuality. For example, scapegoating, migrants and refugees. That is, is, to me, that is absolute anathema. And, I'm really gonna get on my soapbox here, but… But really, when we talk about, about, about, you know, how the church is to respond to what is going on in our world today, here in Denmark, throughout Europe, in the U.S, wherever we may be. We probably are all Dealing with this, and we don't want to also overlook or… To deny certain complexities, both in terms of culture and political complexities, but… We should point out that the, the default position of the people of God should always be one of compassion and love. And outreach, and community. Caring for the stranger. That is, it is, it is… it is so clearly stated throughout the Bible, and we need to understand that is our default position. And that is also based on this view of mutuality. And this idea that we view, we view all of humanity not through the lens where we say that humans are essentially bad or evil, but we are created in the Imago Dei, the image of God, and that image is there, it's part of us, of who we are. That we all, all of human life, all of life, has inherent value. And, so we start off with that view of humanity and human nature. Related to that is, what we might call, in Wesley's view of grace, what we refer to as prevenient grace. Grace as both prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying. But Prevenient Grace is, is the idea that, is the belief that all are endowed with God's grace from the very beginning. And it is not contingent upon human response or volition, it's not contingent upon what we do, it is who we are in light of God's grace. All of humanity is connected in God's grace. And we can start talking about, you know, theology of salvation and things like… and okay, we should get into that at some point, but the point is, when we talk about mutuality, we don't begin by saying. I'm a Christian and you're not. We begin by saying, we are all created in the loving grace of… of… of our Creator, the author and finisher of everything. So that is… that is… that is who we are. Prevenient grace, I think also gives us that, that insight as we are encountering people in mission, as we are crossing boundaries and barriers, that we are meeting them as human beings, and not in any way that is dehumanizing or just simply I think, as Shandon, as you put it, just where we are just thinking about the soul, or padding our membership roles, or whatever. You know, we are seeing the whole… the whole person. are sold as, as, in a holistic sense. The Hebrew nephesh, maybe we could say… Anyway, but prevenient grace is also a good, a good talking point for, for Methodists. Another thing is, and Shandon, I think you also beat me to the punch here as well. We can talk about social holiness, and it's already been mentioned, but, you know, in United Methodist theology, I mean, personal Christian praxis and social engagement are on behalf of the poor and oppressed and marginalized are inextricably linked together. You know, again, there is no… there's no holiness unless it is expressed, socially. And social expression of our holiness is also another way of saying we are engaged Out of love with people that we… that we meet and greet as sisters and brothers. No matter what barriers we are talking about. Another thing is that a beautiful part of our Methodist system is our connectionalism. We are a connectional church, and that is based on that theology that the core belief, it speaks to the heart of Methodism's ecumenical or Catholic spirit. It is, it has to do with being in relation with one another in terms of cross-cultural and interreligious encounter. And it is also our church structure in general. I think about myself, being an expat here in Denmark, you know, and how that, that arrangement could be made because, so easily, because we are… We are, we are a connectional church. And so, so it has a lot more, in even deeper, deeper implications than just our church structure. It is also a way of confirming or affirming that connectivity, in terms of our being created in God's grace and love. And, that we are all, we are all connected, by our Creator. That is, that is a big, you know, a characteristic of who we are. To get… another thing you might want to look at is the quadrilateral itself. Again, I don't know how many of you are versed in our Methodist language, but the quadrilateral is the… It's how we interpret all of theology. It is the dynamic interaction of Scripture. Of tradition, of experience, and reason. That interaction, which is… helps us in interpreting faith and life, and… and by doing that. It creates, space for diversity. diversity of Christian expression. Diversity in terms of our understanding of life and culture and how we live it, while promoting openness towards various theological manifestations. Manifestations that may differ from our own. And, so I think the quadrilateral opens us up, to, to the broadness in God's mercy. And, another thing, and again, this is something, this might… we might say this is just a given, but we need to say it anyway. We need to be… we need absolute clarity, in our speech, and that is just to simply talk about God's love which, if we look at it in Wesley Hymnology, or Wesley Hymn, Wesleyan Hymns, in our Methodist liturgy, in our covenants, our small groups, our entire understanding of mission. It is all rooted in this idea of God's love, encompassing love, for all of us, for all of humanity. And how this is the starting point, in terms of all… of how we establish relationships, and how we bridge gaps and boundaries… barriers, and how we… how we, how we traverse… how we traverse boundaries. So God's love through Christ encompasses all of creation, and is central to our understanding of mutuality.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much. Darlene?
Deaconess Darlene Marquez-Caramanzana: Well, mutuality in service for me recognizes that we are all human beings created in God's divine image. And with that truthful reality comes also the recognition that each and every one is endowed with gifts and graces that allow us to do our work in this world. In our mission engagement and as staff of Global Ministries. This would translate into recognizing that gifts and graces abound within our partners. And they themselves can utilize these gifts in pursuance of their own mission engagements. We are trying our best to do away from our colonial past, of thinking that we alone, as mission agency. Is the sole expert of mission, because we are not.
Rev. Mark Lewis: We should remember that the work of the Holy Spirit within and among us.
Deaconess Darlene Marquez-Caramanzana: It's always empowering. Thus, guiding us to affirm that our partners are the experts Of their own context. Our task as a mission agency is to accompany them and be in solidarity with them in responding to their missional needs. This would also mean that we allow local mission engagements to flourish in ways that allow them to utilize their agencies And celebrate the work that they are doing themselves.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much. Shandon?
Rev. Dr. Shandon Klein: Yeah, and we could talk about theology forever, that's for sure. I love theology. When we're talking about mutuality, we say that God's grace is the unearned unmerited love that goes before us and meets us and transforms us, right? So we believe that God's Spirit is already working in every person and every community before we arrive there. So, that doesn't mean that we come in as rescuers or owners of the truth. We come in as guests and partners, trusting that that spirit is ahead of us and inviting us to listen and to learn and then to serve. But also, as Mark was talking about, since we're a global church, we also emphasize the connection of our ecclesiology of us as a church. We're not seeing mission as an us going to them, we see them as… see it as a mission that's… as a shared life in the worldwide body of Christ, so we're looking for the gifts God's already placed in these local communities, and we try to stand alongside one another, especially in times of crisis or conflict.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much. A follow-up question for all of you. How does this spirit-led understanding of mutuality create authentic and life-giving mission partnerships? Mark?
Rev. Mark Lewis: Yeah, good, good question. Thank you, April. I think, back to the idea of the missio dei, the mission of God, That this is… this is, this is God's… mission is God's idea. Mission is… is God's desire for us. Mission is what God… it's the, again, the outward movement, and… You know, I've often thought about, why, for example, again, a question we might, we might raise, as we're reflecting on things, why did… why did God, become revealed To certain specific people in a certain place and time, and not to all people, everywhere in the world throughout history at the same time, you know? And, you know, that's a question we ponder in mission circles as well. And, you know, my tentative answer to that question has always been, because God evidently desires That people… Get in touch with one another. That… that it's through relationships, it's through… contact. It's through, again, breaking down barriers. It's through, communication, cross-cultural communication. It's through… it's by doing it from mouth to mouth, from hug to hug. in serving together, getting dirty together while we're working on projects, or whatever it may be, that that's how it's done. And again, this idea of mutuality is Because God desires that we are in honest, mutual, respectful, loving relationships with one another. And again, it means also beyond our own Family, our own tribe, our own sect, our own, point of reference. You know, I think about this, Again, getting back to our work with migrants and refugees in our context, again, how, How… how it has opened us up to be in contact with people That… that have… Suffered so much, oftentimes traumatized. And oftentimes to be met, at borders. With, with people and agencies and governments just… just don't want them there. To be, persona non grata. And, to, to not be met with, with, with compassion, with empathy. But yet, to see how people that do reach out, and do… how that Blessing. just how it just… it changed… it's life-changing. It's life-changing. To meet people from around the world who have such differing experiences than our own. And to, and to meet them in these contexts where we've become opened up, and in our context, for example, we've had people that we've… families that we've baptized from, for example, from Afghanistan, because, again, that's what they were looking for, but we also have been… in mission with other Muslim populations, where we also would meet people that have You know, so much to teach us. As well. And so just that openness and that discernment that we're also able to develop in terms of how best we can be present. in these encounters. We learn so much from that. And again, I sense, I believe very strongly the Holy Spirit. is present in these contexts. It's life-giving, it's life-changing, and I would encourage others to also be open and seeking these kinds of ways. Not just that, but also other ways in which we are open to our neighbors.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much, Mark. Darlene?
Deaconess Darlene Marquez-Caramanzana: Yeah, so for me, if we say that our mission is God's, then our mission engagement is working with God. It should lead us to be in communion with God's people and our partners. It means being part of our partners' communities as much as we welcome them to ours. We are not mere spectators, but participants in the work. In the United Methodist Church, we practice open communion, because it is Christ's table. We invite everyone, we exclude no one. In communion with Christ and each other, we build a unity that transcends barriers. We recognize the pains and hurts we caused Upon one another, and we repent. And we even repent of our colonial practice of mission. And we seek to correct the deep and many wrongdoings in the past. I believe our partners have a lot to teach us in terms of mission engagement. It is very important that we listen to them more, to walk side by side, and provide a ministry of presence rather than a dominating presence.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much for that. Shandon?
Rev. Dr. Shandon Klein: Yes, so I think that a spirit-led understanding of mutuality really can help us to create authentic and life-giving partnerships when we understand that the Holy Spirit itself is a part of a trinity, right? It's social, that's three in one, right? And it works in equitable relationship by its very nature of of the Godhead, so our own mission and partnerships should do the same thing. So, on the ground, it means shared power and shared responsibility. These missional decisions should be made in conversation, not Not as a dictatorship, right? These stories and leadership… flow from every part of our connection in the mission field, not just from the wealthiest or the loudest voices. So in… in times of crisis, we aren't… we aren't to ask, oh, how do we fix them, or what do we think they need, as if we have all of this information. We ask. how can we stand alongside them, trusting that that Holy Spirit is already moving there, and we ask directly, out in the field, what would be a blessing to you in this moment? Because we're trusting that you are the expert in your own experience. That empowers people. We know the Holy Spirit is an empowerer, right? This also requires us to be cognizant and curious of those special spiritual gifts that are presence within our fields and within us, and it requires us to know and cultivate what God's already given us to And even when we… face those very complex and systemic issues that seek to destroy mutuality, like… poverty and racism, creation care, immigration and war. The United Methodist Book of Discipline and the Book of Resolutions, again, highly recommend. I'm a geek when it comes to that. It consistently frames our public witness as responses to God's prior action and the Spirit's call, so a spirit-led understanding keeps us humble in recognizing that it's God that comes first in the action, and not just our own egos. keeps us following Christ instead of our own self-centered devices as individuals, or even a denomination.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much. Looking forward, how can a Wesleyan and spirit-empowered approach to mission help us to create a more equitable and just future? Mark?
Rev. Mark Lewis: Yes, thanks, April. I, agreed beforehand that I would focus on, More economic, concerns or issues when we talk about, empowerment, or a more equitable and just future. We need to recognize that economic disparity is one of the root causes of so many of the critical issues, that are facing humanity in our time. And, this disparity, it continues to worsen. And it touches on many other prevailing crises, such as abject poverty and hunger, displacement. Climate change, dehumanization in general. And so, so, you know, when we talk about mission, again, we've said it in various ways, both Darlene and Shandon and myself, that Mission must address more than saving individual souls. Again, I'm not impugning that, I'm not saying that's a bad thing. No, we need to focus on that, too. And I think… and John Wesley said, too, that should be our ultimate concern. But also, again, the recognition that coming into the family of God, too, and being part of that fellowship and receiving Christ, and, and growing in that has also had, at least in Wesley's observation, also a very positive impact also on certain other socio-economic realities as well. But the thing is, if mission is to have any credibility in our world, we must address the entire situation, also the systems that are causing this. And getting back to the social principles, we're talking about the dominion of Christ in all areas of life. So we are not to simply say, that… that following, Jesus Christ and being a disciple of Christ means that we are to separate, things are into compartments where we say, you know, here's the spiritual side, and here's the worldly, or the secular, whatever. No, it's Christ over all. And so we, so we are engaged in all of these things, or should be, anyway, if our witness, if our Christian witness is to have any credibility in the world. United Methodist Mission Projects, I think are doing a great service in addressing The idea of creating an equitable future. We do this by supporting, education, for example. We support, in various ways, infrastructure development in impoverished parts of the world. I think about microloans, for example, to help, that benefit small businesses and agricultural development. Think about healthcare, for example, clinics and hospitals and… Things like that. I think, you know, locally, for example, building, locally speaking, building relationships with refugees, I'm on that subject a lot, and migrants, that's a powerful example. Of creating, equitable relationships. Internationally, it's important, again, to establish partnerships with, with churches and with other organizations in order to listen to the concerns and advice regarding contextual matters. And Darlene has also expressed this very beautifully, that oftentimes, you know, we have our sins of the past, where mission has also been a way of, of, of, cloaking colonial impulses. And we need… we need to recognize that, and we need to… We need to be… we need to repent of that, and we need to be… find… find ways to be… to atone for that as well. But, you know, we work by… we do that also by listening, to our partners. And not just simply imposing whatever, programs we think they, they should have. So, so these are also, things of, things that we, that, that we work on. I think in our Danish context, I mean, we've had a long-standing partnership with the, the southern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and, I think about within the last 10 years we've, or so year, maybe 15 years, we've, Help to establish a water system where we were able to provide clean water. for certain villages outside of Mulungwishi in Congo. And again, the way that was done, I think it was done in a beautiful way, because we had, you know, engineers from Denmark working together with, you know, engineers from Congo, and… And, and so it was, it was a mutual project. We were able to provide funds, and you know, people here also helping to raise money to support these projects, as well as finding other, you know, ways of supporting that, and building this through mutuality. And again, these are ways of addressing issues of poverty. of health and so forth. And so, so I think there are good ways to do that, and I'm also happy to see, also as a secretary for our missions board in Denmark for a number of years, to see also, Methodist churches and organizations and mission organizations, throughout Europe, through the U.S, and throughout the world that are also engaged in, in helping establish, similar projects.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much, Mark. Darlene?
Deaconess Darlene Marquez-Caramanzana: Yeah, I would like to share part of Global Ministries' mission theology statement, and I would like to quote The church experiences and engages in God's mission as it pours itself out for others. Ready to cross every boundary, to call for true human dignity among all peoples. Especially among those regarded as the least of God's children. All the while making disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world. Unquote. So, God dwells in the faces of our neighbors, those we encounter on the streets and within communities. God is present in those who long for shelter. For a warm meal, For safety amid disaster and war. God is revealed in the faces of the most vulnerable. To love our neighbors is not merely an act of kindness. It is to encounter the divine. in my recent reflections, I… I realized that mission is relational, very relational. It thrives in spaces that honor, respect, inclusion, and mutuality. It allows for people and communities to thrive and live fully in their authentic selves. Mission does not evade hard or difficult conversations, for it only honors truthful answers. And most of all, God's mission is a journey rooted in hope. John Wesley has always affirmed putting faith and love into action. By action, I would say that it is of utmost importance that we learn to listen. Listen deeply and listen well to our partners. Taking to heart their context and realities, and responding in ways that grace and love of God is made manifest in our relationships with them. In a world torn by darkness and despair, cruelty and violence, repression and dominance. May we be the hope that people in despair are looking for. And may God's light shine in and through us.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much for that word, Shandon.
Rev. Dr. Shandon Klein: And amen, Darlene, that's… that's incredible. When I consider how a Wesleyan spirit-empowered approach can help us create more equitable and just futures, I'm reminded of the emphasis on mutuality that we discussed earlier. So true equity and justice requires us to understand what equity looks like for the individuals that we stand alongside in our mission. And I also believe that this spirit-led approach gives us the courage to envision a more just world that doesn't currently exist. Those God-sized dreams that surpass our own limitations and doubts, the spirit empowers us for bold actions. So, when we refer to sanctifying grace, it's this grace that shouldn't leave us in this state of comfort. It's this transformation and growth this… it rarely leads to ease, right? It doesn't… it doesn't make things easy. It's the reason why we hear about growing pains, right? So, this sanctifying grace drives us towards this perfection of Christ's love for the reconciliation of the world around us, and often necessitates that prophetic truth-telling and reparations, like… like Mark was alluding to earlier. So, in this process, we confront our own privileges, we repent of past harms, and we commit to redistributing power, not out of guilt, but because the Spirit is shaping Christ's character within us. So, I do believe that this Wesleyan and Spirit-empowered approach can guide us towards the just and equitable future that God envisions for us. We just need to remember to partner with the Holy Spirit in addition to one another.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much. We now have a few moments for questions from our participants, so we will move into question and answer. I do want to mention first, we've had several requests to share statements from these webinars in local churches, and yes, of course, we welcome this, and we pray for your ministry. You can go to resourceumc.org slash leadership gathering to find all of the videos and transcripts, and so that you can share this conversation with your ministry context. And we'll share another reminder about that location at the end of our webinar. Our first question for our panelists relates to John Wesley's class meetings and band meetings. Part of our United Methodist heritage is John Wesley calling together persons for community, mutual respect, and covenant, faithful community in class meetings and band meetings to grow in personal and social holiness. How might you connect our understanding of mission to our Wesleyan heritage of class meetings and band meetings.
Rev. Dr. Shandon Klein: I can take a stab at that one. So, those Wesleyan bands and class meetings were so formational for the early Methodist Church, And one of the main things was actually learning how to to be in relationship with one another, you asked those deep questions, like, how is it with your soul? How are you really? You started to learn that, people that were… you were interacting with may have been dealing with different things, especially within the band meetings. These, for those who aren't aware of what the band meetings were, they were a smaller subset out of the class meetings that went deeper into those questions of. you know, like, what are the hard parts you're dealing with in your life? What are the sins that you have done? What led you there? And, you know, how can we rectify that? When they were in those band meetings, they prayed over one another, and it was the one space that they had where they could be fully authentic with themselves, and know that they could feel the grace of God in a tangible way with those 3 or 4 people within that band meeting. I personally have been in a band since I was in seminary. We've been doing it for about 8 years. And, when I think about trying to translate that into the missional field, it talks about, you know, it leans towards that one-on-one relationship to not just say. hey, I'm going to go and give this one thing to them, and then go away. You know, like, this is… this is about relationship, again, that mutuality, and those… those things, like those classes and band meetings were ways to remember that this is about relationship and not a transaction. So, I think that that would be how I would relate those.
Rev. Mark Lewis: Yeah. Yeah, I would also add that, again, so true about… also about accountability. I think the whole concept of koinonia, I think is also engendered by, our… the classes and bands, how we… how we live together. In, in mutuality, in faith, and how, also. How integral that is to, to our understanding of mission. And where, we talk about a missional church. Koinonia is, I think, is an integral part of… aspect there. So, so I think… I think, I think it… it's good that we raised this issue about… about classes and bands, small groups.
Deaconess Darlene Marquez-Caramanzana: Yeah, for me, I think it will… it will be best to take that context into Into realizing that we are always grounded, or should be grounded, in communities. Because these class meetings provide for, a community A community of support, a community that thrives, because there's support for one another, there's love for one another, there's acceptance, even if you… even if there are weaknesses. You are… assured that there is always a community for you, and I think that's very, very important in our mission engagements, that sense of community, that sense of belongingness, and being rooted in these communities.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thank you so much to all of you, that was great. We have time for, one more question. We have talked about our colonial heritage, looking at changing systems of injustice, focusing on personal holiness and social holiness. and being a church for all. And so, one of our viewers asked, where are we now, and how do we get to where we want to be? Would any of you like to answer that question?
Rev. Mark Lewis: Hmm, yeah. I'm sorry, I'll… I'll try to say something. No, it's a beautiful, beautiful question, such an important question. That, and it also implies that we are still very much in a process. that we have not reached our… the telos, the fulfillment of where we believe that God in the Holy Spirit is leading us. I think about, in terms of stages of faith, That, some wise people, talked about phases in terms of, for example, cleaning up. Cleaning up our lives. Growing up… Which means, also, learning. going through a learning… waking up, which means an encounter, maybe, with God that awakens us to something greater than what we before could ever imagine. And then also the whole process of showing up, which is what we are talking about in mission. And I think that, along the way, again, every culture and every period of history has had its, its blind spots. That, part of the process of, of growing up, you know, which takes place throughout time, is that, is that we, Become, awakened or aware of, areas of life where we have simply… where we have have failed. And, you know, so often, we know, sometimes we can look at our past and be, and judge very harshly. Because they have not had the insight that maybe we do now, but we recognize that we are… We are part of a process where I think God, through Christ and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, they are… continue to help us to at least read signs of how God… Can open us up to newness, to a renewed understanding of of life and one another, and to see things that maybe people in general from previous generations were not able to see. And we continue to build on that, and we could probably all think of many, many examples, but, you know, humanity has come from tribalism to, maybe to more nationalism, to… and we are growing towards, only through Christ, if we continue to follow Christ through these phases, we become, we become more and more aware of the fullness of God's love and mercy and goodness. And, you know, we're not there yet, but we believe that, that Christ goes… is always going ahead of us. Anyway… Somebody else take it from there.
Deaconess Darlene Marquez-Caramanzana: Yeah, I'm… I guess for me, I would say that our mission engagement is a journey. And because we are a global and connectional church, our phases in the journey may differ from one another. But I believe that we are all going forward. However, taking some back steps is not always It allows us to look into our past and see where we can learn from the past, from past mistakes, and then we go forward. And I think it's also very basic for us as United Methodists, that we keep on striving toward perfection. And so our journey, whenever there are also, Downside, whenever there are also hindrances, our direction is always to go forward, as long as we take into mind and into heart… into our hearts that in engaging in mission, we do no harm. To people, we do no harm to communities, and that we are always there to render our presence and ministry a presence.
Rev. Dr. Shandon Klein: Yeah, I agree. I would probably just echo along with my colleagues here. This is where our theology of going on towards perfection is really key here, and knowing that we can backslide, you know, at any time. When we talk about, you know, where are we with colonialism, again, we're… we're a global and… international church, right? So it's gonna be different for different places. We are all battling different systems, and then even when we think about our own United Methodist Church, part of the reason why we're having the leadership gathering is because of the changing of those structures and being able to interrogate those to make sure that we're not doing any harm and trying to be flexible so that we can engage in a mission in decolonial ways. And so, I would say, in terms of where we are with colonialism, or decolonialism. I don't know if we've hit the DE yet, the D, but we're… we're on our… we hopefully are on our way towards that as we continue to interrogate ourselves to, to ensure that we're creating those just systems, not only within our church, but Also, confronting those harmful systems when we see them, whether it's within our own governments, or within our churches, or in our local areas, just to ensure that we are passing on that love of God, and that it is, that it shines throughout all of those systems, so we're working on it, is probably what I would say.
Rev. Dr. April Casperson: Thanks to all three of you for those thoughtful responses. I believe we're coming to the end of our time for our second webinar, so Stephanie, I turn it back over to you.
Stephanie Henry: Thank you, Reverend Dr. April, and thank you to our incredible panelists, Reverend Mark, Reverend Shandon, and Deaconess Darlene. Appreciation also to our United Methodist communications colleagues for hosting this webinar. We invite folks to please remember to complete the survey at resourceumc.org/survey. That survey will be open through the end of the weekend, and then we'll be closing. So please, if you haven't taken it yet, please take it this weekend. Please also register for our third webinar, scheduled for March 21st at 10 a.m. Eastern. Where we will discern what it means to lead courageously. You will find more resources, at resourceumc.org/leadership-gathering, including the recording and transcript of this webinar. Bishop Saenz, I turn it over to you for our closing prayer.
Bishop Saenz: Thank you, Stephanie, and friends, on behalf of the Council of Bishops, we're grateful that you joined in this webinar for the sacred gathering and for every heart. That joined this conversation on what it means to serve joyfully. Also, Discipleship Ministries will create a discussion guide for this webinar With timestamps and guiding questions for the church's use. The discussion guide will be made available on our UMCOM Communications Leadership Gathering Resource webpage, so be on the lookout for that. Again, thank you to our panelists, thank you to UMCOM, thank you to our translators, for sharing and for expanding our hearts and our minds on what it means to be in mission with God, and with God's people throughout the world. Let us pray. Lord, you call us to show up. Which is part of being in mission. To be present amid suffering, and to embody your grace in the world you so love. Mission is not about turning them into us. But about joining what you are already doing. Transforming hearts and systems by your Holy Spirit. You call us to care for the stranger. Because all are created in your image, and all of life bears your sacred value. We stand amazed at the largeness of the hearts of your people. And the witness born through local and global mission from Denmark to Africa to the Philippines to the U.S. and beyond. By your Spirit, grant that we may continue serving joyfully as instruments of your transforming grace. Amen. God's grace and peace be with you. Thank you again for joining.