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News
August 3, 2006 - As schoolchildren around the country prepared to go back to school, United Methodist Church leaders from across the globe gathered in San Diego, California, for the School of Congregational Development, August 3-8. More 600 bishops, district superintendents, and conference leaders attended the event, which was sponsored by the General Board of Discipleship and the General Board of Global Ministries, in conjunction with the California-Pacific Annual Conference. Bishop Mary Ann Swenson of the California-Pacific Annual Conference told participants in the opening plenary on the spiritual life of the leader, “The spiritual life comes first. Everything else comes after that.” For Swenson, leading as a bishop comes second. "There is a sweet center of balance of being spiritual and being a leader," she said. "You are responsible for establishing a system of discipleship," Swenson told the group. "What is holding us back is our inability to take risks. We don’t want to risk openness and vulnerability that God so yearns for – ultimate vulnerability. We can risk everything because we have everything!" Swenson also suggested that “corporate traumatic stress syndrome” is holding us (The United Methodist Church) back. She encouraged the leaders to address the conflict between expressed values and actual behavior by naming the gap that exists between values and behavior. The School of Congregational Development is designed to assist churches in creating and developing disciple-making faith communities. The General Board of Discipleship's mission is to support annual conference and local church leaders for their task of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. An agency of the United Methodist Church, The General Board of Discipleship is located at 1908 Grand Avenue in Nashville, Tennessee. For more information, call the Media Relations Office toll-free at 877- 899-2780, ext. 7017.
This article was written by Jeanette Pinkston, Media Relations Director for the General Board of Discipleship. Please also see these related articles:
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