Anyone who has been an active United Methodist for any time knows that "conferencing" is an important part of the tradition. They are probably most familiar with the church, or charge, conference; the annual meeting of the congregation with the district superintendent during which the ministry of the past year is celebrated and evaluated and leaders for the coming year are elected. Some may have represented their congregation at their annual conference, jurisdictional conference, or General Conference.

All of these conferences have their roots in the first conference between Rev. John Wesley and some Methodist preachers held in London in November 1739. John Wesley, John Gambold, and John Robson all agreed to meet in London every year on the day before Ascension Day (in late April or May). In addition to these annual meetings, Wesley encouraged those who were able to meet quarterly. The purpose of these annual and quarterly conferences was discussion of theological and doctrinal issues, prayer, worship, mutual support, and accountability for Christian discipleship (see Wesley and the People Called Methodists by Richard Heitzenrater, pp. 108-109). Other, equally important, forms of Christian conferencing were the small groups through which Methodists were formed and encouraged in discipleship — the class meeting, bands, and select societies.

John Wesley understood Christian conference to be one of the instituted means of grace, along with prayer, worship, the Lord's Supper, Bible reading and study, and fasting or abstinence. He understood these to be the basic practices given by God to the church in order to lead people to Christ and keep them with him. The means of grace are like the musical scales that every musician must learn and practice every day in order to become, and to remain, the musician God intends them to be. The instituted means of grace are the basics of Christian discipleship. Through regular, disciplined practice of these means of grace, Christians make themselves available to the power of grace to form them into the human beings God created them to be. These means of grace enable Christians to obey the commands of Christ to love God with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their strength, and with all their mind, to love their neighbor as themselves, and to love one another as Christ loves (Luke 10:25-37; John 13:34-35). Habitual incorporation of the means of grace into daily life is how Christians grow in holiness of heart and life; they are Christian faith working through love (Galatians 5:6); they are how Christians learn and live the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5) and work out their salvation (Philippians 2:12b-13).

Christian conference is simply regular meeting with other Christians for the purpose of conversation, teaching, accountability, mutual encouragement, and support for discipleship through practicing the means of grace. Wesley believed that Christian conference is an instituted means of grace because he understood that when Christ chooses and calls people (John 15:16) into relationship with him, he calls them into community. To be a Christian and a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be, by definition, part of a household that is defined by love, compassion, and justice. Conferencing is grounded in the relational nature of grace. In other words, God forms human beings into wholeness through relationships with God and people who love God.

To illustrate, I invite you to imagine that discipleship is very much like training for a bicycle race. If you have ever watched a bicycle race on television or in person you have probably noticed that racers tend to ride in small groups. They do this because the group can ride much faster and expend less energy than if each rode alone. The riders achieve increased speed and efficiency through a technique called "drafting."

Because of the movement of air over, around, and between the riders, the lead rider "pulls" the following riders behind him while the following riders actually push the lead rider forward.

A group of riders travel in single file behind a leader. Each tries to keep his or her front wheel as close as possible (1 to 3 inches!) to the rear wheel of the rider directly in front. Leadership of the pace-line changes frequently so that no single rider bears the brunt of the wind for more that a minute. After a turn in the lead the leader pulls to the left and allows the line to pass, and he or she takes the place at the rear. This pattern is repeated until the group gets close to the finish line. Cyclists who are part of such a group can save up to 40 percent in energy expenditures over the cyclist who is not drafting with a group.

Christian conferencing provides the mutual support and accountability disciples need to ensure that they attend to and grow in wholehearted love of God and love of neighbors. Christian conference is how the church ensures that it keeps its promise to all who are baptized and received in to membership to "Do all in your power to increase their faith, confirm their hope, and perfect them in love."

Posted 3-25-03.

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