A future with hope
Bishop forms ‘Jeremiah Teams’ to transform conference structure, operation, alignment
By Dan O’Mara
Leaders of the South Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church are taking concrete and practical steps to transform how the conference is structured, how it operates and how it aligns with “Our 4 Priorities,” encouraging South Carolina United Methodists to “see the possibilities and live the promise.”
Bishop Leonard Fairley, after consultation with the Extended Cabinet and the Ministry Advisory Team, is inviting about two dozen persons to form “Jeremiah Teams” and take the lead in developing recommendations in four areas: missional priorities, strategy for the black church and ethnic ministries, district alignment, and conference staff alignment.
Their objective: To bring proposals for each of these areas to the 2025 session of the South Carolina Annual Conference for approval.
Leaning into Jeremiah 29:11, in which God reveals plans to give us “a future with hope,” Fairley made it clear to conference leaders that simple survival after a time of separation from the denomination is not the goal of this effort.
“We have learned through this difficult season that the next faithful steps we are called to make will not be easy, but they will be full of God’s great possibility,” he said. “They will position us to live more meaningfully, more nimbly, more connectionally and more practically into Our 4 Priorities.
“The season we are currently living in calls for and affords us a unique opportunity for resetting, renewing a resilient course as we journey toward the future God has promised. We take these next faithful steps not as a means of surviving, but as a means of thriving.”
Our 4 Priorities are the four missional priorities identified by the South Carolina Conference: developing leaders, engaging our communities, connecting with and growing disciples, and measuring and evaluating current realities and missional possibilities.
Members of the four Jeremiah Teams are being selected to ensure inclusivity and the ability to operate efficiently and effectively within a limited timeframe. The invitation process is ongoing.
“Each of these Jeremiah Teams will work in a healthy atmosphere of collaboration,” Fairley said. “If we are to move into God’s future for The United Methodist Church in South Carolina, we cannot afford to operate in silos with heroic solo leadership. The only turf we are talking about is God’s turf.”
The four teams will begin their work initially from these ideas:
1) Missional Priorities:
• Evaluating the effectiveness of all of the conference’s current ministries and missions to identify ineffectiveness and duplication;
• Asking, from among so much good work that is done across the conference, “What things are essential to living into Our 4 Priorities?”; and
• Visualizing an effective “stop-do list” to free up laity and clergy for more imaginative, creative ideas that will help reach new people in new places and in new ways.
2) Strategy for the Black Church and Ethnic Ministries:
• Acknowledging that the conference cannot move into God’s hopeful future without strong leadership in this area;
• Creating and resourcing an effective conference strategy for strengthening the Black church and other ethnic ministries; and
• Asking, “What is the new thing, including the lifting up of new leaders, God is calling for in this area?”
3) District Alignment:
• Reviewing district lines and reducing the number of districts;
• Creating a more nimble, cost-effective structure; and
• Allowing district superintendents to truly be a missional strategist in more places among new people, to spend more time in communities with the people of their areas, and to develop new ideas to strengthen witness and work.
4) Conference Staff Alignment:
• Aligning conference and district staff with missional priorities and resources;
• Compensating conference and district staff properly for their work and leadership; and
• Creating more space for staff to be creative and imaginative in their work.
Anyone who has questions about the Jeremiah Teams is asked to email [email protected], and their information will be shared with the appropriate team.