By Karen Fisher | Seven Rivers District Lay Leader
Reposted from the Wenatchee First UMC Newsletter
As I write this newsletter for November, I’m sitting in a hotel room preparing for an evening charge conference with a Seven Rivers District church. I’m also recovering from a very long Sunday…getting up early, hitting the road to arrive in Kennewick in time for an 9:00 AM meeting, then attending worship with West Highlands UMC, attending a church charge conference, then one more meeting, one more charge conference, and finally into a hotel room just before 9:00 PM.
Many of you know that in addition to serving Wenatchee First UMC, I also serve as Lay Leader to the Seven Rivers District of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Conference of The United Methodist Church. I’m beginning my third year, having just been elected at annual conference to serve the next four years in this position. We have 39 churches in this geographically large district. Seven Rivers extends from Oroville down through Yakima to Goldendale, continues to the Tri-Cities and on to the Walla Walla area. On the west, the district boundary is the mountains and to the east, the district stretches to Hartline, Ephrata and Moses Lake.
The District Lay Leader is like that of a local church Lay Leader. A lay leader is part of church leadership, part of the pastoral team, and part of the laity, serving to provide the connection between all in the church and beyond; an ear, and a voice. On the district level, the lay leader is part of the district leadership team, part of the pastoral team serving in partnership with the District Superintendent, and part of the district laity made up of all the churches in the District. Here, I am also an ear, and a voice within the district as well as the conference and beyond, on behalf of our laity here in this district. I do this by traveling around our district with our District Superintendent.
What does this mean? Why does it matter to you, here at Wenatchee First?
Well, The United Methodist Church is a connected church. Being connected means more than being linked to each other. Our church, in addition to the other Seven Rivers churches, and the churches in all other districts in the PNW Annual Conference are all part of the body of this larger church. All individual members are also part of this wonderful body of Christ. We all, individually and as churches, bring something very special, unique, and critically important to this body.
As I travel, I get the opportunity to see what others bring to this body. I see where they fit. I see the parts that flourish. I see parts that are tired, worn, injured, and overlooked. I see that the parts don’t always pay attention to each other. I think we forget that we are part of this same body. We look at each other as rivals not allies, competing with, not sharing with.
Much of the work I’ve done with Rev. Juli Reinholz during the past two years is focused on this Body; working to bring together, to develop and renew relationships between the people of all Seven Rivers District churches. We’ve done this through annual clergy and laity retreats, district training workshops, and through every annual church charge conference. We don’t do this work alone. We have a district leadership team, and we have groups of clergy and lay folks who volunteer to lead and facilitate the retreats and the training workshops.
We’ve done and are doing good work. But, I am not satisfied. Why? I don’t see enough folks from enough churches. We aren’t taking advantage of our connections and relationships. Seven Rivers District churches need to be in mission with each other. We need to work together, help each other out, and share our gifts. Our larger churches (like Wenatchee First) need to lead the way.
Meanwhile, I will keep working with Rev. Juli Reinholz, attending church charge conferences, and working with District Leadership to create ways to bring our churches together, and bring our voices to the greater connected church.
Though this is hard work, it is the work of my heart.
