My whirlwind July is finally over, and now my whirlwind August has begun. My July ended with my participation in the Global Young People‟s Convocation in Berlin, Germany. I was selected as one of two youth-workers to represent our eight-state South Central Jurisdiction. It was quite an honor to represent the Jurisdiction, Arkansas Conference, and especially Lakewood UMC. The Arkansas Conference probably had the largest voting delegation at the Convocation with one youth delegate and two young adult delegates, one of which being Rachel Goodwin, our summer assistant YOUth minister. Each Jurisdiction or Central Conference only received five youth delegates, five young adult delegates, and two youth-workers.
The Convocation consisted of groups formed to look over submitted legislation and to make adjustments and recommendations before sending it on to the whole body to vote on. With the legislation in front of the whole body, we could decide to pass it, with a 2/3 majority, and then send it on to General Conference in 2012 with our "stamp of approval." This was sometimes a long and arduous process as translations had to occur in four different languages. We voted on issues from resolutions on the environment and extra-judicial killings in the Philippines to making changes on stances regarding homosexuality and the structure of agencies in the UMC.
We were also able to make excursions into the city to participate in an ecumenical worship service in the Berlin Cathedral and to visit cultural sites like the Jewish Museum, two former Nazi work camps, and Potsdam. Two of the nights all of the groups divided up and went to local Methodist congregations for supper and a time of worship with members of the church, which was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip.
It was an awesome and memorable experience and I greatly appreciate this church for its support, prayers, and financial contributions (which I just found out about and am humbly grateful). Our worship times at the conference and in the churches, even in different languages, was a powerful display of the vastness and reach of God‟s grace. Please feel free to ask if you have any questions about the trip. And, I must say I was not looking forward to coming home, mainly because the high temperatures there were in the low 70s, and not in the low 100s as they are here!
Brandon Bates
The Convocation consisted of groups formed to look over submitted legislation and to make adjustments and recommendations before sending it on to the whole body to vote on. With the legislation in front of the whole body, we could decide to pass it, with a 2/3 majority, and then send it on to General Conference in 2012 with our "stamp of approval." This was sometimes a long and arduous process as translations had to occur in four different languages. We voted on issues from resolutions on the environment and extra-judicial killings in the Philippines to making changes on stances regarding homosexuality and the structure of agencies in the UMC.
We were also able to make excursions into the city to participate in an ecumenical worship service in the Berlin Cathedral and to visit cultural sites like the Jewish Museum, two former Nazi work camps, and Potsdam. Two of the nights all of the groups divided up and went to local Methodist congregations for supper and a time of worship with members of the church, which was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip.
It was an awesome and memorable experience and I greatly appreciate this church for its support, prayers, and financial contributions (which I just found out about and am humbly grateful). Our worship times at the conference and in the churches, even in different languages, was a powerful display of the vastness and reach of God‟s grace. Please feel free to ask if you have any questions about the trip. And, I must say I was not looking forward to coming home, mainly because the high temperatures there were in the low 70s, and not in the low 100s as they are here!
Brandon Bates
Comments