Weekly Newsletter

Hello friends,

Like many people I have been watching the live streaming of The United Methodist General Conference taking place in Georgia. (The link to watch the live streaming is listed on Orchard Church Facebook page.) Because of Covid, the General Conference would have taken place in 2020, but had to be postponed.
General Conference will run from April 23- May 4, 2024. After so many years of contentious conferences, it is amazing to see how God and God’s people from around the world are moving. One piece of legislation that was passed was the plan for regionalization. Under this plan, there will be four regional conferences (Africia, Europe, Philippines, and the United States) each regional conference will have equal power to pass legislation within their prospective region for greater missional impact. Delegates voted 586 (in favor) to 164 (opposed) for the amendment to the denomination’s constitution. Adam Hamilton said, “This points to a new day in the United Methodist Church.”
This piece of legislation will require two-thirds of all annual conferences for final approval. For those who are interested, there are 132 annual conferences, so 84 annual conferences must be approved.
On the same day The United Methodist Church moved toward regionalization, General Conference delegates approved the exit of churches in one of its regions.

By a vote of 672 to 67, the delegates approved the departure of four Eurasian annual conferences — which encompasses churches in Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Together, the four plan to form the autonomous Christian Methodist Church. The Eurasian Annual Conferences, all led by Bishop Eduard Khegay, (who is also leaving) have 66 churches in total. Altogether the conferences had 1,123 members as of 2017. Bishop Khegay said, “During my 12 years of episcopal ministry, I have faced many challenges and hardships in Eurasia — the East-West divide, the geopolitical struggles between superpowers, economic ups and downs and theological controversies,” he said. “But today I want to express my gratitude.”

If you didn’t watch any of the opening worship services, I highly recommend you do so, especially Bishop Easterling’s message which centered on Thursdays in Black initiative. She shared, "as a survivor of domestic violence in a previous marriage", that when she entered the ministry, she was told not to reveal that part of her life. Easterling raised her voice to tell all the women present who have suffered abuse: “You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are of sacred worth. You are resilient.”
She called on those present to find purpose and direction in Luke 4:16-21 and Jesus’ proclamation that “I have come to liberate, free, uplift and unbind and love. I have come to end oppression, bondage, domination, abuse, and hate.”
Watch it! It truly is powerful!

This Sunday our message is “Healed” and the scripture that supports the message comes from the Gospel of Mark 5: 24-34. Illness of mind, body, or spirit can sap us of our life passion and energy. Sometimes illness can change the course of our lives forever, asking us to adapt in ways we never imagined. And while illness is not visited upon anyone by God’s design, sometimes limitations open our eyes to other possibilities. We will look for a different perspective on how we deal with any life-altering situation.

See you Sunday at 10:00am.
God bless you all,
Pastor Robyne