“Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” Acts 2:38-39 (Peter on the Day of Pentecost)

Just three days after Pentecost Sunday, the Northern Illinois Conference gathered June 8-10 at the Renaissance Convention Center in Schaumburg, Ill. Members from our churches came to share the gift of the Holy Spirit and celebrate the goodness of God in the first in-person conference in three years. That is 36 months, 156 weeks, or 1,095 days that we had not gathered to be connected in Christ!

Over that period, we ordained clergy, appointed pastors, set budgets, and continued the day-to-day work and worship of the church, much of it virtually because of the pandemic. Two of our district superintendents, Fabiola Grandon-Mayer and Brian Gilbert, and pastors appointed in 2019 or later have served up to three years without the connection of worship, singing, and sharing of an annual conference. Seeing clergy and lay members singing together restored my soul, reminded me of my purpose, and connected me to Christ and colleagues for the year ahead. For those of you who were able to attend, I hope it did the same for you.

The annual conference is the basic unit of our church since we are a holiness, missionary movement that became an organized church. From the organizing conference on Christmas Eve in 1784, all clergy are members of the conference and most of our local churches and service ministries, with a few exceptions, were started by the annual conference. We are not an association of churches but a covenant community dedicated to serving Christ and his Church with accountability for our local ministries through the annual conference. The strength of our annual conference—our missionary movement in Northern Illinois—is dependent upon the strength of our local ministries. 

Several years ago, I quipped, “the decline of Christianity in America is directly related to the development of fluorescent lights and the conference room table.” That is, the more we try to organize, calendarize, strategize and politicize the work of the church, the more we are like the people of Babel who tried to “build a tower with its top in the heaven and make a name for themselves.” (Genesis 11:4)

The church grows by relationships and conversations that matter. At some point, conversations that matter turn to spiritual conversations that move beyond our needs and wants to our yearning for new life, love, peace, and hope. Our annual conference session was a place for conversations that mattered, and we are more unified in our mission because we remembered our connections to Christ and one another. I think the Church may grow more by worship—praying, singing, and preaching—than by our efforts to reform it.

When people ask me, “How are you doing?” I frequently respond, “I am living the dream!” More accurately, I should say, “I am living the dream God has for me.” I cannot do that without a larger community of Christian believers to help me. 

When people ask me, “What do you do?” I often respond, “I am changing Western Civilization one conversation at a time!” I think every conversation we have, every prayer we offer, and every song we sing together should connect us to Christ and one another. Thank you, Northern Illinois, for helping me be connected in Christ and to live the dream!

To watch and read Bishop Hopkins Episcopal Address from Annual Conference, visit umcnic.org/bishop.