The Beauty of Holiness
In September, more than 1100 Global Methodists from six continents gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, for our General Conference. It came just 707 days after our Convening Conference in Costa Rica. The theme was “The Beauty of Holiness,” and the gathering lived up to its name. Delegates, observers, volunteers, families, and visitors prayed, sang, worshiped, shared meals, and enjoyed a beautiful country.
We (Oscar Garza, Sarah Kreutziger, and John Dawson) served alongside 32 other members of the Trinity Delegation. Together we spent long hours discussing and voting on 451 petitions. A petition is a proposed change to our church’s guidebook, the 2026 Book of Doctrines and Discipline.
The Big Vote
The highlight of the week was the vote to combine two historic statements of Wesleyan belief, the Methodist Articles of Religion and the Evangelical United Brethren Confession of Faith, into one: our new Articles of Faith. In our previous denomination, these two statements stood side by side for more than 50 years. Now we have one clear statement of what we believe. A committee of theologians spent two years of study and careful conversation on this enormous task. When the vote passed nearly unanimously, the hall broke out singing the Doxology as people danced and praised God.
Another big vote was the election of Dr. Luther Oconer as the new bishop for the Trinity Conference! We loved meeting with Bishop Oconer at General Conference and look forward to his faithful, Spirit-filled leadership for the next six years.
Joy in Soweto
Almost as exciting as the votes were the stories we heard each day from Soweto, where hundreds of people lined up for prayer, food, health care, and Bible camp. Organizers expected about 100 children at Bible camp; by the last day, more than 700 had come. Soweto is a vibrant urban area within Johannesburg, South Africa, known for its rich cultural life and pivotal role in the struggle against apartheid.
Laity and Clergy Together
Several of the approved petitions strengthen the partnership between laity (church members who are not ordained clergy) and clergy in mission and worship. Every conference must have a Conference Lay Leader, a lay person who represents and encourages the laity across the conference, and a new structure was proposed to involve more lay people in leadership. Our African brothers and sisters show us what this partnership looks like: lay people there often plant a church first and then find a pastor.
Stories from the Journey
Oscar saw the fruit of this church planting firsthand. After General Conference, he traveled to Tanzania with the Rev. Heather Sims, the Rev. Susan Kent, and their families to witness what the Tanzania Conference is doing to reach indigenous people. They worshiped with congregations under a tree and in dung walled churches. Oscar and others in our conference are working to raise funds to help our brothers and sisters in Tanzania build more permanent church buildings.
The Giraffe
During the Conference, many Trinity members intentionally spent time with men and women from conferences around the world, getting to know one another as sisters and brothers in faith. One of our delegates received a touching reminder of these bonds when a friend from the Democratic Republic of Congo handed him a small paper-wrapped gift in Johannesburg: a wooden giraffe. His friend explained that the giraffe, the tallest animal in Africa, stands for oversight, knowledge, and care. Then he told our delegate, “You, my American Christian brother, are my giraffe.”
Our prayer is that each of us will become a “giraffe” for others, near and far, as we carry the lessons of General Conference into our churches and communities.
In Christ,
Oscar, Sarah, and John
