Amid the uncertainty of a pandemic and the inability to hold either the United Methodist Church's General Conference or our Western PA Annual Conference in 2020, the WPAUMC Connectional Leadership Table took action to prepare for the future. The CLT created a task team to develop a spiritual discernment process to enable local churches and the members of the Annual Conference to make informed decisions about the future of the annual conference.
The Discernment Task Team includes 11 people, including the chancellor, the Conference Treasurer, the Conference Lay Leader, the Director of Connectional Ministries, a district superintendent, a member of the Connectional Leadership Table, a member of the Council on Finance & Administration, a member of the General Conference delegation, a member of the Board of Trustees, a representative of a racial or ethnic minority group, and a member at large. All were selected by the Bishop, who was directed by the CLT to take care to ensure a balance in gender, race, theological perspectives, geographical differences and age diversity among team members.
Among the first actions of the team was developing a Lenten devotional series inviting everyone throughout the Conference to journey together through Lent.
See Lenten Video Series - beginning 2/17/21 at 8am