Bishop Dan Solomon's Address
at the GBGM Board Meeting, Stamford, CT

To come to the end of an eight-year term on the General Board of Global Ministries fills me with a wide range of diverse emotions. Perhaps foremost is thanksgiving--thanksgiving that I have had the unique privilege, as one of its Board members, to observe, participate in, and help to lead and direct this awesome mission agency. I am thankful to God for a call to ministry that sent me down a road of blessed experiences, and I am thankful to The United Methodist Church for offering me such wonderful settings for the ministry of "offering them Christ."

No involvement or service in the church has brought me more joy and blessing than serving on the General Board of Global Ministries. Herein I have encountered staff members and colleagues on the Board--laity and clergy--who are clear in their profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who genuinely want to help the Board serve Christ faithfully, and who are as thankful as I am that God has given them the privilege and responsibility of Board membership. While we have differing perspectives on issues and methodologies, I rejoice that I have never heard one Board member question another Board member's integrity or commitment to and passion for Christ's work.

Our life together has been enriching, edifying, inspiring, challenging, and gratifying. What else could one expect when one is given the opportunity to observe and participate in mission at the intersection where cross the crowded ways of life. Together we see and hear the anguish of humanity. We agonize over the suffering of the least and the lonely. We experience and express a passion for justice in the face of greed, exploitation, and abuse. We struggle to discover and fund positive initiatives to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and care for the suffering. And we rejoice--yes we praise God--for every person who has experienced salvation, education, empowerment, compassion, nutrition, and hope in the name of Jesus.

I've discovered a curious thing in this journey. While Board members are quite ready to call us to change and improve, I have not seen Board members attack and discredit this Board as some apostate arm of The United Methodist Church. I certainly haven't seen them attempt to engage in fundraising for Jesus' mission by vilifying the Board. My conclusion is that, if one seriously participates in the life of the Board, one will have a vantage point of insight and inspiration that makes the heart overflow--not in demonizing rhetoric but in discerning ambassadorship.

Let me quickly say that we can and we must improve our mission delivery--not simply because it can be proved to be deficient in some places but because we want our passion for God's saving work in Jesus Christ to be matched by genuine effectiveness in all we say and do.

We've made some important strides in getting in touch and staying in touch with our constituency. Listening events, conference dialogue sessions, and improved communication methodologies have all helped. Beyond these, for all of us Board members and staff, there must be an "attitude agenda" at the forefront of our thinking--one that can be summarized in five words: "How can we help you?" Facilitating mission--one of our stated purposes--will not occur unless we embrace and respond to those five words: "How can we help you?" To be sure, in a few instances, we may not be able to help, but that fact in no way lessens the essential intention: "We want to try to help." To suggest areas where we have not "arrived at perfection" is not to imply that sensitive, responsive, effective work is not being done. It is, and for that we commend staff and Board. However, while a healthy body with only one or two arteries clogged has a lot to celebrate, it still has an improvement agenda that is important.

Another urgent matter is one whose necessity is mystifying annual conferences, a host of institutions and agencies, and our Board. That is, finding those ways and means to inform and thereby inspire United Methodists regarding the awesome, innumerable life-saving, and life-giving ministries that are transforming lives and positively impacting the life of the world, day in and day out. We've not only a story to tell to the nations about Jesus Christ, we've got a story to tell to United Methodists about lives being blessed by the saving and healing touch of Jesus through ministries supported by this and other boards, institutions, and ministries of United Methodism.

We must continue at the highest level of our wisdom and energy to partner with communication-delivery systems, annual conferences, and local churches to tell this story.

We need to enhance constantly our website so that it is interactive, filled with "motion" mission information, and anchored in Scripture-referenced inspiration. We must increase our use of complementary CDs that take "the story" into homes and churches in appealing and intriguing formats. We must bathe The United Methodist Church in the joy of "mission loved" and "mission lived."

And all the while we must keep on doing and keep on improving that which is at the core of our mission delivery, staying focused on the centrality of Christ, the urgency of the compassionate response, and the authority of a holy shalom that evidences justice and peace. We must affirm and learn from partner relationships with sisters and brothers far and near with whom we can make common cause and among whom we can experience the mutuality of humble growth and service.

There are other settings in which to reflect upon the work of the Board in this quadrennium. Our report to General Conference will contain some of that story. But much of our recent history is to be found in hundreds and thousands of incidents, experiences, and transformations, which, when communicated, become the living, breathing sign of God's redemptive work.

I shall never forget how stunned I was when I heard the response of a young person on the continent of Africa whom I asked: "What word do you want me to communicate to the Board of Global Ministries now that we have finished our time surveying the needs and reflecting upon the importance of this mission setting?" He said: "Tell them thank you."

His was no cynical answer. He was not then nor had he previously been reluctant to discuss the agony of a society broken apart by warfare, disease, and famine. He had no illusions that the help that came from the Board of Global Ministries could or would meet the whole need. But he was a participant in the ministry of reclamation and redemption. He had seen and known God at work. He had been present when a child's life was saved. He had personal knowledge of a wound being helped to heal and a heart hollowed by hopelessness being slowly filled with possibility and peace. In short, he had a long, wonderful, inspiring story to tell, but he had to begin that story with a two-word witness: "Thank you."

So I, too, end where I began. "Thank you"--to Dr. Randolph Nugent and Dr. Robert Harman and other staff with whom I have worked closely. Thank you to all the staff! Thank you to the Board of Directors and especially to the other executive officers of the Board. Thank you to my wife Joy, whose early life circumstances have given rise to a mission story of remarkable rescue and redemption.

Sisters and brothers, whether we are returning to the Board for another quadrennium or completing our tenure, let there be no timidity in the voice we raise, the story we tell, and the work we do for the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us testify to what we have seen and heard. In the name of Jesus--through the work of dedicated missionaries; institutions of teaching and healing; staff who have competence, passion, and compassion; and ministries that express incarnationally the love of God for all people amidst all circumstances--we have in fact seen the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers cleansed, the hungry fed, the dead raised, and the poor receiving good news.

Now that we have been "in here," we must go "out there" with a story to tell--not only to the nations but to The United Methodist Church as well!

April 3, 2000

See also:
"And Have They Come To Know Christ?" General Secretary Randolph Nugent's Address at the GBGM Board Meeting, Stamford, CT