My well-trained Sunday school teacher explained the plan behind these instructions. Those who knelt down and put their hands to their mouths to drink greedily were completely off their guard, she told us. With their hands covering their faces, they couldn't see an enemy coming, nor could they brace themselves to spring up and defend themselves. By contrast, those who lay down and lapped the water kept their peripheral vision free. Their hands were palm-down, bracing their bodies as they drank, keeping them ready to spring up and go into action.

Now you don't get much water for yourself when you have to lap it up without using your hands. But God's test of Gideon's troops separated those whose focus was inward, on their own concerns and needs, from those whose vision was outward--who were willing to take less for themselves rather than compromise their readiness to serve God.

I was reminded of this story when I read a recent news release from United Methodist Communications. Reporting on a survey of US delegates to General Conference conducted by the General Council on Ministries, UMCom states that "the two most important issues facing the United Methodist General Conference...are expected to be a proposed 'transformational direction' for the denomination, with implications for a major reorganization, and homosexuality."

Isn't it striking that the top two issues are inward-looking ones? Why, a modern-day warrior for God might wonder, is the church so inward-focused on its own structure and rules while a limitless horizon of mission opportunities stretches out before those who look about them?

In "History's Lessons for Methodism in Mission (New World Outlook, May-June 1999), Professor Dana L. Robert of the Boston University School of Theology noted that "Methodist mission has flourished when there has been a healthy balance between expansion and consolidation, between individual initiative and corporate follow-through." It would seem, then, that structures and rules that enable mission to flourish would have to allow for bold, creative responses to human need. This quadrennium has been characterized by such responsiveness--in the renewal and expansion of mission in Eastern Europe; in the burgeoning church growth in Africa, Asia, and Latin America; in the ever-expanding Volunteers In Mission movement; in Hispanic, Native American, and Asian ministries in the United States; and in restorative-justice ministries and shalom communities around the globe. So, as a church, let's continue our outward focus on the wonderful work God is doing through United Methodist hands.

— Alma Graham