Adult Discipleship Report for Annual Conference

For

years, I have kept a John Wesley quote at the very top of my personal rule of

life. He said, “Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow.

Do not starve yourself any longer.”

Wesley was writing to a young

minister struggling with his preaching. His presentation was energetic,

apparently, but lacked depth. Wesley critiques, “It is lively, but not deep;

there is little variety; there is no compass of thought. Reading only can

supply this, with meditation and daily prayer. You wrong yourself greatly by

omitting this. You can never be a deep preacher without it, any more than a

thorough Christian.”

The purpose of the Adult

Discipleship Team is to create an atmosphere for the laity and clergy of the

North Alabama Conference to become “deep preachers” and “thorough Christians,”

through Wesley’s prescription of reading “with meditation and daily prayer.” In

short, we foster discipleship. As a local expression of Discipleship

Ministries, one of international agencies of The United Methodist Church, we

are part of the shared dream of making disciples for the transformation of the

world.

Our Adult Discipleship Team consists

of Rev. Eric Bagwell, Teri Barnes, Rev. Josh Hickman, Rev. Delaney Holloway,

Becky Walker, staff member Lyn Cosby, and myself. Our exciting goals for this present

year are:

1.    Establish the annual presentation of

the “One Matters Award” at Annual Conference. This award from Discipleship Ministries recognizes one special

congregation in each Annual Conference in the United States. It will be awarded

this year in North Alabama for the first time. It goes to a congregation that

has demonstrated revitalization in discipleship, marked by an increase in

professions of faith from zero in the previous year to at least one on the

Weekly Benchmark Report. The award includes a commemorative plaque and a $1,000

check.

2.    Develop a resource on “How to Start

a Prayer Team” for local churches. Our

plan is to have a practical and easy-to-use resource available for release at (and

following) Annual Conference this year. We desire every local church to

saturate their ministries with prayer through developing prayer spaces,

providing prayer experiences, and organizing ongoing prayer ministries. It is

our hope that this resource will help many churches deepen their call to form

people spiritually.

3.    “Beef up” the Annual Conference Prayer

Room. The prayer room

is a sacred tradition of our gathering at Annual Conference and provides quiet

space for healing, grace, and depth during our family gathering. We plan

promote the prayer room earlier at the Annual Conference session, hold a prayer

vigil and prayer walk over the prayer room and outdoor labyrinth, and send a

mass email to clergy spouses beforehand to encourage participation.

4.    Hold an annual “Spiritual Formation

Day Apart” that is deeply

spiritually enriching for participants but also gives us a forum to spread the

word about discipleship ministries beyond our local church and the Annual

Conference. Our goal is to hold this in January of 2026, in collaboration with

the Annual Conference Spiritual Formation Team.

In addition to these short-term

goals, we of course continue to promote ongoing ministries in our Annual Conference that foster discipleship. These ministries include:

1.    “Read Together” and “Pray Together.” These life-changing podcasts involve

laity and clergy from our Annual Conference who submit recordings most weeks of

the year. The podcasts guide us as we read the Bible together and deepen our

prayer life. You can easily access both podcasts from our Conference website

and social media. Or you may simply download the podcasts “Read Together UMCNA”

and “Pray Together UMCNA” using your favorite device.

2.    “Sabbath Stays” at the Sumatanga

Lake Cabin. It’s

not easy being in ministry, and we need to support our leaders as they journey

into the wilderness like Jesus did. Through the generosity of Sumatanga in

coordination with the Spiritual Formation Team, we offer “Sabbath Stays” for up

to two nights a year at the Sumatanga Lake Cabin for North Alabama clergy

and church staff. A spiritual formation library and “retreat in a box”

is provided by the Spiritual Formation Team. Retreatants provide their own food

and enjoy the privacy of the beautiful three-bedroom lake cabin for only a $50

cleaning fee. Registrations are made by contacting the retreat center office

and are based on availability. This offer is not available on weekends or

during summer camp.

3.    Portable Labyrinth Ministry. Our Annual Conference owns a

30-foot canvas labyrinth available for check-out by churches and ministries of

the North Alabama Conference. There is no cost, and the labyrinth may be

reserved for indoor use only for any length of time based on availability. You

may find more information on care for and use of our labyrinth, the spiritual

practice of using a labyrinth, pick up and drop off requirements for use of our

canvas labyrinth on loan, and a reservation form at www.umcna.org/labyrinth.

4.    Periodic Conference-Wide Studies. This past Lent, we made available

a book-study curriculum from Discipleship Ministries on the new book Our

Hearts Are Strangely Lukewarm: The American Methodist Church and the Struggle

with White Supremacy. We organized and held numerous in-person and Zoom

book studies around the Annual Conference, as well as encouraging local

churches to organize their own.

5.    Other Ongoing Discipleship

Ministries. We

offer a weekly “Examen,” a prayer and reflection practice that helps people

find God in their lives, meeting on Wednesday evening at 8:15 pm on Google

Meet. We promote various spiritual formation and discipleship experiences such

as the Walk to Emmaus. We offer a scholarship program for laity and clergy to

attend Spiritual Formation experiences. We periodically offer curriculum

reviews. All this and more may be found on our website at www.umcna.org/adultdiscipleship.

Our most adventurous long-term goal for

this quadrennium is to connect the “average layperson” with ministries and

resources for discipleship and spiritual formation in unprecedented ways.

One of the most unique strengths of the

work of the Adult Discipleship Team is the development of a thriving Spiritual

Formation Team over the last several years. This ad hoc team under the

umbrella of Adult Discipleship works to pursue these and other goals and

projects, such as:

1.    Silent Retreats – Held twice a year at Sacred Heart

Monastery in Cullman, Alabama, Silent Retreats for laity and clergy sponsored

by the Spiritual Formation Team help people experience a deeper listening to

God through the rhythm of Benedictine silence and prayer. Our most recent one

was held March 27-29 (Thursday-Saturday) and the next one will be October

3-October 5 (Friday-Sunday). More information and registration may be found at www.umcna.org/silentretreats.

2.    Community of the Mantle – This is a covenant group that

meets monthly by Zoom and annually by retreat at Sacred Heart Monastery. It is supported

by, but not limited to, those who have attended Academies for Spiritual

Formation. Our primary purpose is to support each other in our call to prayer,

and we follow a shared rule of life. More information about the Community of

the Mantle may be found at www.communityofthemantle.com.

3.    Sponsoring and Promoting Four-Day Academies

for Spiritual Formation

along with our partners in the Alabama-West Florida Conference. These local

expressions of this ministry of the Upper Room are held almost annually in

alternating locations. The next one features Rev. Dr. Teresa Fry Brown and Rev.

Dr. L. Roger Owens and will be held August 11-15, 2025 at Camp McDowell. The

following Four-Day Academy is scheduled for October 5-9, 2026 at the Sumatanga

Retreat Center. More information about Academies may be found at www.academy.upperroom.org.

4.    Directory of Spiritual Directors. We keep a continually updated

directory of spiritual directors in North Alabama that are available to join

you for your walk with God. This ancient companioning ministry brings life and

accountability to discipleship. Contact the conference Adult Discipleship

office for contact information on how to receive an updated list with contact

information.

The Spiritual Formation Team is

chaired by Rev. Renae Perry and includes Rev. Michael Bowman, Rev. Dale Clem, Robert Ferrell, Rev.

James Fields, Bonita Gill, Rev. Carol Gullatt, Rev. Susie Knedlik, Rev. Emily

Penfield, Rev. Judy Shepherd, Rev. Roger Short, Becky Walker, and myself.

To keep up with the work of the

Adult Discipleship Team and the Spiritual Formation Team, as well as learn

about the vast number of quality resources and curriculums from Discipleship

Ministries, follow “Adult Discipleship UMCNA” on Facebook (be sure to

like it and share it!). Browse our pages on our Annual Conference web page

regularly at www.umcna.org/adultdiscipleship.

Rev.

Dr. Steve West, chair

Adult

Discipleship Team

Originally at Musings of a Musical Preacher Read the original ↗