After General Conference 2006, what's next?

General Conference 2006 brought us a new venue, a second language, and an expanded understanding of the North American BIC Church. However, if the enthusiasm, goodwill, new friendships, and enhanced commitment to bridging differences of culture and language do not change the way we work together from this point forward, our time in Miami will have been little more than a good time together in an interesting place.

Fortunately, the response of conference attendees, as reported on their evaluation forms, indicated a strong commitment to carrying home the messages and spirit of General Conference. Of the 283 persons who returned an evaluation, 88 percent rated the overall experience as positive or very positive. Even the business sessions received a high rating with 82.5 percent marking positive or very positive, as did the evening worship times (83 percent positive or very positive).

When asked to identify aspects of conference about which they felt especially good, respondents pointed to: the decision to take conference to Miami; the worship experiences; opportunities for relationship building; and the pace of the conference (even the business sessions). Complaints about Conference fell into four categories: delays in the registration process, temperature of the meeting room and the eating area, volume during the worship sessions, and food choices (or lack thereof).

But back to the question: what’s next?

For one thing, General Conference 2006 served as the kick-off for a denomination-wide focus on starting and sustaining healthy congregations, marked by distribution of vital signs bookmarks and mugs as a reminder to conference attendees to pray daily for all our churches. You will hear a lot more about what we BIC mean by healthy congregations over the coming months, including a vital signs diagnostic and congregational health checklist.

We’ll explore what it means to apply the denomination’s statement on marriage in congregational settings. Given the current situation in the Middle East, preaching peace in a time of war must remain a top issue, along with conversations about immigration reform. (The spring issue of Shalom! provides a timely exploration of the topic.) And there’s more work to be done on the proposed new category of commissioned ministers. In short, there’s more than enough to keep us busy between now and when we gather in Canada for General Conference 2008.

But finally, before we close the book on General Conference 2006, a special word of appreciation goes to Kevin Scott, pastor of the New Life BIC Church in Collingwood, Ontario, and Lois Mason, assistant to the general secretary, for their great work in overseeing the logistics from start to finish. We also thank outgoing general secretary, Darrell Winger, and Bishop Perry Engle for guiding the planning and scheduling of the conference program. The step up in professionalism and coordination was evident to and appreciated by conference goers.

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