A moratorium

According to Merriam-Webster, the word moratorium is “a waiting period set by an authority” or “a suspension of activity.” At the July meeting of the Virginia Conference Cabinet, we approved a moratorium for the conference in regard to Removal of Members by Charge Conference action. Why did we take such an action?

We had thorough discussion of this matter as we reviewed the upcoming Charge Conference season in the fall. Dr. Lovett Weems, director of the Lewis Center for Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., has told many of our leader groups in the conference that Virginia has been “too effective” in removing members from the local church rolls for quite a period of time now (see pg. 28). The conference has just embraced “All Things New” at Annual Conference 2008 where we all will work together to grow our churches in professions of faith, membership, and vital discipleship. We have declared a moratorium for two years on removing names/persons from our church rolls so that our focus can be on the future of building up the Body of Christ. We will evaluate what impact this moratorium has as we move through these next two years.

When my husband, Leigh, and I were in seminary, the president and faculty of Garrett Theological Seminary (pre-merger) declared a moratorium for one month during our freshman year in the fall. It was during the Vietnam War years. President Nixon had just ordered the bombing of Cambodia, another critical turning point in the war. The entire faculty, administration and student body engaged in alternative classes and teach-ins on campus. We studied Old and New Testament Bible, Theology, Polity, Ethics, Christian Education, etc., from the perspective of war and peace themes. During that time, many guest speakers came on campus to join the teach-ins. At the end of that time, a Peace Institute was born at the seminary. Today, the scholarship and focus of the Peace Institute continues through Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. It was an extraordinary time of learning and transformation for all of us in the seminary community.

During a time of moratorium, new energy and new focus can emerge. That is exactly what we hope will happen in the next two years in the Virginia Conference. May our focus not be on removing persons from membership and fellowship in our churches, but on making new disciples of Jesus Christ and nurturing them in the Christian faith. 

                        Grace and Peace, 

                        Charlene Kammerer