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#BWCUMC15 – The Live Stream Experience

by Lukonde Mulenga



So I’m sitting in my flat in London, currently on my study abroad program, and all I can think about is how I’m missing Annual Conference. What did I do you may ask? Well, I did what any United Methodist person in my position would do – I went to the conference’s website and turned on the livestream. Yep, that’s right – even though I’m across the pond, miles away from home, I sat down and began to watch the event I waited for every year. To some, this must sound silly; if you were in London, would you really take time out of your day to sit down and watch something that’s happening a world away from you? Most people would not. Yet here I am, watching the conference and providing commentary for my dad through text, just like I would do if I were sitting right night to him.

For the past two years, I had attended the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference and each time, I greatly enjoyed myself. You could usually see me helping the conference staff or sitting at a desk at the side of the ballroom, hanging around my father, Maidstone Mulenga. Unfortunately, my circumstances this year prevented me from attending the conference. But thank the Lord for technology! With the livestream service the conference provided this year, I was able to watch the conference as keep up with the action as if I were right there in the ballroom. This meant I was able to watch all the happenings, or “Methodist shenanigans” as I like to call it, as they unfolded.

With my class schedule being the way it is, I wasn’t able to watch the beginning of the opening worship, which saddened me quite a bit because it’s one of my favorite parts of the entire three days. During opening worship, everyone is so alive, inspired and ready to go into a time of ministry, fellowship, and change making. I was fortunate enough to turn on the livestream just in time to catch the middle of communion, another favorite moment of mine. From there, I watched as everyone tried out their new voting remotes (go BWC for moving forward in the 21^st century), as well as watching the votes to send people to General Conference start.

Now any seasoned pro at annual conference knows that the fun doesn’t really start until the second day – that’s when things get real. When I tuned into the livestream for the second day of conference, I was immediately presented by one of my favorite people, Jen Ihlo, presenting a resolution that would integrate the circles of grace process into the conference rules (currently, conference rules have to be suspended to implement the circles of grace). Matt Sichel, a lay member, proposed an amendment to Jen Ihlo’s amendment, calling for the ability to amend petitions and resolutions during the circles of grace process. After hearing arguments from both sides, the matter was set aside to allow for the memorial service to begin. However, after the memorial service, a moment that touched me occurred – through much discussion, Matt Sichel and Jen Ihlo decided to work on the resolution together, a true testament to “Holy Conferencing”.

I was also able to catch parts of the memorial service this year. Even though the memorial service can be sad, I always think of it as a time to reflect back on the lives that had given up their time and efforts to the contribute the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Bishop Holston from South Carolina gave the message during the memorial service this year. Taking a break from the usual memorial service message, the words he dispelled to us were specifically a call for us to continue the work our loved ones had done, living our lives to follow Christ just like they had.

After that part of the service, what I consider the longest part of the entire conference took place – the presentations from all of the different committees of the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Although this process can be quite long, two parts particularly stood out to me. One was the call for young adults to come back to the church, something that I’ll touch upon in just a bit. The second was the “Bikes for the World” segment. “Bikes for the World” is an intiative that works to give bikes to people around the world to use for various tasks in their work and personal lives. While this is a very good initiative to support, what I couldn’t get behind was the video shown during the presentation. Even though this presentation was about “Bikes for the World”, the video they showed was one that perpetuated a stereotype, one I’d like to call “the stereotypical Africa video to tug on the heartstrings”. Now, I know that Africa, just like other the parts of the world, needs help. Still, why are we still all okay with continuing the stereotype that Africans need us to come and save us all the time? If it’s “Bikes for the World,” why did the video just show people from Africa? As Christians, we must go and help our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ with whatever they might need. However, this also means that as Christians, we need to recognize that people need help all over the world, not just in the places we tend to think of when we hear the word “poverty”.

This issue is one of many that I believe can be changed by the new generations of the church, which brings me to my final topic – the call for young adults. It’s no surprise that church membership has been declining in the younger people for many years. If we were to look at any church in the BWC, we would most likely find that trend. Yet, what my fellow young adults and I fail to realize is that we have the power! Yes – we have the power! One day, our parents and grandparents will be gone, leaving us with the responsibility of keeping the United Methodist Church going. So why leave this work for middle age? Echoing what was said during the many presentations, we as young adults need to get involved in our churches once again to help our congregations adapt to the rapidly changing world out there. We have the ability to bring new ideas, implement new projects – the possibilities are literally endless. We all don’t have to do something big, but if all of us did one small thing at our local churches, I bet we would see a change within our churches, one for the better.

On the last day of the conference, I only managed to watch part of the ordination service before Bishop Marcus Matthews gave the benediction. As the recessional began, I was about to sign off my livestream for the last time this conference season when there was a plot twist that unfolded right before my eyes; instead of leading the clergy into the hallway like he usually does, the Bishop lead the clergy out of the doors of the hotel and into the streets. There, he took them around a corner where they sang a song and had a prayer. Now, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I thought that was pretty cool. As Mark 16: 15-16 says, “Go ye into the world and proclaim the good news,” and that’s exactly what those clergy and others did that day. Well done Bishop, well done.

Lukonde Mulenga, a member of St. Mark UMC (Hanover), is a junior studying Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience at the University of Michigan where she also serves as President of the African Students Association and Outreach, Campus, & Service Coordinator of the Wesley Foundation. She is in London on a study abroad program.