District Superintendent's Message

The Church is a sacred instrument of God that is so important that the scripture refers to it as the Body of Christ.  I take that to mean that it is to function as Christ did while in the flesh and on earth.  Therefore, it makes it hard for me to understand why a local church doesn’t understand that they are to function in doing what Christ would and does do.  It is imperative that our churches be united.  It was Jesus’ prayer that we would be one as He and the Father are one.  We don’t have to agree with each other on all of our beliefs or on how we think things ought to be done, but we should agree that the church isn’t just about what we want.  We often act like it is “our” church rather than God’s church and, “therefore, I should be happy and have things the way I want them to be”.  Sometimes the way that we want to do things is not God’s way but has more to do with our personal likes and dislikes. 

Having been a pastor for 31 years, I know that pastors have flaws.  Actually, I don’t know people who don’t have some issues, but a pastor’s are more in the public than are the flaws of most people.  The key really has to do with a person’s call to ministry and the gifts they have for ministry.  Every church should support their pastor and help them to be successful because it is for the building up of the church.  It doesn’t make sense for anyone to work against a pastor because the church suffers when the leader is wounded.  Our appointive system is something like an arranged marriage.  Once the marriage has been announced and the pastor moves in, the church and the pastor should start learning how to love each other, however the decision to make it work should be made earlier than that. 

The local church is more important today than ever before with a smaller percentage of people in the church.  If the church is to transform peoples’ lives and the world it must live authentically and be bold about the proclamation that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world.  People need what we have to offer and we should be faithful to Christ to deliver.

The West District Leadership Team wants to do whatever it can to better equip the church for doing ministry in a broken world.  You can look for some workshops, preaching events, retreats, and lay training.  Each of them will be done with the best resources that are available to us.  Please pray for the district and each church that we can be faithful to the call of God to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

Sincerely,

Bobby C. Bell