More reports are released every week about the influence social media has on our impressions and decision making. Our online communications tools can be used constructively or destructively. I recently attended a workshop on framing the church’s story, where we were reminded that social media is a powerful tool with which we can champion our faith story, capture hearts and empower lives.

Churches are growing through their communications savvy. Yet, at the same time, our trust in what we read in this “instant information age” is eroding with every report of misuse, abuse and even malicious intent around the postings and images
that bombard us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

These reports remind us that there is no substitute for finding trusted resources and engaging in good conversation. Conversations are hard. Really listening can be difficult.

This summer, my husband Gary and I hosted a birthday dinner for a member of our family. We welcomed some
out-of-town relatives who we only see every few years. We hadn’t even made it to the dinner table before the conversation became very awkward.  One relative is deeply embedded in beliefs that did not align with others in the room. She was not afraid to share her passion. We were respectful but found her so embedded in her own truth that there was no room to allow others to share their alternative understandings. With Thanksgiving coming I’m sure many of you are nodding your heads, understanding that when families gather there is often a tension around beliefs, sometimes leading to heated conversations.

Our United Methodist community is in such a time. We are moving rapidly toward the 2019 Special Session of General Conference with uncertainty. Good people with differing beliefs and understandings are working to find ways to learn and listen, as we try to determine how/if we can live with one another.

As I write this we have only had two of six scheduled District Listening and Conversation Sessions across Northern Illinois, hosted by our General Conference Delegation, to help us understand the work of the Special Session. Those two sessions went well. It was clear that not everyone is on the same page but there was maturity in the sharing, even as participants
felt free to share their passion and pain. These sessions are just the tip of the iceberg in the work of “Conversations that Count”.

We need to talk in our local churches about issues that matter to us as well. We need to find ways to stay in the conversations about racism, sexual harassment, and even the future of The United Methodist Church.
There are a number of good articles, videos, reflections, and guides coming out to help us with this conversation. A list of these can be found here on our website with links to the resources. On this list, I would like to recommend the Discipleship
Ministries resource called “Courageous Conversations”. This project is aimed at helping us move from skepticism to curiosity and even openness to encounter God’s grace. “Courageous Conversations” is a toolbox that local churches can use to inspire and encourage the church and individuals to stay at the table when the anxiety and emotional turmoil is
painful. Listed on our website you will find tools for leaders, outlines for conversations, a prayer guide and videos.

Now more than ever we need to model a community that can lean into our differences, listen to and share with one another, and discover the places that we hold in common. In a world where tension and conflict
escalates toward dire consequences, we are a people called to offer a better way with “conversations that count”.