Pastoral Letter: Faith for Our Future: Loving Boldly; Reflections from the 227th Session of the New York Annual Conference
Dear SUM Family,
This week's pastoral letter is a brief report from the 227th Session of the New York Annual Conference, which was held in Stamford, Connecticut. Thanks to your prayers, I had the opportunity to spend several days worshiping, learning, sharing fellowship, and reflecting on the life and future of the church with clergy and lay members from across our conference.
The Annual Conference is one of the most important gatherings in the life of the United Methodist Church. Clergy and lay representatives come together to worship, pray, review the ministry of the past year, and discern the work God is calling us to do in the days ahead. The New York Annual Conference, together with the New England Annual Conference, forms the New Hope Episcopal Area under the leadership of Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton.
This year's theme was "Faith for Our Future: Loving Boldly." Throughout the conference, we reflected on what it means to remain faithful to the Gospel while living and serving in a rapidly changing world.
During the session, we received reports, worshiped together, shared Holy Communion, elected delegates, celebrated seventy years of women’s ordained ministry, and participated in the ordination service. Among these many moments, several stayed with me.
One of those moments was the recognition of seventy years of women's ordained ministry. It reminded us that many of the opportunities we now receive with gratitude were made possible through the faith, courage, and perseverance of those who answered God's call before us. As we spoke about what lies ahead, we also paused to remember the faithful witnesses whose ministry helped shape the church we know today.
Another significant part of the conference was the election of delegates who will represent our conference at the 2028 General Conference and Jurisdictional Conference. Clergy voted for clergy delegates, and lay members voted for lay delegates.
What touched me was the spirit in which those elections took place.
When clergy delegates were being elected, lay members gathered around them in prayer. When lay delegates were being elected, clergy members prayed for them. It felt less like a simple election and more like the church seeking God's guidance for those who will help lead and represent us in the years ahead.
Watching that moment reminded me that the church is not built on everyone thinking the same way. Rather, we are called to respect one another, pray for one another, and seek God's will as one body in Christ.
The ordination service was another memorable part of the conference.
After years of preparation, study, and discernment, new elders and deacons knelt before God and received the laying on of hands from the bishop as they entered a new season of ministry.
One particular moment stood out to me. A pastor who had immigrated from Korea received a stole made by our own Prayers and Squares Quilters Ministry Team at SUM. As that stole was placed around the pastor's shoulders, I thought about the many prayers, loving hands, and faithful hours that had gone into creating it.
I am also grateful for the faithful ministry of our Prayers and Squares Quilters Ministry Team. Seeing their work become part of another pastor's ordination journey reminded me that God often uses quiet acts of service in ways we never expect.
It was a beautiful reminder that even a small act of service from a local congregation can become part of God's work in places we may never fully see. Through simple acts of faithfulness, God encourages servants, strengthens ministries, and continues the work of the Gospel.
As I reflected on these moments, I also found myself thinking about our own church family at SUM.
Over this past year, many of you have prayed faithfully for our congregation. Many have shared stories about the history and traditions of this church. Others have spoken about hopes, concerns, and possibilities for what God may be doing among us. Some have loved and served this church for far longer than I have been here. Others bring fresh eyes and new hopes for the road ahead.
Our perspectives are not always the same, but through those conversations I continue to see a deep love for this congregation.
As your pastor, I am grateful for the opportunity to listen, learn, pray, and walk alongside you.
Our prayers begin with our own lives, but they do not end there. We are called to pray for our families, our congregation, our community, our nation, and a world that continues to experience conflict, division, uncertainty, and suffering. At times we may see the same issues differently. Yet as followers of Christ, we are called not first to prove ourselves right, but to seek God's wisdom together in prayer.
One lesson I carried home from this year's Annual Conference is that the future of the church is not built merely through decisions, policies, or plans. It grows when God's people pray, listen to one another, and remain open to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Faith for our future does not begin with having all the answers.
It begins when God's people gather in worship, pray for one another, listen with humility, and seek God's leading.
Thank you for your prayers while I was away. I look forward to continuing our journey as we seek to follow Christ faithfully in the days ahead.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor DH
Rev. Dong Hyun Choi
Simsbury United Methodist Church
sumct.org
pastordh@sumct.org