Two Conferences, One Church

In the month of May, Kansas City hosted two significant conferences with Nazarene connections. Being in our backyard, it was convenient to attend both. (The BBQ isn’t the only benefit to living in KC!) The first was the Holiness Partnership’s “The Gathering” Conference. The second was Loved to Love: The 2022 Love Wins LGBT Resource Conference. After attending both conferences, here are my take-aways:

·      Both conferences provided important resources and facilitated essential conversations.

·      One conference was primarily online with some in-person involvement; the other was primarily in-person with some online involvement. One was national in scope; the other was international.

·      One was a conference on holiness that also specifically talked about human sexuality; the other was a conference on human sexuality that also specifically talked about holiness.

·      It would have been great if participants in each conference would have been required to also attend the other conference. Increased understanding, appreciation, and cooperation would have resulted—blessing both our denomination and our mission field.

·      I did not hear any speaker, in either conference, promote changing our doctrinal position on human sexuality. To the contrary, in both conferences I heard our position affirmed over and over again.

·      I heard, in both conferences, calls to be more loving. One conference tended to emphasize, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.”  The other conference tended to emphasize, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

·      I discovered that having a posture oriented toward learning is much more helpful than having a posture oriented toward criticism or judgement. Telling our stories is important, but not as important as listening to each other’s stories.

·      One’s motivation determines whether or not a conference increases polarization or enhances unity. We need more bridges and less walls.

·      Each conference was attended by people who deeply love Jesus and deeply love the Church of the Nazarene.

·      I was reminded that a divided culture needs a united church.

·      The Church of the Nazarene is uniquely poised to offer grace (our posture) and truth (our position), and to show the world—the entire world—the love of Jesus.

Eddie Estep

KC District Superintendent