Powell Selected to Give Laity Address at General Conference
Lyn Powell, the lay leader of the North Georgia Annual Conference, has been chosen to deliver the Laity Address at the 2008 General Conference of the United Methodist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Every four years, the General Board of Discipleship invites annual conference lay leaders from around the world to submit written manuscripts, which are then judged on their own merit without the names of the authors attached. One manuscript is selected, and its author is given the honor of delivering the address on behalf of nearly 10 million United Methodist lay people worldwide.
Powell was notified by telephone several months ago that her manuscript had been selected and the announcement was made official during the February 15-18 General Board of Discipleship meeting. She is quick to point out that it was her manuscript that was chosen, “not me,” and that she is humbled by the honor.
“They only asked us to focus on the laity theme ‘Disciples Transforming the World,’” said Powell of the manuscript competition. The laity theme for General Conference is derived from the overall theme, “A Future With Hope: Making Disciples for Jesus Christ.”
In her manuscript Powell addressed some of the questions that she has pondered during her tenure as lay leader in North Georgia: What is the nature of the call of laity? How does that relate to the calling of clergy? How do the two callings intersect and intertwine?
“I have given these questions a lot of thought over the past three years,” said Powell, who was elected as lay leader for North Georgia at the 2004 Annual Conference. “I feel the calling of the laity to the ministry of the kingdom is valid, it’s significant, and it’s unique and different from the calling of the clergy,” she continued.
Nearly 1,000 delegates (half of which are lay and half of which are clergy) representing every annual conference around the world will take part in General Conference, which is held every four years. North Georgia will send 14 laity and 14 clergy, plus two reserves each, to attend the 2008 meeting.
--Sybil Davidson