The Green Hill House

This is the time of year when the people called Methodists come together for their annual gathering that they call Annual Conference.   They will come together for a combination of worship, business, and celebration of pastors retiring and pastors starting on their journey of ministry.    While many know that the Methodist Church was founded at Christmas 1784 in Baltimore Maryland, what is less known is that the first Annual Conference took place in North Carolina back in April 1785 north of Raleigh near the current town of Louisburg at the Green Hill House.     Back in the 1980's,  I was in the Louisburg area providing leadership for a youth event.  My friend Steve and I knew the Green Hill House was nearby, so during a break we found the house and knocked on the door not realizing it was a private home.        The homeowner warmly greeted us and graciously showed us the upstairs room where less than 20 Methodist pastors attended the first Annual Conference.   For just a moment, I thought about that gathering of long ago and the stories those pastors must have told during those days in that room about their endeavors to spread scriptural holiness across this new land called America.

While that first Annual Conference had a total attendance of less than two dozen people,  those who gather for Annual Conference in these days will number in hundreds if not thousands.   While the first Annual Conference had only pastors present, today pastors and laity will attend.   While Annual Conferences today meet in large cities and retreat centers, that first Annual Conference took place in an area that was quite rural.  The roots of Methodism are in small groups and rural places like that place called the Green Hill House.  

Jesus set a very low bar for God to show up for such occasions.  Why, Jesus said that wherever only two of three gather, I am there in your midst.   God not only shows in small groups , but he also shows up in rural places as well as urban places.    Our God is not limited to a quorum of a large group of people nor is God limited to only show up in large metropolitan places.    Romans 8 tells us the truth that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.    Thanks be to God.   Have a joy-filled week.-   Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   Praise be to you, O God, that you are everywhere and with every one.    Give us a heart open to your presence;  through Christ our Lord.  Amen.