Bishop Jim Dorff talks about the importance and impact of World Communion Sunday!

World Communion Sunday Podcast

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World Communion Sunday is a great chance for our church to gather together and make an impact … around the world! Listen in as Bishop Jim talks about this important day in our church calendar!

Episode Highlights

00:30 // Rich introduces Bishop Jim Dorff.

00:56 // Bishop Jim talks about the San Antonio Episcopal Area and the transition to merging the two conferences to one; The Rio Texas Annual Conference.

02:06 // Bishop Jim explains what World Communion Sunday is.

03:23 // Bishop Jim tells a story that demonstrates how Christians from all over the world come together on World Communion Sunday.

05:16 // Bishop Jim talks about the importance for United Methodists to continue to celebrate World Communion Sunday.

06:14 // Bishop Jim talks about how the offerings from World Communion Sunday will support developing church leadership around the world.

09:13 // Bishop Jim talks about the scholarship program through the United Methodist Church has assisted significant leaders in the church today.

10:54 // Bishop Jim states that World Communion Sunday offers the opportunity to understand the act of communion.

11:49 // Bishop Jim talks about the church expecting good leadership and how World Communion Sunday gives the opportunity to invest and ‘put your money where your mouth is’.

12:55 // Bishop Jim hopes congregations take World Communion Sunday seriously and offers thanks to United Methodists for their generosity.

Episode Transcript

Rich – Well welcome to the World Communion Sunday podcast. That podcast where we focus on this incredibly important Sunday that’s coming up in just a few weeks in our church calendar. Super excited today to have Bishop Jim Dorff with us from the San Antonio Episcopal Area. Bishop Jim thank you so much for being with us today.

Bishop Jim – Thank you Rich, I’m glad to be here.

Rich – Now why don’t to tell us a little bit about yourself? What is the San Antonio Episcopal Area that you are the Bishop over? I wish I was in San Antonio today. I’m on the North East today, I wish I was in your part of the world.

Bishop Jim – You could enjoy yourself although it’s a bit warm as usual for this time of year.

Rich – Nice.

Bishop Jim – The San Antonio Episcopal Area it’s interesting that you ask, our area is in transition. I came in 2008 as the Bishop of the area and we had two conferences. The Rio Grande Annual Conference and The Southwest Texas Annual Conference and we’ve been in a discernment process all during this period and by the action of both of the annual conferences and the past few years we are in the process of unifying and becoming one annual conference. So the conferences voted in June to become one annual conference, effective January 15^th of 2015 and we will become the Rio Texas Annual Conference. So it’s an exciting time to be part of the life of this area.

Rich – Well that’s amazing. So lots of change happening in your part of the woods. I’m sure that’s added a lot on your schedule so I appreciate you being here today.

Bishop Jim – No I’m glad to talk about World Communion Sunday.

Rich – Yeah for people who are listening in who don’t know what World Communion Sunday is, it’s hard to believe but there are people out there that don’t, why don’t you tell us, what is World Communion Sunday?

Bishop Jim – World Communion Sunday has been around for a long, long time. World Communion Sunday actually started, its predecessor began back in the 1940s. It has continued to evolve over the years but it is an opportunity for churches across the denominational lines to recognize our commonness and to do that through an act that Jesus has left to us, that truly does bring us together as one and that is through the act of Holy Communion.

World Communion Sunday has been around for a long, long time both for United Methodists and for most of the other major denominations. It’s been a part of who we are in this first Sunday in October, it has been the time for us to recognize that we’re not in this by ourselves and we’re not in it alone.

Rich – Absolutely. A part of what I love about this is people from various steams of the Christian faith, kind of working together, celebrating together. Have you, over your years, seen ways that that’s happened even within your part of the world or within your conferences?

Bishop Jim – Yeah, well let me tell you quickly. World Communion Sunday, I’ve always appreciated it and I’ve always been supportive of it and observed it but one particular Sunday, this was a long time ago, I was pastor of a county seat town in North Texas and it was World Communion Sunday and after church, I noticed of course we had several visitors there from various places and for various reasons but there was a couple, actually a family that came up to me after World Communion Sunday, after church, after worship and introduced themselves and of course I welcomed them.

It turns out that they were from Africa and were visiting friends and they were very pleased and felt very much a part of us because they knew that their church, in their home village, was on that very same day celebrating World Communion Sunday.

Rich – That’s cool.

Bishop Jim – I know, it really kind of blew me away because it truly tied in the realities of what the day is all about and that is to realize that there are Christians all over the world that celebrate the Sacrament in one way or another. It truly was a tremendous kind of eye-opening and touching experience for them to be able to feel part of their home community while they were with us in our community.

Rich – Absolutely.

Bishop Jim – So it was a great experience.

Rich – That’s very cool. Now why does the United Methodist kind of movement, why do we continue to celebrate this, why is it important to us?

Bishop Jim- You know United Methodist, back from the time of Wesley of course, ecumenism is a part of who we are. We have never understood ourselves to be the one and only and we have always understood ourselves to be in common mission and ministry with our brothers and sisters of various arms and branches of the Christian faith. So therefore having an opportunity to recognize that very specifically and to do that through a sacramental act, is very Wesleyan, it’s very Methodist, it’s just a part of who we are and it’s a very significant part of who we are. If we ever lose that then we have lost a significant part of who we are.

Rich – Absolutely. Now every year we take an offering at World Communion Sunday.

Bishop Jim – Oh yeah.

Rich – Where does that offering go?

Bishop Jim – Well actually it’s interesting that I’ve had an opportunity to visit with you a little bit about this because I also happen to be the President of the General Board of Higher Education in Ministry this quadrennial. That gives me double worries to be engaged and interested and frankly promoting World Communion Sunday, because the proceeds of the offering, the World Communion Sunday offering, go toward the development of leadership for the church. Not just the church here in the US but through General Board of Global Ministries, through their various programs that they have of leadership development around the globe.

Then also here in this country, a significant portion of the offering goes towards providing assistance for the development of leaders from ethnic minority populations in the church. So it’s a way of not only recognizing our oneness with each other and with other Christians, it’s also an opportunity for us to begin the process of supporting and developing significant Christian leadership, which the church so desperately needs today.

Rich – Absolutely. I wonder if you could give us kind of a sense, kind of a taste of some of that leadership development that you’re seeing taking place. Either in the States or around the world that’s being supported by the offering from World Communion Sunday.

Bishop Jim – Well the ethnic minority scholar’s programs of various sorts have been around for a long, long time. They have provided outstanding leaders for the church over the years. They’re continuing to do that. The opportunities for leadership development through additional programs, globally, those are all ongoing programs and they have served us well.

It’s one of those things, the only thing you wish is that you could more and that’s why the generosity of our people at World Communion Sunday is so important, is because we all know that the church and world need devoted, capable, committed Christian leaders, both for the church and for the world. The offering really is a significant portion of assistance that we can offer for specifically ethnic minority populations and our global partners. It’s very significant and very important.

Rich – Absolutely, can you think of a particular recipient of some of these funds over the years that you’ve either heard of or has made an impact? Particularly is there a story about a specific person you could share?

Bishop Jim – I can’t give you a name at this point but what I can tell you is that it’s been very interesting to me. Over the years, this is not just recently, but over the years, when I have encountered significant ethnic minority population leaders in the church, it’s very clear to me that what has happened many times, is that they share their story. They will talk about the ways in which the scholarship programs, through the United Methodist Church, significantly assisted them to get their education which they needed to become the leaders that they are, which we all need.

So I have heard on many occasions the significance to individual people, who are significant leaders in the church today.

Rich – Absolutely, you know this I think is exciting. It’s systematic, it’s a way for all of us to jump on board in a way to support populations in just a real practical way. Hey, let’s take an offering which will end up supporting leaders that really will propel the church forward and will help us in the coming decades really. It’s an incredible opportunity for churches to get engaged.

What would you say to a church or a church leader maybe specifically, who are not too sure whether they are going to engage in World Communion Sunday at their church. They are like, “It’s just another Sunday, it’s another one of these Sundays, there’s only so many during the year, I’m not sure I want to be involved.” What would you say to them Bishop Jim?

Bishop Jim – Let me tell you, the deal is this. There’s two reasons. One is what we talked about in terms of helping our people to understand that when they come to the Communion table, it’s not about them, it’s about the sacrificial love of our Lord that was offered to everybody, everywhere for all time. That’s a message that is significant always and World Communion Sunday is one of those days where you can specifically do that and help people understand that. That this is an act that God did through Christ for the world, not just for me or for us.

Rich – Absolutely.

Bishop Jim – That’s number one. Number two is that, all of our churches they want good quality leadership.

Rich – Right.

Bishop Jim – They ask for it, they expect it. The truth is our leaders come from our churches for the most part, as God calls them and this is a way that they can invest in what they say is important, which is the development of leaders and if it’s really important to you, to have good quality leaders, well-educated leaders in the church, this is a chance where you can put your money where your mouth is. I think that’s important for us all the time but World Communion Sunday is one way that you can really do that.

Rich – Well I’m sure I just heard a bunch of church leaders say, “Oh right of course I should be involved in World Communion Sunday.”

Bishop Jim – I hope so, I hope so.

Rich – Bishop Jim, before we let you go is there anything else you’d like to say to our listeners as we kind of wrap up this interview?

Bishop Jim – I would just like to say, number one, really encourage all of our congregations to take this offering seriously, take the day seriously, celebrate it the way it’s intended to be celebrated and number two, I want to thank our congregations for their generosity. United Methodists have always been generous people and our current leaders not only support that but they encourage it and teach it. So I want to thank United Methodists for all that they do for so many people on so many occasions. Particularly this occasion of World Communion Sunday. I want to thank people for their generosity and their commitment to Christ and their spirit of giving as God has given to us.

Rich – Well thank you so much Bishop Jim. I appreciate you taking some time out. I know as you’re preparing for the transition to Rio Texas Annual Conference. I know that you’re a busy individual and all the hats you wear. So thank you so much for taking time out to be on the show today.

Bishop Jim – Rich it’s been my pleasure and God bless you and we pray that God will continue to bless us as a church as we seek to move forward.

Rich – Thank you so much.

Bishop Jim – Thank you so much.