A Letter from Rev. Mike Powers

Welcome Home!

How wonderful those two words are. Think of a soldier, stepping off a transport after a tour of duty, seeing a sign written in crayon and held by her daughter….WELCOME HOME! Or a loved one who walks into the foyer of his house after a prolonged hospital visit, seeing a banner draped in the foyer, surrounded by balloons…WELCOME HOME! There were no such signs posted when the exiles first returned to the land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob after 70 years of captivity in Babylon, yet joy was written on their faces as they crossed the Jordan River…WELCOME HOME!

I have been trying to describe the unalloyed joy and unbridled hope I sense whenever and wherever I meet with my brothers and sisters in the Global Methodist Church. This fellowship is not an overnight sensation. This new expression of Methodism is not a knee-jerk reaction over a single issue. There is something eternally significant and immediately satisfying happening among us. 

Faithful Methodists around the world have been praying and preaching and preparing for a renewal of scriptural Christianity in our faith tradition for many years. This longing for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, exponentially multiplying an evangelical, heart-warming experience with Jesus Christ, has inspired multitudes of Methodist disciples to take this Gospel to the ends of the earth. This is our tribe, our community, our family. Reflecting on that legacy and the emergence of the GMC for such a time as this, we can hear the saints of old whispering in our ears, WELCOME HOME! 

When Global Methodists from across the globe gather in San Jose, Costa Rica in three weeks for our Convening General Conference, it will be more like a Homecoming than a conference. We will worship the Lord passionately, love all others extravagantly, and witness to the saving grace of our Lord Jesus boldly. This is who we are. This is what we do. WELCOME HOME, brothers and sisters of the Global Methodist Church.

Mike Powers, MidSouth President Pro-Tempore