This past Saturday, I attended a joint session of Detroit and West Michigan Annual Conferences. There we would decide on a proposal that would unite our two conferences. While the Detroit conference voted for the union, it did not pass in West Michigan by a Margin of 12 votes.

I always like to look back at these situations and ask, what did we learn? First, I think that we learned that in all marriages, just as this was referred to as a marriage, there needs to be compromise. That was evident enough on Saturday.

Second, I think we learned that leadership style does matter. What you say is not so much important as how you say it. We all have our moments, but when dealing with such matters we need to be sensitive to what people are hearing.

Third I think we learned that nobody is perfect. If we wait for perfection then we will never be satisfied. John Wesley himself said that we were moving on to perfection but that doesn't mean we will get there.

Fourth and most important, we should not give up. A merger of some kind is possible, but if we look more closely at the other learnings above, perhaps we will have an easier time entering into such a union. Regardless, God will still work through us as we bring the message of Christ to the world.