Austin cleric studies Social Principles

Will Rice attends
young clergy forum
in nation’s capital

By Claudia M. Williams
Staff Writer
When you step out the front door of the United Methodist Building in Washington, you look directly at the U.S. Supreme Court Building.
Pastor Will Rice said that image would linger with him. He saw it last month during the General Board of Church and Society’s second Young Adult Clergy Leadership Forum.
“We spent three days discussing the United Methodist Social Principles across the street from the people who have the ultimate power to rule on justice in America,” Rice said.
Rice, 33, associate pastor at Oak Hill UMC, Austin, was selected by the Southwest Texas Conference Board of Church and Society to take part in the forum. Clergy representatives from 32 U.S. annual conferences were in the nation’s capital Jan. 31 through Feb. 2 for the event.
“Hot topics” were the same for conferences represented at the forum, Rice said.
“Homosexuality and the war in Iraq are the most contentious issues in United Methodist churches everywhere,” he said.
Individual congregations react differently to those issues, Rice noted, but the similarities outweigh them.
“At least they are reacting,” he added.
Rice, who just completed his studies at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, said Church and Society staff members led clergy visitors through exercises designed to get people to do more than react.
The idea, he explained, was to listen and understand others’ points of view in discussions of the Social Principles.
Having practiced various techniques in the group, Rice said he hoped to have more confidence in talking about the Social Principles and helping congregations do the same.
“It’s important for a pastor to help church members relate the Social Principles to their lives,” he said. “They may be called to take action in the community, and they need to know how to take some tension out of the conversations.”
Rice pointed out that there is much more to General Board of Church and Society than most people realize.
“People know GBCS as an agency, but now some of us are connected to them, and they are connected to us,” he said. “They are there to help the local churches.
“My understanding of GBCS and its role and activities has expanded to a whole new level, and I feel connected like never before. Now if someone else needs to relate more closely with GBCS, I can help them do that. ”
Becoming connected to the Church and Society staff and discovering the kind of support it can offer were invaluable, Rice said. So was being able to connect with other young clergy members.
Without gatherings such as the one in Washington, he said he would have very little contact with clergy colleagues across the country. Those colleagues plan to keep in touch.
“What’s really exciting is that young people want to get technology going right away,” he said. “We already have a bulletin board on the Web for the people who went to the forum. We’re exchanging ideas and talking about what we have in common.”