The 2019 General Conference got off to a prayerful, joyful and unifying start Saturday, leading into what many delegates and other church officials say could be three days of difficult discussion, debate and voting on whether to change United Methodist Church law on human sexuality.

Bishop L. Jonathan Holston and South Carolina delegates expressed hope after six hours of “experiential prayer” and worship before the actual legislative work of the four-day conference begins in St. Louis, Missouri.

“Today, we were able to sit down and begin to focus our minds and hearts by centering on who we are and that we are making disciples of Jesus Christ – to really get ourselves into a frame of mind to think and to hear and to welcome the opportunity for the Holy Spirit to visit us,” Bishop Holston said.

“As we begin to think about what tomorrow is going to hold, we’re going to take it step by step, moment by moment. We will begin to really discern where God is leading us as a denomination in the days ahead, as we deal with the issues of human sexuality.”

Bishop Holston and the 16 South Carolina delegates – eight clergy, eight laity – expressed appreciation for the prayers and support of their fellow United Methodists back home.

“We came into this conference with a great level of anxiety, but I really do believe that prayer is the key to the kingdom,” said the Rev. Ken Nelson, a delegate who also is the conference secretary. “It has undergirded the delegates in thinking about how we align ourselves to what God wants us to do, and in being open to the possibilities and the ways in which God will work through all of the people here at General Conference.

“It is important to say thank you to the clergy and laity who are praying for us back home. Never think lightly of the great good that you are doing. We are being carried by your prayers that have supported us along the way.”

All of the delegates to the 2019 General Conference also were delegates to the 2016 General Conference in Portland, Oregon. The contentious debate three years ago over whether to change language in the UMC Book of Discipline – including that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching” – led to the calling of the special 2019 conference to exclusively take up and resolve the issue.

The Rev. Narcie Jeter, a delegate who is associate pastor at Bethany UMC in Summerville, said she feels a “different movement” among delegates in St Louis.

“I think we’re hopeful, we’re ready, we’re centered and we’re grounded in the love of God in Christ Jesus,” Rev. Jeter said. “I feel a different presence this time, versus Portland, where there was a lot of heaviness in the air, spiritual warfare.

“The Holy Spirit will inevitably come out and guide and lead us in all that we do, all that we say and all that we know.”

Many of South Carolina’s delegates were moved by Saturday’s Day of Prayer, after a sometimes anxious and stressful lead-up to the General Conference.

“I’ve approached today with a little bit of trepidation,” said the Rev. Mel Arant, a delegate and pastor of Pendleton UMC. “When you look at the schedule, six hours of prayers, you’re thinking, ‘What are we going to pray about for that long?’ But as we got into it, each hour was divided between a different region of the United Methodist Church, and what we really saw today was what’s at stake in this General Conference.

“We saw the strengths and the special difficulties that each region of the church around the world faces, and how we come together and help each other – and the reality is that all of that is what is at stake this week.”

Perhaps the most powerful moment of the day came amid a 10-minute segment during which The Dome at America’s Center was bathed in complete silence. Every delegate sat silently with head bowed, in silent prayer or reflection.

“That time of silent prayer, for me, was a very powerful time, a very honest time,” said the Rev. Tim Rogers, a delegate who is superintendent of the Marion District. “The bishop who introduced it reminded us that it is easy to be quiet with your lips, but it is really hard to be quiet in your spirit when you are trying to be with the Lord.”

Another poignant moment that moved delegates came when Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett of the North Alabama Conference led them in prayer “for our LGBTQ sisters and brothers.”

“That was a very respectful moment,” said delegate Barbara Ware, the conference lay leader. “I’ve been at General Conferences when that wasn’t the case. I’m very proud of the way the delegates showed their respect during that time. “It was a great start to what may be difficult days ahead.”

The delegates also joined together to recite Methodism founder John Wesley’s “A Covenant Prayer In The Wesleyan Tradition.”

“That was written in the 1700s, and yet it’s still so significant and real for us today,” said delegate Martha Thompson. “Reciting together that we have to give up what we feel like the church needs to be, and instead open our hearts up to where the Holy Spirit is leading us – not our own agenda, but God’s.”

Delegate Jackie Jenkins, the state Lay Servant Ministries director, called Saturday’s opening “inspiring” and “just the right thing to do.”

“This is huge for the United Methodist Church, and I have been very diligent and very prayerful and I have been seriously praying for 40 days,” Jenkins said. “I do believe, as my grandmother always said, that prayer changes things.

“All South Carolinians, be they United Methodists or not, we ask you to continue to pray with us.”

The Rev. Dr. Tim McClendon, chairperson of the South Carolina delegation and pastor of St. John’s UMC in Aiken, summed up the Day of Prayer as “what Methodists do best.”

“To cut to the chase, this was a great non-legislative day, a good time of real prayer and centering,” Rev. McClendon said. “But I don’t think it changed anybody’s minds about their positions. That’s good, and it’s good that it didn’t seem to be engineered that way.

“It’s what we as Methodists do best. We are good at pseudo-community – ‘Hey, good to see you, love you, haven’t seen you in a while.’ Here’s what’s good: We know we’re polar opposites in terms of our positions, but we still can celebrate a day like today, and then tomorrow it’s going to be down and dirty.”