by Christa Meland, Minnesota UMC

“It is time to take and pass the final exam.”

That’s what Bishop Bruce R. Ough told members of the 22nd session of the Dakotas Annual Conference. In his Episcopal Address, Ough said the question Jesus asks on the final exam—the question he taught would be put to us in the final judgment—is haunting: “When was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not care for you?” (Matthew 25:44).

“The final exam is whether you and I will fully, sacrificially, extravagantly engage in Christ’s mission to transform the world,” Ough said. “The final exam question will not be about what we professed but what we did when we saw the least of these hungry, thirsty, naked, a stranger, sick, or in prison.”

He noted that the poor had a central place in the teachings and actions of Jesus. In fact, one in every 16 verses in scripture refers to the poor. And one in every 10 in the gospels is about the poor, the impoverished, and the economically exploited. Jesus is clear: The distress of every single human being is a priority for the living God.

“We are only truly the church when we exist for others,” Ough said. “This is the final exam.”

And who are these others—the people who are a priority for the living God? They are the children who die each day from malnutrition and the diseases of poverty. They are the people who have no access to clean water. They are the disproportionate number of African Americans incarcerated in our prisons. They are the people we see every day in Minnesota who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, addicted, abused, or imprisoned.

“We should not only share gospel, food, water, health care, education, and community with the poor,” Ough said. “We are also called to address, advocate, even fight the demonic systems that create and sustain poverty. We dare not offer the gospel in Christ’s name without offering bread in Christ’s name. And we dare not offer bread in Christ’s name without addressing the very political and economic systems that brutalize human beings beyond our imagination.”

St. Augustine said it well, Ough noted: “We are the bread on the table.” The final exam is about becoming what we are—bread on the table.

In his book Include Me Out, Colin Morris said: “If there is still time left for Methodism, it can only be stirred into action if the power is connected between the two poles—Christ’s love and human suffering—if we feel the full strength of the first and the monstrosity of the other.”

This is the bridge we are called to build as United Methodists, Ough said.

Ough told members of annual conference that he recently heard someone say: “Hell means realizing later we should have said ‘yes’ when God called us.”

“Friends, God is calling us in the Dakotas,” he said. “God is calling us to connect the poles of Christ’s love and human suffering. God is calling us to build bridges out of poverty. God is calling us to expand our missional impact. God is calling us to heal a broken world.”

Bridges are being built in the Dakotas, and there are signs of kingdom fruit on our Journey Toward Vitality, Ough told conference members. A few of them: The Dakotas is one of only six annual conferences in North America that’s growing in worship attendance. From 2013 to 2014, the Dakotas Conference saw a 39 percent increase in those engaged in hands-on mission, a 64 percent increase in persons served by education ministries, and a 22 percent increase in persons served through outreach and justice ministries; additionally, the 2013 and 2014 Miracle Offerings totaled over $500,000 to fuel Bakken Oil Rush ministries.