Communion was served at the close of the formal business meetings, and the 34th General Conference was officially adjourned at 5 p.m. (Pacific Daylight Time). Following dinner, the conference's closing celebration/worship time featured brief addresses by Bishops Joe James and Leslie Krober.

New Wine and New Wineskins
James' theme was taken from Luke 5:33-39 and focused on new wine and new wineskins. James highlighted four images from the text:

1. No one makes wedding guests fast while the groom is still with them
2. No one adds a piece of new or unshrunk cloth to an old garment
3. No one puts new wine into old wineskins
4. No one (who has sipped an old wine) desires new wine.

"What a challenge it is to work in the kingdom!" said James. "Understanding God's heart for the lost — and passing that grace-based passion on from generation to generation without driving into the ditches of legalism or libertinism — is very difficult." he said. "In every generation, well-intentioned, very religious people lose contact with Jesus' heart and wobble off into ditches and tangents."

Quoting from B.T. Roberts, James added that "If it is the duty of the church of Jesus Christ to preach the gospel to the poor, then all the arrangements of the church must be made with a view to the accomplishment of this end. No incidental provision will answer. It must be aimed at directly."

"We have to stay on our knees in prayer," James said. "We have to resist the fences and boundaries (old wineskins) between ourselves and those who are lost, sick, broken and wounded." He added that, at the same time — as Wesley did — we must realize that new wine might be better received if it is brought to really thirsty people — in new wineskins.

"When God's Spirit is at work, it's no longer business as usual," James concluded. "God will honor our obedience to the vision. And the result will change the course of history."

Lift up Christ
Krober chose John 12 for the heart of his remarks at the close of GC 2003. "How can I put a ribbon on the package of truth we've been given this week?" he asked. The answer, he said, is to encourage the denomination to lift up Christ. And he proceeded to do so.

He cited Mary, who lifted up Jesus when she anointed Him with costly perfume. "The aroma of pure nard would have hung on Him for some time," he said, adding that "perhaps He was still a fragrant aroma for God among the crowds when He hung on the cross."

Throughout Jesus' ministry — and here in the book of John in particular — the crowds instinctively lifted Jesus up before people who were sitting "on the fence." "Their powerful acclamation of Who He is surely did not go unnoticed," said Krober, who added a third example: Jesus Himself. "His human side lifts up the divine Messiah for consideration by all mankind."

Krober then invited Free Methodists to examine their hearts regularly for "four tendencies that have to be resisted and brought to the cross if we are going to become vehicles for Jesus' uplifting":

• Self-protection
• Self-indulgence
• Self-promotion
• Self-assertion

Krober closed with a quote from Methodism's founder, John Wesley: "Offer them Christ."

"Lift up Christ," said Krober, "and if there's no fruit, ask, 'Am I lifting up Christ?' If He's truly being lifted up, Christ will draw the people. For He says, 'If you'll just lift me up, I'll do that work. After all, I want these people redeemed even more than you do.'"