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key point:
- As General Conference approaches, a group of more than 270 U.S. representatives have publicly supported three legislative proposals.
- They see the statement as the start of a dialogue with other representatives and an invitation for more representatives to sign on.
- The statement comes as delegates anticipate a gathering unlike the hostile 2019 special convention.
A month before general conference opens, a task force of more than 270 U.S. representatives is unveiling their three legislative priorities to the United Methodist Church’s top legislative assembly.
These priorities are what many delegates call the “3Rs” – regionalization, revising social principles and eliminating exclusionary language against LGBTQ people.
General Conference primaries and alternates also invite their U.S. representatives to sign the statement in advance of the denomination’s international gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina, April 23-May 3.
After the battles of the 2019 special session and the coronavirus pandemic delaying the next regular session until this year, the representative signatories expressed their desire for a different kind of legislative session.
“We hope that our gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina, will bear witness to a more perfect way of faithful service to Christ, who makes all things new and reconciles all men to himself,” the delegates’ statement quoted from Brotherhood 2 Corinthians 5:16-20.
Delegates said they “pray that we can move beyond the conflict that has divided us for so long”.
Their announcement comes as the United Methodist Church grapples with the denomination’s disaffiliation of 25% of its U.S. churches over the past four years. The churches left under a policy established at the 2019 Extraordinary General Conference that allows churches to leave with gay-related property “for reasons of conscience” if certain conditions are met. The disengagement policy expires at the end of 2023, but a number of proposals submitted to the upcoming General Conference seek to extend it.
This was not the goal of the representatives who signed the statement. Instead, they point out that they are part of the 75 percent of United Methodist churches that remain in the United States. They also said they are eager to work with United Methodist representatives in Africa, Europe and the Philippines to heal, reconcile and rebuild the denomination.
“My heart truly desires to build a church that is Christ-centered first,” said Pastor Dawn Taylor-Storm, one of the signatories. She is director of liaison for the East Penn Conference and assistant to the bishop.
“I also long for a church that truly embodies open doors and open hearts, and achieves some contextualism in our global connections.”
She and other representatives see supporting the following legislative goals as a way to move toward a shared global church that is more focused on Christ than on conflict.
These suggestions are:
- Global Regionalization was a plan submitted by the Standing Committee of the Central Conference to bring the different regions of the denomination on an equal footing. Most of the members of the Standing Committee come from the seven church regions of the Central Conference—Africa, Europe, and the Philippines.
The proposal would create separate regional governing bodies in Africa, Europe, the Philippines and the United States. Each region has the same authority to adapt portions of the Manual of Discipline (the denomination’s policy manual) to its missionary context. Global regionalization requires changes to the denomination’s constitution. In order to be approved, the amendment must receive at least two-thirds of the vote in general conference and at least two-thirds of the total vote in the annual meeting of lay and clergy electors from multiple churches composition. Most other legislation requires a simple majority.
“We support this legislation because we are committed to greater self-determination and autonomy,” the representatives’ statement said. “We also believe that expanding regional decision-making will allow each region’s annual conference to flourish.
- Revised Social Principles, a number of petitions submitted by the United Methodist Church and Society Council, revised the denomination’s social witness. The proposals are the result of an eight-year revision process promoted by General Conference in 2012 to make the denomination’s social teachings “more globally relevant, theologically grounded, and concise.” More than 4,000 United Methodists from around the world contributed to the revision.
Under the proposals, the amendment would no longer mention homosexuality. Since 1972, social principles have stated that “the practice of homosexuality…is incompatible with Christian teaching.”
Taylor-Storm emphasizes that social principles are always about more than just human sexuality. She said the revisions were intended to address international concerns on various issues including agriculture and polygamy. “This is not just about the United States, nor is it based on American legislation,” Taylor-Storm said.
- Eliminate exclusionary policies against LGBTQ people. Since the 1972 General Conference added social principles on homosexuality, subsequent assemblies have added bans on clergy “professing to engage in homosexual activities” and on officiating same-sex weddings. Also since 1972, every General Conference has been marked by a hostile debate over the place of LGBTQ people in the life of the Church. The conflict culminated in the 2019 Extraordinary General Conference, which adopted a traditional plan to strengthen enforcement of the ban and opened the door to the schisms that have emerged in the church over the past four years.
“This would return the Book of Discipline to its state from 1784 to 1972 and remove the source of so much friction and division among us over the past 50 years,” said the Rev. Adam Hamilton, one of the signatories. Hamilton said. Great Plains Conference.He is the senior pastor of Resurrection Church, a multi-site United Methodist church in Leawood, Kansas, which has long been the top church in the United States in weekly attendance
Taken together, Hamilton said, these three priorities reflect the situation of many United Methodist congregations, laity and clergy.
“I think it’s important for people to know this,” he said. “A lot of people feel strongly that it’s important that we support these things.”
California-Pacific Conference delegate signatory Monalisa Tui’tahi said the statement reflects her deepest desire to be part of a Christian community that “seeks to be the most effective in the face of a broken world.” Good yourself.” Tui’tahi was a member of United with Hope United Methodist Church in Long Beach, California.
“These are not new concepts,” she said, “but they represent ongoing efforts to bring equity into a colonial structure that is mired in oppressive practices that are standardized in the name of faith and doctrine. To me, Signing the Statement is a sacred vow to hold the Church accountable to the true embodiment of the Body of Christ.”
The statement also drew support from some United Methodist advocacy groups that seek the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in church life. They include Neighbor Alliance, Mainstream UMC, Methodist Social Action Alliance, Reconciliation Ministries Network, Stand Up to Harm, and UMCNEXT.
The undersigned acknowledges that different regions of the denomination have different legal and cultural backgrounds. They also recognize that theological perspectives and biblical interpretations vary.
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Regionalization would allow each region to establish its own standards for clergy and, if necessary, reinstate bans related to clergy and weddings.
The Rev. Duane Carlisle, a delegate to the Indiana conference and lead pastor of First United Methodist Church in West Lafayette, stressed that the proposals are gay-neutral — neither against nor in favor.
At the same time, he believes that removing the discipline’s restrictive language toward LGBTQ people is critical to his ministry and the ministries of many other United Methodists.
“This is important because we need our pastors and members of the United Methodist Church to be fully committed to their ministries and work around the world,” said Carlyle, a queer clergy member of the denomination. caucus. “Some of these things remain barriers to achieving that goal.”
He said he hoped the statement would be seen as an invitation for further dialogue with other representatives.
So far, the main delegates who signed the statement account for about a quarter of the main delegates attending the General Conference. Plans for the upcoming conference call for 862 voting delegates, 482 from the United States; 278 from Africa, 52 from the Philippines, 40 from Europe and 10 from the Union Church, which has close ties to the United Methodist Church. Half are lay people and half are clergy.
Efforts to change the denomination’s stance on homosexuality and establish regionalization have been unsuccessful in past general conferences.
But many U.S. delegations in particular are showing signs of being different from those participating in the 2019 special convention. Immediately following that contentious meeting, several annual conventions in the United States elected delegates who were explicitly opposed to the traditional plan.
Since then, most churches that have left over the past four years have tended to support the gay ban. At least half have joined the Global Methodist Church, a conservative, breakaway denomination founded in 2022. The church’s withdrawal also led to the departure of some delegates, further changing the situation in the American delegation.
Judith Pierre-Oxon, a United Methodist deaconess and senior delegate to the Florida Conference, said she signed the statement in part because she wanted to see the Church move beyond the friction of the past. She sees regionalization and erasing the language of LGBTQ people as one way to achieve this goal. She also participated in one of the focus groups providing feedback on the revised Social Principles.
For too long, she said, the General Conference seemed focused on one thing — the status of LGBTQ people — rather than United Methodist ministry.
“If we want to move forward as a new denomination, we need to eliminate harmful language from the discipline,” said Pierre Oxon, a member of Miramar United Methodist Church in Miramar, Florida. “I’m concerned that If we don’t eliminate the harmful language, those of us who are loyal to the denomination will leave.”
She added that many United Methodists who remain “truly believe that LGBTQI people are created equal” to everyone.
Taylor-Storm said she came to general conference hopeful for the future of the United Methodist Church.
“Methodism began as a movement in small groups around the kitchen table. The ministries of Susanna, John and Charles (Wesley) reflected the contextual needs of the time,” she said. “I see that same spark now as delegates come together to dream and plan for a church that is Christ-centered, celebrates diversity… and builds a model of collaboration locally, regionally and globally.”
Hahn is an assistant news editor at UM News.Please call her at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. Want to see more United Methodist Church news? Subscribe for a free daily or Friday digest.
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