News and Views

By Melissa Lauber

The 12 delegates elected to the 2016 General Conference by the Baltimore-Washington Conference joined members from throughout the global church as they gathered May 10-20 in Portland, Ore., to chart the future of the church.

Led by Delores Martin, lay member from Good Hope Union UMC, and the Rev. TR Chattin, pastor of Sykesville UMC, the BWC delegates provided leadership on several key issues facing the denomination – from restructuring to the $604 million budget, from the church’s stance on homosexuality to the Israel-Palestine conflict, abortion, discrimination against Native Americans, and much more.

In a much-divided 10-day session, in which people tended to feel separated along the lines of social and evangelical gospels, there was rancor and distrust. But there was also an expressed desire to avoid schism and to learn to be united.

One of the most contested issues was human sexuality. The delegates asked the Council of Bishops for a way to rethink this issue. The Council responded by calling for the creation of a study commission to examine all the language on homosexuality in the Book of Discipline, a possible specially called General Conference in two or three years to address these issues and, in the meantime, a moratorium on church trials and punitive actions on issues dealing with homosexuality.

The goal, for the moment, seems to be finding unity without demanding unanimity, and perhaps seeking a middle way that allows everyone to live together, embracing the creative tension of vital piety and social action.

The delegates also recommitted the church to its Four Areas of Focus and adopted bold goals. In the next four years, United Methodists will make a million new disciples of Jesus Christ, engage 3 million new people to make a difference in the world, transform 400 communities for vital abundant living, and reach a million children with lifesaving health interventions.

The delegates also:

• Celebrated raising $69 million of the church’s $75 million in the denomination’s Imagine No Malaria Campaign;
• Learned about a new denominational Abundant Health campaign for children to focus on safe births, nutritional challenges, promoting breastfeeding and advancing the prevention and treatment of childhood diseases;
• Gave the greenlight on creating a new, digital hymnal that will be able to be personalized for each congregation;
• Voted against creating eight-year term limits for U.S. bishops and divesting from companies that do business on illegal settlements on Palestinian land;
• Voted to withdraw United Methodist support from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and to add $5 million (to double to $10 million) the funding for theological education for pastors in Africa, Asia and Europe;
• Voted to send a proposal for a new $20 million Committee on Strategy and Growth to the Judicial Council, which ruled it unconstitutional.
• They also sent items to the Judicial Council which brought rulings that imposing a mandatory penalty on clergy during the “just resolution” process is unconstitutional, and that the proposed Plan UMC Revised for restructuring also had components that were unconstitutional.

During worship at General Conference, the delegates also witnessed the consecration of Logan Alley, a member of Foundry UMC, as a Deaconess, and saw performances by the brass quintet from Trinity UMC in Frederick, and the Deaf Choir from Christ United Methodist Church of the Deaf in Baltimore.

Complete coverage of the General Conference is available at www.umc.org/topics/general-conference-2016.