News and Views

 Creating a cemetery association to care for our historic and honored dead and addressing gun violence as a public health crisis, were among the resolutions adopted Oct. 25 by the members of the 237th Annual Conference Session.

New BWC Cemetery Association approved

Members voted, (546 in favor with 18 opposed) to create a BWC Cemetery Association that will oversee funds for the upkeep of three historic cemeteries: Mt. Auburn, Mt. Olivet, and Mt. Hebron.

“The Baltimore-Washington Conference has the one-of-kind blessing to be the birthplace of both the Methodist movement in America and the United Brethren,” said John Strawbridge, president of the Conference Trustees and the maker of the resolution. “We have the opportunity and duty to protect a heritage, which is the heritage of our global denomination. In particular, we have a moral obligation to care for the saints on whose shoulders we stand.”

These cemeteries were once cared for by many congregations. But most of those congregations have closed and transferred their property to the Conference, leaving a disproportionate burden on only a few small congregations to care for the legacy of a denomination.

“Mount Olivet Cemetery, Mount Auburn Cemetery, and Mount Hebron cemetery contain our DNA,” Strawbridge said. “In these ‘God’s Acres,’ as they were once called, lie the mortal remains of our forbearers.”

Mount Olivet in Baltimore is the final resting place of Methodism’s first bishop, Francis Asbury, and more than 200 early preachers and other notable church leaders. Mount Hebron Cemetery in Keedysville holds the founders of the United Brethren Church, as well as the site of their first meeting house. Mount Auburn Cemetery in Baltimore is the historic burying ground for African Americans. It is the final resting place of many notable leaders in the church and community, including Lillie Mae Jackson Carroll, a civil right leader and founder of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP.

The new cemetery association will ensure these burial grounds do not become a drain on mission shares, Strawbridge said. An endowment fund for the on-going care of our cemetery grounds will be created and, once fully funded, the investment income from the fund will provide for the annual maintenance required.

 Members declare gun violence a public health crisis

A spike in gun violence in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore has alarmed church leaders. But just as devastating, said Sue Bender, are the effects that routine gunfire has on the fabric of people’s lives.

Speaking in favor of the resolution she brought forth, Bender, the chair of the BWC’s Gun Violence Prevention team, cited the cases of children dying in the streets of our conference.  

“A 1-year-old baby killed in his car seat; a 6-year-old girl killed walking with her family in D.C.; an 8-year-old boy killed near Landover by a gunshot through his apartment window,” she said.

The resolution brought some debate among the members. A clause that spoke about prohibiting the purchase of guns was amended to change the phrase “those who suffer from mental illness,” to “those who suffer from mental disabilities.”

The amendment sought to speak more compassionately and accurately about those who experience mental challenges.

Dan Higgins, a lay member of Lisbon UMC, said he regrets the way that violence is being accepted and normalized in our culture, but does not believe that outlawing guns for all is the right approach. “It’s not a gun problem, but a people problem,” he said.

Speaking in favor of the amendment, the Rev. Valerie Barnes cited a young woman who was murdered last week in the alley behind her house and claimed the rise in gun violence is now an epidemic.

The Rev. Michael Parker, who has buried loved ones as a result of gun violence, told the members, “silence will simply speak to our complicity.”

BWC members voted 387 in favor and 75 opposed, to adopt the resolution to declare gun violence a public health emergency in the conference. The resolution calls on every congregation to “enter into meaningful conversations and action” as they explore “Our Call to End Gun Violence,” #3428 in the United Methodist Book of Resolutions.

Among the priorities churches are called to address are:

• Providing universal background checks on all gun purchases;
• Ensuring all guns are sold through licensed gun retailers;
• Prohibiting all individuals under restraining order due to threat of violence from purchasing a gun;
• Prohibiting those persons with serious mental disorders who pose a danger to themselves and their communities from purchasing a gun, and ensuring greater access to services for those who have mental illness;
• Banning large-capacity ammunition magazines and weapons designed to fire multiple rounds each time the trigger is pulled, (this issue has been addressed at the federal level); and
• Promoting new technologies to aid law-enforcement agencies to trace crime guns and promote public safety.

Learn more and become involved in the BWC’s gun violence prevention ministries.

 Other actions:

Conference members also passed a resolution that brings the BWC’s rules in alignment with the Book of Discipline, stating that that all delegates elected to General and Jurisdictional conferences must be elected by a minimum of a simple majority of the votes of the members present, and a resolution clarifying the deadlines for submission of resolutions to annual conference and reports from BWC committees and agencies.