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Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

The 2012 General Conference which met April 24-May 4 was in its eleventh and final day, and with only a few hours left for General Conference business, the Judicial Council overturned a new organizational plan for The United Methodist Church approved only two days before.

For the past three years, people at all levels of the church worked on a new structure for our denomination, and it was overturned on the eleventh day at the eleventh hour. Three distinct plans were proposed in a General Conference legislative committee and none of the plans received the necessary votes to be presented to the 1,000 delegates at General Conference. An ad hoc group worked around the clock to craft a compromise structure. It was brought to the floor of General Conference and passed with strong support. But it did not adhere to our constitution and therefore the Judicial Council overturned the new structure and we were left with our present structure.

Our denomination has three distinct governance entities.

1. Council of Bishops – Provides oversight and leadership for the denomination;
2. General Conference – Legislative branch that sets the mission, goals, budget and policies for the church;
3. Judicial Council – Rules on the constitutionality of decisions within the life of the church.

No one entity has authority over the other. Each has its own authority by our church constitution. It is a tricky balance and one that is difficult to understand. This General Conference in its approval of a new structure tried to alter the delicate balance.

A major concern for the Judicial Council was that the General Conference attempted to give oversight responsibilities of the bishops to a proposed new board of directors as part of a reorganization of the church. The Judicial Council overturned the plan as unconstitutional because in part the General Conference does not have authority to give what is the responsibility of the bishops to another group.

It is all very confusing but what also emerged during this General Conference were three significant challenges for the church in our age: 1) mistrust, 2) globalization, and 3) using structure to fix adaptive spiritual challenges.

These three create challenges for any organization but in our current situation they have paralyzed our ability to adapt to new realities. Our current trends demonstrate that as a whole, the church in the United States and Europe has lost the ability to connect with the non- and nominally religious and to transform the church, individuals and the world. As we develop greater trust, identify what is essential to the global nature of the church and focus on our adaptive spiritual challenges we will become healthier and more vital.

Mistrust – Our mistrust of one another may be born out of abuses by leadership at all levels in the church, but I believe it goes much deeper. Ultimately it is a lack of trust in God, in particular a lack of trust that God will work through our leaders and through us as a church.

The 2012 General Conference had a difficult time passing a new way of being the church. A church with declining membership, worship attendance, new disciples and money should be ready to take bold steps. Instead we opted for small changes or no change. I believe that in part this is due to a lack of trust. We have a hard time trusting leadership, trusting people with different theological beliefs, and trusting people promoting change. We will need to take bold risks to become a vital church. 

Our faith is not in humanity or human leadership but in God at work in and through the church including our leaders. Trust builds as we humble ourselves before God, as leaders lead in the midst of the people rather than over the people and as the community of believers pray daily for their lay and clergy leaders.

Globalization – 40 percent of this General Conference’s delegates came from outside the United States, primarily from the Philippines and Africa. The next General Conference in four years will most likely have 50 percent of the delegates from outside of the United States. This is because sooner rather than later, more than 50 percent of United Methodists will live outside the United States. A global gathering like General Conference is a sight to behold. It is a glimpse of the Kingdom of God. Yet it is imperfect.

Africa and the Philippines are growing and so they are receiving more delegates. These shifts are increasing the costs of General Conference and other areas of the life and ministry of the church, yet the costs are borne by a declining church membership in the United States. The churches of the United States pay for the mission and ministry of our church agencies and general church work in the U.S. and around the world. For instance, 26 percent of the Baltimore-Washington Conference’s budget goes to the work of the General Church. This situation is not sustainable.

We are also finding that some of our U.S. values are different than other cultures. For instance, cultures outside the U.S. tend to be a more hierarchical culture, where we tend to operate from a model of greater equality. These differences create misunderstanding and even conflict.

We want to be a global church and we will need to identify how we will address our differences and the unsustainability of our model. The question for us going forward is what will be the global nature of the church?

Fixing our adaptive spiritual challenges with new structure – Structure can either enhance or inhibit the mission of an organization but structure alone cannot fix an organization’s problems. Our denomination has structural challenges, but our greater spiritual challenge, particularly in the U.S., is a will of the heart -- the passion to capture the hearts, minds and imaginations of the non- and nominally religious with the transforming power of Jesus Christ. In fact, if the non- and nominally religious were paying attention to our actions at General Conference they would have been confused and even further alienated. Younger generations are not enamored with how we do church. They want to know if we will be Jesus Christ for the world. Sometimes we are and sometimes we are not.

In the Baltimore-Washington Conference, we had a very fruitful 2011. I think it is because:

1. We are developing greater trust within our congregations and the Baltimore-Washington Conference.
2. We are becoming more diverse and more global in our congregations and we use our resources to make disciples and transform communities and the world.
3. We are connecting better with new generations of believers and engaging disciples in mercy and justice ministry in the world. We are focused less on structure and more on strengthening relationships, setting forward leaning goals and ensuring we are organized to reach kingdom goals.

Today we are focused on growing and sustaining more vital Acts 2 congregations that are making new disciples and engaging in global mission.

In four years, there will be another General Conference, and things may go differently than this past General Conference. But today the people you encounter are looking to you for trust, a love that is global, and a compelling mission. Don’t point them to General Conference or the institutionalism of a denomination but show them the love and justice of Christ in your heart and the loving community that is your congregation.

Keep the faith!

John R. Schol, Bishop