(From WMJM.org, 5/3/2019 - old links are likely dead)
- Last Updated: Friday, 03 May 2019 02:17
- Published: Monday, 04 March 2019 03:56
What did GC 2019 accomplish?
Here's the short answer:
- adopted the flawed and at least partially unconstitutional Traditional(ist) Plan
- adopted a new and temporary way for churches to leave the denomination (which may be unconstitutional as well)
- adopted a timeline for GC2019 changes to be effective for Central Conferences: a year after 2020 GC
- adopted recommendations to handle pensions for pastors and churches who leave the denomination
- adopted a request for a declaratory decision by the Judicial Council on the constitutionality of the Traditional Plan
Some Highlights:
- Worship and prayer that actually used the words gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual. Some helpful preaching by a couple of bishops.
- It was noteworthy that the conference actually talked frankly about sexuality for an extended period of time, even though the talk was often based on prejudice, misinformation, and flawed biblical interpretations, and in the end continued the judgmentalism which has plagued us for millenia.
- Competent and confident presiding by the chairs.
- This was more a "low light": the electronic system for signaling the chair that a person wanted to address the body was frustrating for the presiding officers, because of limited signaling as to the purposes of the request. And even more frustrating for everyone was the fact that the recognition of speakers was of necessity limited by the chairs' choices of who to recognize.
- The pension petitions which passed are explained here.
What will happen now? The leadership of the Western Jurisdiction gave a statement at the very end of the Conference that said we in the West would continue doing what we've been doing: being church for all people: here's the complete statement from the WJ web site.
Here is a collection of news stories about the event.
United Methodist News Service
New York Times
Washington Post
Sojourners
Religion News Service
The Guardian (UK)