Tuxwheels: The Personal Site for J. Benjamin Roe, Jr., D.Min.

UM Church

A Look at the Plans and Petitions -- So Far

Here in one place is a list of the "plans"  for the future of the United Methodist Church, and significant petition proposals, as so far known as of the "last updated" date of this article. See the menu choices on the left for more information.

Summaries, comparisions, etc.

The "Protocol"

A “Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation”  was released January 3, 2020. Legislation is being prepared and will be offered by an Annual Conference in March.

The Christmas Covenant (Central Conferences)

This proposal was released December 19, 2019. Legislation is being prepared and will be offered by an Annual Conference.

All Belong

Pankakasia Movement (Philippines)

Statement and proposal

Connectional Table U.S. Regional Conference Plan

The Indianapolis Plan

The UMC Next Plan

 The N.E.W. Plan

 The Plain Grace Plan

The "Bard Jones" Plan

Filipino Plan

A "Methodist Communion" Plan

 A "Fluidity" Constitutional Amendment

Chris Ritter: Intro, Rationale, Legislation

 

Pensions and Disaffiliation Petition

from Wespath re: Par. 2555 (PDF)

Notes on Sources

The Open Spirit Task Force was established by The New England Annual Conference “to examine whether and how United Methodists of New England might align with, create, or form a new church body in the Methodist tradition (independently or in collaboration with others).”

New Methodism blog: "Darren Cushman Wood is the senior pastor of North United Methodist Church in Indianapolis and is an elder and full member of the Indiana Annual Conference. Darren was a delegate to the 2004 & 2008 General Conferences and a delegate to the 2000 & 2016 North Central Jurisdictional Conferences."'

Plane Grace blog: Frank Holbrook is a retired Tennessee attorney who will be a first-time General Conference delegate from the Memphis Annual Conference and is the author of the "Plain Grace" Plan, an alternative for creating new expressions of Methodist that could remain in communion with one another.

Hacking Christianity blog: Rev. Jeremy Smith is a United Methodist Elder serving as Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Seattle, Washington (USA). He blogs about faith, young clergy issues, technology, internet theory, and geeky topics at HackingChristianity.net.

UMC Next grew out of a gathering at Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City (Lenexa), with a wide variety of people on its convening team.

"The Uniting Methodists movement is animated by a vision of The United Methodist Church as a body of faithful disciples who are united in their commitment to the primacy of scripture, the historic affirmations of the Christian faith in the Wesleyan tradition, and the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world."

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.

 Rev. Chris Ritter is blogmaster of People Need Jesus blog, and "is the Directing Pastor of a multi-site ministry in The  Illinois Great Rivers Conference that includes Geneseo First and Cambridge United Methodist churches. He was a delegate to the 2016 and 2019 General Conferences of the UMC, and he is active in church vitality efforts.  Ritter helped write language that was included in the Connectional Conference Plan proposed by the Commission on A Way Forward. He sits on the Global Council of the Wesleyan Covenant Association."  --MichiganUMC.org