- Protocol’s day has passed, some negotiators say
- Protocol Negotiators Say Separation Pact 'No Longer Viable'
- The Day the Protocol Died
- Africa Voice of Unity caucus group's critique
- Beware the ‘Berlin Conference’ Model of the Protocol
Protocol’s day has passed, some negotiators say
By Heather Hahn, June 8, 2022 -- UM News
Key Points:
- More than a quarter of the leaders who negotiated the proposed Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation say they “can no longer, in good faith, support” the proposal.
- The negotiators said they reached this conclusion after discussions with General Conference delegates and members of their constituencies who intend to remain United Methodist.
- At least some theological conservatives still see the protocol as their best avenue for exiting the denomination.
A much-trumpeted plan for amicable separation unveiled in early 2020 no longer offers a path forward for The United Methodist Church, say more than a quarter of the agreement’s negotiators.
Five of the 16-member mediation team released a statement late June 7 rescinding their support for the agreement.
In the statement, they said, “we can no longer in good faith support the Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace through Separation or work towards its adoption at the next General Conference.” The denomination’s top lawmaking assembly is now delayed to 2024.
What has changed the calculus, they say, is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the launch of a theologically conservative breakaway denomination.
The signers of the statement include the Rev. Thomas Berlin, the Rev. Egmedio “Jun” Equila Jr., Jan Lawrence, the Rev. David W. Meredith and Randall Miller, as well as eight others who, while not on the mediation team, consulted in the process.
Most of the signers represented centrist and progressive advocacy groups during the mediation work. Equila represented the Philippines Central Conference, one of the denomination’s seven church regions in Africa, Europe and Asia. All of the statement’s signers hope to remain United Methodist.
“The desire of those listed is simply to be honest and transparent about what we know about the current intentions of many General Conference delegates we represent related to the protocol legislation,” said Berlin, lead pastor of Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon, Virginia. He represented centrist groups as part of the mediation. More here. [top]
Protocol Negotiators Say Separation Pact 'No Longer Viable'
by Cynthia Astle, UM-Insight, June 8, 2022
A group of centrist and progressive United Methodists who helped negotiate the independent agreement to divide The United Methodist Church issued a statement June 8 saying they believe the document is "no longer viable" as a means of resolving the denomination's differences.
Representatives of UMCNext, Uniting Methodists, Mainstream UMC, the LGBTQ advocacy group Affirmation, Methodist Federation for Social Action and Reconciling Ministries Network posted the statement on a new website, Protocol Response. The website includes an option for viewers to sign on to the statement.
Absent from the response are representatives of traditionalist United Methodist groups, specifically the Wesleyan Covenant Association, Good News, and Confessing Movement. The WCA launched a separate denomination, the Global Methodist Church, May 1. Had it been enacted, the Protocol would have provided $25 million over four years for the establishment of a traditionalist Methodist denomination.
The Rev. Tom Berlin, lead pastor of Floris UMC in Herndon, Va., and a frequent spokesman for centrist United Methodists, told United Methodist Insight that the response was prompted by wanting to share information with the church about their constituents' current views on the Protocol.
"Centrist and progressive groups say we no longer support the protocol; it's unhelpful to have that info and not share it," said Rev. Berlin. "The church is in a time when everyone is discerning God's will for the future. When we put the response together, we thought it was important for General Conference delegates to understand what our groups were saying.
"Many delegates said they didn't support the Protocol and wanted to amend it," he continued. "A mediated agreement only holds if it is unamended."
"Now we're two years [after the Protocol was introduced] and it will be two years before the next General Conference," Rev. Berlin said. "Mediated agreements are negotiated at a moment in time and best acted on in that moment. If you don't act on it for four years, many of the conditions in the agreement will have changed." More, including a statement from the WCA, here. [top]
The Day the Protocol Died. by David Livingston, May 16, 2022. From UM-Insight.net.
The Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation has been on life support since the first time General Conference was delayed. I have no doubt that if we had held General Conference at the originally scheduled time in 2020 it would have passed. Any compromise leaving all people wanting more. It's natural that the longer it takes for a compromise to be approved, the more nits people will pick and the harder it becomes for it to pass.
Over the last few months I've had more conversations with people who aren't sure the Protocol makes sense anymore. Read the complete article here. [top]
Africa Voice of Unity caucus group has published a critique that asserts that the Trust Clause has different meanings in different countries, and the Protocol makes an erroneous assumption that Conferences can disaffiliate. Read the analysis here. [top]
See also Albert Longe's commentary on the Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation to gain more insight into this development. Summary: The Protocol is a repeat of the colonialist 1884 Berlin Conference which divided up Africa. [top]