Articles about developments of alternatives for the future of The United Methodist Church: discussions of options, other expressions of the Methodist or Wesleyan Way, new alignments, petitions and resolutions approved in annual conferences, etc.
June 22, 2019 by Jeremy Smith of Hacking Christianity
The Traditionalist claim that they have a majority at General Conference is deceptive and ultimately irrelevant to the future of The United Methodist Church
Annual Conference Referendum on the WCA
The phrase “all politics is local” means that politicians may be nationally recognized but their re-election depends on connecting with their constituents. In the United Methodist world this week, we see this sentiment confirmed as the powerful Wesleyan Covenant got their Association handed to them by their constituents.
The election of waves of progressive/centrist delegates to General Conference and the passage of resolution after resolution against the Traditional Plan has revealed that the denomination-devastating policies that are popular at General Conference do not play well at home. Many conferences saw the WCA-endorsed candidates for delegates barely break 30% of the votes. Entire slates of progressives and centrists were elected in the first round of several conferences, completely shutting out the WCA Traditionalists (Final numbers will be released after the last conferences meet).
The WCA has looked itself in the mirror and thought they were looking cute, but the national obliterating politics they traffic in do not have appeal close to home. In the first election since the WCA began, they lost in droves. [Read the whole post.]
5/23/2019
Six candidates for commissioning or ordination at the upcoming [Oregon-Idaho] Annual Conference Session have offered a letter to church leaders and colleagues about their reaction to the decisions of the 2019 General Conference session and passage of the "Traditional Plan." They have asked their letter be shared as an open letter to the church at large:
To Bishop Elaine Stanovsky, the Board of Ordained Ministries of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference and clergy-colleagues of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference
Read more: Recommended candidates offer open letter to leaders and colleagues
by Rev. Dr. Mark Holland, Executive Director, Mainstream UMC
Voting is complete in the conservative South Central Jurisdiction. Within the SCJ, the conservative State of Texas has 5 conservative annual conferences that combine for 44 delegates to General Conference. The Lone Star State has just issued a massive wakeup call to the WCA. Thanks to the Wesleyan Covenant Association for freely publishing their slate of preferred candidates in most conferences, so we can see how they did: they…were…crushed.
For those of you scoring at home, the count in Texas is 30-14. That’s right, in one of the most reliably conservative states in the nation, the WCA managed just 32%. Read the whole blog post.
Kenny Rogers' Advice to the WCA
Coming out of St. Louis, the WCA was riding high. Even without 30 delegates from Africa held up with visa issues, they were able to begin the process of pushing through their vision for the UMC. The traditionalist majority, which would only grow with escalating church membership in Africa, would eventually accomplish what the Southern Baptist "moral majority" did back in the 1980's, pushing the UMC to the "hard right". It appeared to them that a total victory was within hand in a quadrennium or two.
Read more: "Know When To Hold 'Em, Know When to Fold 'Em..."
- Mountain Sky Conference Report
- An Open Letter to the WCA
- How The West Can Help the Rest
- Annual Conference 2019 Petition Results
- A Primer on UM Apportionments
- UMC-Next: Reports and Docs
- Methodist Movement New England
- Loved and Liberated: Our Movement Forward Proclamation
- Summit Plans Inclusive Methodist Movement
- Creating a Future with Hope
- How will denominational divide affect mission?
- Petitions to the 2019 Annual Conferences
- Bishops Meet, Plan, and Ask Judicial Council For Ruling
- Journalist Cynthia Astle on Secret Meetings
- 'Does The UMC Have A Future?' Christy Thomas says No
- What's Next? Hamilton and Coyner
- Stith: GC 2019: Myths and Realities
- UMNS: Centrists, progressives to discuss church's future
- Options for the Future
- An Open Letter to Adam Hamilton
- What To Do About Apportionments?
- How did the U.S. get to LGBTQ acceptance?
- Diana Butler Bass on Methodism
- Five Reasons for a U.S. Church