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.
This is a report I originally wrote for some friends in my home church, Arvada UMC, and was originally posted on Facebook. The official reports are now online here, including delegate results. And here is an article pointing out some "firsts" of this Annual Conference: in the legacy Rocky Mountain delegation, the first African-American First-Elected clergy (Jasper Peters), first First-Elected lay Tongan young adult, Harvey Tukutau, head of delegation, and two LGBGQ clergy leaders licensed or commissioned, Ashley Hawkins and Amber Mitts. And then there's the "first birthday party" for the Mountain Sky Conference!
Friends in the Arvada UMC asked me for a report on our Conference, so I'm going to share it here for any who are interested. It is not exhaustive not complete, but things that caught my attention and inspiration.
Confessions of One of Your Own
by Kevin Thomas
June 6, 2019
From Facebook via UM-Insight
Highlight:
I finally dove into Wesley’s own words in my pursuit of holiness and discovered a different message. John Wesley didn’t give me a list of people to oppose or fundamentals to prove my faith. Love God perfectly. Love people perfectly. To be honest, I was disappointed. I wanted something deeper. Quite frankly, Wesley’s way is much more challenging! Over time, Wesley’s words convinced me that the freedom to love everyone far surpassed the superiority of knowing who to oppose. Love wins.
This week, in our annual denominational meeting, I voted, repeatedly, against my mentors. It brought me no joy. In fact, it was heart-breaking. The first people who taught me the Bible now tell me that I have abandoned Biblical authority, but it is scripture that has led me to where I am.
Read the complete letter here.
Here is an important (IMHO) new piece on how the Western Jurisdiction can lead into a new, inclusive Wesleyan Methodist movement, from Hacking Christianity, the blog of Rev. Jeremy Smith, pastor of Seattle First UMC.
How Can the West Help the Rest Through Whatever is Next?
June 6, 2019 by UMJeremy
...there is a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and support for the Western Jurisdiction to gather other churches in risky ministry areas in a new way. So many places need support, but also need to be rooted where they are, so just relocating pastors to the Western Jurisdiction isn’t viable for everyone. How can the West clear this pathway to help inclusive churches beyond our borders?
Most ideas about helping these type of churches come in the form of changing their relationship to their own annual conference. There have been two very good ideas that—sadly—are not currently viable.
...Given the lack of ability to determine a new relationship, the most viable option is that local churches can just plan to leave The United Methodist Church and then affiliate some other way after they have left.
However, leaving bears a significant financial roadblock that folks may not be aware of. [Read the whole article!]
...The naming of these roadblocks and clearing potential pathways around them is a small service we can do to the greater denomination to help all of us move forward.
This page will detail some of the results of the petitions presented to various Annual Conference Sessions during the 2019 "Conference season," as well as some notable events at these gatherings. See also this page of reports sent to United Methodist News Service (UMNS). (Unless otherwise noted, all legislation listed passed. The highlighted text is a link to the source, sometimes the actual petition, sometimes the listing of all petitions or journal section, sometimes a press release, sometimes a news story.)
Western Jurisdiction
- MSC-03: Calculation and Payment of General and Jurisdictional Apportionments
- MSC-09: Moving Towards God’s Good Future (task group formation)
- MSC-10: All Are Welcome (ruling of law requested)
- MSC-12: Western Jurisdiction College of Bishops (call for special Western Jurisdiction Conference)
- GC-01: Organizational Restructure of The United Methodist Church (passed by 71%, not enough to be sent from MSC)
- ...a declaratory decision was approved to be sent to the Judicial Council for its Fall docket... [which] essentially ... asked for the Disciplinary restrictions and clarifications on if an annual conference withdraws from the denomination, would it still have to pay the pension liability and other aspects of “disaffiliation.”
- affirmed the four commitments that came forth from UMC Next
- 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