Yesterday was exhausting. Today was discouraging. Yet, before I get into that, let me share some good stuff that happened today at General Conference.
One of the celebrations today was the 100th anniversary of the General Board of Pensions and Health Benefits. This fund that provides clergy health and pension support began with $213,000. Today, the assets are over $16 billion. The GBPHB is one of the ten largest pension funds in America. That is a great story, and it gets even better the older I get.
Bill Gates, Sr. (not “Bill, Jr” the founder of Microsoft) shared his vision and passion about wiping out malaria in our lifetime. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $5 million to the UMC to help launch the Global Health Initiative to combat malaria and other curable diseases around the world. Mr. Gates said our partnership with his foundation is a good fit because we see the entire world as our parish.
Good news for local pastors! The right to vote on delegates to General Conference was given to local pastors who have completed the Course of Study and have served at least two consecutive years prior to elections. I’ll share more details on that later.
Walking up to the Convention Center today, we were met by individuals who were lying on the sidewalk inside chalk lines, symbolizing persons who have suffered from spiritual violence. During our morning recess Conference leaders allowed a 15-minute witness/demonstration from the Lesbian/Bi-sexual/Gay/Transgender/Queer (LBGTQ) group on the Conference floor. Music, readings, prayers, witnesses and pictures of gay children were offered by the participants. Afterwards, 12 of our Bishops met with individuals from LBGTQ to discuss fairness and justice issues in light of the decision of the GC yesterday to retain language and certain prohibitions of homosexual persons in the life and ministry of the UMC. It was disturbing at several levels, but that was the intent. A bolder demonstration had been planned, but the Conference leaders and local police guided the group in a different way.
That experience, coupled with the vote to recommend 23 amendments to the UMC constitution to move toward regional conferences all across the connection, grieved my spirit. Again, this is not an issue of who wins/loses votes on the GC floor. Rather, I sense that we have had front row seats in the dis-uniting of the United Methodist Church. A carefully orchestrated and executed plan to de-centralize the church into regional conferences has been put in place. What concerns me most is that I do not think most of the delegates understood what they approved.
Simply put, a study committee has been approved to propose a worldwide design for the church to the 2012 GC that will create similar church structures in every region of the world. On the surface, that sounds OK, but in reality, the end result is that every region (including the USA) will have the authority to determine its own ministerial standards, social principles and other Disciplinary matters. Under the most radical plan, the UMC in the USA will become 5 regions rather than jurisdictions. The Study Committee supposedly has no immediate plan to make the USA a regional conference or conferences. Presenters denied this was the intent, but I know better. I served on the CONFERENCES legislative committee for the past week and observed firsthand how focused (and prepared) this group is in making their plan a reality sooner than later. One of the amendments states, "There shall be regional conferences" - not may be, but shall be.
I’ll share more of the reasons for this radical shift in the structure of the church and what impact this will have upon the UMC, but to use some country vernacular, “We just bought a pig in a poke.” In two years (2010), every annual conference will vote on these amendments. A 2/3 aggregate vote (the total vote of all annual conferences) is necessary to approve these changes.
That’s enough of my “venting” tonight. The Church is always a work in process, and I am a project God needs to put in some overtime to shape up. Our theme, “A Future with Hope” is something I want to believe. Yet, I’m concerned tonight that our attempt to be more accommodating of one group in the church will drive many more others from our ranks. Stay tuned.
3 comments:
Utterly sad! For me this is a make or break issue. The moment they change the ordination standards, I'll be looking for a new church home. Ultimately, it's a matter of the authority of Scripture.
My word! I'm utterly in disbelief. I knew that there had been talk about the conferences and the reasons. A break of the American jurisdictions from the rest of the world would likely mean the approval of homosexual ordination.
As a seminary student who goes up for SPRC meetings in a couple of weeks, I"m really at a loss to describe my feelings. If the church allows homosexual to be ordained, then we've stop being the church and become a secular idea of the church.
John Wesley would not be happy right now at what his movement has become. He would be happy at some things, but all in all he would not be impressed.
Mike:
You've done well in summing up the whole strategic agenda in stating that, "A carefully orchestrated and executed plan to de-centralize the church into regional conferences has been put in place. What concerns me most is that I do not think most of the delegates understood what they approved." It's a way of outflanking the church. And as a result, we're longer truly "united" as Methodists - it's a way of breaking down our connectionalism. And as I perceive it, a United Methodist in Kentucky may not believe, nor practice, the same thing as a United Methodist in Oregon. Ugh. This is the beginning of the breakdown of connectionalism which is exactly what those with the LBGTQ agenda desire - divide and conquer.
May we pray that there is a stronghold of believers who hold firm to biblical truth and the foundation which John Wesley laid for us. And may we also remember that our battle is not contention of flesh and blood but rather but against the principalities and the powers of this present darkness.
Press on!
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