Countdown By Steve Burnett

Countdown to General Conference
Steve Burnett

I look forward to attending the first full week of General Conference, at my own expense, as my
primary week of continuing education for this appointment year.  A fourth
alternate to the voting delegates, I will monitor, on behalf of the delegation,
the Local Church Legislative Committee. 

While over a hundred petitions will be considered by this Committee, two of the
most important groupings of petitions swirl around 1) church membership and
pastoral authority, and 2) United Methodist Women’s organizational relationship
to the local church.  Regarding the first set of issues, a  pastor’s denial  of
church membership to an openly gay man, in the last couple of years, prompted a
deluge of petitions, including one I support from our own Rocky Mountain
Conference which amended Paragraph 214 by addition to state that “No person
shall be excluded from the United Methodist Church for any reason that includes
race, color, national origin, status, economic condition, gender, gender
identity, marital status, sexual orientation or ability.”  The issue raises questions about the inclusivity of our denomination and
the authority of the pastor as gatekeeper to church membership.
 
A smaller but important group of petitions propose that United Methodist Women
and United Methodist Men be optional organizations in the local church, and seek
to open the doorway for other women’s and men’s programs and organizations to
form without accountability to a denominational UMW or UMM structure.  One UMW
proposal also requires the local UMW to be accountable to the local church
council rather than directly related to the district, conference or Women’s
Division.  While women and men in the local church are currently not restricted
from organizing programs or groups beyond the oversight of the UMW or UMM, these
petitions would seek to diminish the influence of connectional systems and
resources, and undermine the effectiveness of these organizations.

In addition, some petition addresses nearly every local church committee or
organization in the 200 paragraphs section of the Discipline, as well as Trustees and Church
Property-related issues in the 2500 paragraphs.   Because our Conference places
an emphasis on empowering and strengthening the local church for mission and
ministry, I can’t think of a better place to observe and report proposed
actions.

May God guide our delegation and keep them well, alert and responsive to the
Holy Spirit’s leading.