(Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News)

“The church was never built for our pleasure,” declared Bishop Jonathan Holston in his Episcopal Address during this morning’s plenary session. “Rather, the church was built for God’s purpose.”

After a centering time of morning worship today, Bishop Holston offered what I experienced as a rousing and insightful address on behalf of the Council of Bishops. Through both video segments and spoken narrative, the Bishop presented a sensitive overview of some of what has transpired over the last eight years in both the world and the ministry of the United Methodist Church: pandemic and isolation; political division and ecclesiastical schism; technological advancement and cultural achievement; horror and hope; weeping and rejoicing; death and life. Through it all, the United Methodist Church has continued to incarnate its mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Through several inspiring stories of the church at its very best, Bishop Holston reminded us that our denomination is still vibrantly and globally working to alleviate hunger, to care for the displaced and despondent, to generate hope among those who suffer, and to bring both the socially well-situated and the painfully marginalized into the reconfiguring grace of Jesus. The Bishop’s address both comforted me in my places of discouragement and unsettled me in places where I have become inappropriately comfortable. “When was the last time you led someone to Christ,” the Bishop inquired of those present. “And when was the last time you made a witness to Jesus through your life and decision-making?” I am still living with his questions as I reflect on what it will mean to become a church that, as the Bishop put it, “becomes a vibrant and continuing sign of God’s beautiful reign in the world.”

Following the Episcopal Address, delegates received a series of reports, the presentation of which led to the adoption of a General Conference agenda. We now have a clear sense of how we will be stewarding both our work and our time.

The rest of the morning plenary session included some important presentations:

A Report on the Revision of the Social Principles

What are the Social Principles? In short, the Social Principles are United Methodism’s thoughtful effort to speak to a wide variety of issues in the contemporary world from a sound biblical and theological foundation. In existence since 1972 and expanded significantly by every General Conference since, the Social Principles, while not considered church law, are an instructive guide for United Methodists as they endeavor to navigate often-complex social issues with both spiritual depth and ethical attentiveness. Later on in the General Conference, delegates will debate and take action on a revised collection of Social Principles, prepared and submitted by a global team of theologians and theological voices—both laity and clergy. The purpose of the revision of the Social Principles, according to today’s overview, is “to offer to the church a clearer, more concise, more deeply theological, and more authentically global resource.”

Here is a link to the revised Social Principles upon which the General Conference will be taking action:

https://www.umcjustice.org/documents/124

The Young People’s Address

As  a quadrennial exclamation point upon United Methodism’s commitment to young people, General Conference includes a Young People’s Address, the purpose of which is to amplify the voices and illuminate the perspectives of those United Methodists between the ages of 18 and 35. Today, Alejandra Salemi from the Florida Annual Conference and Senesie T.A. Rogers from the UMC in Sierra Leone offered an address that was both stirringly poignant and pointedly challenging. From the deep hearts and the articulate voices of these two young disciples, I heard the naming of pain and anxiety produced by both a divided nation and a divided church—an anxiety that Salemi equated to the anguish of a divorce. I also heard in their words a profound challenge to become a church that is far more passionate about the love of Jesus than it is about resentment that leads to contempt. Said Rogers, “reconciliation and coming together is part of our tradition. We must be more about uniting than dividing at this point.” 

A Report on the General Book of Discipline

As part of a larger conversation about the global regionalization of the United Methodist Church’s ministry (about which the General Conference will be making important decisions over the next ten days), delegates heard a presentation today about a proposed General Book of Discipline that would make certain portions of the Discipline more adaptable, thereby (according to the crafters of the legislation) allowing the various global regions of the church to structure mission and ministry in a manner that is most contextually appropriate and strategic. Envisioning a longer process of development, today’s presenters called for each region of the church to develop a means by which to review the proposed General Book of Discipline and offer feedback. While the denomination’s doctrinal standards remain unadaptable in this proposed Discipline, the hope behind the proposal is that the adaptable portions will make the UMC less US-centric and US-dependent in its polity and structure.

Reports on the Financial State of the Church and the Pathway to Our Next Expression

The General Council on Finance and Administration has proposed to the General Conference a quadrennial (2025-2028) denominational budget of approximately $353 million. This marks a nearly 42% reduction from the denomination-wide budget that General Conference approved at its last regular meeting in 2016, reflecting the impact of disaffiliation and the pandemic on the denomination. While this is sobering news, to be certain, the Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table voiced their commitment to the work of crafting a continuing vision for the church that we are becoming—a smaller church, but one that is uniquely poised for mission and ministry.

After lunch, delegates moved to their legislative sections that met in various rooms throughout the Convention Center. The agenda for each legislative section meeting was to elect section leaders and to organize the section for its legislative work. Here is a brief explanation of the legislative sections and their function: To care for the large volume of legislative proposals submitted to General Conference, each General Conference delegate is assigned to one of fourteen legislative sections. All the legislative proposals are divided among these legislative sections for discussion, debate, amendment, and, ultimately, action. If there are no more than 10 votes against a prevailing vote on a petition or resolution in a legislative section, it goes onto a daily consent calendar (along with many other petitions and resolutions approved by the various legislative committees). The entire daily consent calendar will then come before the plenary session of General Conference for a final vote. 

I am in the Global Ministries legislative section. We elected our section leaders and organized ourselves for the pieces of legislation that we will be addressing over the next few days. Tonight, I am rereading my section’s legislation so that I might be prepared for tomorrow’s work.

There you have it, friends—a full day two of General Conference.

If you made it to the end of this post, thank you. I am grateful for your interest and your prayers.

(Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News)