So, What Happened at General Conference 2012?

When I was preparing to start a new church, I learned that a new church is a movement, a group of people working together with passion and excitement. At some point, for that movement to continue it needs to organize. When it does and becomes an institutionalized congregation, however, the movement begins to die because the institution seeks to preserve itself.

Churches in that situation, often have lengthy committee meetings that produce very little if nothing. “We met for three hours but we couldn’t decide whether to paint the fellowship hall beige or off-white. So we established a task force to study the issue.”

The Sunday after our General Conference concluded, I asked the congregation if they had ever heard of a church meeting where nothing happened. People chuckled. I explained there had been a church meeting but nothing had been accomplished. Of course, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Still, it’s not much of an exaggeration. Bishop Will Willimon from North Alabama said it was the “most expensive ($1,500 per minute!), least productive, most fatuous assemblage in the history of Methodism.” That’s a fancy word for silly. In light of our decreased membership, significantly decreased attendance, and sharp drop in baptisms and confirmations, maybe he has a point.

So what happened at General Conference, this gathering that meets every four years and speaks officially for the the 13 million-members worldwide? The big issue was restructuring the General Church, but it didn’t happen. We spent a bunch of money and four years working on a plan to restructure, but the delegates couldn’t get behind it. Rather, they plunged into political bickering and mistrust of bishops. Earlier, the proposal to set aside a bishop to serve as a full-time president of the Council of Bishops also was rejected.

In an effort to do something with the structure, a last ditch effort was made to restructure based on what everybody wants. Unfortunately, that’s not leadership. That is an institution seeking to preserve itself. Nevertheless, it was futile as, right before the end of General Conference, the Judicial Committee (our version of the Supreme Court) ruled the last ditch effort unconstitutional. Apparently, delegates and visitors sat in stunned silence as the decision was read, though there was a smattering of applause. In the end, the structure remained unchanged, but the boards of most agencies were reduced with the savings invested in younger clergy and theological education in central conferences (those outside our country).

The budget for the next quadrennium was adopted. The $603.1 million for seven general church funds is 6.03 percent less than the amount apportioned for 2009 to 2012. The decrease won’t likely be felt in local churches, since only 2 cents out of every dollar given goes to support general church ministries.

So called “guaranteed appointments” for clergy were eliminated quite easily. The controversy continues, though, as the conference has asked the Judicial Council for a ruling on whether it violates the Constitution.

The church’s position on homosexuality was retained (i.e. all persons are individuals of sacred worth and God's grace is available to all, however, "we do not condone the the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching"). A proposal was made to clarify that United Methodists disagree on whether homosexual practice is contrary to the will of God and to urge unity over division and respect for co-existence, but that proposal was defeated.

United Methodist Women will become an autonomous organization. Until now UMW has operated under the church's missions agency.

One interesting decision was the overwhelming support for the church to consider the school schedules of young people. The measure is nondisciplinary, so it’s nonbinding, but it is a response to young people who struggle to balance their school obligations with the invitation to make their voice heard in church decision-making.

Regarding the issue of our global church, a “Covenant for a Worldwide United Methodist Church” was approved and will be placed in the new Book of Discipline to help build greater mutual respect and understanding among various geographic regions of the church. There is also work towards a new global Book of Discipline that will determine which parts of the book of church law can be adapted by Central Conferences outside the United States and which are not open to adaptation.

Nearly half of the delegates to the next General Conference are expected to come from outside of the United States. While the growth in Africa and other countries is amazing, one interesting challenge is that while most of the funding for the global church comes from the United States, we will soon have a minority of delegates at General Conference.

So where do we go from here? Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, and the local church is still the most significant arena through which this occurs. Most likely it will be local churches that lead the way forward.

Regarding the issue of leadership, we do need to determine whether we will allow our Bishops to lead us or continue to hamper them and mistrust them. Personally, I think some of our bishops are good and some are, well, less so. Given the current climate, perhaps it is time to reconsider how we choose (elect!) bishops.