Conferences Legislative Committee

The Conferences Legislative Committee deals with how the various conferences (annual, jurisdictional, central, and general) conferences of the United Methodist Church are organized. We have a total of 134 petitions in this legislative committee this year. I have split these petitions into groups based on their focus. I have tried to remain fairly unbiased in this commentary (emotion will occasionally slip in, I’m sure). But this entry is mainly an attempt to let you know what I’ll be working on. Please feel free to comment on any of the legislation, letting me know your thoughts about the issues.

Worldwide Restructuring
The United Methodist Church Connectional Table is charged with exploring the worldwide nature of the United Methodist Church and how the Church can best serve an increasingly connected and global community. The Connectional Table is proposing the beginning of a plan to shift from a United States focused General Conference to a more worldwide one. Central Conferences (including our churches in the Philippines, Eurasia, Africa, etc.) would be made into Regional Conferences. This is primarily a name change. The United States could then potentially be made into a regional conference. Regional Conferences would be allowed to have Jurisdictional Conferences and Annual Conferences. The Regional Conferences would then meet separately from General Conference. A United States Regional Conference could meet and deal with legislation that is of importance only to the United States. (Currently, a lot of time at General Conference is spent dealing with legislation pertinent only to the US. This wastes time that could be spent working more with worldwide legislation and networking.) The legislation proposed this year does not immediately make the change of the US into a Regional Conference; instead, it focuses on making provisions in the Book of Discipline so that the 2012 General Conference, following another four years of study by the Connectional Table and others could do so if it desired.

Elections and Membership
These petitions focus on who is eligible to attend Annual, Jurisdictional, and General Conferences, how many members or delegates should be seated at each one, and the like. Petitions particularly of note include limiting the number of times an individual may serve as a delegate to General Conference, requiring 20% of the delegation to be 12-30 years old, and allowing retired clergy to decide they do not wish to attend Annual Conference.

Local Pastors
Many of you are aware of the “Never, Never Land” of probationary membership. Individuals in the in-between steps of “clergyship” often have trouble feeling represented due to their unique status. Local pastors are not quite full clergy, and many others looking to become elders or deacons go through a time period during which they are in between statuses and thus seem to have none. Fourteen petitions have been presented to General Conference in an attempt to help those in the “Never, Never Land.” Petitions deal with voting rights and attendance at General Conference (a few people have suggested that conferences send a local pastor delegate with voice but not vote). I do not know how exactly the Committee will choose to deal with these petitions, but local pastors, please know: We are aware of your plight! Serious consideration will be given to how to best deal with this legislation.

Legislation and Petitions
Seems silly to have a petition about petitioning, huh? Nonetheless, we have several petitions attempting to clarify or change how petitions may be submitted, how long they may be, what they deal with, etc. A few petitions of note:
1. Legislation that has already been considered by two General Conferences and voted down both times will not be considered. (This will not work for practical reasons: how do you define legislation? Changing one word would be different legislation but could have the exact same effect.).
2. Individuals may no longer submit petitions. The United Methodist Church is currently the only such body that allows individuals to petition its law-making body. I am hopeful that this will not pass, as I think it is a wonderful way to keep people involved and empowered.
3. General Agencies would need the backing of at least one Annual Conference in order to submit legislation.
4. The General Board of Church and Society would no longer be allowed to petition for changes in the Social Principles.

Resolutions
This group deals with how resolutions are presented, the length of resolutions, and how to better distribute them. The petition that will likely have the greatest effect if approved is one giving copyright to local churches, boards, agencies, and similar bodies the Book of Resolutions in order to allow for greater distribution of our resolutions and social principles.

Proposed Ministries and Committees
A few proposals have been made to add ministries or committees. The Commission on General Conference is currently a non-Disciplinary task group that works to facilitate General Conference each quadrennium. They’re asking for Disciplinary status. A Mental Illness ministry is being proposed, as is a Witness Ministry Chair for District, Annual and Jurisdictional boards and agencies to ensure that the board or agency is working toward evangelism, outreach, and witness.

Geographics and Conferences
A few petitions deal with how the Jurisdictional Conferences are composed and where our geographic boundaries are. Most of the petitions in this area are fairly boring, but a good one: Only two General Conferences in a row may be conducted in the United States. This would require at least one-third of all General Conferences be held in outside of the US (most likely in Eurasia or Africa).

Social Issues
The petitions in this group deal with discrimination and social issues. Most of them aren’t all that interesting…the truly controversial ones go to the Church and Society Legislative Committees (there are so many BCS petitions that there are two committees to deal with them all). A few petitions that will raise some debate: denying Annual Conference membership to individuals living against our Social Principles (completely impossible to govern) and forbidding clergy to speak out against GLBT discrimination.

Accountability and Logistics
These are all fairly boring…mostly dealing with editing to make it more clear who is accountable to whom and the like. A few will have serious impact: one requires Jurisdictional Conferences to be audited; another would prevent Boards and Agencies from suing Christians.

Episcopacy and Episcopal Areas
These petitions deal mostly with how the Jurisdictional Conferences and convened and vote for bishops, where the bishops can serve, and how Episcopal areas are arranged and represented.