General Conference 2008

2008 General Conference daily wrap (#10)

General Conference closes with message of hope after addressing budget, social issues

by J. Richard Peck*

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS)—May 2, 2008

United Methodists must live with a spirit of abundance and not scarcity as they go into the world, the new president of the Council of Bishops told delegates on May 2, at the closing worship of the 2008 General Conference.

It is "incumbent on you and me as people of Christian faith that we not become stingy with the blessings--stingy with what we have received from God," said Bishop Gregory Palmer in his sermon to close the denomination's top legislative assembly. Palmer, who leads the church's Iowa Area, was installed as president of the council on April 26.

"Naked we came into this world," he said. "We brought nothing with us, and we will take nothing with us. Everything we have--every good and perfect gift, comes from God.

"I am more hopeful for the church tonight than I have ever been because I am more vulnerable than I have ever been, and I need to depend more on the Holy Ghost than I have ever depended on the Holy Ghost," he said. "Lord except you help us by your spirit we haven't a got a chance."

Palmer's sermon closed the April 23-May 2 assembly shortly before midnight.

A focused budget

Earlier in the day, the delegates approved a $642 denominational spending plan for the next four years built around four areas of focus for the immediate future:

Developing principled Christian leaders;
Creating new places for new people by starting new congregations and renewing existing ones;
Engaging in ministries with the poor; and
Improving global health, especially attacking the killer diseases of poverty.

The budget calls for a 1.2 percent increase over each of the four years from 2009 to 2012. Church finance leaders acknowledged this increase does not keep up with inflation projections but said it is sufficient.

Prior to the meeting in Fort Worth, the conference received 27 petitions asking for a total of nearly $50 million above the $642 million bottom line. That was pared down during General Conference to $3.7 million in unbudgeted items.

The General Council on Finance and Administration and the church's Connectional Table worked with the general agencies to accommodate the unbudgeted requests, covering them through mostly reserve funds and some budget adjustments.

Those include $2 million to support theological education in Africa; $400,000 for the African-American Methodist Heritage Center; $600,000 to study structural issues related to the church's increasingly global nature; $290,000 for the committee on central conference affairs; $300,000 for a new committee on faith and order; $115,000 for the church's Judicial Council; and $50,000 for the Sand Creek Massacre site.

Morning worship

The final day began with a sermon by Mississippi Area Bishop Hope Morgan Ward, who urged the 992 delegates to go home from General Conference focusing less on the decisions made and more on things learned.

"We learned much about God," she said. "In this General Conference-ending day, we know that Christ is with us."

Ward based her sermon on Acts 1:6-11, when Christ told His disciples to wait for the time when God restores His kingdom. It was not for them to know the time of His coming.

She acknowledged that many people, especially those at a meeting such as General Conference, have a difficult time waiting and not knowing. "This was an invitation to wait, to remember there are things we are not to know," she said. "It was an invitation to receive the spirit, to be a witness."

Ward shared how United Methodists affected by Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi and Louisiana were asked to bring shards of broken items to be part of a cross or handed out to delegates. A woman came to Heritage United Methodist Church in D'Iberville, Miss., with bent spoon. "Since the storm, I have kept this bent spoon," said the woman. "For some reason, I have not been able to throw this spoon away. Until now. I'm ready to let it go; let it go to someone at the General Conference."

Other actions

Social issues consumed much of the closing hours of business.

The Board of Church and Society and the Women's Division of the Board of Global Ministries will continue as members in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. General Conference affirmed by a vote of 416-384 its 35-year relationship with the interfaith association.

The assembly added a statement on abortion to the Social Principles with language offering "ministries to reduce unintended pregnancies" and to assist the ministry of crisis pregnancy and support centers that help women "find feasible alternatives to abortion."

The assembly retained language defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

Pastors or district superintendents may now ask the bishop to give sacramental authority to a local pastor if an elder is not present. That right is confined to the location of a deacon's primary appointment.

In areas where it would take a great deal of time to deliver the sacraments to persons, a layperson is given the right to deliver the Communion elements.

The assembly affirmed the validity of scientific findings as ways to expand our understanding of the natural world and the mysteries of God's creation and the Word.

Noting that Israel continues to violate international law by building a wall on Palestinian land, the conference called upon Israel and Palestine to uphold U.N. resolutions and International Court of Justice rulings.

The conference asked the denomination's Board of Church and Society to identify and publish on its Web site educational resources on stem-cell research. The resolution encourages pastors to use the resources to become informed about the use of embryonic stem cells for medical research and to offer these resources for study in their local churches.

If annual conferences ratify the action by a two-thirds majority, the constitution will be amended to make it clear that all persons shall be eligible to attend worship services and, upon taking vows, become church members.

People who join United Methodist churches henceforth will promise to be faithful in "their witness" as well as in their prayers, presence, gifts and service. The conference also voted to add the witness phrase to the liturgy used by the church when a person makes a profession of membership.

During a press conference after a May 1 demonstration on the assembly floor over the church's stance on homosexuality, Palmer said he had a "deep sense of gratitude" for both how the protest was handled and how delegates and bishops responded. Afterwards, 16 bishops met with witnesses advocating for full inclusion "We went into a time of discussion, speaking from our hearts as much as our heads," said Bishop Sally Dyck.

Noting that more than 400 persons have been put to death in Texas since 1982, the assembly asked the Texas legislature to end executions.

The conference called on United Methodists to divest funds from companies that support the government of Sudan in order to end the genocide in that area.

The body encouraged the implementation of the universal school lunch program.

The assembly called for equal rights of men with regard to parental leave and child custody.

*Currently attending his 11th General Conference, Peck is a four-time editor of the Daily Christian Advocate now serving as an editor for United Methodist News Service during General Conference

News media contact: Tim Tanton e-mail:newsdesk@umcom.org.

2008 General Conference daily wrap (#9)

Constitutional amendments, Gates speech
and resolutions on variety of issues top agenda

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS) -- May 1, 2008

NOTE: Photographs are available with this report at www.gc2008.umc.org.

by J. Richard Peck*

Following an emotional day in which delegates debated issues related to homosexuality, Chicago Area Bishop Hee-Soo Jung told The United Methodist Church's legislative assembly that people on each side of the controversy are living out Christian values.

He said both those who want the church to be more flexible -- more open -- and those who want the church to be clear about boundaries -- more pure -- embody biblical values, "and both are right."

Speaking at a May 1 worship service of the legislative arm of the 11.5 million-member denomination, Jung invited United Methodists "to live in the tension that is created by holding both values -- holiness and hospitality -- together at the same time."

The bishop recalled how a criminal dying with Jesus pleaded, "Remember me."

"When Jesus remembers us, we are put back together again," he said. When people remember those who have died, they are brought back together in the living body of Christ through the act of remembering, he said.

"This is why whenever we share the bread and the cup we join not only with those physically present, but with the whole church of Christ, including the communion of saints. The body is re-membered," Jung said.

A witness for inclusion

General Conference allowed more than 200 people calling for the inclusion of all persons regardless of sexual orientation to walk through the aisles of the legislative gathering. Participants wore black as a sign of mourning for conference actions that bar gays and lesbians from serving as clergy and legislation that continues a statement stating the practice of homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching." The group covered the Communion table with a black shroud and formed a two-line cross around the table.

During the 15-minute witness, Bishop Melvin Talbert recalled how the 1939 Methodist Conference established a separate jurisdiction for African Americans. He called that historic action "a sin against God," and in making the decision April 30, the General Conference "has taken an action that is wrong," he said. He called for reconsideration of the issue.

After they silently entered the arena, the group sang, "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" Many delegates and bishops stood and sang in support of the action.

As witnesses filed out of the arena, visitors and delegates joined in singing, "Jesus, Remember Me When You Come into Your Kingdom," the theme of the morning sermon by Bishop Jung.

Pension and health benefits

The United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits, which cares for more than 74,000 participants and manages $16 billion in assets, celebrated 100 years of accomplishments.

The centennial celebration came the same week that the conference asked the Evanston, Ill.,-based agency to establish denomination-wide wellness guidelines for clergy and lay employees. The agency will also form a task force with the Board of Higher Education to examine employment systems and culture and to provide guidelines for sustaining a healthy work/life balance during ministry. Systems to be examined include itinerancy, appointment-making, supervision and processes for entering and exiting ministry.

In other health-related concerns, the conference required: 1) annual conferences to share health-care data with the board; 2) group health insurance plans for bishops, full-time clergy and full-time lay employees of annual conferences and general agencies; 3) access for retired bishops, annual conference clergy and lay employees to Medicare supplemental plans and prescription drug plans.

Gates thanks United Methodists

United Methodists have decided to wipe out malaria because "brothers and sisters don't sit back and let each other die," said William H. Gates Sr., co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, during a May 1 session of the conference.

"I am here today to thank you," he said. "We are proud to be your partner in this campaign to end the world's worst killer of children. We believe the campaign cannot succeed without you."

The United Methodist Church is one of the founding partners of the Nothing But Nets anti-malaria campaign, which fights the disease by purchasing and distributing insecticide-treated sleeping nets in Africa. More than $20 million has been raised since the campaign began in 2006. A donation of $10 covers the cost of delivering one net and teaching a family how to protect itself from malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Zimbabwe Bishop Eben Nhiwatiwa thanked Gates for his support of the Nothing But Nets campaign. The bishop told how he had distributed nets in a Zimbabwe village. "That village is very far away, but your helping hand has reached there," he said.

Support for people of Tibet, Sudan, Taiwan

The assembly affirmed support for the people of Tibet and their struggle for independence and autonomy. The action came May 1 as the petition on Tibet was among the consent calendar items approved that day.

Protests led by Buddhist monks have occurred in recent weeks in Tibet, sparked by grievances against Chinese rule and a desire for independence. A worldwide tour of the Olympic Torch, which returned to China on April 30, was disrupted by pro-Tibet advocates. China is hosting the Olympics this summer.

A new resolution on Sudan called "Sudan: A Call to Compassion and Caring," was part of the consent calendar approved April 29. It advocates for justice for all Sudanese, calls upon United Methodists "in every country" to encourage their governments to aid development of a more just economic system in the Sudan and asks church members to "examine all methods of protest and solidarity before undertaking them" to ensure that none of their actions causes violence.

Also approved by consent was a petition reaffirming the denomination's support of the democratic aspirations and achievements of the people of Taiwan. Church members are encouraged to become educated about contemporary issues related to Taiwan and the "One China" policy, and to promote the rights of Taiwanese "for stability, security and self-determination of its own status in the family of nations."

Constitutional amendments

All constitutional amendments approved by a two-thirds vote of General Conference must be ratified by a two-thirds affirmative vote of the aggregate number of voting annual members.

The assembly passed 23 constitutional amendments proposed by the Task Force on the Global Nature of the Church. The amendments will allow for the creation of a regional conference for the United States and change the words "central conference" to "regional conference." The legislation does not create a U.S. regional conference but makes it possible for General Conference to do so at a later time. The assembly created a task force to examine possibilities.

Delegates passed a constitutional amendment that reduces from two to one the number of years a person must be a professing member of a church before he or she can be a member.

Annual conferences will also be voting on proposals that provide for newly created conferences to be represented at general, jurisdiction or regional conferences on a non-proportional basis. The issue arose after the Côte d'Ivoire Conference was assigned two delegates for the 2008 General Conference.

If annual conferences approve the constitutional amendment, deacons, associate members and provisional members may join ordained ministerial members in full connection in voting for delegates to general and jurisdictional conferences. To be eligible to vote, local pastors must have completed the Course of Study or master of divinity degree and have served under appointment for served two consecutive years immediately preceding an election. Only ordained members in full connection with an annual conference may serve as delegates.

If annual conferences ratify the amendment, then local churches, jurisdictional and General Conference "organizations, groups, committees, councils, boards and agencies" will have to adopt ethics and conflict-of-interest policies. These policies will apply to both members and employees to help them "embody and live out our Christian values."

Judicial Council officers

The Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe, dean of Cannon Chapel and religious life at Emory University in Atlanta, was elected president of the Judicial Council May 1. The first woman to hold that office, she was elected in 1992 to her first eight-year term on the council and was elected to a second term in 2004.

Jon R. Gray, a Kansas City attorney, will serve as vice president, and the Rev. Belton Joyner, an interim district superintendent in the North Carolina Conference, will be secretary.

Northeastern Jurisdiction

General Conference established a new formula that will cause four of the five jurisdictions to lose a bishop at the 2012 jurisdictional conferences.

The Northeastern Jurisdiction is required to lose a bishop under the current formula. The Inter-jurisdictional Boundaries Committee recommended the reduction take place no later than Sept. 1, 2012; that recommendation was approved by General Conference.

Troy, Wyoming, North Central New York and Western New York conferences are proposing to create a new conference out of all or part of these conferences. Conversations are under way to merge Pennsylvania churches of the Wyoming Conference into the Central Pennsylvania Conference, and discussions are being carried out with the New England Conference to include all or some of the Vermont churches that are now in the Troy Conference.

Proposals call for the new conference to be formed by 2010. The proposal will be reviewed by the Northeastern Jurisdiction Boundaries Committee prior to action by Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference. No additional reductions in the number of bishops will be required in the jurisdiction by the new formula.

Other items

On the 100th anniversary of the Social Creed, delegates decided April 30 that a proposed new creed would serve the church better as a "companion litany." The Rev. Neal Christie, staff member of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and a member of the task force that prepared the creed, said it is "a gift to the church and reinforces and reframes the creed."

Delegates asked the General Council on Finance and Administration and the Connectional Table to provide $50,000 for a research and learning center at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. The site, 180 miles southeast of Denver, is a memorial to more than 160 Native Americans.

Zimbabwe Bishop Eben Nhiwatiwa and Washington (D.C.) Area Bishop John R. Schol signed a new covenant to work together. Last summer, the Baltimore-Washington Conference sent a 13-member team of clergy and laity to Zimbabwe to teach about 300 pastors church leadership and community development strategies and skills. The team also distributed more than 7,000 bed nets, as part of the Nothing But Nets campaign.

*Currently attending his 11th General Conference, Peck is a four-time editor of the Daily Christian Advocate now serving as an editor for United Methodist News Service during General Conference.

News media contact: Tim Tanton e-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org.

Phone calls can be made to the General Conference Newsroom in Fort Worth, Texas, at (817) 698-4405 until May 3. Afterward, call United Methodist News Service in Nashville, Tenn., at (615) 742-5470.

2008 General Conference daily wrap (#8)

Assembly retains stance on homosexuality

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS)--April 30, 2008

NOTE: Photographs and video are available with this report at www.gc2008.umc.org.

by J. Richard Peck*

After a long and emotional debate, the 2008 General Conference voted April 30 to retain statements in the Social Principles that the "United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching."

The final action replaced a "majority report" from a legislative committee, which called for recognition that "faithful and thoughtful people who have grappled with this issue deeply disagree with one another; yet all seek a faithful witness." The assembly replaced the majority report by a 517-416 vote.

The committee had voted 39-27 to ask for United Methodists and others "to refrain from judgment regarding homosexual persons and practices as the Spirit leads us to new insights." Frederick Brewington, a layman in the New York Annual (regional) Conference who chaired the legislative committee, said the proposed statement would eliminate a sentence that has "caused festering sores among the body for three decades."

The Rev. Eddie Fox, director of world evangelism for the World Methodist Council, led the effort to retain the current language. "My integrity will not allow me to be silent," he said in introducing the "minority report" to keep the church's stance unchanged. He said the Social Principles must be faithful to biblical teaching, and he suggested that any change in the language would harm the global church.

In approving the minority report, the assembly affirmed that all persons are "individuals of sacred worth created in the image of God." Delegates also retained statements asking "families and churches not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends."

In a separate resolution, the conference asked the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the church's social advocacy agency, to develop educational resources and materials on the effects of homophobia and heterosexism, the discrimination or prejudice against lesbians or gay men by heterosexual people.

The Rev. Deborah Fisher, a pastor in the Northern Illinois Conference, described how her husband's cousin was severely beaten because he was a gay man. That hate crime reduced him to functioning on a second-grade level and he died 10 years later.

The conference also retained a rule that prohibits United Methodist clergy from conducting ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions.

When delegates returned for the evening session, they walked by some 100 people standing in silent protest of the afternoon votes.

Membership

General Conference let stand language in the Book of Discipline regarding pastoral authority over church membership.

Petitions were brought to the assembly after considerable controversy over a 2005 decision by the United Methodist Judicial Council supporting the Rev. Ed Johnson of Virginia who denied membership to a man who was in an openly homosexual relationship. The council reinstated Johnson after he had been placed on involuntary leave by the Virginia Annual Conference.

A majority report of a legislative committee asked the conference to make it clear that pastors and congregations "are to faithfully receive all persons who are willing to affirm our vows of membership."

The Rev. Ted Virts, a superintendent in Sacramento, Calif., argued for the majority report. He said his job is to be "an errand-runner for God" who tells people they are "invited to a banquet," not to be "a ticket-taker or a security guard."

A minority report urged delegates to declare that "pastors have the responsibility of discerning one's readiness to take the vows of membership."

The Rev. Bob Moon, a pastor in Macon, Ga., supported the minority report, saying pastors must be good shepherds who care for their flock. Allowing anyone to come into the community could have unintended consequences.

The minority report was defeated 515-384, while the majority report was defeated by 51 percent of the delegates, leaving in place the Discipline's current language: "All people may attend its worship services, participate in the programs, receive the sacraments and become members in any local church in the connection.

‘Sin of racism'

"If we're going to be serious about the future of our church around the sin of racism, some tables will have to be overturned," New York Area West Bishop Violet L. Fisher said in her morning sermon to the assembly.

She said Jesus deliberately and unabashedly modeled both gender and racial inclusiveness by going into Samaria and speaking with the woman. "Are we willing to go through Samaria?" Fisher asked.

The bishop encouraged the denomination not to pretend it's done all it can do to "eliminate racism, white privilege, discrimination and clever tactics of subterfuge that leave our racial and ethnic ministries and pastors of color underfunded, underappreciated, and misunderstood."

The church must create and build "ministries that are culturally congruent with God's children," said Fisher. United Methodists must also "confront the institutional racism that infects the structures of the church and perpetuates the forces of oppression in the world," she added.

100 years of men's ministry

Shortly before adjourning at noon, delegates celebrated the 100th anniversary of ministry to men in The United Methodist Church and predecessor denominations. A six-minute video presentation noted that men's ministry was launched in 1908 because two-thirds of Methodists worshipping on Sunday morning were women.

The video displayed ministries of United Methodist men such as scouting, hunger-relief efforts through the Society of St. Andrew, the Upper Room Prayer Line, Big Brothers and providing a historic book of daily devotions for members of the armed forces.

The video concluded when Dale Long, a Dallas resident who has served as a big brother to six boys over the past 30 years, introduced his little brother, 15-year-old LaDarious Douglas.

Fewer U.S. bishops

Delegates approved a plan that will result in one less bishop in four of the five U.S. jurisdictions beginning in 2012. In an April 29 legislative session, delegates agreed that savings from those reductions will be used to fund new episcopal areas outside of the United States.

The North Central, Northeastern, South Central and Western jurisdictions each will have one less bishop under a new formula for determining the number of bishops. The action will not affect the Southeastern Jurisdiction, which already has one less bishop than the current formula allows. The Northeastern Jurisdiction likely will lose a bishop in 2008 under the current formula and a second one in 2012 under the new formula.

Africa University
Africa University is a uniting, connectional dream come true. That's the message received by delegates during a report from its nearly 16-year-old school in Mutare, Zimbabwe.
The report, introduced by James Salley, associate vice chancellor of institutional development of the United Methodist-related school, included the Africa University Choir, the school's chancellor, interim vice chancellor, an alumnus and a video presentation about how some of the university's 2,500 graduates are making an impact in 28 countries in Africa.
On April 28, delegates requested $20 million over a four-year period for the school--$10 million in apportionments and $10 million to be raised through the World Service Special Gifts.

The Philippines

Delegates adopted a resolution addressing the "unabated and egregious violations" of human rights in the Philippines that have resulted in 886 extrajudicial killings and 179 disappearances, including pastors and church workers.

The church called on the Philippine government to "immediately stop the killings and all other forms of human rights violations" and asked other nations to look into the situation.

A second resolution pledged to "pray for the Filipinos as they disciple among their people and call them to fidelity to our Lord Jesus Christ's imperatives for love, compassion, justice and peace."

Other items

Judicial Council ruled that General Conference can determine the number and qualifications of its members, and the process of how they are elected, but that the constitution of the church empowers the high court "to adopt its own methods of organization and procedure." The council also agreed that General Conference has a right to request that all members of the nine-member council be present to rule on the constitutionality of General Conference.

The assembly simplified the candidacy process whereby men and women become ordained as deacons or elders. Currently, a person must be a church member for two years before he or she can be considered as a candidate for ministry by a district committee on ordained ministry. That waiting time was shortened to one year, and the body ruled that membership is not required if the candidate has been involved in a United Methodist campus ministry or other denominational ministry for one year. Delegates also changed "required" into "recommended" readings and study with a pastor or mentor. The district committee will have greater authority to discern who is ready to proceed as a certified candidate.

Four United Methodist bishops and a top agency executive spoke about the human cost of the Iraq war at an April 29 prayer service for the Eyes Wide Open
exhibit. The temporary display in a nearby park included a pair of combat boots for every service person from Texas who has died in Iraq and Afghanistan. About 200 pairs of civilian shoes demonstrated civilian casualties. "These are sacred boots, which elevate this parcel to holy space," said Bishop John Schol of the church's Washington (D.C.) Area. "We continue to call on the president and Congress of the United States and the leaders of all the nations in the Coalition Forces to begin immediately a safe and full withdrawal of all military personnel from Iraq." Jim Winkler, top executive of the Board of Church and Society, Virginia Area Bishop Charlene Kammerer, North Katanga Bishop Nkulu Ntanda Ntambo and Denver Area Bishop Warner H. Brown also spoke out against the war.

General Conference rules state that only official materials may be placed on the desks of delegates. A delegate noted that pages were delivering identical messages to several delegates, and he asked the presiding bishop if this was a violation of the rules. The Rev. Fitzgerald Reist, secretary of the conference, said that any mass distribution by pages would be against the spirit of the law, but not the letter of the law. The assembly adopted a new rule restricting such practices in the future.

People in 48 countries have gone online to watch the business sessions, worship services and special events of the conference. Proceedings are being streamed live on the assembly's Web site, www.gc2008.umc.org. The General Conference Web site has been viewed 487,890 times from April 23 to 29.


*Currently attending his 11th General Conference, Peck is a four-time editor of the Daily Christian Advocate now serving as an editor for United Methodist News Service during General Conference.

News media contact: Tim Tanton e-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org.

Phone calls can be made to the General Conference Newsroom in Fort Worth, Texas, at (817) 698-4405 until May 3. Afterward, call United Methodist News Service in Nashville, Tenn., at (615) 742-5470.

General Conference 2008 daily wrap (#7)

Liberian president addresses assembly
FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS) -- April 29, 2008

NOTE: Photographs and video are available with this report at www.gc2008.umc.org.

by J. Richard Peck*

Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 69, spoke to the April 29 session of the United Methodist General Conference.

Liberia Bishop John Innis noted that the first woman to be elected president of an African nation is a graduate of the Methodist College of West Africa, a secondary school in Liberia. Innis introduced her to the assembly as "your daughter whom you educated."

"I am a United Methodist and a product of United Methodist education in Liberia, and I feel at home with you, members of my United Methodist family," said Johnson Sirleaf, who is revered as the "iron lady" of that West African nation.

Despite the fact that 85 percent of residents in the Republic of Liberia are unemployed and 63.8 percent live on less than $2 a day, "Liberia is on the way back," she said.

In a banquet where she received the first James K. and Eunice Mathews Bridge Builder Award, she told how her country was torn apart by wars and thousands had fled the nation. She spoke of young boys who were conscripted to kill and destroy, and she said mothers and children could get neither food nor education during the conflicts.

"Today we seek to start anew," she told nearly 1,000 attending the banquet. She said the infrastructure is being rebuilt and children are going back to school. "We turned on electricity in our capital city," she said. "Children danced in the street."

Johnson Sirleaf thanked the denomination for its 175-year presence in Liberia. There has been a Methodist presence in the Liberia since it was established by free American slaves in the 1820s. The church operates hospitals, schools and four mission stations in that nation.

Study of ministry

The 2008 General Conference continued a study of ministry from the preceding quadrennium. General Conference took similar action in 2004.

After four years, the Study of Ministry Commission found more questions than answers. The group said there was not sufficient time to resolve the divergent concerns around the ordering of ministry.

Delegates asked the Council of Bishops, in consultation with the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, Board of Discipleship and Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, to establish a 28-member Study of Ministry Commission for 2009-2012. The delegates also requested $150,000 for the new commission's work.

ELCA bishop's message

Bishop Mark Hanson, a bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and president of the Lutheran World Federation, preached April 29, a day after delegates approved an agreement establishing full communion with the ELCA. Pointing to worldwide migration caused by famine, war, poverty and national disasters, Hanson said the church has good news to share with a "rootless, restless, hopeless world."

"That good news is the words of Jesus, ‘I am the vine, and you are the branches. I have loved you the way my Father has loved me. You didn't choose me, remember: I chose you.'

"The choosing is not conditional upon our cooperation," Hanson said, because the roots of Christians already "are deeply planted in God's grace and mercy."

Higher Education banquet

More than 1,000 people attended a banquet April 28 to celebrate the witness of the 122 United Methodist-related academic institutions. Following a performance by a 120-member student choir, Jake Schrum, president of Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, said he doesn't worry about the "United Methodist Church's ability to share the hope of Christ with the rest of the world."

Following the student choir's singing of "Wade in the Water," Iowa Area Bishop Gregory Palmer said the song could be used to invite people to "wade in the water" of a United Methodist college, university or seminary.

"If we are beginning to sing in harmony ... the key to our future and the future of the world and of our planet is leadership, leadership, leadership," he said. "I say to you … let's wade in the water."

Some 250,000 students attend United Methodist-related academic and theological institutions in the United States. Ninety-two are four-year institutions, six are two-year colleges, 13 are theological schools, 10 are pre-collegiate schools and one is a professional school.

Hymnal revision

The assembly voted 450-336 to approve the creation of a 27-member hymnal revision committee. The committee would include three bishops, two members from each of the five U.S. jurisdictions, a representative from two groups concerned with liturgy and hymnody, three representatives from the United Methodist Publishing House, five from the Board of Discipleship and four chosen for expertise in liturgy and music.

Delegates also authorized the Board of Discipleship and the Publishing House to create a nine-member committee to determine the need for an Africana hymnal.

Other items

The Commission on Religion and Race celebrated its 40th anniversary. The agency was formed at the 1968 uniting conference in Dallas.

The Judicial Council meets during General Conference and ruled on four issues presented prior to the Fort Worth gathering. The council affirmed two bishops' decisions of law, sustained the church trial conviction and the revoking of credentials of a pastor in the Rocky Mountain Annual (regional) Conference, and ruled that annual conference commissions on religion and race do not have the authority to investigate complaints.

The 2004 Book of Discipline says, "The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ." Delegates added the clause "for the transformation of the world" to the end of that statement. A motion to add a clause about "salvation of souls" was defeated. Most argued that the mission is defined in further statements within the Discipline. The Rev. Tyrone Gordon, a clergy member of the North Texas Conference, said people need help living in the "nasty now"; let God take care of the "sweet by and by."

The Revs. Homer Noley and Alvin Deer were honored April 28 at a dinner celebration for their longtime commitment to Native American ministries in The United Methodist Church. About 50 Native American leaders and supporters from across the United States attended the dinner, sponsored by the Native American Comprehensive Plan.

# # #

*Attending his 11th General Conference, Peck is a four-time editor of the Daily Christian Advocate now serving as an editor for United Methodist News Service during General Conference.

News media contact: Tim Tanton or Kathy Noble, e-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org.

Phone calls can be made to the General Conference Newsroom in Fort Worth, Texas, at (817) 698-4405 until May 3. Afterward, call United Methodist News Service in Nashville, Tenn., at (615) 742-5470.

Delegates on the floor during the morning session Monday included Katie Karges, Cindy Karges, Zach Anderson, David Lux, Lavina Schwaninger, Tom Watson, Sam Rathod and Wayne Alloway.

General Conference 2008 daily wrap (#6)

Assembly tackles items with price tags

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS) -- April 28, 2008


by J. Richard Peck*

Still recovering from a fun-filled Sunday Area Night party and past-midnight sessions of legislative committees, weary delegates to the 2008 United Methodist General Conference assembled April 28 for a full day of legislation.

The 992 delegates had even more reasons to be tired at the end of a day when they wrestled with all proposals dealing with financial matters.

After proposals with price tags were approved, they were sent to the General Council on Finance and Administration and the Connectional Table for advice and final recommendations. These items are generally considered again on the final day of the 10-day gathering.

Delegates created a new fund for theological schools in Africa and launched two new study groups.

Africa education

Noting that United Methodist churches in Africa are the fastest-growing components of the denomination, delegates approved a request for $2 million for United Methodist theological schools on that continent.

The $2 million request for African theological schools would help seminaries across the continent train additional pastors for the growing church.

Tshibang Kasap Owan, a professor of the Mulungwishi Theological School in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, told delegates that the school receives 500 applicants each year, but because of budget constraint the school can only accept 10 to 20 students. The request for $2 million would help several African seminaries struggling in a similar manner.

Study of the world-wide church

A Task Force on the Global Nature of the Church, authorized by the 2004 General Conference, asserted that General Conference is too "U.S.-centric." The six-member group proposed the possibility of making the United States a central conference similar to other conferences outside the United States.

The task group submitted 23 petitions that would amend the constitution to allow for the creation of a regional conference for the United States and change the name "central conference" to "regional conference."

The group said it prefers the word "worldwide" rather than "global" since global might be associated with the "homogenization and dominance of Western economy and culture."

In response to the proposals, delegates asked the Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table to create a 20-member committee to consider recommendations of the study group and suggested that the six members of the earlier study be included in the new committee. The new group will also consider the financial implications of proposed changes in structure and report back to the 2012 General Conference.

Arthur Jones, a lay delegate from North Texas Conference who introduced the recommendation, said the establishment of a study committee does not require the creation of a U.S. regional conference; however, if the U.S. church were to become a central conference, it would probably convene after General Conference.

New Faith and Order Committee

Delegates created a new 24-member standing committee on Faith and Order to help bishops and the church reflect on matters of faith, doctrinal teaching, order and discipline. The group will also provide study materials upon the request of the bishops, the Connectional Table or General Conference. The cost of the committee is estimated to be $287,000 to be funded through existing funds within the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns and the Board of Higher Education of Ministry.

The Rev. James Harnish, a delegate from Florida, argued against establishing another committee, saying it just adds to the church's bureaucracy. "God loved the world so much that he didn't create a committee," he said.

The Rev. Gregory Stover, a West Ohio delegate and a member of the commission, said the committee does not add to the bureaucracy; it provides an opportunity for the denomination to "draw upon the well springs of the church." He noted that the church creates study committees every quadrennium and this standing committee might make some of those studies unnecessary.

Bishop Lyght sermon

The morning began as usual with a worship service. The April 28 sermon was delivered by West Virginia Bishop Ernest S. Lyght.

The church always must be aware of the needs of people and be ready to meet those needs with the "fresh bread" of faith, hope and love, said Lyght.

Preaching on Jesus' parable of the man who knocks on a neighbor's door at midnight asking for bread, Lyght said people facing their "midnight hour" are waiting at church doors for a helping hand.

The bishop listed some of the world's problems including war, poverty and disease, and said, "Wake up, church! Get up, church! When men, women and children knock on the doors of the church, they are looking for fresh bread. They want to encounter a vibrant faith. They want to embrace hope for tomorrow. They want to experience extravagant love that includes them."

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. portrayed the church as having three loaves of bread -- the bread of faith, the bread of hope and the bread of love, said the bishop.
Lyght said the church can keep "the bread fresh" by participating in a devout prayer life, regular Bible study, worship, small groups and Christian education.

Elections

After a careful check of keypads and the electronic voting system, delegates voted for members of the Judicial Council and the University Senate.

Judicial Council serves as the supreme court of the denomination. It has been at the center of considerable controversy after ruling that a pastor had the right to deny membership to a gay man. Lay persons elected to eight-year terms on the council are Angela Brown (California-Nevada) and Ruben Reyes (Philippines). Clergy elected are the Revs. Kathi Austin-Mahle (Minnesota); F. Belton Joyner (North Carolina); and William B. Lawrence (North Texas). Council members Jon Gray, Beth Capen, the Rev. Susan Henry-Crowe and the Rev. Dennis Blackwell were elected in 2004 to eight-year terms.

The University Senate is a group of 25 higher education professionals which determines which schools, colleges, universities and seminaries meet the criteria to be listed as affiliate institutions of the denomination. Persons elected to four-year terms on the senate are Maxine Clark Beach, dean, Drew Theological School; David L. Beckley, president, Rust College; Charlene Black, retired president, Georgia Southern University; and the Rev. Maxie Dunnam, former president, Asbury Seminary.

Other items

In other action, the assembly raised the retirement age of bishops. Currently bishops are required to retire if they reach age 66 on or before July 1 in a year when jurisdictional conferences are held. The assembly raised that age to 68 effective upon the adjournment of the 2008 General Conference.

Delegates learned that church members raised $3 million for the restoration of churches damaged by Hurricane Katrina. More than $60 million was given through the United Methodist Committee on Relief for humanitarian aid in the Gulf Coast. However, Bishop William Oden, chairman of the Council of Bishops' Katrina Recovery Appeal, said "Katrina fatigue has set in." He called for a recommitment to the rebuilding and reconstruction of the area. Elizabeth Cumbest, a teenaged church member from Ocean Springs, Miss., performed a song that she wrote to help raise funds for the Mississippi Conference's Seashore United Methodist Assembly. About $45,000 has been raised so far.

If delegates started getting sleepy in the late afternoon, a 23-member choir of children from Uganda woke them up. South Georgia Area Bishop Michael Watson said that after hearing the children sing, his conference wanted to bring the Hope for Africa Children's Choir to General Conference.

Delegates declined an opportunity to create a permanent site for the Judicial Council, but they did agree to provide an office for a part-time clerk who would work no more than 20 hours a week. The proposed cost of a permanent site would have added $25,000 a year to the denominational budget. It is not clear what the cost of a clerk's office might be, but the cost is to be paid out of Council on Finance and Administration funds.

Justa Mamani came from her home in Bolivia to thank delegates for the support her community receives through the Advance. Her expressions of gratitude were part of a celebration of the 60th anniversary of that second-mile giving program of the denomination.

Delegates created a Socially Responsible Investment Task Force to establish, implement and promote a common standard for determining prohibited investments. The task force is also asked to attempt to engage in holy conferencing with identified companies.

The April 27 evening "area night" included a concert by the internationally acclaimed Texas Boys Choir, followed by food, music and fellowship in a nearby courtyard. Delegates and visitors were treated to Texas delicacies, including empanadas, quail eggs and Blue Bell ice cream.
*Currently attending his 11th General Conference, Peck is a four-time editor of the Daily Christian Advocate now serving as an editor for United Methodist News Service during General Conference
News media contact: Kathy Noble or Tim Tanton, e-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org.
Phone calls can be made to the General Conference Newsroom in Fort Worth, Texas, at (817) 698-4405 until May 3. Afterward, call United Methodist News Service in Nashville, Tenn., at (615) 742-5470.

General Conference 2008 daily wrap (#5)

Black churches, Cote d'Ivoire, global warming on Sunday docket

For more news and information go to the Web sites below.
Nebraska Delegation Blog
General Conference Web Site
United Methodist News Service

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS)--April 27, 2008

by J. Richard Peck*

Both umbrellas and points of order were raised during an April 27 session of General Conference.

It didn't feel like Sunday to veteran delegates to the legislative arm of the 11.5 million-member United Methodist Church. In the preceding 11 sessions of the 40-year-old denomination, delegates took Sunday off to attend local churches in cities where the meetings have been held once every four years. However, with the shortening of the 2008 gathering from 12 days to 10, Sunday became a working day.

Some legislative committees concluded their work on April 26. Others spent their Sunday afternoon plodding through legislative proposals. That evening, delegates enjoyed the traditional "area night," hosted by the church's Fort Worth Area. The event included a performance by the Texas Boys Choir.

Morning worship
Worship was still the first order of the day.

In her sermon, Phoenix Area Bishop Minerva Carcaño told the assembly about men, women and children who are being "swallowed up" by the Sonoran Desert. She celebrated the placing of water tanks in the desert by United Methodist volunteers for Humane Borders, a faith-based organization supported by the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

In an appeal for a change in how immigration issues are approached in the United States and abroad, Carcaño said, "Jesus is not an American, German, Filipino, Liberian or even Nazarene. Nor is Jesus beholden to U.S. immigration policies or the policies of any nation." Her statements were met by enthusiastic applause.

Carcaño said the church needs to confess that it may be complicit in poverty--that many U.S. members may have more than they deserve and have not been faithful stewards of their resources.

The United Methodist Church has declared ministry with the poor as one of its four areas of focus for the immediate future.

A 36-member children's choir from the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference sang in Creek, Choctaw and English during the morning service. The children, ages 2 to 17, came from some of the 89 churches and more than 35 tribes represented in the conference.

The service of worship closed with a slideshow of people stuck in grinding poverty and those who are ministering to them. The song "The Whole World in God's Hands" played in the background.

Central conference committee

A Central Conference Commission has traditionally met a few hours prior to the opening of General Conference to address issues concerning churches outside the United States. Delegates approved a plan that will allow a central conference standing committee to meet twice within the 2009-2012 period. The estimated cost of two meetings is $264,500.

All proposals involving the spending of unbudgeted funds are referred to the Connectional Table and the General Council on Finance and Administration for advice and recommendation before final action is taken by the full assembly. A motion to keep these funds within the $642 million apportioned general funds proposal was defeated.

Global warming

The assembly voted 521-89 to create a task force to examine ways in which churches, agencies and conferences can address global warming. The 12-member group will make recommendations for such things as solar panels, meetings by conference calls, and building insulation, then report its findings to the 2012 General Conference.

Cost of the four-year endeavor, including meetings, printing and mailings, is estimated at $66,000. Delegates will review that cost after receiving recommendations from GCFA and the Connectional Table.

Black church initiative

Delegates voted 739-15 to continue a 12-year-old initiative known as Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century and suggested a budget of $1.4 million for 2009-2012 period. There are more than 2,400 African-American churches and 432,354 African Americans within the U.S. denomination.

Thirty congregational resource centers have developed more than 100 learning units that provide training tools for African-American churches across the United States, according to Cheryl Stevenson, executive director of the initiative.

Cote d'Ivoire

The 700,000-member Côte d'Ivoire church was formally received as a United Methodist annual (regional) conference after four years of legal questions over the implications of the action.

The 2004 General Conference called for only two delegates to represent the West African conference at the 2008 assembly. Judicial Council upheld that decision, saying the autonomous church had not fulfilled requirements to be a full annual conference. Now the largest in the denomination, the Côte d'Ivoire Conference is expected to have the largest delegation at the 2012 General Conference in Tampa, Fla.

"I am very joyful today, more than yesterday," said Bishop Benjamin Boni, leader of the church in Côte d'Ivoire. "We are today fully united in the church, and members in Côte d'Ivoire share together fully with others in The United Methodist Church."

Central Jurisdiction

The joining of the Methodist Church with the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1968 marked the end of the Central Jurisdiction, a non-geographic Methodist structure for African Americans.

General Conference honored men and women who worked 40 years ago to eliminate that race-based structure, formed in 1939 as a compromise measure between northern and southern branches of Methodism.

"For Methodist blacks, the creation of the racially segregated Central Jurisdiction was a humiliating disappointment," W. Astor Kirk told delegates. He was a member of the Committee of Five that sought the dissolution of the race-based jurisdiction. However, Kirk said, "many resourceful men and women used the organization as an instrument for empowering Methodist blacks."

Earlier in the day, General Conference suggested $400,000 in funding for the African-American Methodist Heritage Center for the 2009-2012 period.

Consent calendar

As a time-saving measure, petitions that receive fewer than 10 opposing votes in a legislative committee are placed on a consent calendar. If the proposal does not call for funding or a change in the constitution, and if 20 delegates do not call for its removal, it is bunched together with other non-controversial proposals and voted on as a group in a plenary session.

Items passed on the consent calendar included: 1) authorization to continue a dialogue with Episcopalians with an interim agreement on the Eucharist until full communion is established between the churches, and 2) acceptance of the Malawi district of the Zimbabwe Episcopal Area as a missionary conference.

Other items

Iowa Bishop Gregory V. Palmer was installed on April 26 as the new president of the Council of Bishops. Palmer, 54, will serve a two-year term as leader of 69 active and 87 retired bishops. He succeeds Houston Area Bishop Janice Riggle Huie. Bishop Larry Goodpaster, 50, of the Alabama-West Florida Area is the president-designate and will take office in 2010.

On the 40th anniversary of the dissolution of the Central Jurisdiction, the Rev. Gil Caldwell told a gay-rights rally outside the convention center of a time when blacks and white bishops were turned away at the door of a Methodist church in Mississippi. That church then argued it was "not un-Christian" for them to remain an all-white congregation. He drew a parallel between that era and today's restrictions on the full participation of gays and lesbians in The United Methodist Church.

Later in the day, Black Methodists for Church Renewal held an Africana dinner and worship event at the nearby Renaissance Worthington Hotel, featuring a performance by the Africa University Choir, a homily by Bishop Palmer and presentations to the retiring Ebony and African bishops.

# # #
*Peck is a retired United Methodist clergyman and four-time editor of the Daily Christian Advocate now serving as an editor for United Methodist News Service during General Conference.
News media contact: Rich Peck, e-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org.
Phone calls can be made to the General Conference Newsroom in Fort Worth, Texas, at (817) 698-4405 until May 3. Afterward, call United Methodist News Service in Nashville, Tenn., at (615) 742-5470.

	Some 100 representatives of 25,000 rural United Methodist churches processed down the assembly hall aisles with colorful banners covered with 25,000 paper butterflies. Nebraska Delegate Lavina Schwaninger enjoys a meal during a rural church celebration.

General Conference 2008 daily wrap (#4)

Wrap-up: Delegates renew baptism, celebrate rural churches

More news you can use.
Nebraska Delegation Blog
General Conference Web Site
United Methodist News Service

April 26, 2008--FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS)


NOTE: Photographs and video are available with this report at www.gc2008.umc.org.

by J. Richard Peck*
Delegates to the United Methodist General Conference renewed their baptism, celebrated rural churches, and spent most of April 26 in committees perfecting legislation to be considered by the entire 992-member assembly.

The Texas sky was clear when delegates to the top legislative body of the denomination entered the Fort Worth Convention Center. However, they would soon be sprinkled with water as young confirmands moved throughout the meeting hall, wetting branches and shaking them over worshippers.

Those present made signs of acceptance and renewed their baptismal commitment as musicians sang, "Rain down, rain down, rain down your love on your people."

Hutchinson sermon

In the morning sermon, Louisiana Area Bishop William W. Hutchinson recalled the biblical story of Nicodemus, a man of stature and wealth, who asked Jesus for counsel for his soul.

"Unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God," Jesus responded. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

"In other words," said the bishop, "Jesus is saying we have to be born from above -- out of this world -- so to speak. We have to be inhabited by that spirit of the living God, bringing life to our otherwise plodding souls, and lifting us from the ashes of life around us into the splendor of life in the living God."

Hutchinson asked the crowd, "Have we been baptized into form, but not yet into power? Have we been born from above as well as from below? Have we been baptized with water and the Spirit? To use two phrases spoken frequently by one of our district superintendents in Louisiana, have we moved from the ‘my my my' state of baptism to the ‘yes indeed' state?"

Planting seeds

Later in the morning, some 100 representatives of 25,000 rural United Methodist churches processed down the assembly hall aisles with colorful banners covered with 25,000 paper butterflies. Senior citizens in the Redbird Missionary Conference spent three months cutting out the butterflies.

Members of the procession also passed out packets of "Seeds of Hope" to grow zinnias, long-stemmed flowers that come in several colors.

Bishop Kenneth L. Carder described rural congregations as one of "our greatest assets for evangelical and missional renewal." However, he warned that "forces within and outside the church are choking the life from the fragile plants."

The bishop said negative forces within the rural church include a loss of identity as a center of evangelism and mission. "Rather than seeing the church as a mission station and themselves as missionaries and evangelists, they see the church as a family chapel and themselves as merely mutual comforters or perhaps hospice volunteers for a dying institution," Carder said.

The bishop said negative forces outside the rural church include demoralizing rhetoric that devalues small-member congregations, pastoral attitudes that consider rural and small-member congregations as career stepping stones, and marginalizing small-member congregations by omitting their voice from denominational structures.

Other events

-- After concerns were registered about a coalition giving cell phones to some 150 African and Filipino delegates to use during General Conference, delegates asked the 2009-2012 Commission on General Conference to create an ethics committee to review such matters.

-- Some delegates and visitors attended a Nothing But Nets basketball tournament held by the Central Texas and North Texas conferences at First United Methodist Church in Fort Worth. The tournament between the conferences began at the local church level last June. The tournament and offerings raised $300,000 for the campaign to provide insecticide-treated mosquito nets to African families.

-- An effort to raise retirement funds for pastors serving outside the United States has raised $7.8 million, but, in a video, Barbara A. Boigegrain, chief executive of the church's Board of Pension and Health Benefits, said it would require an additional $20 million to fully fund the program. Liberian Bishop John Innis said Liberia started receiving quarterly pension payments in 2007.

-- Some 200 people attended a noon rally asking the assembly to adopt legislation that welcomes everyone regardless of sexual identity. "Don't worry, it will happen because nothing can stop the force of this generation," said Rachel Birkhahn-Rommelfanger, chairperson of the United Methodist Student Movement. Supporters drummed for 24 hours leading up to the noon rally. After the event, participants went in the convention center and prayed outside conference rooms as delegates worked on legislation.

-- A study committee is offering several recommendations designed to establish closer ties with autonomous Methodist Churches in Latin America and the Caribbean. Among the recommendations is a suggestion that U.S. churches and conferences establish relationships. The study group also wants all General Conference documents translated into Spanish.

*Peck is a retired United Methodist clergyman and four-time editor of the Daily Christian Advocate now serving as an editor for United Methodist News Service during General Conference.

News media contact: Tim Tanton or Kathy Noble, e-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org.

Phone calls can be made to the General Conference Newsroom in Fort Worth, Texas, at (817) 698-4405 until May 3. Afterward, call United Methodist News Service in Nashville, Tenn., at (615) 742-5470.

General Conference 2008 daily wrap (#3)

by J. Richard Peck*

More news you can use.
Nebraska Delegation Blog
General Conference Web Site
United Methodist News Service

April 25, 2008--FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS)

The United Methodist Church will receive a $5 million grant to fight malaria and other diseases of poverty. The grant comes from the United Nations Foundation with help from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Announcement of the grant came on World Malaria Day, April 25, the third day of the 2008 General Conference. The conference, meeting April 23-May 2, is the legislative arm of the 11.5 million-member United Methodist Church.

In making the announcement, Bishop Thomas Bickerton said the church needs to have a "posture of expectation." Bickerton's roles include serving as a spokesperson for the Nothing But Nets campaign, which provides mosquito nets to protect African families from malaria-carrying insects.

"I want to live to see a time when my grandchild will someday come to me and say, 'Grandpappy, what is malaria?'" Bickerton told a press conference after the announcement. "I hope to tell her that malaria was a disease that was prevalent before a group of United Methodists got together and decided to do something about it." The bishop, who presides over the church's Pittsburgh Area, hastened to add that he is not yet a grandfather.

Bickerton, who also serves as president of the United Methodist Commission on Communication, said the goal is to raise $100 million. Each net costs $10, and the effort has raised more than $20 million since it began in 2006.

The bishop placed a $10 bill for the campaign on the Communion table in the center of the arena. Delegates followed his lead and placed a total of $13,530 next to his bill.

Morning worship

The day began with a sermon by Bishop Joao Somane Machado of the Mozambique Annual (regional) Conference.

Machado told the story of a pastor sent to a new appointment at a church with the reputation of looking inward, and not "out at the world." The pastor's opening sermon was very well received, but in the following weeks he delivered the same message. "Why are you repeating the same sermon?" asked the church's administrative council. "Until you show me that you can put into action the words I am preaching, I'm not going to change my sermon," the preacher responded.

Machado noted that The United Methodist Church is blessed with gifted men and women, but it is deeds, not words, that are the keys to making true disciples who can transform the world -- just as much of Africa has been transformed by decades of work by followers of Christ. "We need to do what we say -- it's action we are missing."

The bishop opened with greetings in several languages, calling them "all the languages spoken in heaven." He gave the rest of the sermon in his native Portuguese.

Delegates introduced

Delegates from affiliated autonomous Methodist churches, affiliated united churches and concordat churches were introduced to the body during the morning session.

Latin American/Caribbean delegates came from Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Panama, Brazil, Cuba, Uruguay, Chile, Peru and Mexico.

Other countries sending delegates included the Philippines, Korea, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar, Hong Kong, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Japan.

Legislative committees

During their 10-day assembly in the Fort Worth Convention Center, delegates will amend the Book of Discipline, the United Methodist book of law, and the Book of Resolutions, a book of statements on social justice issues. That process begins in legislative committees. The 1,500 petitions sent to General Conference are divided by disciplinary paragraph or subject area and assigned to one of 13 legislative committees.

The committees elected officers April 24, and most of the groups divided into subcommittees to tackle specific proposals from individuals, churches, annual conferences, agencies and caucuses. Subcommittee recommendations will be considered by the full legislative committee before they are brought to the 992-member General Conference for action.

If a proposal that has no financial implications and does not seek a change in the constitution receives fewer than 10 negative votes, it is placed on a "consent calendar." That item may be removed from the consent calendar by 20 delegates. If it is not removed, it is voted on with other noncontroversial items as a time-saving mechanism.

Immigration press conference

The United Methodist Task Force on Immigration sponsored a press conference at a Disciples of Christ church across the street from the Fort Worth Convention Center, where General Conference is being held. The Rev. David Farley, pastor of Echo Park (Los Angeles) United Methodist Church, said the plight of immigrants is a "humanitarian crisis, a moral outrage and an affront to God." He told some 175 people attending the conference that more than 800,000 people are displaced annually.

The task force is supporting two resolutions before General Conference.

Bishop Felton May, interim top executive of the Board of Global Ministries, wondered if anyone would step forward during this General Conference session and confront the issue. "What would it look like if United Methodists said to Bushy, 'Tear down this wall?'' he asked.

In other news:

-- The Judicial Council announced that six petitions that would require places for ethnic minority persons, young people, young adults or central conference representation on general agencies or as delegates to General Conference would be declared unconstitutional if they were passed by the legislative body. The assembly can recommend such representation, but it cannot require it.

-- Outside the plenary sessions, delegates and church officials reacted to word that a coalition of renewal groups had provided free cell phones to more than 150 African and Filipino delegates to use during General Conference. Some expressed concern that the coalition was trying to sway the votes of the delegates. A letter from the coalition announced the cell phone give-away as a service that might be helpful to overseas delegates, while also suggesting the delegates consider a particular slate of members for Judicial Council. A coalition member said the phones were provided to give the delegates the same access to communications and materials as U.S. delegates.

-- Tim Bruster, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Fort Worth, brought greetings on behalf of Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief, a member of First Church. Texas Gov. Rick Perry also sent greetings through the Daily Christian Advocate, the official publication of the conference. "Occasions such as this inevitably lead to moments of introspection, renewal and new beginnings," he said.

-- Fort Worth Area Bishop Benjamin Chamness thanked other conferences in the South Central Jurisdiction for providing funds for the gathering.

-- Delegates, bishops, general agency staffers and visitors helped load 40,000 pounds of sweet potatoes into trucks and other vehicles for distribution to area social service agencies that feed the hungry. The "potato drop" was sponsored by the Society of St. Andrew, a national hunger-relief agency based in Virginia, and the Task Force on Hunger of the Central Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church. The potatoes were provided by Texas Sweet Potato Distributing Inc., a division of W. E. Bailey Produce of North Carolina.

*Peck is a retired United Methodist clergyman and four-time editor of the Daily Christian Advocate now serving as an editor for United Methodist News Service during General Conference.

General Conference 2008 daily wrap (#2)

Legislative work begins, follows day of speeches

More news you can use.
Nebraska Delegation Blog
General Conference Web Site
United Methodist News Service

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS)—April 24, 2008

by J. Richard Peck*

Delegates to the United Methodist General Conference began to sink their teeth into some 1,500 petitions during the evening of April 24.
The 992 delegates gathered in 13 legislative committees following a day of speeches, presentations and reports.
The morning began with the traditional Episcopal Address, delivered by Illinois Area Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher. The Laity Address was delivered by Lyn Powell, lay leader of the North Georgia Annual (regional) Conference, and the first-ever Young People's Address was presented by six youth and young adults.

Most of the speeches tried to help delegates guide the 11.5-million member denomination to "A Future with Hope," the theme of the 10-day gathering.

Speakers lamented the loss of members in U.S. churches and celebrated the growth of churches in Africa and Southeast Asia. They called upon United Methodists in this nation to set aside their differences and to follow Wesley's three rules: Do no harm, do good and stay in love with God.

Episcopal Address
Christopher's message on behalf of the Council of Bishops was filled with songs and multimedia and multi-sensory images about how people received and experienced hope, gave hope, and were transformed by encounters with Christ.
"All around this world there is physical, mental and spiritual hunger for the bread of life," she said.

There are various types of hunger--food, education, freedom, meaning and purpose, and a relationship with God. But, "in the midst of the world's hunger pangs we--gathered here and connected around the world--are the church of Jesus Christ," she said.

She attributed some of the membership decline in U.S. churches to "ruptures in our United Methodist relationships. Left or right, conservative or liberal, we treat our baptized brothers and sisters as if they are our enemies" and seek to destroy those who have a different viewpoint or perspective, she said.

"Our fervent pursuit of being right takes priority over right relationship," she said. The disarray of the table, the fractured and ruptured United Methodist relationships, and "carefully calculated formulas of theology" make church members unable to hear and listen to the cries of a neighbor. "Our own need deafens us to the needs of others," she said.

Young People's Address
The first-ever Young People's Address to General Conference was given by Becca Farnum, 17, of Mount Pleasant, Mich.; Kira Volkova, 24, of Kirov, Russia; the Rev. Annie Arnoldy, 29, of Grand Junction, Colo.; Andrew Craig, 16, of Denver; Matt Lockett, 20, of Seattle; and Jason Rathod, 24, of Hastings, Neb. They were chosen by the Division on Ministries with Young People, Board of Discipleship. The presentation included videos, photos, drumming and singing.

"We have shared stories of persecution, homelessness, and what it means to be a young person in a world desperately in need of Jesus," said Lockett. "What you do with what you have heard is really up to you."

"On the local level, we've started believing that we're so far apart on the major issues of the day that we can only find common ground in hosting potlucks and singing praise songs," Rathod said.

"What I know about the church is that it yearns for young people," Arnoldy said. "What I know about young adults is that they yearn for a place to belong. This seems like a pretty fruitful situation."

The six concluded their presentation side by side on the stage and said, "Believe in us. Believe that the future of the church is in good hands. We're ready. The time is now. Let us begin."

Laity Address
Powell challenged lay members of the denomination to assume responsibility for reaching the unchurched. She said it is unreasonable for clergy, with their myriad responsibilities, to spend time engaging the unchurched. "But the laity are already there," she said. They encounter unchurched people in all walks of daily life.

She asked why 80 percent of the residents in most U.S. counties are not meaningfully connected to a church. Why did 42 percent of the denomination's 34,398 U.S churches not have a person join by profession of faith? she asked, citing a church statistic for 2006.

Powell said laity have become complacent and think it is their calling to receive ministry from clergy rather than be equipped by the clergy to go out into the world and offer Christ.
She suggested each lay person might claim one area of personal ministry that could be centered around one of the denomination's four areas of focus.

Four Areas of Focus
Four staff executives of United Methodist boards explained areas of focus that will guide the future work of the denomination's 13 general agencies.
The four areas of focus area are:
1) Developing principled Christian leaders for the church and the world.
2) Creating new places for new people and renewing existing congregations.
3) Stamping out diseases of poverty by improving health globally.
4) Engaging in ministry with the poor.
"Somehow, in our 40 years, poverty became acceptable to us," said Bishop Felton May, interim top executive for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. "We permitted ourselves to join the rest of the world in complacency. But here -- at our 40-year anniversary -- for the love of God, the United Methodist Church declares, no more!"

The Rev. Jerome King Del Pino, chief executive, United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry, admitted that stamping out disease is an "ambitious" notion. But, he said, church leaders "believe that by interconnecting the resources, capacities and skills of the entire United Methodist community, we can help to significantly reduce deaths caused by the diseases of poverty."

Such work can be accomplished by creating and renewing congregations, according to the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt, chief executive, United Methodist Board of Discipleship. "Jesus calls us to bring more people to follow Christ to the cross … to give their very lives for the gospel," she said.

Principled Christian leaders also are needed. "This focus area is not about recruiting pastors to occupy pulpits on Sundays -- while that would be a critical and needed result," Hollon explained. "Instead, it is about cultivating a whole new paradigm of leadership that can engage a culture that has evolved in its color, complexity and global interconnectivity … and is no longer hospitable to the message of Christ."

Seven Pathways
The four areas of focus were derived from "seven pathways" established by the Council of Bishops.
Ohio West Area Bishop Bruce Ough explained that early in the quadrennium, the Council of Bishops "looked across the landscape of United Methodism to seek out the best qualities of who we are and the most fruitful practices of our discipleship."

He said that search found churches that follow seven basic pathways:
1) Teaching the Wesleyan model of reaching and forming disciples of Jesus Christ.
2) Strengthening clergy and lay leadership.
3) Developing new congregations.
4) Transforming existing congregations.
5) Ending racism as the church authentically expands racial and ethnic ministries.
6) Reaching and transforming the lives of new generations of children.
7) Eliminating poverty in community with the poor.
The bishop explained, "The seven pathways are embedded in these four focus areas."

Budget plans
The General Council on Finance and Administration, the church's finance agency, works with the 60-member Connectional Table to balance the mission needs of the denomination with the ability of local churches to fund the programs.

Delegates learned that the two units are proposing a quadrennial budget of $642 million. The spending plan is developed around the four Areas of Focus.

The budget is based on a formula in which, for every $1,000 that is received in a congregation, $854 remains in the local church, $124 supports district and annual conference ministries, and $22 goes to denominational ministries.

Using the analogy of the church as a cup, Los Angeles Area Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, president of the finance agency, said God's life-giving love and grace should overflow and pour out into a thirsty world in need of spiritual transformation. However, "too often we are living as if we have just one small cup."

When used faithfully, however, the cup becomes Christ's vessel for mission and ministry. "When it is empty, its purpose is to be filled; when it is filled, its purpose is to be emptied. It gives what it receives; it receives only so that it can pour out," she said.

Second-day activities also included:
• A lunchtime rally near the Fort Worth Convention Center by some 300 United Methodists who oppose H.R. 4088, a bill focused on strict enforcement of immigration laws. The group also backs General Conference resolutions that seek immigration reform.
• A report from the Judicial Council saying two paragraphs of the Book of Discipline dealing with the complex process of nominating and electing members of general agencies are in conflict and should be reconciled at this session of the General Conference. The Discipline is the denomination's book of law.
• A celebration of Katherine Commale, who at age 5 learned that a child dies of mosquito-borne malaria every 30 seconds. She launched an effort that raised $40,000 for mosquito nets. The 7-year-old was part of a presentation by the Connectional Table.
• A late-afternoon press conference featuring the Rev. Drew Phoenix, pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church in Baltimore. He said he took "steps toward wholeness" two years ago when he underwent surgery and hormone therapy to switch his gender from female to male. He was reappointed when Bishop John R. Schol said the 2004 Book of Discipline does not prohibit a transgender pastor from being appointed. General Conference will act on resolutions declaring that neither transgenderism nor transsexuality "reflects God's best intentions for humankind."
*Peck is a retired United Methodist clergyman serving as an editor for United Methodist News Service during General Conference.

News media contact: J. Richard Peck, e-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org.

General Conference 2008 daily wrap (#1)

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by J. Richard Peck*

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS) -- Meeting once every four years, 992 delegates from United Methodist churches in the United States, Africa, Asia and Europe, opened their 10-day legislative sessions with the singing of "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing" and "Are We Yet Alive."

Some 5,500 visitors, conference officials and choir members observed the pageantry from the galleries of the Fort Worth Convention Center.

The two-hour service featured praise bands, a full orchestra, choirs, music, prayers and Scripture in many tongues, and symbols of the Christian faith using ordinary elements of glass, wood, bread, fruit of the vine and water.

On the 40th anniversary to the day when the Evangelical United Brethren Church united with the Methodist Church to create The United Methodist Church, and within 40 miles of where it happened, delegates from 129 annual conferences and 50 countries met to establish policies for the 11.5 million-member denomination and to declare positions on social justice issues.

Focused on the theme "A Future with Hope: Making Disciples for the Transformation of the World," delegates gathered about a Communion table made from trees salvaged from Gulfside Assembly in Waveland, Miss. Destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, the trees also provided the material for the altar rail, baptismal font and lectern. Gulfside served as a retreat center and meeting place for African Americans before the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Iowa Area Bishop Gregory Palmer and Houston Area Bishop Janice Riggle Huie officiated at the Communion service.
Bishop Huie's sermon sounded a clear call that, even in the midst of a world filled with AIDS, malaria, violence, global climate change and fear, United Methodists are called to live a life with hope -- resurrection hope.

Bishop Huie said that the word "hope" was becoming a "marshmallow word. It sounds soft. It looks sweet and appealing. Get it close to the fire, and hope melts off the stick and drips on the ground.

"Resurrection hope transforms lives and changes the future," the bishop said. "Tonight, through us, the people of The United Methodist Church gather around this table filled with resurrection hope."

Following the opening Communion service, the assembly adopted the rules of order delegates would be following for the next nine days. Some 1,500 petitions will first be considered in 13 legislative committees before they are brought to the full plenary sessions for final action. Those committees will begin work tomorrow.

Council of Bishops

The Council of Bishops met prior to the opening of General Conference and elected Alabama-West Florida Area Bishop Larry M. Goodpaster as president of the council effective in 2010. Iowa Bishop Gregory Palmer was elected last November to serve a two-year term as council president following Houston Area Bishop Janice Riggle Huie, who leaves office at the close of General Conference.
Forty-four of the bishops spoke in various churches in the Fort Worth area on Sunday, April 20.

During the bishops' meeting, Seattle Area Bishop Ed Paup formally tendered his resignation from the council to become the top staff executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. He was elected to that post last March and is scheduled to assume his new duties in September. The election and resignation to assume a post with a United Methodist agency was a first in the 40-year history of the denomination.

Orientation sessions

Opening day activities included orientation sessions for women, ethnic and racial minorities and delegates from nations outside the United States.

International delegates to General Conference receive translations through headsets. Sessions are translated into German, French, Portuguese, Swahili and Spanish.

Caroline Njuki, an executive with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries' Africa office, reminded international delegates that they were free to participate in any meals or events sponsored by church agencies and caucus groups without feeling obligated to vote a certain way.

"You will be invited to breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the people who invite you will want to influence your vote," Njuki told the overseas delegates. "You are free to partake of their food, and nobody will be looking at you when you vote."

For the ninth time, the Commission on the Status and Role of Women and the Women's Division, Board of Global Ministries, co-sponsored an orientation for women. Participants received information about legislation related to both groups.

More than 55 of the 71 youth and young adult delegates, including first reserves, were given an opportunity to meet one another during the orientation for delegates under 30.

One youth, Marshall Bailey, 17, a delegate from the Virginia Annual Conference, scanned the 1,560-page Advance Daily Christian Advocate and turned it into a PDF file to be used on computers of youth and young adult delegates. The three-volume edition includes all the legislation to be considered during the gathering.

In the orientation for racial and ethnic minority delegates, David Maldonado, chairman of the Inter-Ethnic Strategy Development Group, said, "We are here to support a very important vision and future for people of color in The United Methodist Church."

An exhibit area includes displays from various United Methodist agencies. The United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race sponsors a "Journey to Inclusiveness" exhibit that includes a "Human Race Machine," which enables white people to view computer images of their faces as they would look if they were African American.

AIDS Conference

Pre-General Conference activities included an April 22 conference on AIDS, sponsored by the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund Committee.

Four years ago, General Conference set a goal of $1 per member for the nearly 8 million members of the denomination in the United States. The Rev. Donald Messer, executive director of an ecumenical global AIDS action network, reported that only $2.5 million had been raised toward that $8 million goal. He said raising funds has been hampered by fear, theological taboos and stigma surrounding the epidemic.
Bike riders concluded a 238-mile, four-day bike ride to raise money for Nothing But Nets. Finishing at the convention center on April 23, the group raised $156,144 for mosquito nets to protect African families from malaria.

The first two days of the conference are filled with major addresses and worship services. During the following eight days, delegates will be knee-deep in parliamentary procedures offering amendments and substitute motions to proposals from individuals, churches, annual conferences and churchwide agencies.

*Peck is a retired United Methodist clergyman serving as an editor for United Methodist News Service during General Conference News media contact: Peck, e-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org.

Assembly approves $642 million churchwide budget

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS)--May 2, 2008

NOTE: Photographs and video are available with this report at www.gc2008.umc.org.

by Marta W. Aldrich*

Following a declaration that "the budget defines who we are and what we believe" as the church, the 2008 United Methodist General Conference approved a $642 million denominational spending plan for the next four years built around four areas of mission and ministry.

"(The budget) is our mission statement of what God is calling us as people of The United Methodist Church to be about in the world," said Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, president of the church's finance agency, in presenting the proposed budget on May 2, the final day of the 10-day legislative assembly.

"We are the cup from which will flow the funds for mission and ministry of The United Methodist Church," said Bishop John Hopkins, chairman of the Connectional Table, a churchwide leadership group that collaborated to develop the budget with the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA), the Council of Bishops and the church's 13 denominational agencies.

With minimal discussion, the delegates approved the budget by a vote of 750-28 and later approved the "apportionment formula" by which it is funded through money requested of the church's 63 U.S. annual (regional) conferences and their local congregations. Less than 2 percent of the money placed in local church offering plates goes to fund denominational ministries and administration.

Hopkins said the budget was developed to strike a balance between the needs and ministries of congregations and annual conferences "with the calling that God is making to our denomination to be out in the world."

Focusing the church's resources

The budget represents a 4.8 percent increase over the 2005-2008 spending plan of $612.5 million approved by the 2004 General Conference.

The $642 million budget translates into a 1.2 percent increase over each of the next four years. Church finance leaders acknowledge this does not keep pace with projections for inflation, but say the amount is sufficient.

For the first time, the budget was developed on an outcome-based model shaped around the denomination's four areas of focus for the immediate future:

• Developing principled Christian leaders;
• Creating new places for new people by starting new congregations and renewing existing ones;
• Engaging in ministries with the poor;
• Improving global health, especially attacking the killer diseases of poverty.
"We have the opportunity to celebrate the abundance that God has poured out for mission into the world," Swenson said.

Committed to stay within the proposed $642 million bottom line, the GCFA and Connectional Table worked with the church's general agencies to accommodate almost $3.7 million in unbudgeted items approved by the General Conference in its earlier business.

Those items include $2 million to support theological education in Africa, where The United Methodist Church is experiencing its largest growth; $600,000 to study structural issues related to the church's increasingly global nature; $400,000 to help develop the African-American Methodist Heritage Center created by the 2004 General Conference; $290,000 for the committee on central conference affairs to address matters of the church outside of the United States; $300,000 for a new committee to study matters of faith, doctrinal teaching, order and discipline; $115,000 for the church's Judicial Council to have a part-time clerk and records maintenance; and $50,000 for the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site in Colorado.

The unbudgeted expenses were absorbed mostly by denominational agencies through some budget adjustments and mostly reserve funds. However, members of the Connectional Table and GCFA governing board -- meeting on the previous evening to discuss the items -- expressed concern that such reserve funds cannot be an automatic pool for funding General Conference initiatives.

"We need to understand that that's not sustainable for the future," said Kristina Gonzales, a member of the Connectional Table from Seattle.

Swift approval

The budget process on the floor of General Conference took just over an hour of business and stood in stark contrast to 2004, when the assembly met in Pittsburgh and wrangled with the budget for more than three hours, including parliamentary maneuvering and numerous motions from the floor.

This time, however, only one motion came from the floor, asking to reallocate money from United Methodist Communications for additional radio ministries in Africa. The motion from the Rev. Joe Kilpatrick of the North Georgia Annual (regional) Conference was referred to the Connectional Table for further study.

It was the first time the denominational budget was prepared by GCFA in collaboration with the 4-year-old Connectional Table, which includes representatives from the Council of Bishops, churchwide agencies, U.S. jurisdictions, conferences outside of the United States, racial/ethnic caucuses and young adults.

"In 2004, this General Conference asked us to bring vision, mission and money together at the same table and come back, and we have done it," Hopkins told the assembly.

Collaboration and consensus-building

Budget leaders credited a spirit of collaboration and an early start.

"I think a definite reason for the success is that this process started two years ago," said the Rev. Larry Homitsky, a delegate from Western Pennsylvania who chaired the assembly's budget subcommittee.

"A second reason," he said," is that our subcommittee and legislative committee really took to heart the spirit of holy conferencing. Whenever there was a disagreement or differing opinion, people listened so that we could reach a consensus of what is the best thing for the church."

Among those concerns, he said, was the dramatic increase in the cost of the church's Episcopal Fund, which supports 69 active and 89 retired bishops. The fund has grown by almost 28 percent since 2005 and is projected to grow more than 13 percent by 2012.

The delegates referred the matter to GCFA and the Connectional Table for further study and recommendations.

Another concern was the amount of unrestricted reserve funds held by denominational church agencies. GCFA officials list the agencies' net reserve assets at $292 million, primarily designated for specific purposes over time, and have pledged to provide a more specific accounting in advance of future General Conferences.

*Aldrich is news editor of United Methodist News Service.

News media contact: Marta Aldrich, e-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org; call (615) 742-5470.

United Methodists reject divestment from Israel

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS) -- May 2, 2008

NOTE: Photographs are available with this report at www.gc2008.umc.org.

by Linda Bloom*

United Methodists have rejected attempts to have the denomination endorse divestment from Israel as a way of addressing the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The actions occurred during General Conference, the church's top legislative body, meeting April 23-May 2 at the Fort Worth Convention Center.

A number of petitions, including five from U.S. annual (regional) conferences, were folded into one petition on "divestment" that called on the denomination's pension board and finance agency "to review and identify companies that profit from sales of products or services that cause harm to Palestinians and Israelis and begin phased selective divestment from these companies."

That petition was rejected May 2 by General Conference delegates as they voted on a special consent calendar.

A divestment petition from the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA), "Promoting Peace through Ethical Investment," also was rejected on the same consent calendar. The petition had called upon a number of United Methodist entities to undertake a "phased, selective divestment from companies that support the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and other violations of human rights in Palestine/Israel."

MFSA had been successful in appealing to the General Conference Petitions Committee to remove its petition from an omnibus divestment petition and have it considered separately by a Financial Administration subcommittee.

Another petition from the Northern Illinois Conference, "Peace and Justice in the Holy Land," directed the Board of Pension and Health Benefits and Council on Finance and Administration to undertake a process of phased, selective divestment. It was voted down by consent calendar on May 1.

General Conference did adopt a petition on the Middle East conflict submitted by the denomination's Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns as part of the consent calendar approved April 29. That petition calls for the church to continue "to advocate for a peaceful settlement of the conflict … through negotiation and diplomacy rather than through methods of violence and coercion."

The week before General Conference began, officials of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society withdrew a petition calling for divestment from Caterpillar Inc. because of charges that the company profits from illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and contributes to the occupation by supplying Israeli Defense Forces with heavy equipment.

The officials said talks with Caterpillar have resulted in the company issuing a statement denouncing immoral use of its equipment and agreeing to continue dialogue.
Church and Society will report to the 2012 General Conference on the progress of the discussions with Caterpillar. About $5 million of the denomination's estimated $17 billion pension portfolio is invested in Caterpillar stock.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service writer based in New York

News media contact: Linda Bloom, e-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org, call (615) 742-5470.

Commentary: Deliberating under the influence (of too little sleep) at GC 2008

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS) -- May 2, 2008

NOTE: Photographs are available with this report at www.gc2008.umc.org.

by the Rev. Rebekah Miles*

As we reach the end of the 2008 General Conference, some of us delegates are feeling a little like the 87-year-old John Wesley, who, as he neared death, wrote to a friend, "I am half blind and half lame; but by the help of God, I creep on still."

General Conference delegates have done their very best while deliberating under the influence of too little sleep and too few breaks. And we, like Wesley, creep on still.

General Conference sessions are always tiring and long, but this year was the worst, according to many experienced delegates. The organizers of General Conference, in a praiseworthy effort to save money, cut two days from the General Conference calendar. And with the addition of some new events and speeches, we were left with even less time for legislative committee deliberations. And it showed.

Many legislative committees and subcommittees worked not only through their regularly scheduled times, but also through lunch and dinner breaks for three and four days running, through plenary sessions, and then even after late-night plenary sessions were over, as late as 1 a.m.

Just two days before the end of General Conference, one of our 13 legislative committees was still meeting. Many of the General Conference delegates estimate that they got about five hours of sleep -- on a good night -- while legislative committees were meeting.

You could see the effects. Delegates would forget in the middle of a sentence what they were trying to say, and they would cry over things they would normally shrug off. I've heard slurred speech and seen staggering gaits, with not a drop of alcohol in sight.

This is no big surprise.

A person who has lost a lot of sleep will experience the same impairments as someone who's had a couple of margaritas. If you go 24 hours without sleep or go a week with only five hours of sleep a night, like many General Conference delegates, you are just as impaired as someone with a .10 percent blood alcohol level.

Sleep deprivation is linked to poor judgment, increased irritability and anxiety, and lowered productivity and social skills.

In one study, researchers found only one difference between those who went 24 hours without any sleep and those who went for a week with only five or so hours a night: Those with no sleep at all recognized that they were messed up!

For all of their sleep deprivation, most delegates have enough wisdom to know this is not the best way to get the church's work done. We did our very best to get our work done in the shorter-than-ever time that was allotted -- even when that meant little sleep and no breaks. Indeed, delegates may have been sleepy and foggy-headed, but like John Wesley, we "crept on still."

United Methodists are known for being hard-workers. Wesley's instructions to his preachers are still read during the clergy session at each annual conference: "Be diligent. Never be triflingly employed. Never trifle away time."

But that was not all of Wesley's advice about the use of time. He once wrote that we should not "begin or continue in any business which necessarily deprives us of proper seasons for food and sleep, in such a proportion as our nature requires."
The 2008 General Conference did just that in a more extreme way than previous General Conferences.

This is not a good state in which to deliberate. We would have suffered no less impairment had the marshals and pages been passing out shots of vodka at the convention center entrances!

That's not at all what abstemious United Methodists are recommending. We don't want vodka! We don't want margaritas! We don't even want long nights of sleep and lengthy breaks! (OK, maybe we do want a good, long night's sleep.)
Mainly, we just want enough time to finish our task.

To the new General Conference Commission, we say: Give us the time we need to do our work.

*Miles is a clergy delegate from the Arkansas Conference and an associate professor of ethics at the Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. This commentary was provided by the United Methodist Reporter.

News media contact: Deborah White, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

Bishop opens General Conference 2008 with 'resurrection hope'

NOTE: Photographs are available at Resurrection Hope Photos

by Erik Alsgaard*

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS) -- On the 40th anniversary to the day of the creation of The United Methodist Church, and within 40 miles of where it happened, United Methodists from 129 annual conferences and 50 countries gathered at the Fort Worth (Texas) Convention Center for the start of the 2008 General Conference.

Under the leadership of Marcia McFee of Truckee, Calif., and Mark Miller of Plainfield, N.J., co-music directors for the General Conference, more than 6,500 people filled the arena Wednesday night for a two-hour worship service.

The rousing worship featured praise bands, a full orchestra, choirs, music, prayers and Scripture in many tongues, and symbols of the Christian faith using ordinary elements of glass, wood, bread, fruit of the vine and water.

Bishops Gregory Palmer, Iowa Area, and Janice Riggle Huie, Houston Area, led the service of Holy Communion, with the Lords' Prayer being offered by each worshipper in his or her own native language.

Gathering around a table cast in the middle of the nearly 1,000 delegates seated on the arena floor, the gospel was read, the bread broken and the cup poured out.

The wood used to create the pulpit, the altar and the table was taken from the "hallowed grounds" of Gulfside Assembly in Waveland, Miss., noted McFee at the start of the worship service. Gulfside was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Amid the pageantry, pomp and circumstance as bishops, banners and believers bedecked the arena, Bishop Huie's sermon sounded a clear call that, even in the midst of a world filled with AIDS, malaria, violence, global climate change and fear, United Methodists are called to live a life with hope -- resurrection hope.

Preaching from Romans 8:18-28, Bishop Huie said that today, the word "hope" was becoming a "marshmallow word. It sounds soft. It looks sweet and appealing. Get it close to the fire, and hope melts off the stick and drips on the ground."

Interrupted by applause on several occasions, Bishop Huie said that hope is not only the theme of this 2008 General Conference, it is the "nerve center" of the Christian life.

"It is impossible to live without hope," she said. "Show me someone without hope and I will show you someone who is either dead or so desperate that they are capable of the most awful violence."

To counter this sense of hopelessness, we have our Bible, which the bishop said is nothing but a story of hope.

"The Apostle Paul paints hope on a cosmic canvas of salvation history," Bishop Huie said. "The focal point of the painting is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"Resurrection hope transforms lives and changes the future," the bishop said. "Tonight, through us, the people of The United Methodist Church gather around this table filled with resurrection hope.

"Hope is the nerve center of the Christian life," said Bishop Huie. "Love is the heart. Faith is the muscle. It is impossible to live without hope."

The bishop related stories of visits she made to local churches in Arkansas and Texas, the two episcopal areas she has served. On those visits, she often asked about the church's mission.

"I've lost count of the number of times I've heard this response: ‘Mission? We just hope we can survive another year.'"

When Paul used the word "hope" five times in this Scripture, Bishop Huie said, "He was not describing a sweet, sappy kind of hope that evaporates in the noonday sun. He is not describing wishful thinking. He is describing the sure confidence of a future reality."

That reality, grounded in the resurrected Christ, causes disciples to "wait with eager longing and unfettered imaginations to discover where God is already at work in the world and join with God in that transformation."

The bishop shared a poignant story she learned from Elizabeth McKee Gore, a United Methodist laywoman who works at the United Nations Foundation with the Nothing But Nets campaign to eradicate malaria.

While on a trip to Angola, Elizabeth met Esperanca Afonco, an 8-year-old girl. Esperanca was sick and in the hospital with both AIDS and malaria. The doctors had given her only weeks to live.

Bishop Huie said that Elizabeth wrote about meeting Esperanca at the hospital. What struck her was that in the hospital, Esperanca's mother, Bela, had decorated the bed to look like it was fit for a Disney World princess. A pink bed net was draped over the bed, the dolls and the child.

Even Esperanca was pretty in a pink dress. All this in contrast to the drab surroundings of the other beds in other wards, filled with two or three to a bed.

The doctor asked Bela, "Why have you worked so hard to create such a lovely environment?"

The mother replied: "We have to have hope."

"Resurrection hope gives us the courage to stand beside the bed of a loved one with terminal disease," Bishop Huie said. "Resurrection hope overcomes the insults of institutional racism. Resurrection hope plants new seed when the rains finally come. Resurrection hope rebuilds homes and lives after a storm.

"We are no longer captives to fear. We are heirs to a new covenant -- a new future."

And please, the bishop said to the church, do not forget Esperanca this week.

"In Portuguese," Bishop Huie said, "Esperanca means ‘hope.'"

*Alsgaard is director of communications for The United Methodist Church's Florida Annual Conference.

News media contact: Tim Tanton or Kathy Noble, e-mail: newsdesk@umcom.org.

Large team of interpreters assists assembly delegates

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS)--May 1, 2008

NOTE: Photographs are available with this report at www.gc2008.umc.org.

by Yvette Moore*

A 140-member team of interpreters and technicians is making it possible for nearly 300 international delegates to the 2008 United Methodist General Conference to participate in worship, committee discussions and floor debates.

Interpreters for the April 23-May 2 legislative meeting are available for nine languages: American Sign Language, 3; French, 30; German, 6; Korean, 6; Mandarin Chinese, 4; Portuguese, 27; Russian, 10; Spanish, 10; and Swahili, 26.
They work in two-person teams, allowing each a slight break after 30 consecutive minutes of translations. The breaks are only partial during committee work, as the "off" person must keep track of petition numbers and other resources.

Language-equipment technicians and transporters are also multilingual, although they do not serve as interpreters.
This year marks the greatest increase in the need for interpreters since the service was first officially offered in 1984. Forty percent of international delegates have requested interpreters, translations of written materials and general lingual help navigating a foreign city, said Nilda Ferrari, director of multilingual-resource services for the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and coordinator of language services at General Conference.

"We had a huge orientation the Monday before General Conference began. That's the only time I had everyone together," Ferrari said of the language team she and the Global Ministries staff assembled from around the world.
Prior to the meeting, the interpreters received Global Ministries-produced glossaries on the church's specialized vocabulary and acronyms, published in German, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. The Spanish glossary, first published in 1987, is in its fifth edition, and the first Russian glossary was released in March.

"Right now these books are like Webster's Dictionary--all the church agencies use them," Ferrari said. "My goal next year is to have books for Swahili and Mandarin Chinese."

Gradual evolution
Interpretive services at General Conference have come a long way since retired Global Ministries missionary and staff member Joyce Hill first gathered Spanish-speaking dele