Three conferences express support for moving forward as one

The count is in, and the majority of people who casted ballots at the Nebraska, Kansas East and Kansas West annual conference sessions are in support of creating one new annual conference for the United Methodist Church in the two states.

Members of the Nebraska-Kansas Episcopal Area Transition Team met June 13 at Grace United Methodist Church in Topeka to review the responses to the five-finger ballots cast at the 2011 sessions of the Nebraska, Kansas East and Kansas West annual conferences.

Five fingers represented support for the proposal, four fingers represented support with some questions, three fingers represented support with significant questions, two fingers represented opposition but an unwillingness to stop the process, and one finger represented opposition to the proposal as presented.

Kansas West, the first to cast five-finger ballots, had 497 ballots submitted. Of those, 142 people (28.6 percent) marked five fingers, 120 (24.1 percent) marked four fingers, 88 (17.7 percent) marked three fingers , 62 (12.5 percent) marked two fingers and 85 (17.1 percent) marked one finger.

Nebraska, the second to cast five-finger ballots, had 445 ballots submitted. Of those, 89 people (20 percent) marked five fingers, 117 (26 percent) marked four fingers, 127 (29 percent) marked three fingers, 36 (8 percent) marked two fingers and 76 (17 percent) marked one finger.

Kansas East cast ballots on June 10, and had 434 ballots submitted. A member of the Kansas East Conference requested, and the conference voted to approve, the ballots be counted separately for laity and clergy. Of the ballots cast, 86 clergy and 106 laity (192 ballots, 44.2 percent) marked five fingers, 52 clergy and 92 laity (144 ballots, 33.2 percent) marked four fingers, 23 clergy and 33 laity (56 ballots, 12.9 percent) marked three fingers, 15 clergy and 15 laity (30 ballots, 6.9 percent) marked two fingers and 9 clergy and 3 laity (12 ballots, 2.8 percent) marked one finger.

Team members received more than 100 pages of comments and questions from the comments area on the reverse side of the ballots. Those comments are attached below and can also be found on the Nebraska-Kansas Episcopal Area Transition page, along with background information on the three episcopal areas becoming one.

• Kansas East clergy comments
• Kansas East laity comments
• Kansas West comments
• Nebraska comments

“We’ve learned a great deal from this process and the comments that were made. We clearly heard that all three conferences need to address small rural church issues,” said Kansas Area Bishop Scott Jones. “The dream team for that is being shaped.”

The Rev. Pat Ault-Duell, a member of the transition team and senior pastor at Hutchinson Trinity United Methodist Church, will be liaison to the Small Membership Church Dream Team announced at all three conferences.

“We heard in Nebraska the strong concern from retirees about their health insurance,” said Nebraska Area Bishop Ann B. Sherer-Simpson. “The [Joint Distributing] technical team will be putting together suggestions that we will begin to look at this fall.”

A report from the Joint Distributing Committee was distributed at the annual conferences and is available on the three conference websites. The Rev. Brian Kottas, team member and pastor at Lincoln Horizons Community UMC, is liaison to the committee.

“These are complex issues, and ones with which we will deal with great care,” Sherer-Simpson said.
Overall, the team was encouraged by the results of the five-finger ballots, the conversations and questions asked at the annual conference sessions and the comments written on the ballots themselves.

“Overall, it came out more positive than I expected,” Jones said. “There’s still a lot of questions around distance, where Annual Conference is going to be held and leaving the small membership churches behind.”

“Now we know what our work is,” Sherer-Simpson said.

In addition to the Small Membership Church and Youth dream teams mentioned at conference, the team created several more teams in response to comments and questions received during their conference sessions.

A Technology Dream Team will be created to look at how available technologies can be harnessed to create connections and reduce the geographic distances in the new area. The Rev. Eduardo Bousson, campus minister at Washburn University in Kansas East, will be the liaison to the team.

A Racial-Ethnic Ministry Dream Team will be created to look at ways to strengthen ethnic ministries in the three conferences. Transition Team members the Rev. Charlotte Abram, Omaha TRI Community UMC in Omaha, and Corey Godbey, Hispanic Ministries director for Kansas West, will be liaisons to this dream team.

A Young Clergy/Young Adult Dream Team will be formed. The Rev. Debra McKnight, associate pastor at Omaha First United Methodist Church, will be team liaison to this team.

A subcommittee of the transition team was named to look at some of the more difficult technical issues the team will have to consider in the next six months in preparation for the 2012 annual conferences including:

• Episcopal office location, costs and staffing.
• Name for the new conference.
• What apportionment formula should be used and how much will it raise.
• Developing a timeline for evaluating the location of the conference office building(s) and make any potential changes.
• Developing a timeline for evaluating the number of staff positions and where they would be deployed.
• Recommending changes, if any, in districts, number of superintendents and their role.

Team members working on these issues for the October meeting are the Rev. Gary Brooks and Bob Cox, Kansas West; Kottas and Tom Watson, Nebraska; and the Rev. Jan Todd and the Rev. David Livingston, Kansas East.

Three team members also are working on guidelines for the dream teams and other groups meeting across conference lines to guide their work. Nancy Brown, a lay person from United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan.; Oliver Green, Kansas East lay leader from Topeka; and Sheran Cramer, a lay person from Omaha, will develop the guidelines for the team to review.

The Rev. Carol Roettmer Brewer, Nebraska director of Connectional Ministries and staff person for the team, will pull together a report on locations where it’s possible to host an annual conference for 2,200 members for the team’s October meeting.

The Rev. Matthew Fowler, pastor at Faith UMC in Grand Island, Neb., will be liaison to the Youth Dream Team.

People interested in serving on any of these teams should contact Brewer at crbrewer@umcneb.org. The goal is to name the teams this summer and receive initial reports by Sept. 19 for review at the transition team’s meeting Oct. 3 and 4 in Wichita.

The Transition Team will meet online Nov. 17, in person Jan. 12 and 13 in Lincoln and March 1 and 2 in Manhattan.