The United Methodist Church: what the heck just happened?

I am a pastor in the United Methodist Church (UMC). The UMC is the third largest Christian denomination in the United States. It is a global church consisting of over 12 million people, and this week, 864 delegates from all over the world met in St. Louis for a Special Called General Conference.

Background

General Conference is a meeting that happens every four years. During this time, delegates discuss the official stance of the UMC, and address several petitions related to the Book of Discipline, the rules and regulations of the Church. In 2016, the General Conference met in Portland, Oregon. It was during this time that 40 years of arguing on the position of the Church with regards to homosexuality came to a head.

Delegates asked the bishops (the ones who have oversight for the Church) for leadership. In response, the Commission on a Way Forward was brought together, consisting of people from all over the world, and all over the theological spectrum.

After several months of hard work, conversations and back and forth, the Commission put out a report recommending a way to move forward with an emphasis on unity despite theological differences.

A special General Conference was called, and scheduled to meet in 2019 — one year prior to the normal General Conference meeting of 2020. To my knowledge, outside of an initial one when the United Methodist Church was formed, this is the first time there has been a called General Conference between the regularly scheduled ones.

As I write this today, we are now on the other side of the special called General Conference of the United Methodist Church. The last few days have been difficult. People across the denomination have been hurt. Words were said that could never be taken back. Misunderstandings were amplified. Ulterior motives have been assumed. Frankly, I don’t see how anybody can feel good after watching what happened in St. Louis, and I imagine a good number of people need a break to recover and deal with the aftermath.

So, let’s begin with what was decided, and then we’ll talk about how we got there.

The Decision

By the time the General Conference was concluded, the Traditional Plan, which affirms the current stance of not ordaining “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals” and not allowing United Methodist clergy or churches to be involved in same sex marriages, ended up passing by a vote of 438 to 384, or 53%. The Traditional Plan also included provisions for increased accountability of the clergy and bishops to abide by the Book of Discipline, the official rules and regulations of the United Methodist Church.

Prior to the Saturday gathering, the Judicial Council (the group that has the responsibility of ensuring legislative items are in line with the Constitution of the UMC) was asked to make decisions regarding two petitions that related to the Traditional Plan. One petition had to do with an accountability system for clergy, and the other would have essentially created a global episcopacy committee that would oversee the bishops. By Sunday, the Judicial Council met, and both petitions were deemed unconstitutional.

The General Conference began on Saturday with a day of prayer and worship. People from all over the world and across the theological spectrum prayed with and for one another. They worshiped together. All in an attempt to set the tone for the rest of the Conference.

While the presenting issues surrounded human sexuality, the General Conference, at its core, was really about how do we stay together as a unified denomination, even if we are so far apart on social and theological issues. This emphasis on unity was loud and clear.

Sunday: Prioritization and the Beginning of Legislative Work

General Conference began on Sunday with a review of the three major plans that were being presented by the Commission on a Way Forward: the One Church Plan (OCP), the Traditional Plan (TP), and the Connectional Church Plan (CCP).

After a break, the first order of business was to prioritize what would be discussed. There was a good number of issues at hand, and in order to get done what really needed to be done, they needed to figure out an order. More than likely, they were not going to get to everything on the docket, since they only had three days to do the work. For those who have served on committees, you know that getting through everything can be difficult. Now, imagine having 860 people on the committee, and you get an idea of what General Conference looks like.

When the prioritization had taken place, the order of discussion would be: Wespath and petitions related to pensions; the Traditional Plan; two disaffiliation petitions; the One Church Plan. Further down the list were several items that ultimately would not be addressed.

Once the prioritization was determined, the General Conference went into legislative committee. For items to pass, there was a two-step process. First, the petitions could be discussed and amended in legislative committee. Petitions that received more than 50% of the vote would then be passed on to the plenary session. Petitions could then be discussed and amended in the plenary session. Petitions receiving 50% of the vote would then become part of the official United Methodist Book of Discipline, reflecting the official position of the Church with the necessary changes taking place in the Discipline.

After the discussion on pensions and both petitions were approved (don’t ask me what they mean, because my eyes glaze over when we start talking about pensions), the General Conference was adjourned for the evening with the intent of beginning work on the Traditional Plan first on Monday morning.

Monday: Legislative Work Continues

While the Traditional Plan was the first of the potential plans to be discussed, there were some serious issues that needed to be dealt with, and would be recurring themes on Monday and Tuesday. First off, several month ago, the Judicial Council was asked to make declaratory decisions regarding the constitutionality of the three plans that were presented. Each plan had some problems, but the Traditional Plan in particular has something along the lines of 13(?) petitions that were deemed unconstitutional by the Judicial Council. What does that mean? It means that the Traditional Plan was going to need a lot of work.

For those looking to move the United Methodist Church in a more progressive direction, these changes were going to take up too much time and prevent the body from going about it’s work on several other petitions. In spite of efforts to delay the vote, move the discussion to the end of the day or prevent the Traditional Plan from passing, discussion continued and, eventually, the Traditional Plan was passed by the legislative committee. Unfortunately, however, many of the unconstitutional issues were not addressed. More on what that means in a little bit.

The disaffiliation petitions were then taken up. Disaffiliation petitions had to do with making it possible for churches to leave the denomination with their property, while also assuring that they are current on their financial obligations to their Annual Conference (the regional governing body).

As it stands right now, the property of the local church is actually deeded to the denomination under what is known as the Trust Clause. Any church that seeks to leave the denomination could do so, but would lose its property to the Annual Conference.

Two of the three disaffiliation petitions that were submitted were passed. The third did not pass because the legislative body believed that two was enough, and a third was unnecessary.

Next, the General Conference discussed the One Church Plan (OCP). The OCP was the plan that was supported by the Council of Bishops. Many on the traditional side thought it presented too much of a compromise, as did many on the progressive side. Essentially, the OCP would remove restrictive language regarding homosexuality from the Book of Discipline, and allow individual churches the freedom to decide where they would stand regarding the issue at hand. The OCP allows for same gender marriages, but does not demand it. Clergy and the local church had the authority to decide for themselves where they would stand. The OCP would also allow for Annual Conferences to decide whether or not they would ordain “self-avowed, practicing” homosexuals. Again, it gave the freedom for those who would, but did not demand that all do.

After much discussion, attempted amendments and the like, the One Church Plan was voted down by the legislative body in a close vote, meaning that it would not be presented at the plenary session except as a minority report. After the OCP was voted down, it was decided that the other items on the docket would be grouped together and rejected. The one exception was that the Simple Plan, the plan that just removed restrictive language from the Discipline, would be voted on separately.

It was understood at this point that the Simple Plan had little chance of passing, but there were those who felt it was important to discuss the plan so that voices on the matter could be heard. As expected, the Simple Plan did not receive a majority of the vote and was shot down by the legislative body.

Tuesday: Plenary Session

When the plenary session began on Tuesday morning, the OCP was brought up as a minority report, and, once again, was defeated, and it became very clear that those who opposed the Traditional Plan were going to attempt to do all they could to prevent a final vote from taking place.

As the session progressed on Tuesday, things got ugly, including a call for an Ethics Committee investigation on rumors that proponents of the Traditional Plan were buying the votes of the delegates from the Central (non-U.S.) Conferences. Words were said that were hurtful to members of the LGBTQ community, to members from overseas, to conservative members. In the pain of the moment, people lashed out. And in the end, all attempts to prevent the Traditional Plan were unsuccessful, and it was approved by the plenary session.

Immediately, there were shouts and chants of protest, and the General Conference went on a break to allow for people to express their grief in the moment.

When it was all said and done, the Traditional Plan, with all its unconstitutional components, was passed. It will be referred to the Judicial Council, who will discuss the constitutionality of the Plan during their meeting in April.

Now What?

So, what does all of this mean?

With the passing of the Traditional Plan, there would be increased accountability in the United Methodist Church to prevent same gender marriages and the ordination of “self avowed, practicing homosexuals”. It means that there would be more church trials because it has been made clear that those who support such a position will not back down.

However, given the likelihood of major portions of the plan being deemed unconstitutional, most likely, after all the work, all the hours, and millions of dollars, in the end, we will be exactly where we were before the start of General Conference.

The increased accountability will not take place because the structure will not support it. In fact, Annual Conferences in the Western Jurisdiction have already said that they will not abide by the Book of Discipline in these matters.

Things are far from settled in the United Methodist Church. And with a regularly scheduled General Conference happening in Minneapolis in 2020, this isn’t the last time we will have to deal with the matter.