wfn.org | 1996 Year-end Wrapup

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3323 notes).

Note 3318 by UMNS on Dec. 4, 1996 at 16:51 Eastern (11635 characters).

SEARCH: 1996, General Conference, Jurisdictional Conference, World
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CONTACT: Thomas S. McAnally             606(10-21-28-31-71B){3318}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470              Dec. 4, 1996

Year-end Wrapup

For Methodists, 1996
was year of conferences

                          A UMNS Feature
                         by Tom McAnally*

     For United Methodists -- and Methodists worldwide -- 1996 was
a year to confer.
     Largest of the Wesleyan bodies around the world, United
Methodists held their quadrennial, 10-day General Conference in
Denver in April.  Only weeks later five U.S. jurisdictional
conferences were held, primarily to elect and assign bishops for
the next four years.  
     These events were in addition to the usual May-July annual
conferences held in each of the church's 66 U.S. regional units.
     From the beginning of Methodism in England in the 18th
Century, regular conferences have been a basic ingredient of
Methodist life, a time for members to discuss common interests,
set cooperative goals and hold one another accountable.  It was at
a Christmas conference in Baltimore in 1784 that American
Methodism was formally launched. 
     In addition to these annual and quadrennial conferences in
the United Methodist Church, nearly 3,000 members of the worldwide
Wesleyan family gathered in Brazil in August for the World
Methodist Conference, held every five years. Sponsoring this
larger conference was the 500-member World Methodist Council.

                        General Conference

     The 1996 General Conference may not be remembered for any
particular legislation as much as by the presence of special
people.  They included First Lady Hillary Clinton, a life-long
United Methodist, the first spouse of a president ever to address
a Methodist General Conference.
     And then there was Bishop Arthur Kulah who, with his wife,
came directly from the airport to the floor of the conference
where he was warmly greeted by delegates and visitors.  Kulah and
his wife had traveled for days from their war-ravaged homeland of
Liberia.
     Clinton shared her experiences as a United Methodist and
called on the denomination to continue its social witness for the
world's children. With tears running down his cheeks, Kulah
described Liberia as "a country that is so rich in human resources
and yet so poor when it comes to human relationships" and a nation
founded on Christian principles "yet destroyed by greed and
selfishness."
     General Conference delegates were surprised if not stunned
when during the conference 15 bishops released a statement
expressing "pain" over their "personal convictions that are
contradicted by the proscriptions in the (Book of) Discipline
against gays and lesbians within our church..."
     Praised by some in the church for their courage and
criticized by others as "renegades," the 11 active and four
retired bishops signing the statement said that despite their
disagreement with the church's anti-homosexual stance, they would
uphold the Discipline.
     Homosexuality has been a high-profile issue in the
denomination since the General Conference of 1972.  Many of the
8,000 petitions sent to the conference from individuals, churches
and other groups dealt with the subject.
     The denomination considers the practice of homosexuality
"incompatible with Christian teaching" and forbids the ordination
or appointment of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals." At the
same time it supports the civil rights of gay people and condemns
violence against them.  No churchwide funds can be used to support
activities that "promote" homosexuality.
     Delegates defeated an attempt to soften the church's 24-year-
old proscription against homosexual practice. The proposal was to
replace the assertion that homosexuality is "incompatible with
Christian teaching" with the acknowledgement that United
Methodists are "unable to arrive at a common mind" on the subject. 
The vote to retain the "incompatible" language was 577 to 378. 
Four years earlier the comparable vote was 710 to 238.
     Delegates adopted prohibitions against pastors presiding at
union services for people of the same sex and the use of United
Methodist Church buildings for such ceremonies. At the same time,
support was given for gays to serve in the U.S. military.
     In final hours of the conference, delegates approved a
footnote defining a "self-avowed practicing homosexual" as one who
"openly acknowledges" her/his lifestyle to a bishop, district
superintendent, district or conference board of ordained ministry,
or clergy session of the annual conference.
     Largely because of what happened at the General Conference in
April of this year, the issue of homosexuality spilled over into
the five Jurisdictional conferences where a total of 17 new
bishops were elected and all 50 of the U.S. episcopal leaders
received appointments for the 1996-2000 quadrennium. As episcopal
candidates were interviewed by annual conference delegations, they
frequently were asked where they stood on the issue of
homosexuality and if they would support the church's position as
stated in the Book of Discipline.
     Abortion continued to be a thorny issue for 1996 General
Conference delegates but no substantive changes were made in the
church's conditional pro-choice stance. With a 497-399 vote,
delegates rejected a "rights of the unborn" addendum to the
church's Social Principles.
     International aspects of United Methodism were more visible
than at any previous General Conference.  More of the 998 lay and
clergy delegates were from Africa, Europe and the Philippines than
ever before, and there was more participation in debate and
discussion.
     For the first time in Methodist history, the traditional
episcopal address opening the conference was given by a female,
Bishop Judith Craig of the West Ohio Area.

                    Jurisdictional Conferences
     
     Seventeen new bishops were elected by United Methodists in
five simultaneous U.S. jurisdictional conferences during the week
of July 15-19 to replace those who died or retired.  The new
bishops include 14 men -- four of them African Americans -- and
three women.  The Rev. Charlene Kammerer of the Florida Conference
became the first woman ever elected bishop in the church's
Southeastern Jurisdiction. She was assigned to the Charlotte
(N.C.) Area.  The number of women bishops in the church now stands
at 10, with the election of three this July. Bishops are elected
for life but must retire when their 66th birthday falls on or
before July 1 of the year in which the jurisdictional conferences
are held.  Ages in the 1996 class ranged from 46 to 62.
        Bishops in the Central Conferences are elected at various
times during the year.  Bishop Walter Klaiber was reelected bishop
by the German Central Conference in October.   The Rev. Ntambo
Nkulu Ntanda was elected a bishop in August during sessions of the
Zaire Central Conference and was assigned to supervise the North
Shaba Area.
     The number of African American United Methodist Bishops
increased by one as a result of the elections.  The four newly
elected black bishops added to the six who continued brings the
number of African Americans among the denomination's 50 active
U.S. bishops to 10, one more than last quadrennium.
     
                    World Methodist Conference
     
     The world Methodist gathering in Rio de Janeiro was actually
two meetings -- a World Methodist Conference in which more than
2,700 people participated, and the 500-member World Methodist
Council, which sponsored the larger event.
     The council represents 73 member denominations, 32 million
members and 107 countries.  The Rev. Joe Hale, a United Methodist,
has been chief staff executive of the council for 21 years with
offices at Lake Junaluska, N.C.
     Frances M. Alguire, a United Methodist from New Buffalo,
Mich., was elected chairwoman of the World Methodist Council, the
first time a lay person or woman has headed the 115-year-old
organization.
     Elected to head the North American Section of the World
Methodist Council was another United Methodist, Bishop Neil L.
Irons, of the Harrisburg (Pa.) Area.
     Participants in the World Methodist Conference gave their
host church -- the Methodist Church of Brazil -- more than
$208,000 for its work with poor and homeless children.
     Among other actions, the Council adopted a concise document
identifying 33 essentials of Christian faith shared by Wesleyan
denominations around the world.  Produced by a 17-member work
group, the "essentials" document describes "the people called
Methodists" and their beliefs, worship, witness, service and
common life.  Work on the paper began after discussions of
pluralism and diversity at the previous World Methodist Council
meeting in Singapore in 1991.

                     Other events of the Year

     United Methodists responded to a wide range of natural
disasters including hurricanes in the southeastern United States,
the Caribbean and Puerto Rico, typhoons in the Philippines,
tornadoes in Arkansas and Alabama, and floods in Michigan, the
Northeast and Pacific Northwest.  
     Greatest challenge of the year were relief efforts in Zaire
and Rwanda and Bosnia.  Although precise statistics are not
available, it is thought that an unprecedented number of United
Methodist volunteers worked around the world during 1996.  
     With approval of the U.S. Government, United Methodists
contributed money, boxes of food and garden tools to North Koreans
suffering from food shortages as a result of floods.  United
Methodists also responded generously with funds to help rebuild
black churches destroyed by fire.
     United Methodists were in the forefront of anti-gambling
forces in several states including Michigan, Arkansas, Colorado,
Nebraska, Ohio, Washington, California, Florida, Oklahoma and
Rhode Island.
     An initiative dealing with issues related to children and
poverty was launched during the year by the Council of Bishops.
     First United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City broke ground
for a new sanctuary Sept. 1 to replace the one damaged April 19,
1995, when a bomb destroyed the Alfred Murrah Federal Building
across the street.
     A new building was dedicated by the Goshen United Methodist
Church, near Piedmont, Ala.  The church was destroyed two years
earlier by a Palm Sunday tornado that killed 20 parishioners
including the 4-year-old daughter of the pastor, the Rev. Kelly
Clem.  In the spring of 1996 Clem announced she was taking a leave
to have a baby.
     The Kentucky and Louisville Conferences merged to form the
Kentucky Conference; the Central and Southern Illinois Conferences
merged to form the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference;
     Bishop Melvin G. Talbert assumed the presidency of the
National Council of Churches.  Neil M. Alexander was named
president and publisher of the United Methodist Publishing House
succeeding Robert K. Feaster who retired after 13 years in the
position.  
     The 50th anniversary of the creation of the Evangelical
United Brethren Church, one of the forerunner denominations of the
United Methodist Church, was observed in November with special
services in Dayton, Ohio, and Johnstown, Pa.
                              #  #  #

     * McAnally is director of United Methodist News Service.

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