wfn.org | UMNS# 04581-Church year rocked by hurricanes, trials and

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Church year rocked by hurricanes, trials and General Conference 

Dec. 9, 2004	 News media contact:   Linda  Green * (615) 7425470* 
Nashville {04581}

NOTE: Photos are available online at http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Report
By Joretta Purdue*

Change for the United Methodist Church in 2004 assumed several forms: the
orderliness in electing new bishops, the sweep of natural disasters, most
notably by a relentless hurricane season in the United States and Caribbean,
and evidence of evil at work in places like the Sudan.

"This has been an extraordinary year in the life of the church, primarily
because of some things that happened at General Conference," declared the
Rev. Charles Yrigoyen Jr., who leads the staff of the denomination's history
and heritage agency. 

The 2004 United Methodist General Conference, the church's top legislative
body, met April 27-May 7 in Pittsburgh.

"General Conference was a highlight for me and probably the most important
event in 2004 for the church," said Yrigoyen, who is retiring at the end of
2005. He was particularly moved by the celebration of the African-Americans
who, despite discrimination and segregation, chose not to leave the United
Methodist Church and its predecessors.

Divisive issues persisted in garnering attention, but United Methodists,
acting through their nearly 1,000 delegates at the church's quadrennial
legislative assembly, reaffirmed the denomination's unity. 

The unity resolution on the conference's final day followed informal
proposals by conservatives to form a task force to study splitting the
denomination. That idea was not debated by the conference but circulated in
hallways and unofficial publications until the Rev. John Schol of the Eastern
Pennsylvania Annual (regional) Conference offered a resolution that said, "As
United Methodists we remain in covenant with one another even in the midst of
disagreement, and affirm our commitment to work together for our common
mission of making disciples throughout the world." It was adopted by a vote
of 869-41 with 8 abstentions.  Schol was elected a bishop by the
denomination's Northeastern Jurisdiction in July.

"Homosexuality is a lightning rod issue," Yrigoyen said, but added that he
believes several other issues are part of the differences within the church.
Not enough attention has been paid to the issue of "God language," he
observed, explaining that trinitarian language carries theological content
about the nature of God. Other issues like abortion and the nature and
authority of Scripture are important, too.

Delegates voted to change the structure of the church by eliminating the
General Council of Ministries, creating the Connectional Table, and
establishing a Division on Ministries with Young People within the United
Methodist Board of Discipleship. The new division ends previous organizations
in this area and enfolds the Shared Mission Focus on Young People. 

On the final day of the General Conference, delegates engaged in a three-hour
discussion before passing a $612.5 million budget for worldwide ministries in
2005-2009 -- a 12.2 percent increase over the present four-year budget. 

The 1-million-member Protestant Methodist Church of Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory
Coast) was accepted into full membership, creating the first major growth
spurt in the denomination since the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren
churches merged in 1968. The denomination numbered about 10.2 million
worldwide before the influx. U.S. membership accounts for the majority,
approximately 8.3 million. 

On the issue of homosexuality, the phrase declaring homosexual practice
"incompatible with Christian teaching" was retained in the Social Principles
by the delegates. An attempt to add a statement acknowledging that Christians
disagree on the homosexuality issue was defeated.

Prohibition against the ordination of self-avowed practicing homosexuals
continues to be church policy. In addition, the list of chargeable offenses
that could bring bishops, pastors and diaconal ministers to trial was amended
to include not being celibate in singleness or being unfaithful in a
heterosexual marriage. Chargeable offenses also include being a self-avowed
practicing homosexual, conducting ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions
and performing same-sex weddings.  

The gay marriage issue was prominent nationally and within the United
Methodist Church.  General Conference delegates approved a petition
recognizing marriage as only between a man and woman by a vote of 624-184
with little discussion.  The petition added language to the church's Social
Principles supporting "laws in civil society that define marriage as the
union of one man and one woman." However, the assembly did not approve a
petition supporting a federal marriage amendment.

General Conference, as the only body that makes policy for and speaks for the
denomination, also weighed in on a number of topics from war and terrorism to
coffee and tacos.

Delegates replaced a previous resolution on terrorism with one that condemns
all acts of terror but also opposes the use of indiscriminate military force
to combat terrorism and policies that violate civil and human rights while
claiming to combat terrorism. 

A new resolution opposes all unilateral first-strike actions and calls on the
U.S. president and Congress to collaborate with the United Nations. Another
notes that reaction to the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, have led to
unjust treatment of some immigrants and kept some visitors from entering the
United States. Delegates were aware that some United Methodists were unable
to attend General Conference because they were denied visas.

Other resolutions call for full investigation of alleged abuses of Iraqi
prisoners by the U.S. military, urges the U.S. government to develop a
Department of Peace, expresses concern for 5 million displaced people in the
Sudan and condemns the government-sponsored violence there that has killed an
estimated 2 million people.

On the subject of abortion, delegates retained a resolution supporting the
legal right to abortion. Language in the Social Principles was amended to
include encouraging adoption. A new resolution advocates church support for
those with "post-abortion stress." 

Delegates committed the denomination to joining with the National Council of
Churches in a boycott of Taco Bell, urging the fast food chain to convene
talks with tomato suppliers and their workers about labor practices. By a
close vote, the conference also decided to join in a boycott of Mount Olive
Pickle Co., pending an agreement on collective bargaining, but the problem
was settled before the boycott really began.

International resolutions urge purchasing coffee through fair trade partners,
ending the economic embargo against Cuba and withdrawing the U.S. military
from Okinawa.

By the end of the nearly two-week meeting, delegates working in 11
legislative committees had processed a multitude of petitions and had shaped,
through debates and votes, the legislation that is printed in the 2004 Book
of Discipline and the 2004 Book of Resolutions. Together the two books
express the denomination's laws, rules, social principles and policies for
justice.

In creating the Connectional Table to guide the work of the denomination's
general agencies, the General Conference also eliminated the General Council
of Ministries, which had been a part of the structure created by the church
union in 1968. The delegates chose a legislative committee proposal over one
that had been developed by the council. The result is a smaller body -- 47
members rather than about 130 -- and an accelerated timetable. The General
Council on Ministries no longer exists after the end of 2004 and the
Connectional Table begins Jan. 1, 2005, two years earlier than the GCOM plan
designated.

National Election

The United Methodist Church had national distinction this election year, with
three of the four Presidential and vice presidential candidates among its
ranks -- Republican President George W. Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney and
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. John Edwards.  

Religion and politics exploded as the focal point of the 2004 presidential
elections, with competing liberal and conservative views on faith, family,
and the human body.  

The millions of American voters who went to the polls defined marriage as a
union between one man and one woman and gave views on other "moral values"
including a statement on same-sex marriage. Many of America's voters were
first timers who saw this election, according to numerous media reports, as
an attack on a key facet of faith and family.

New bishops

U.S. delegates to General Conference reassembled with an equal number of
other lay and clergy delegates to form the five jurisdictional conferences,
which met simultaneously in mid-July. The main business before each of the
jurisdictions, which also meet once every four years, was the election of new
bishops to fill vacancies in the jurisdiction. The five jurisdictions elected
21 bishops. Of these was Bishop Minerva Carcano, the first Hispanic female
elected to the episcopacy. Also elected was Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar, who
was born in India; Bishops Jeremiah Park and Hee-Soo Jung, who are
Korean-Americans; and Bishop Robert Hoshibata, a Japanese-American.

Church trials

Homosexuality issues were central to two church trials of clergy. In March,
the Rev. Karen Dammann, a Seattle clergywoman, was found not guilty by a
Pacific Northwest Annual Conference trial court of the charge of engaging in
"practices incompatible with Christian teaching" even though she openly
admitted to being a practicing homosexual. 

In May, the denomination's top court, the Judicial Council, ruled that it did
not have the authority to review the findings of the Dammann trial court, but
did reaffirm that a bishop may not appoint a pastor who has been found by a
trial court to be a "self-avowed practicing homosexual."

On Dec. 2, an Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference trial court found the
Rev. Irene Elizabeth "Beth" Stroud, a Philadelphia clergywoman, guilty of
being a self-avowed practicing homosexual. The former associate pastor of the
First United Methodist Church of Germantown was stripped of her ministerial
credentials by the trial court, but she is remaining on the church staff as a
lay person.

A complaint against the Rev. Karen Oliveto of San Francisco for performing a
gay marriage ceremony was resolved before going to trial. Oliveto officiated
at a Feb. 15 ceremony for two church members after they received a marriage
license at San Francisco City Hall during a wave of couples receiving
same-sex marriage licenses. The California State Supreme Court voided the
licenses in August. Oliveto left her pastorate to become assistant dean for
academic affairs and director of contextual education at Pacific School of
Religion in Berkeley, Calif.

Secular courts in California ruled against the California-Nevada Annual
Conference in its assertion of the denomination's trust clause. The clause, a
part of Methodist tradition and discipline that dates back 250 years to John
Wesley, states that all congregational church property is held in trust for
the denomination. St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Fresno, Calif., had
left the denomination but retained control of the church building. In August,
the 5th District Court of Appeals ruled that the facility is not the property
of the denomination, and in December the California State Supreme Court
denied a petition to review the dispute.

Hurricanes hammer Southeast

Florida, which played unwilling host to Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and
Jeanne plus other storms, is still reeling from the effects of the multiple
onslaughts. Combined damage exceeded that of the devastating Hurricane
Andrew, which roared across the peninsula in 1992.

Churches, like Simpson Memorial United Methodist in Riviera Beach, Fla., were
among the casualties. "The wind flipped half of our roof off and put it on
top of the other half," the Rev. Cleveland English told United Methodist News
Service about damage from Hurricane Frances. 

By mid-September, Linda Beher, communications director for the United
Methodist Committee on Relief, said that the denomination had given aid to
more than 80,000 Floridians and that nearly 30 percent of the denomination's
buildings in the state had been damaged. However, Hurricane Jeanne had not
yet arrived.

By early November, volunteers had worked more than a million hours in
recovery projects related to the hurricanes and tropical storms that affected
parts of the eastern United States as far north as Pennsylvania and New
Jersey. Just as serious flooding in Georgia accompanied Hurricane Frances'
northern progress, heavy flooding followed more than one hurricane through
western North Carolina. 

UMCOR provided grants to United Methodist conferences in Florida, Alabama,
Western North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, said the Rev. Tom
Hazelwood, UMCOR domestic disaster coordinator. How much assistance the
agency provides especially for long-term recovery depends on the donations
UMCOR receives.

Most of the hurricanes and tropical storms had hit islands in the Caribbean
before they came ashore in the United States. The Bahamas, Haiti and Grenada
were particularly hard hit. In these countries, UMCOR channeled aid through
ecumenical partners. UMCOR officials are speaking of at least three to five
years of long-term aid in these countries and Florida.

The agency never stopped asking for more "flood buckets" during the hurricane
season, which ended Nov. 30, and continues to seek donations for the work of
rebuilding and restoration.

Innovative ministries

Ministry took on new forms as well appearing in familiar modes. 

In Tuscaloosa, Ala., Jan Porter, a former missionary, organized teens to mow
lawns for the elderly and disabled who have a limited income. In Montgomery,
Ala., volunteers run a clothing boutique for women prisoners to give them
hope for the future and the possibilities of a better life.

Members of McEachern Memorial United Methodist Church in Powder Springs, Ga.,
repair vehicles of low-income and elderly people one Saturday a month. Their
"car care ministry" is one of many such missions performed by United
Methodist churches.

Computers junked by government agencies and schools are being saved from the
scrap yard and helping hundreds of students, thanks to a dedicated group of
retirees from Cedar Street United Methodist Church in Tyler, Texas. The group
repairs the discarded computers and gives them to students in the downtown
community, who would not otherwise have much access to such technology.

"We had an opportunity to pick up some salvage computers," says the Rev.
Karen Morris, pastor of the northeast Texas church, "and we have always been
a group of people that didn't like to see anything go to waste."

The United Methodist Endorsing Agency has sponsored a campaign to send phone
cards to people serving in the U.S. military all over the world since
Veterans Day 2003.  More than 3 million minutes have been placed in the hands
of young men and women so they can call their loved ones without adding to
their financial burden. Churches both large and small, Sunday school classes,
Bible study groups and individuals have joined in this campaign to connect
military personnel with their families.

 In August, the endorsing agency started sending packages of phone cards with
a message from the United Methodist Church. The special cards feature the
United Methodist Cross and Flame and include a recorded prayer: "The people
of the United Methodist Church are praying for your safety and sense of
peace. Our hearts, our minds and our doors are always open to you."

Other events

In 1939, the Methodist Church told blacks they were not welcome in the same
church pews as whites. The Central Jurisdiction was formed as a racial
compromise. African-American United Methodists from across the country
gathered Aug. 27-29 in Atlanta to remember, reflect, and redirect their
efforts regarding the history, problems and circumstances of the forced
separation.

The church's Council of Bishops opened an international headquarters office
in the historic United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill in Washington this
year. Retired Bishop Roy I. Sano, the council's executive secretary, staffs
the office.

The Rev. Larry Pickens became the chief executive of the United Methodist
Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns July 1. He followed
the Rev. Bruce Robbins, who went to a pastorate after 13 years of service
with the commission. Retired Bishop Melvin Talbert, former ecumenical officer
of the Council of Bishops, served the agency in the interim and is now
heading the church's Black Methodists for Church Renewal.

Jan Love was named head of the Women's Division staff at the Board of Global
Ministries. She replaces Joyce Sohl, who retired.

The United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women named M.
Garlinda Burton as chief executive, effective Jan. 1, 2005. She has held that
office on an interim basis for the past year. Previously she had been an
executive and a staff writer for United Methodist Communications.

The United Methodist Church participates in and gives support to the World
Methodist Council, which adopted a statement on unity at its executive
committee meeting in mid September that warned if the church fails to look at
the issue of homosexuality now, the unity of the church will suffer. The
council also awarded the 2004 World Methodist Peace Award Dec. 8 to Millard
Fuller, president and founder of Habitat for Humanity. The council links
churches in the Methodist and Wesleyan tradition in 132 countries.

Africa University, the only United Methodist-related university on the
continent, dedicated its new Faculty of Health Sciences building Dec. 1. The
$1.8 million facility is the fourth building on the campus that has been
constructed with funds from USAID. The Faculty of Health Sciences is the
sixth of seven faculties slated for development on Africa University's master
plan. The university already offers undergraduate and post-graduate programs
in agriculture and natural resources, education, humanities and social
sciences, management and administration, and theology.

Deaths

The Rev. James Floyd White, 72, of Granger, Ind., the principal writer of the
United Methodist Eucharistic rite, died Oct. 31 at Memorial Hospital, South
Bend, Ind. He co-authored "The New Handbook of the Christian Year" and wrote
several texts that were widely studied by United Methodists in seminaries and
elsewhere. He taught at Perkins School of Theology and at the University of
Notre Dame for many years and held the Bard Thompson Chair of Liturgical
Studies at Drew University.

Bishop L. Scott Allen, 86, the last bishop elected in the former Methodist
Church -- now part of the United Methodist Church -- died Sept. 18 at
Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta of complications from pneumonia. 

The Rev. J. Robert Nelson, 83, a renowned United Methodist ecumenist,
theologian and bioethicist, died of cancer July 6 in Houston. Nelson worked
for the World Council of Churches before becoming dean of the Vanderbilt
Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn. In 1960 he resigned in protest over the
dismissal of student James Lawson for his participation in civil rights
demonstrations. Nelson subsequently taught at the Boston University School of
Theology and later became director of the Institute on Religion in the Texas
Medical Center in Houston.  

James M. Dolliver, 80, a lay leader and retired Washington State Supreme
Court justice, died in Olympia, Wash., Nov. 23 of complications from a
stroke. He served on the General Council of Ministries and of the Board of
Church and Society before being elected to the Judicial Council.

The Rev. Marcus J. Blaising, who retired in 1994 after 42 years of service to
Methodism, died Oct. 24 at his home in Fishers, Ind. Blaising was a pastor,
district superintendent and assistant to the bishop during his career. He was
chairman of the denomination's General Council on Finance and Administration
and served on the church's Board of Pension and Health Benefits.

James Townsend, 73, a retired Air Force chaplain, died Nov. 16 in Nashville,
Tenn. He was instrumental in establishing the first endowed professorship for
pastoral care at United Methodist related Africa University in Zimbabwe.

Ida Long Rogers, 83, a powerful influence upon the United Methodist
educational system through the students she taught, died Sept. 26 from
complications caused by a stroke. Rogers, professor emirita at Peabody
College at Vanderbilt University and 50-year member of Belmont United
Methodist Church, Nashville, Tenn., was the instructor of many current
presidents of United Methodist-related institutions.

*Purdue is a retired staff writer of United Methodist News Service.

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

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United Methodist News Service