wfn.org | Methodists adopt covenanting

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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 (2898 notes).

Note 2898 by SUSAN PEEK on April 23, 1996 at 17:58 Eastern (3547 characters).

SEARCH: COCU, covenanting, United Methodist, General Conference,
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036 {2900}                                         April 23, 1996

General Conference '96

United Methodists adopt
COCU covenanting proposal

     DENVER (UMNS)--The United Methodist Church has become the
sixth and largest denomination to adopt the covenanting proposal of
the Consultation on Church Union (COCU).
     
     By a vote of 661 to 288--nearly 70 percent--delegates of the
1996 United Methodist General Conference here accepted the proposal
brought by the denomination's Council of Bishops.
     
     A constitutional amendment also was approved during the April
23 vote on the issue. The amendment will be sent to annual
(regional) conferences meeting this spring and summer for a further
vote.

     A minority report from the legislative committee, calling for
a postponement on covenanting, was defeated.

     In his introduction, Bishop William Boyd Grove of Albany,
N.Y., called the covenanting proposal the "most significant
ecumenical challenge" to come before a United Methodist General
Conference in the past half-century. Grove is president of the
denomination's Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious
Concerns.

     Byrd Bonner, a lay delegate from San Antonio and chairperson
of the commission's COCU task force, called the proposal a unique
opportunity to merge grassroots ecumenism with the ecumenical
theological movement among denominations.

     According to Grove, COCU creates a "spiritual, covenantal
union," not an organizational or structural one. Member
denominations of the covenant will recognize each other's churches,
baptism and ordained ministry and celebrate the eucharist together.
On the local level, covenanting councils will be formed.
     
     To address a concern about recognizing homosexual ministers
from other denomination, an amendment was added in committee to the
approved majority report. It reads: "...The United Methodist Church
shall maintain its own standards for ministerial training and the
ordination of ministers which shall also apply to our reception or
transfer of ministers of other denominations, including any
prohibitions set by General Conference."

     Formed in 1962, COCU began its life as an organization aimed
at facilitating an actual merger of its members, but later changed
its direction to promoting a spiritual rather than structural
unity.

     A COCU member since the beginning, the United Methodist Church
adopted the theological basis for a plan of union, The COCU
Consensus, at the 1988 General Conference. The covenanting plan
itself, Churches in Covenant Communion, was first considered in
1992 before being adopted by the 1996 General Conference.

     Besides United Methodists, Grove said, five other COCU member
denominations have committed themselves to covenanting: the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), United Church of Christ,
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME), Presbyterian Church USA
and International Council of Community Churches. The Presbyterians
still must approve the necessary constitutional amendments.

     The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) and African Methodist
Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) churches are expected to approve covenanting
this summer. The Episcopal Church, still considering the proposal,
will take longer to vote, Grove predicted.

                             #  #  #

                                                  --- Linda Bloom
     
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