wfn.org | Revised wording alters docket item for Judicial Council meeting

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Sept. 4, 1998	Contact: Joretta Purdue*(202)546-8722*Washington
{515}

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - Changes have been made in the wording of a docket
item for the United Methodist Judicial Council's fall session, Oct.
28-31, in Hershey, Pa.

The change clarifies a question originally asked by the denomination's
Board of Discipleship. The board is asking the church's supreme court to
rule on whether the 2000 General Conference may pass enabling
legislation that would become effective after the ratification of a
constitutional amendment proposed by the same General Conference. If the
court rules that such an expedited process is not allowed by church law,
the enabling legislation would have to wait until the 2004 General
Conference.

The ratification process usually takes about 18 months. Such amendments
are submitted to annual conferences for a vote in the year following
General Conference, then tallied at the subsequent meeting of the
Council of Bishops.

Both the amendment and the legislation, regarding church membership
practices and record-keeping, would be designed to implement concepts
embodied in a churchwide study of baptism. The document resulting from
the study, "By Water and the Spirit: A United Methodist Understanding of
Baptism," was adopted by the 1996 General Conference and became a
position paper of the church on Jan. 1, 1997.

In keeping with the theological concepts expressed in the baptism
position, the 1996 General Conference passed legislation seeking to
eliminate the terms "preparatory" and "full" relating to categories of
membership. However, after the legislation was challenged by the
Minnesota Annual Conference, the Judicial Council struck it down. The
court cited a clause in the church's constitution that says all people
are eligible for membership "when they take the appropriate vows."

The Board of Discipleship plans to submit an amendment in 2000 that
would remove the vow-taking requirement. It would recognize that "all
baptized persons, regardless of age, are members of the Church of Jesus
Christ universal, The Methodist Church, and the local congregation,"
explained the Rev. Gayle C. Felton, who wrote the study guide By Water
and the Spirit: Making Connections for Identity and Ministry, used in
the last quadrennium.

# # #

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/