wfn.org | CPT completes 'transformational direction' report

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

Sept. 21, 1999 News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally**(615)742-5470**Nashville, Tenn. 10-21-71B{480}

NOTE:   The full text of the CPT report to General Conference will be
available on the Internet Dec. 1 at http://www.umc.org/cpt/report. 

INDIANAPOLIS (UMNS)--A Connectional Process Team (CPT) charged with
developing a "transformational direction" for the United Methodist Church
finished three years of work here Sept. 19 by singing the doxology and
posing for photographs.

During the meeting, possibly the last, the 38-member group made final
revisions in a report that will be sent to delegates in advance of the 2000
General Conference May 2-12.  A writing team will take hundreds of changes
made during the four-day meeting here and edit the report in time for the
Dec. 1 deadline for the Advance Daily Christian Advocate.  

The CPT was created by the 1996 General Conference to "manage, guide and
promote a transformational direction" for the church and to continue the
work done by two groups: a Connectional Issues Study Task Force of the
General Council on Ministries (GCOM) and a Global Nature of the Church Study
of the Council of Bishops. Chairwoman of the CPT is Bishop Sharon Brown
Christopher of Springfield, Ill.  Heading the writing team is the Rev.
Minerva Carcano of Dallas. 

Ordinarily the Sept. 15-19 gathering would have been the last for the CPT,
since its report must be completed in November, but members set March 1-3
for another meeting if needed.  

Given the huge amount of proposed legislation that will be necessary to
implement its proposals, the CPT agreed to recommend that General Conference
delegates approve in principle the report and appoint a group to develop
needed legislation and constitutional changes for consideration by the 2004
General Conference.  Bishop Joseph Yeakel, an authority on the church's Book
of Discipline, told CPT members that as much as 60 percent of the church's
constitution might need to be changed if their report is approved as now
written.

While CPT members are willing to wait until 2004 to have legislation and
constitutional changes considered, they want an interim group created
immediately for the 2001-2004 quadrennium.   It would replace the present
General Council On Ministries (GCOM).  

Purpose of the 75-member Transformation Implementation Council would be to
"help us see the church as a whole, call us to respond to God's spirit in
shaping the ministries of the church, and lead us into deeper relationships
as a Christ-centered community." It would also guide the church in
"discerning God's vision for its ministry and mission by providing a
holistic process that focuses the work of all the parts."

If approved by the 2000 General Conference, the interim council would be
convened by the Council of Bishops no later than Dec. 1, 2000.  The bishops
would arrange for interim staff until the council could determine its own
personnel needs.  The council would report to the 2004 General Conference on
each of its assigned tasks and give annual progress reports to the Council
of Bishops.   

The CPT is recommending that the interim council's membership be 60 percent
laity and 40 percent clergy.  The body would include bishops,
representatives from the five regional jurisdictions in the United States
and central conferences in other countries, the top staff executive and one
voting member for each of the 13 churchwide agencies, and two
representatives from affiliated autonomous Methodist churches in Asia and
Latin America.  A category of additional members is also proposed to
guarantee diversity.

Tension surfaced early in the meeting when CPT members expressed their
displeasure that GCOM has a task force working on its own proposals for the
future of the church.  GCOM has four members on the CPT. Some individuals
charged GCOM with trying to preserve itself and unnecessarily duplicating
efforts but the overriding concern was that General Conference delegates
would not look kindly on similar reports coming from two agencies. 

It was agreed that during a break in the meeting, Bishop J. Woodrow Hearn,
president of the GCOM and a member of the CPT, would call the GCOM staff and
members together to identify concerns which they feel are missing in the CPT
document.  Among concerns cited by Hearn was the alignment of resources -
people, money, institutions - to accomplish the church's vision as
determined by leaders at a "common table."   Another was communications,
which GCOM wants located at the center of the church. "Communications should
flow out of the center rather than be an attachment out at the side," he
said. 

Tension eased as CPT members incorporated GCOM language and concerns into
their report.  Hearn and the other GCOM representatives stressed that they
were not speaking officially for the agency or the task force working on a
vision for the future of the church.  Heading that GCOM task force is Bishop
John Hopkins of Minnesota, who was not present. Later in the meeting, it was
agreed that two CPT members, in addition to the four GCOM members already in
the group, would attend the next GCOM meeting Nov. 12-16 in Rosemont, Ill.,
near Chicago.

At the close of the meeting, Carcano told United Methodist News Service she
felt "very positive" about how the GCOM concern was resolved.  "We were able
to share information and consider ways to work collaboratively."

Reflecting on the Indianapolis meeting, Christopher said the report is now
more focused and integrated.  "It is about one thing --- guiding a
transformational direction and imbedded in that mandate is a vision of God's
call to the church and an invitation to invest in new ways our United
Methodist connection in the world." 

The report, she continued, "maximizes our relationships for engagement in
ministry in the world.  It aligns many part of the United Methodist Church
in a common direction toward participation in God's vision.  It also
strengthens our living as one body with many parts."

There was some restlessness late in the meeting when CPT members faced the
complex task of changing the church's Book of Discipline to accommodate
their report and proposals.  "We want to address the movement of the spirit
first," Carcano told UMNS.  "I have confidence that the collective mind of
the General Conference will be able to respond to the mechanics of how we go
about being faithful." 

In a new introduction to its report, CPT members assert that it is the love
of God that transforms, "from chaos to order, from darkness to light, from
deprivation to fullness, from non-life to life, from sinner to saint, from
mortality to immortality."  They commend to the church five transformational
directions: Christian formation, covenant leadership, empowerment of the
connection for ministry, global connections and ecumenical relationships,
and theological discourse.

Considerable time was spent perfecting plans, announced previously, to
create a United Methodist Global Conference of 500 members and a U.S.
Central Conference. Membership in the U.S. conference was a major point of
discussion and debate.  Some argued for cutting the number of the present
General Conference while others expressed concern that such cuts would mean
less diversity and proportional geographic representation.  Finally, it was
agreed to propose that the U.S. Central Conference have 1,000 members, about
the same number as the present General Conference. 

The Committee on Plan of Organization and Rules for the 2000 General
Conference is allowing the CPT to give its report as an order of the day
early in the 10-day gathering.  Following the presentation, the delegates
will be divided into 25 randomly selected, non-legislative groups for
reflection and dialogue.  Each group will meet for 90 minutes, convened and
guided by a bishop.  The convenor and recorder from each group will meet
afterward to identify questions and areas of consensus and dissent.  Early
the next day, delegates will receive a written summary from all groups. The
CPT report will then be assigned to various legislative committees and the
usual process for decision-making will be followed.

Twelve of the CPT members are delegates to the General Conference, and two
others are alternates. 
 # # #

______________
United Methodist News Service
http://www.umc.org/umns/
newsdesk@umcom.umc.org
(615)742-5472