wfn.org | Delegates gut restructure proposal, but keep guiding principles

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

CLEVELAND (UMNS) - A massive plan to restructure the United Methodist
hierarchy was whittled down to a few paragraphs by delegates of the 2000
General Conference.

By a vote of 784 to 144, top decision-makers of the United Methodist Church
rebuffed the 53-page report and recommendations of the Connectional Process
Team (CPT), and basically agreed to maintain the denomination's current
structure. 

The four-year study group had proposed: creating a global governing body of
the church, of which the U.S. church would be a sub-unit; doing away with
the General Council on Ministries (GCOM); and creating "covenant councils"
at all levels of the church to guide the mission and life of the
denomination.

Instead, General Conference delegates affirmed on May 10 only the broad
"transformational directions" the study team had recommended, and referred
those to the GCOM, which is the program coordinating body for churchwide
work. The transformational directions ask the church at all levels to:

1.	Center on Christian formation.
2.	Call forth covenant leadership
3.	Empower the connection for ministry.
4.	Strengthen global and ecumenical dialogue and relationships.
5.	Encourage dialogue around church doctrine and theological
understanding.

In a separate action, delegates also agreed to set up a churchwide body to
do planning and research and to evaluate the emerging needs of the church.
The new entity would also do specific research for the central conferences
(regional units outside the United States). The action provides for a
gathering of researchers and church leaders whose work would inform the
actions of future General Conferences. The original CPT report had also
recommended research and ongoing study of congregational and churchwide
needs.

These actions by the General Conference are the culmination of a four-year
process during which the CPT met with church leaders and grass-roots
members, considered the denomination's heritage and mission, and studied the
challenges facing the church in an increasingly global context. More than
1.2 million United Methodists live in the central conferences in Europe,
Africa and Asia. U.S. membership stands at about 8.4 million.

The 38-member CPT cost the church $660,000 during its four years of work.

The team's proposals sought to make United Methodists outside the United
States more equal players in church leadership by creating a Global
Conference to replace the General Conference, the top legislative body. The
U.S. church would have become a geographic central conference under the CPT
plan.

But the proposal was met with resistance from church leaders in the months
leading up to the May 2-12 legislative session. By the time the proposal
went to legislative committee, many church watchers agreed it was dead on
arrival.

In recommending the severely slimmed down "Living into the Future" petition,
including the transformational directions, delegate Tom Jackson of
Watkinsville, Ga., said he objected to the "top-down, radical changes" and
"imposition of structure" in the original CPT report. Still, he affirmed the
general directions that had guided the team's work.

Mary Brooke Casad, a North Texas laywoman tried to resurrect a centerpiece
of the team's work with an amendment to replace the GCOM and create a
"transformational leadership team," which would bring new recommendations on
structure to the 2004 General Conference. 

Another member of her delegation, the Rev. Scott Jones, agreed. "I yearn for
a church that is more effective and more global than it is now," Jones said.
"Do we trust an agency that has been around for 28 years and which has an
investment in the status quo to lead us to renewal?" (The current church
structure and its agencies - including the GCOM -- were created in 1972.)

In the end, however, delegates seemed to agree with the Rev. David Severe, a
district superintendent from Oklahoma. "The General Council on Ministries is
the only agency with representatives from every annual conference," Severe
said. "We need the centrality of that kind of grass-roots representation to
guide our future mission."

Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher of the Illinois Area served as chairwoman of
the CPT.
# # #
--M. Garlinda Burton

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United Methodist News Service
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