wfn.org | Interpreters ready to explain proposed constitutional changes

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

March 21, 2001 News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn. 10-71B{135}

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- Interpreters have been trained to help United
Methodists understand five proposed constitutional amendments that are
intended to bring the church's understanding of baptism and membership into
alignment with official documents.

The amendments are among 11 that will be considered by clergy and lay
members at U.S. annual conference meetings in May and June and in other
conferences outside the United States at other times during the year. 

Recognizing the complexity of the amendments, the churchwide Board of
Discipleship brought a person from each of the 65 U.S. conferences to
Nashville March 19-20 to be trained as an interpreter. The interpreters,
both clergy and lay people, will help members of their respective
conferences understand Constitutional Amendments IV, VII, VIII, X and XI
related to baptism and membership.

During the training event, the interpreters received background information,
foundational documents and support to explain the church's official
interpretative statement, "By Water and the Spirit," the church's Baptism
Liturgy, and information to address questions related to baptism and
membership. They also examined the United Methodist understanding of baptism
in terms of the balance of sacramental and evangelical theology.

To be approved, constitutional changes must be ratified by an aggregate
two-thirds vote of the 65 U.S. annual (regional) conferences meeting this
spring and the 52 conferences meeting throughout the year in Europe, Africa
and the Philippines. The denomination has 8.4 million members in the United
States and more than a million elsewhere.

The amendments were proposed by delegates to the church's 2000 General
Conference meeting in Cleveland last May. If the amendments are approved by
the annual conferences, the Council of Bishops will formally ratify them. 

The interpreters' main agenda at annual conference sessions is to ensure
that the purpose of the five amendments surrounding baptism and church
membership is clearly explained. They also will clear up any
misunderstandings among United Methodists that the amendments are creating
anything new or paving the way for writing new baptism theology. 

The language of the amendments already exists in the baptism liturgy and in
"By Water and the Spirit." The amendments are part of a process to align the
denomination's law book, the Book of Discipline, with the language of the
other official documents. Legislation to align the Book of Discipline will
come before the 2004 General Conference.

"The amendments will help bring the legislation in line so we can stop being
a schizophrenic church," said the Rev. Mark Trotter of San Diego, chairman
of the church's 13-year-old baptism advisory team. 

The discrepancy among the church's documents regarding baptism was
discovered when the Minnesota Annual (regional) Conference asked the
Judicial Council for a declaratory decision on 15 questions related to
baptism and membership legislation, after the 1996 General Conference
approved "By Water and the Spirit" as the denomination's official
interpretative statement.
 
The Judicial Council, the church's supreme court, ruled in Decision 811 that
"By Water and the Spirit" was in conflict with the denomination's rules
regarding membership. The council ruled, on the basis of Paragraph 4,
Article IV of the church's constitution, that any form of membership in the
church that did not require vows was unconstitutional and invalid. The court
ruled that the legislation violated the church's constitution and was
therefore null and void.

The Board of Discipleship proposed legislation to the 2000 General
Conference that would have advanced the work of correcting contradictions in
official documents about church membership and baptism. However, the
Judicial Council limited what could be accomplished.

The baptism advisory committee of the board wanted to bring the 2000 Book of
Discipline into as much agreement as possible with "By Water and the Spirit"
and the church's official baptism rituals. However, the court ruled that the
General Conference could not amend any disciplinary paragraphs that had
already been declared unconstitutional. 

At the 2000 General Conference, the Judicial Council ruled that no sections
that had been declared unconstitutional could be amended or revised with
legislation. The legislation before that conference was based on the 1996
Book of Discipline.   

The General Conference did take a significant step by approving an amendment
to Article IV of the church's constitution as a way to prepare for future
membership legislation.  

That amendment deals with the inclusiveness of the church. If approved by
the annual conferences, all people would be eligible to be admitted as
baptized members of the church upon baptism, and they could become
professing members "upon taking vows declaring the Christian faith." This
amendment would help bring the denomination's baptism ritual, "By Water and
the Spirit" and the church's Book of Discipline into agreement regarding
membership. It names and defines the two categories of church membership
that the official document calls for, and it makes clear the relationship
between baptism and church membership. 

The Rev. Laurence Hull Stookey, professor of preaching and worship at Wesley
Theological Seminary in Washington, told the interpreters that in supporting
the amendment, "we do well to focus not on the fate of individual souls but
on the dependable covenant promises of God offered to the church as a body,
and through the church to the whole world. Baptism seen in this way is
thoroughly evangelical, for it announces the good news of divine
faithfulness and love to which we can respond with joy."

The five amendments stipulate that only professing members are eligible to
participate in matters of church governance.

Another amendment addresses racism. General Conference delegates
participated in an act of repentance and confessed to the sin of racism
within the denomination when they met in May. They also approved a
constitutional amendment calling for the elimination of racism in every
aspect of the church's life. The amendment decries racism and promotes
racial justice throughout the world. It highlights more clearly and
emphatically the urgency of Christ's call to love and justice for all people
of all races.

The final four amendments update language regarding the denomination's name
following union of the Evangelical United Brethren and Methodist churches in
1968.  

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United Methodist News Service
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