wfn.org | Fort Worth selected as site for 2008 General Conference

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 9, 2001 News media contact: Thomas S. McAnally7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.10-21-71B{459}

ROSEMONT, Ill. (UMNS) - The group responsible for planning the United
Methodist Church's 2004 General Conference in Pittsburgh took time during
its May 3-4 meeting to choose the site for the 2008 gathering.  

The Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, was unanimously chosen by the
16-member Commission on the General Conference after a site selection
sub-group reported on visits to three Texas cities: Houston, San Antonio and
Fort Worth.

Gary Bowen, General Conference manager, said finding a location for the
international event is difficult because of its 10-day length and because of
the large number of hotel and meeting rooms required. "We were very
fortunate that in Texas the three cities we considered had more than
adequate facilities for our conference," he said. Traditionally the site
rotates among the church's five U.S. jurisdictions. The most recent
conference was held in Cleveland in May 2000.

The projected budget for the 2004 conference is $5.5 million, nearly $2
million of which is earmarked for travel, lodging and meals of the
delegates. Held every four years, the conference includes no more than 1,000
delegates: half clergy, half laity. About 225 of the delegates to the
Pittsburgh conference, set for April 26-May 7, 2004, are expected to come
from outside the United States. 

Legislation approved by the delegates is included in a revised Book of
Discipline. Delegates also determine the official positions of the church on
a wide spectrum of social issues, which go into a revised Book of
Resolutions.

The church has 8.4 million members in the Unites States and more than 1
million in Europe, Africa and Asia. Bishops of the church -- 67 active and
about 60 retired -- attend the conference, and individual bishops preside
over business sessions but they do not vote.

Chairman of the Commission on the General Conference for the 2001-2004
quadrennium is the Rev. James Perry of Minneapolis.

During their sessions at an O'Hare area hotel, the commission made several
decisions leading up to the 2004 conference in Pittsburgh and struggled with
ways to make the conference more meaningful and effective. 

The commission voted to invite President George W. Bush, a United Methodist,
to address the conference, along with any other United Methodist head of
state. The only other person currently fitting that criterion is Macedonian
President Boris Trajkovski, a United Methodist who has been a delegate to
two General Conferences.

United Methodist individuals and groups petition each General Conference for
legislative changes. In 2000, more than 2,000 petitions were submitted.  In
order to be fair in the processing the petitions, the commission voted to
ask the church's Judicial Council for a declaratory decision on the meaning,
application or effect of the phrase "organization of the United Methodist
Church" in Paragraph 507 of the church's Book of Discipline. That sentence
says "any organization, clergy member or lay member of the United Methodist
Church may petition the General Conference...  " Deadline for petitions will
be Nov. 29, 2003. The commission is also working on a new electronic program
for tracking petitions.

The commission is asking United Methodists to suggest a theme and logo for
the 2004 conference. Suggestions and artistic representations must be
submitted no later than Feb. 15, 2002, to Gary Bowen, GCFA, 1200 Davis St.,
Evanston, IL 60201-4193. 

The commission plans to select a music director during its spring 2002
meeting. Individuals interested in applying may contact Bowen by phone at
(847) 425-6556; by e-mail at gbowen@gcfa.org; or by mail at 1200 Davis St.,
Evanston, IL 60201-4193.

The commission, with the assistance of a large local host committee, is
already at work planning for delegates who do not speak English. Conferences
in recent years have always provided simultaneous translations in several
languages during plenary sessions, but the 2000 General Conference delegates
asked that printed materials also be available to delegates in six
languages, including English. Commission members discussed at length the
feasibility of that request.  

Roland Siegrist of Linz, Austria was among those arguing that the
translation of such printed material as petitions is impractical. "Many
delegates (from outside the United States) would never ask for this because
they know it would cost too much," he said. "Most are able to use English."

He noted that in the central conferences (outside the United States) where
delegates have many different languages, one is chosen as the 'working
language' during the sessions. "To set higher standards than you have at
home I think is questionable," he said. The Rev. Marie-Sol Villalon, a
commission member, noted that in her own Philippines Central Conference,
English is the working language used by all.

"Central conference members aren't asking for six languages," said Aileen
Williams of Rochester, Minn. "International conferences usually operate with
three. That is doable." She and others on the commission voiced a strong
commitment to simultaneous translation during plenary and legislative
sessions and individual translators who can work with people from the time
they arrive at the Pittsburgh airport to make them feel comfortable. The
unresolved question is how much material can be printed in six languages.

Siegrist was particularly vocal about the impracticality of translating into
non-English language petitions that are proposing changes in English texts
in the Book of Discipline.  

On the afternoon before their regular meeting, commission members met with
representatives of the Council of Bishops and the Committee on the Plan of
Organization and Rules of the General Conference. Their common concern was
how to make the conference more manageable, effective and meaningful.  

"We broke down assumptions one group had of another," observed Williams. "We
discovered we are thinking alike. We all agreed it is time to do something
and that we need to work together."

An ad-hoc team representing the three groups was created to look at some
legislative and rules changes that might improve the conference. The Rev.
Gail Murphy-Geiss of Aurora, Colo., was selected to chair the group.  

A major topic discussed by representatives of the three groups was
"Christian conferencing."

Murphy-Geiss expressed regret that the conference's primary activity has
become the management of petitions. "How can we recapture Christian
conferencing?" she asked. Working on 100 meaningful petitions might be more
important than thousands that deal with minutia, she said.

She also noted that parliamentary processes are "actually hindering
Christian conferencing."   Aside from the creation of the ad-hoc committee,
the group asked the bishops to consider the development of a paper or
guidelines on Christian conferencing.  

Delegates measure their success by their ability to make it through the huge
number of petitions, Williams said. "They judge their effectiveness by the
fact that they were handled, no matter how they were handled." She also
suggested the Council of Bishops "hold up a vision as to what it (Christian
conferencing) could be."  

Bishop Elias Galvan, president of the Council of Bishops, said a need exists
for greater clarity around what is the appropriate role of the bishops at
the General Conference and how they can lead the church in shaping its
mission.  

The commission members also agreed that greater efforts should be made to
keep the Council of Bishops "in the loop" before and during the conference.

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United Methodist News Service
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