wfn.org | GCOM team moves ahead with idea for common church board

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Feb. 13, 2002  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71B{054}

By United Methodist News Service

The idea of creating a single governing board for almost all of the United
Methodist Church's general agencies has taken a step forward with the
approval of the denomination's Council on Ministries' leadership team.

The Servant Leadership Team, meeting Feb. 5-7 in New Orleans, embraced the
idea and decided to develop a formal proposal for the full General Council
on Ministries (GCOM). 
Top staff executive Daniel Church has suggested that the general agencies
"share a common table of governance" while continuing to operate with their
own individual portfolios. A single board would provide leadership for all
of the agencies except the United Methodist Publishing House and the Board
of Pension and Health Benefits.

A writing team will develop a formal proposal that will be given to GCOM
members by April 1. Council members will have time to discuss the idea with
others in their annual conferences and around the church in preparation for
the full GCOM meeting April 19 in Oklahoma City, Church told United
Methodist News Service. GCOM, with offices in Dayton, Ohio, coordinates the
denomination's programs and elects top officers to most of its general
agencies.

The Servant Leadership Team has set a fall deadline for getting a final
decision on what GCOM will recommend to General Conference. The church's top
legislative assembly meets in Pittsburgh in 2004.

The idea for a single board was one of three proposals that Church outlined
for the GCOM at its October meeting. The council mandated that the ideas be
publicized across the church for a response.

Church's second proposal called for the creation of a bicameral legislature
for the denomination. Such a legislature would meet every four years, with
one house constituted much like the General Conference and the other
comprising the denomination's bishops. Currently, the bishops attend and
preside over General Conference but do not have voting power. The Servant
Leadership Team didn't embrace this proposal, but it agreed to continue
exploring ways to involve the bishops in general church leadership beyond
their local areas.

Church's third proposal was to refine the denomination's understanding of
its own global nature. Noting that the current United Methodist Church
structure was developed in an American context, he suggested encouraging
church members outside the United States "who are eager to find their own
local applications of the Methodist impulse ... to do so without risk of the
U.S. church immediately withdrawing its mission support." Often, churches in
other countries don't seek autonomy for fear of losing financial support.

The Servant Leadership Team members decided further discussion was needed,
Church said.

All GCOM members were invited to join in the Servant Leadership Team's
discussions through a 90-minute Web cast, held Feb. 6 at a television
studio. Besides enabling broader discussion about the proposals, the Web
cast gave the council an opportunity to pilot technology that it hopes to
use again in the 2001-2004 quadrennium, Church said.

Church described the discussion about the governing board idea as "hearty
... (with) a lot of good give and take." 

"Various points of view have clustered around specific issues," he said.
People around the church have expressed great approval for having a board
that can see the whole picture of the church's ministries, the sense of
synergy that would come from agencies working together, and the good
stewardship that would result from reducing the duplication of tasks.
Concerns include the fact that the total number of members would be fewer
with a consolidated board, possibly resulting in less representation for
groups that traditionally have been marginalized. Some also fear that
centralizing authority into any single entity would be dangerous, he said.

During its meeting, the Servant Leadership Team also approved a proposal
from the GCOM's Committee on Legislation to invite any individuals
interested in sponsoring General Conference legislation to meet at a common
table to discuss their ideas. 

The meeting would allow people to share ideas and get resources that will
help them write cogent legislation, Church said. "Anyone who wishes to come
at one's own expense may and sit, literally, at the table and talk," he
said. Others will be able to contact the council without attending the
meeting, he said.

Historically, only executives with the general agencies have had such a
meeting before each General Conference, he said.

With the Servant Leadership Team's approval, the legislative committee will
begin planning the meeting. Details need to be worked out, but Church said
the meeting probably would be held in early 2003.
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United Methodist News Service
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