wfn.org | 2004 General Conference planners promise 'holy conference'

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 7, 2002  News media contact: M. Garlinda
Burton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.  10-21-71BP{453}

NOTE: Artwork of the 2004 General Conference logo is available with this
report.

By M. Garlinda Burton*

PITTSBURGH (UMNS) - Planners of the 2004 General Conference hope logistics
for the upcoming legislative assembly of the United Methodist Church will
allow more time for prayer, biblical reflection and non-political fellowship
- and will foster less divisive politicking - than at previous global
law-making sessions.

The 16-member Commission on General Conference said that the church's top
law-making gathering, held for two weeks every four years, should embody
Christian fellowship, worship and face-to-face discussion about important
church and social issues.

Instead, commissioners lamented, recent sessions of the quadrennial
gathering have degenerated into a morass of dueling theological and
political factions, exhaustive parliamentary quagmire and contentious
caucusing and debate.

At their Oct. 3-5 meeting in Pittsburgh, site of the 2004 assembly,
commission members said they hope to restore the spirit of  "Christian
conferencing" at the upcoming General Conference by recommending:

7	Open seating in daily worship services. In past sessions, the 1,000
voting delegates to General Conference were seated by regional (annual
conference) delegations. 

7	Bishops serve as chair people of the 11 legislative committees.
Instead of electing delegates to oversee the work of the committees - which
review, amend and forward petitions to the whole assembly - bishops would
lead, with a secretary elected to report to the whole conference. (This
suggestion was forwarded to the General Conference rules committee for final
approval.)

7	A single training session for delegates, instead of having separate
sessions for U.S. people of color, women, youth and other affinity groups.
(Those groups would still have the option of holding their own training or
networking sessions.)

7	Daily Bible study and time for meditation, discernment and
conversation before voting on tough issues. (This was recommended by the
church's Council of Bishops.)

7	Delegates be paired as prayer partners, before and during the
assembly.

These changes would become effective at the next General Conference, set for
April 27-May 7, 2004. The group also voted to move the Episcopal Address
from 8 p.m. the first evening to earlier that afternoon, and to limit the
address to one hour.

The group forwarded to the rules committee a recommendation about the 2008
General Conference requiring that individual petitions to change church law
be filtered through an annual, jurisdictional or central (outside the United
States) conference, or through a churchwide agency. 

Gail Murphy-Geiss of Centennial, Colo., chairs the ad hoc subcommittee that
suggested several changes in the way General Conference runs. Rancor and
divisiveness marked the 2000 assembly, she said, with heated demonstrations
and debate on the issue of homosexuality and other hot-button topics. 

The tension, she said, was exacerbated by the increasingly grueling schedule
of each General Conference and by-delegation seating, which left little time
for celebrating worldwide mission and witness, community worship, group
prayer and getting-acquainted.

"Yellowstone only had two delegates to the 2000 General Conference, so I was
sitting between delegates from Liberia and delegates from Angola. The best
part of the conference was worshiping with them, singing with them and
praying with them," Murphy-Geiss said.

"We're assuming that all people come to the conference with open hearts and
that they want more dialogue and less political posturing," she added.

Allowing delegates open seating during worship services - starting with the
opening service of Holy Communion April 27 - could allow the 1,000-person
assembly to connect with people from other states, other countries and other
perspectives. "We'll be reminded that we are a Christian congregation, not
just political delegations," said Murphy-Geiss, adjunct professor at Iliff
School of Theology in Denver.

Likewise, commission members hoped assigning bishops to preside over the 11
legislative committees would de-politicize and ensure more consistent
administration of the legislative process. (Currently, bishops preside only
at the plenary sessions in the second week. Bishops still would have neither
voice nor vote.)

The other recommendations for tightening the schedule will allow more time
for daily Bible study, small-group discussion and prayer, providing voting
delegates with more reflection time around decision making.

In other action, the Commission on the General Conference:

7	Unveiled the 2004 General Conference logo, under the theme "Water
Washed, Spirit Born." The emblem features the United Methodist
cross-and-flame symbol centered in the globe, with Pittsburgh's three
converging rivers - the Allegheny, the Monongahela and the Ohio - flowing
from the foot of the cross. 
7	Approved plans to translate the 2004 Advanced Daily Christian
Advocate (containing petitions and reports to the General Conference) into
German, French, Portuguese and English, and to provide language interpreters
on site to translate the proceedings into those languages plus Spanish and
Swahili to accommodate delegates from outside the United States.
7	Set a 45-minute time limit for worship services and 15-minute limit
for daily Bible study at General Conference, citing the financial and human
costs of running over time.
7	Agreed to study a suggestion that corporate vendors be invited to
set up booths at future General Conferences.
7	Set March 1, 2003, as the deadline to receive applications from
choirs, dance and other United Methodist groups that would like to
participate in worship in the 2004 General Conference.
7	Recommended to the church's fiscal agency a $6 million budget for
the group's work in 2005-08.

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*Burton is director of United Methodist News Service.

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United Methodist News Service
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