General Conference News Briefs

July/August 2024

– Delegates celebrate success, growth of
Africa University

By Eveline Chikwanah

General Conference delegates, church leaders and alumni celebrated the impact of Africa University and the support from United Methodists across the connection who have helped provide quality education to thousands of students.

Also referred to as “the school of dreams in the valley of hope,” the institution opened its doors in 1992. Since then, it has afforded 12,000 graduates — many of whom are first-generation college students, mainly women — the opportunity to study and become leaders in Africa and beyond.

True to its mantra, “Leaders are made here,” around 200 graduates stood up in the auditorium when called by James H. Salley, president/chief executive officer of Africa University Inc. and associate vice chancellor for institutional advancement for Africa University. The alumni included delegates, observers and volunteers at the conference.

AIDS Conference aims to break down barriers

By Neill Caldwell

United Methodists and friends gathered in the ornate sanctuary of First United Methodist Church on April 22 to get updates on an ongoing and important church issue: AIDS ministry.

Through worship, speakers, panels and workshops, the United Methodist Global AIDS Committee facilitated the daylong Breaking Barriers AIDS Conference as part of the run-up to the start of The United Methodist Church’s long-delayed General Conference.

More people are living longer with HIV — in many cases much longer — thanks to combinations of prescription drugs. Still, 39 million people were living with HIV worldwide in 2022, according to UNAIDS, and 630,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses that year.

“It’s still an issue, and I’m glad to see there is still an interest in it,” said host pastor the Rev. Val Rosenquist of First United Methodist Church.

In her welcome, the Rev. Sunny Farley, Global AIDS Committee coordinator, said, “We pray we will all celebrate together in an AIDS-free world.”

The Rev. Donald E. Messer, chair of the group’s executive committee, said that “people are here because they care, and they have cared for many years.”

Bishops, delegates join rally for Palestine

By Neill Caldwell

While pro-Palestinian rallies are happening across the U.S., United Methodists at General Conference had their chance to gather in a peaceful show of support on the eve of April 25.

Sponsored by United Methodist Kairos Response, the rally brought together more than 100 United Methodist delegates and observers — along with at least six bishops — to hear from a variety of speakers and sing hymns in solidarity.

Theresa Basile of United Methodist Kairos Response said she was glad to call attention to Palestinian-related petitions submitted to General Conference.

Resolution opposes investment in Israeli bonds

By Neill Caldwell and Sam Hodges

General Conference delegates approved a resolution calling on United Methodist institutions not to invest in bonds of Israel, Turkey and Morocco because of those nations’ long-term military occupations.

This General Conference has occurred as pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. college campuses have met with many arrests. At General Conference, some delegates, bishops and observers staged a protest of Israel’s ongoing, comprehensive military operations in Gaza, which were triggered by Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.

The resolution regarding the three nations’ bonds was
approved on a consent calendar on April 30. It’s advisory, and does not change Book of Discipline Para. 717, on sustainable and socially responsible investments.

Apology OK’d for church role in Hawaiian history

By Sam Hodges

Hawaiian United Methodists are cheering the decision by General Conference to approve a formal apology for the denomination’s role in the overthrow of the 1893 Hawaiian monarchy.

“I am ecstatic, just thrilled after so many years of waiting for this to finally happen,” said the Rev. Amy Wake, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Pearl City, Hawaii. “It means we can go back to (Native) Hawaiians and tell them The United Methodist Church has heard you and The United Methodist Church is with you.”

The apology petition was supported overwhelmingly in committee and gained final approval during plenary on April 29, as part of the consent calendar.

“This is a great way of expressing repentance for our sins and brokenness. This gives us a chance to make right what we’ve done wrong in the past,” said the Rev. Won-Seok Yuh, pastor of First United Methodist Church of Honolulu.

In 1993, Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed legislation acknowledging that the overthrow of the kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the participation of agents of the United States and that the Native Hawaiians never relinquished their claim to sovereignty.

Joyce Warner, late historian of First United Methodist Church of Honolulu, discovered in her research for the church’s 150th anniversary celebration that one of its early pastors, the Rev. Harcourt W. Peck, had played a role in the overthrow of Queen Lili’uoklani’s monarchy of the Hawaiian islands on Jan. 17, 1893.

The overthrow was led by independent sugar cane plantation owners and backed by U.S. Marines. Peck, according to the petition approved by General Conference, served as a sharpshooter and aide to the commander of the overthrow.

A year later, he would become pastor of First Methodist Episcopal Church in Honolulu, rejoining a sharpshooter company and serving as chaplain to the new Republic of Hawaii.

The petition calls for the conference to have a task force to engage with and listen to native Hawaiians, as part of nurturing “authentic community.”

Abortion

General Conference approved a petition affirming a right to abortion and pledging “solidarity with those who seek reproductive health care.” The petition, “upholds a person’s right to an abortion after informed consideration with their family, medical practitioners, pastor, and other pertinent counsel.” It also denounces abortion bans. Delegates deleted the words, “we are equally bound to respect ther sacredness of the life and well-being of the mother and the unborn child.”

Thursdays in Black

By Melissa Lauber

Thursdays in Black, an initiative of the World Council of Churches, encourages wearing black clothing on this one day of the week to witness to realities, like those reported by the United Nations. Among those is that globally an estimated 736 million women — almost one in three — have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both, at least once in their life.

One of these women, Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling, episcopal leader of the Baltimore-Washington and Peninsula-Delaware annual conferences, stood before General Conference on Thursday morning and testified to the damage the church can do when it is silent on this issue.

Too often, she said, silence “has been the church’s response to domestic abuse, intimate partner violence, rape as a weapon of war, incest, violence against the transgender community, as well as the abduction and disappearance of Indigenous women.”

Time put aside at General Conference to lament abuse

By Jim Patterson

“We affirm the stories of pain and suffering (that) women, children and men have experienced due to sexual misconduct,” said the Rev. Stephanie York Arnold, the United Methodist pastor of First Church Birmingham in Alabama, who led the Service of Lament, Confession and Hope at the Charlotte Convention Center.

“We join our voices to sing for justice as we tell the truth of our own complicity in the perpetuation of sexual misconduct and abuse in The United Methodist Church,” Arnold said. “We recognize that we have a long way to go to repair trust, restore integrity and tend the wounds of those who have been harmed by our church.”

The service was held April 29 after the afternoon plenary session at General Conference, where United Methodist delegates have gathered to make decisions to set the course for the denomination. The meeting, normally held every four years, was twice delayed by COVID-19.

The United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women organized the event, holding two services to make it more convenient for people to attend.

During the gathering, five crosses were displayed with pieces of glass from broken plates attached. The plates had been prepared in Georgia, where women who had been harmed wrote the initials of their abusers on the dishware, then wrapped the plates in towels and struck them until they broke into pieces.

“Through our brokenness, Christ is seen and able to heal us through our cracks,” Arnold said.

Welcoming churches back

By Heather Hahn

“With a spirit of grace, we welcome those churches which have disaffiliated or withdrawn to rejoin The United Methodist Church,” the newly adopted policy says. “Where applicable, every annual conference shall have a policy of reaffiliation for the churches seeking to return to the connection.”

Delegates amended the petition to require that returning churches affirm their commitment to the denomination’s trust clause.

“I believe we need to leave the door open,” said Helen Ryde, a delegate from the Western North Carolina Conference and an organizer with the advocacy group Reconciling Ministries Network. “This movement to bring our church to a new place has never, ever been about asking people to leave.”

Deacons can now preside at sacraments in their appointments

By Jessica Brodie

Deacons can now preside at the sacraments in their appointments without needing explicit permission from their bishop.

In what presiding Bishop David Graves called a “historic moment,” General Conference on May 2 passed new legislation granting authority to deacons to preside at the sacraments in their ministry settings.

This means deacons can now offer Holy Communion and conduct baptisms where they have been appointed to serve, whether that is a church, outreach ministry, or mission.

Full communion with Episcopalians gets closer

By Jim Patterson

Delegates to the United Methodist General Conference approved full communion with The Episcopal Church on April 30. The agreement needs the approval of the Episcopalians before going into effect.

During the conference’s “Ecumenical Day,” the morning plenary session was halted briefly to acknowledge the vote.

“We want to lift up and recognize this moment, which is an incredibly significant moment, especially on this day as we celebrate our ecumenical relations,” said the Rev. Gary Graves, secretary of the General Conference.

“As you adopted that resolution,” he noted, “you adopted the full communion relationship with The Episcopal Church in the United States, that has been worked on for many years.”

…If The Episcopal Church affirms the agreement, which might not happen until meetings scheduled for 2027, it will mean that the two denominations recognize each other as “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church in which the Gospel is rightly preached and taught.”

“Once we make that full communion, then all of us have full communion with each other — the Episcopalians, the Lutherans, the Moravians and us,” she said. “Then we don’t have to have all these individual coordinating (joint) committees. We could all be one coordinating committee, perhaps, that would be cheaper and far more creative and interactive.”

Communion would also mean that United Methodists and Episcopalians would recognize the authenticity of each other’s baptism and Eucharist; extend sacramental hospitality to one another’s members; recognize ordination of each other’s priests, elders and deacons; report regularly to one another; formulate joint educational materials and encourage continuing education opportunities for lay and clergy leaders regarding full communion; and agree to cultivate and maintain active partnership and consultation with each other.

Translators bridge language gaps

By Eveline Chikwanah

There are more than 760 United Methodist Church delegates from across the globe, gathered April 23-May 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina, to determine the denomination’s future, and many identify with different “international” languages, depending on their nationality.

English, French, Portuguese and Kiswahili speakers dominate the auditorium, and it was up to dedicated translators, numbering about 180 during the first week, to ensure they understood each other to contribute meaningfully to conversations.

In the makeshift Daily Christian Advocate translators’ lounge, three groups of six volunteers diligently translate the daily proceedings’ written material into French, Portuguese and Kiswahili, sometimes working till midnight.

Church leaders decry attacks against Asians

By Sam Hodges

“The United Methodist Church has a moral obligation to be vocally and visibly outraged at these shootings and this precipitous rise in violence and hatred against the Asian American community,” said the Rev. John Oda, who directs The United Methodist Church’s Asian American Language Ministry Plan.

North Georgia Conference Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson said United Methodists in the Atlanta area mourn the loss of eight lives and condemn the killings.

“We note the alarming spike in crimes against Asians and Asian Americans and deplore hateful rhetoric that fuels these crimes,” she said. “We continue to focus upon … our anti-racism work.”

The Rev. William Seihwan Kim, pastor of Korean Church of Atlanta UMC, said the church is trying to organize a way to help those affected by the tragedy.

New clergy retirement plan approved

By Sam Hodges

A new retirement plan for United Methodist clergy in the U.S. has won approval overwhelmingly at General Conference.

The plan is called Compass, and was conceived and championed by Wespath, the denomination’s pension and benefits agency.

Wespath retirement plans going back generations have offered U.S. clergy a monthly pension benefit for life, but Compass is a defined contribution plan, more like a 401(k) offered by most corporate employers.

Wespath leaders said the denomination’s steady numerical decline over many years required a new, sustainable approach to supporting retired clergy.

Deacons can now preside at sacraments in their appointments

By Jessica Brodie

Deacons can now preside at the sacraments in their appointments without needing explicit permission from their bishop.

In what presiding Bishop David Graves called a “historic moment,” General Conference on May 2 passed new legislation granting authority to deacons to preside at the sacraments in their ministry settings.

This means deacons can now offer Holy Communion and conduct baptisms where they have been appointed to serve, whether that is a church, outreach ministry or mission.

Deacons and elders are considered clergy in The United Methodist Church, but deacons are ordained for ministries of word, service, compassion and justice — serving as a bridge between the church and the world. Elders are ordained for ministries of word, sacrament, order and service.

We are grateful for the ministry and gifts of our communication colleagues who were part of the UM News coverage team: Heather Hahn, Jim Patterson, Neill Caldwell, Sam Hodges, Eveline Chikwanah, Melissa Lauber, and Gladys P. Mangiduyos Image: James Salley leads a service of dedication for the South Indiana Hall of Residence at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe, during the school’s 10th anniversary celebration in 2002. File photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.