United Methodist General Conference

Over the past week and a half, somewhere near 1,000 delegates plus hundreds of staff and volunteers from United Methodist Churches, boards, and agencies around the world gathered in Fort Worth, Texas for the quadrennial (every 4 years) legislative meeting known as General Conference. This is the only body that can officially speak for The United Methodist Church, and delegates spend 10 days in "holy conferencing": prayer, discussion, reflection, debate, worship, and witness regarding legislation affecting the denomination's social teachings, organizational structure, finances, policies and procedures, and other matters of church law.

There was much that was disappointing this year, as there has been for many years now, regarding the UMC's official stance on homosexuality. Many groups organized powerful acts of witness to the need for change, and the way in which our refusal to embrace God's love for all people is hurtful to God's children. Small signs of hope (a petition that would have acknowledged that as a denomination, we are in a place of division and disagreement, urging all to practice humility rather than judgment, passed in committee but was defeated on the floor) suggest to me that we are, perhaps, little by little, turning the church in the right direction. Institutions move at glacial speed, and meanwhile those of us among the loyal opposition will continue to work and fight and love and protest and pray.

There was some change in other areas I was interested in: the ordination process and the ministry of deacons. When I started "the process," as those who go through it call it, you had to be a "certified candidate" for two years and a "probationary member/commissioned minister" for three years - with at least one year of work before that, and three or more years of a master's degree in the midst, it typically took people 7-8 years total to be ordained from their first exploration of a call in a local church setting. In 2004, one year was cut from the "certified" stage, and last week, another year was cut from the "probationary" stage (during which we will now be known as "provisional members" of our orders). Provisions were also included for those who discern a call to a different order (deacon vs. elder) during the process, so that boards of ordained ministry can't force candidates to start over from the beginning.

And finally, the order of permanent ordained deacon was created in our denomination in 1996, and in the 12 years since then, deacons have struggled for recognition as equal clergy with elders at many levels. Understanding that we are called to specialized, non-itinerant ministries, sometimes in local churches but often in settings beyond the local church, we have sought authorization to administer the sacraments (baptism and Communion) when our ministry in the absence of an elder would naturally call for these means of grace. Although General Conference did not grant across-the-board recognition of deacons being called to ministries of Sacrament, a petition passed that allows the bishop, at the request of a pastor-in-charge or district superintendent, to grant an individual deacon sacramental authority in his or her primary appointment setting. This means that deacons serving as chaplains, campus ministers, social workers, nurses, counselors, and many other roles can - when appropriate - offer Communion to those with whom they are in ministry, without having to arrange for an elder to either be present or "bless the elements," a practice which is not really in keeping with our theology.

Anyway, this has been a very churchy post, but I just learned of these developments today and wanted to put them up before I forget. We will keep working to see the Body of Christ truly reach out to all with God's limitless love and desire for justice.