Baltimore-Washington Conference Team's 'Vision' Defies GC2019 Vote

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The Baltimore-Washington Conference’s Discipleship Council, a coordinating body active between annual conference sessions, issued a statement April 29 that defies both the action of the 2019 General Conference and the recent Judicial Council rulings upholding the Traditional Plan.

The four-page document concludes with a series of “visions” on which the group intends to craft mission and ministry in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. Among its declarations:

"When it comes to the government of our church — our polity — we believe:

  • "The United Methodist Church and its General Conference are not one and the same, just as the United States of America and the US Congress are not one and the same.
  • "The General Conference's power extends solely to legislative matters.
  • "Our Constitution, using terms that were in place at the outset and remaining fully operative today, makes clear that the General Conference's purely legislative authority, however expansive, does not extend to defining church doctrine or 'Christian teaching' — that such matters constitute the organic law of the Church, which the General Conference is neither authorized nor competent to define.

"When it comes to deciding which persons are called and qualified to be ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in The United Methodist Church:

  • "We believe that one of our Constitution’s most resolute commands is that such decisions are reserved exclusively to the clergy members of each annual conference.
  • "We believe that John Wesley's historic examination of clergy is good enough for today's church. (¶ 336 “Historic Examination for Admission into Full Connection”) 

"When it comes to Christian marriage and marriage ceremonies:

  • We take John Wesley at his word when he declared in 1756 that '[a]ll the children of God may unite in love, notwithstanding difference in opinions or modes of worship.' 
  • "We take seriously Article XXII of our Articles of Religion, which states that '[i]t is not necessary that rites and ceremonies should in all places be the same, or exactly alike; for they have been always different, and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and . . . manners.'
  • "We believe, as our Discipline has long held, that the decision on whether to perform a marriage — any marriage — belongs to our pastors alone. (¶340.1-¶340.2(a)(3)(a))"

The statement can be read in full here. It also can be downloaded from this page as a PDF.

Media mentions as of April 30, 2019

Split possible after Methodists uphold marriage stance ­ BP News

United Methodist General Counsel's Vote On Sexuality Can't Shake The Faith – WUFT

Protesting Methodist LGBTQ policy, confirmation class takes a pass – Religion News Service

Young Methodists Stand Up to Church's Anti-LGBTQ+ Policies – Out Magazine