Jurisdictions Are Not Central Conferences

June 29, 2012

2:52 PM

UMNS Photo by Mike DuBose

CC delegates

The Book of Discipline gives Central Conferences the authority to adopt rules in keeping with their cultural contexts. Jurisdictions do not have the same right.

Retired UMC elder Gil Caldwell raises in the UM Reporter a line of argument that I have seen cropping up in a few places.

Paragraph 543.7 of the Book of Discipline, page 346 says this of Central Conferences: “A central conference shall have power to make such changes and adaptations of the Book of Discipline as the special conditions and the mission of the church in the area require ….” If we are serious about “the special conditions and the mission of the church” in the Western, Northeastern and North Central Jurisdictions where states and the District of Columbia have approved or are considering marriage equality for same sex couples, then these Jurisdictions are challenged to preserve the mission and ministry of The United Methodist Church vis-a-vis same sex couples through affirmation and action.

The language that permits central conferences to modify parts of the Book of Discipline to meet needs of annual conferences outside the United States has attracted attention as an important issue¹. General Conference authorized a study to determine exactly what changes have been made in different central conferences. This is important work as we come to terms with being a global church. It may or may not reveal problems that need further attention. It may also clear up some rumors.

But I do not understand arguments like the one raised by Caldwell. A jurisdiction in the United States is not a central conference. They each have their own governing provisions in the Constitution and other sections of the Book of Discipline. I suspect anyone who has read the Book of Discipline or taken a UMC polity course knows this. The argument Caldwell is making was an argument that should have been made at General Conference. Calling on jurisdictional conferences to void the Book of Discipline makes no sense to me.

¹Here is the full sentence from the Book of Discipline (2008) that Caldwell quotes in part: “A central conference shall have power to make such changes and adaptations of the Book of Discipline as the special conditions and the mission of the church in the area require, especially concerning the organization and administration of the work on local church, district, and annual conference levels, provided that no action shall be taken that is contrary to the Constitution and the General Rules of The United Methodist Church, and provided that the spirit of connectional relationship is kept between the local and the general church.” Taken as a whole, this sentence is hardly a green light for massive changes in church doctrine.

Comments (2)

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Your Devil is Too Small

Tom,

If you think "conservatives" are the enemy "condemn(ing) the church... to decline" your Devil is too small.

I, and many others, welcome further consideration of polity and, if need be, voting at General Conference.

Work, as we are encouraged to do, within our polity to change those things we hear God calling us to change (I do hope we're not only acting on pragmatism alone) and try to assume that those you disagree within the body of Christ are trying to be as faithful as you are trying to be.

I'll try to do the same.

John Leek more than 12 years ago

Difference between Jurisdictional and Central Conferences

This rule is a holdover from the 1939 unification, where it was expected that everyone in the U.S. worshipped from the same order of worship (printed on the inside of the front flyleaf of the hymnal), operated on the same values, and that everyone was Anglo. (Ethnic churches were in the Central Jurisdiction or Provisional Annual Conferences.) Such is no longer the case. We gave the freedom to be adaptative to Central Conferences because most covered multiple countries and multiple cultures. We assumed that this was not necessary in the U.S.

We made the wrong assumption.

However, we'll pay hell to get this anachronism changed: the conservatives in the U.S. can count votes as well as anybody. They know that if the grace given to Central Conferences (or if the U.S. itself becomes a Central Conference with five internal Jurisdictions), their votes will be outweighed by those of the liberals and moderates, combined. They will work with the Central Conferences to make sure that this privilege of adaptation stays with the Central Conferences---and to make sure that the U.S. does not become a Central Conference.

How sad it is that efforts at maintaining "doctrinal purity" condemn the churches in the U.S. to decline while the churches that can be adaptative can grow.

Tom Griffith more than 12 years ago