UM Insight Screencap
Place of Reason homepage
A United Methodist Insight Exclusive
Hackers' take-down of the website of a group proposing a Central Conference structure for U.S. United Methodism hasn't dampened supporters' enthusiasm for the legislation headed to the 2016 General Conference.
Titled "A Place of Reason UMC," a petition to organize the U.S. part of The United Methodist Church as a "Central Conference" is sponsored by two annual conference delegations, North Texas and Central Texas. A website set up to explain the proposal was hacked in February, resulting in a complete rebuilding of the online information source, said Timothy Crouch, chair of the North Texas delegation to General Conference.
"We were hit by one of those 'bots' that will look for a weakness in the site security,” said Mr. Crouch, a communications and marketing executive based in Denton, Texas, a city about 30 miles north of Dallas. "We've rebuilt the site with greater security against that kind of hacking."
Because the site took several weeks to rebuild, Mr. Crouch said supporters of "A Place of Reason" wanted to remind General Conference delegates and the church at large about their proposal for a U.S. Central Conference. Mr. Crouch and Tom Harkrider, a member of the Fort Worth-based Central Texas Annual Conference delegation, presented "A Place of Reason" to the delegates and observers gathered in January in Portland, Ore., for the Pre-General Conference Briefing sponsored by United Methodist Communications.
Mr. Crouch told United Methodist Insight in a telephone interview that "A Place of Reason" got a warm reception from delegates at the January briefing because it focuses on two priorities: developing a sense of common identity as United Methodists, and giving U. S. United Methodists the ability to consider and act on their region's specific needs.
"So often when we go to General Conference, we focus more on the places where we disagree," said Mr. Crouch. "We need to spend more time focusing on what ties us together – not who we aren't, but who we are.
"We also need to get closer to mission field," he continued. "Central Conferences can do that. We would have the means to determine how we make our witness more effective."
Currently, Central Conferences are those regions beyond the United States – such as in Africa, Europe and Asia – that have the authority to meet and decide about mission and ministry in their local contexts. U. S. United Methodists don't have that common privilege, said Mr. Crouch. U. S. interests are taken up only during General Conference, which typically has a legislative agenda leaving little time for in-depth discussions.
In particular, Mr. Crouch said, supporters of a U. S. Central Conference want to gain the ability to address regional matters such as the membership decline in the United States or pensions for U. S. clergy, an issue that currently must be addressed by delegates outside the U. S. that are not part of the pension system. Supporters view "A Place of Reason UMC" as the simplest and most effective way to address U.S. mission concerns through a structure that has been recommended consistently over the past 25 years in each study of the UMC's global nature, according to the proposal's website.
Mr. Crouch also responded to UM Insight's queries about two potential objections to a U.S. Central Conference: cost and politics.
Supporters think that creating a U. S. Central Conference would have minimal impact on the church-wide budget, said Mr. Crouch, because the legislation doesn't propose to set up any additional administrative structures. Administration would continue to be managed by annual conferences and church-wide boards and agencies, just as it is currently with existing Central Conferences. The legislation also proposes that the U. S. Central Conference meet around the time of the General Conference, which should result in cost savings from shortening the length of General Conference, Mr. Crouch added.
As for political implications, Mr. Crouch said that contrary to some misunderstandings, creating a U. S. Central Conference would not be a way to circumvent United Methodist stances that hold homosexual practice to be "incompatible with Christian teaching."
"Only General Conference can speak for the entire church, and only General Conference can change those parts of the Book of Discipline," he said.
The biggest hurdle for "A Place of Reason UMC " legislation and all global reorganization proposals: Changing the church’s structure requires a constitutional amendment to become effective, Mr. Crouch acknowledged. Enacting a constitutional amendment needs super-majority votes at two levels:
- First, the legislation must gain approval of two-thirds of General Conference delegates;
- Second, it must gain approval by two-thirds of the lay and clergy members of the annual conferences in the denomination voting in the aggregate.
Even with that electoral challenge, Mr. Crouch said that "A Place of Reason UMC" continues to gain support among General Conference delegates, including some who have offered alternative ideas for a global reorganization.
The Conferences Legislative Committee will study all petitions pertaining to creation of a U.S. Central Conference and recommend which version – if any – General Conference delegates should approve. In addition to "A Place of Reason UMC," other major proposals include the Northeastern Jurisdiction's Global Connection Plan, and several petitions on related structures from the Standing Committee on Central Conferences. The Rev. Dr. Christopher M. Ritter of Geneseo, Ill., has submitted several petitions relating to his plan called "An Organic Jurisdictional Solution", which seeks to reorganize the U.S. church without creating a central conference.
A veteran of seven General Conferences, United Methodist Insight Editor Cynthia B. Astle will report on the 2016 General Conference.