Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS
Erin Hawkins Rule 44
Erin Hawkins, top executive of the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race, speaks on May 10 to the United Methodist General Conference in Portland, Ore. Hawkins urged delegates to adopt Rule 44, which would move proposals regarding sexuality into small discussion groups designed to achieve consensus, as opposed to being voted on in a win-lose series of votes.
PORTLAND – After an afternoon and evening in a discernible atmosphere of tension, delegates to the 2016 General Conference voted Tuesday evening to defer action on a controversial discernment process known as Rule 44 until Wednesday's morning business.
A high level of distrust of the conference leadership was evident in the proceedings as delegate after delegate challenged rulings of Bishop Warner Brown Jr., outgoing president of the Council of Bishops, who presided over the debate. After Jeff Jernigan, a delegate from the North Georgia Annual Conference, protested the use of an iPad-based system for selecting speakers rather than a traditional system involving placards, Bishop Warner agreed. Then the bishop called the conference into a dinner recess, since under the 2012 rules the conference was to work until 9:30 p.m. According to the new schedule, the conference had been scheduled to recess at 6:30 p.m.
When weary delegates returned to the Oregon Convention Center for an 8 p.m. session, they turned their attention to an earlier substitute motion by Sam Powers of the Oklahoma Annual Conference to approve all the proposed rules except Rule 44, the section intended to enact the alternative discernment process. Efforts by delegates to defer action on Rule 31, and to remove Rules 12 and 18 from the Powers motion, were defeated.
Rule 31 allows legislative committees to invite additional speakers to give information on their topics. Rules 12 and 18 contain controversial language outlawing "non-verbal demonstrations" as disruptive of conference business. Two efforts by Dr. Dorothee Benz, New York Conference delegate, to get clarification on what constituted "non-verbal demonstrations," eventually produced an explanation that the determination of whether a "non-verbal demonstration" was disruptive would be left to the bishop presiding at the time.
The first day of proceedings, widely reported on Twitter using hashtags #UMCGC and #UMCGC2016, included a passionate sermon by Bishop Brown on grace and an equally passionate presentation on intercultural exchanges by Erin Hawkins, chief executive of the General Commission on Religion and Race. Bishop Christian Alsted (Northern Europe area) gave a presentation on "Christian conferencing" as John Wesley's practice of conferring with pastors to discern God's will for the future of the Methodist movement.
Among the most tweeted quotes from Bishop Brown's sermon:
"In our zeal to be faithful, will our words do harm? Our work is not easy, because we are passionate about what we do."
"God has not given up on us even when sometimes we've given up on each other. … Let us order our steps into a future that respects all that Jesus has invited to his table."
United Methodist Insight will provide summaries of each day's events at the 2016 General Conference, along with periodic updates at UM Insight on Facebook and @UMInsight on Twitter.