2016 Book of Discipline
The 2016 Book of Discipline contains the theology, policies and procedures of The United Methodist Church. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS
The Committee on Correlation and Editorial Revision (CCER), a standing committee of the General Conference, met during and immediately after General Conference 2019 to execute its duties to correlate all legislation passed by the General Conference.
The Committee on Correlation and Editorial Revision carries responsibilities as outlined in the “Plan of Organization and Rules of Order for the General Conference”:
"X.b. The Book Editor, the Secretary of the General Conference, the Publisher of The United Methodist Church, and the Committee on Correlation and Editorial Revision shall be charged with editing the Book of Discipline. . . .
'The editors, in the exercise of their judgment, shall have the authority to make changes in wording as may be necessary to harmonize legislation without changing its substance."
In its review of all approved legislation, on Wednesday, February 27, 2019, in St. Louis, the committee found four petitions that used differing language from The Book of Discipline wording “self-avowed practicing homosexual.” Elsewhere in other petitions submitted within the Traditional Plan, the petition language was in alignment with and also referenced the footnote to ¶ 304.3 where “self-avowed practicing homosexual” is defined.
In four petitions passed by the General Conference, the wording was inconsistent, sometimes omitting the wording “self-avowed” and sometimes omitting the word “practicing.” In its correlation work during the editorial process, the committee brought all the petitions into harmony within the Traditional Plan, using the language “self-avowed practicing.” This work was done with the awareness that all legislation was subject to review by the Judicial Council.
After Judicial Council Decision #1378 was released on April 26, 2019, only one of those four harmonized petitions was found to be constitutional. That was Petition 90036 addressing ¶ 415.6.
On Thursday, May 2, 2019, in the course of its editorial review of the entire “Addendum to The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, 2016,” the committee reaffirmed its correlation work of February 27, 2019. The electronic Addendum to the 2016 Book of Discipline will be available at umofficialresources.com/updates as soon as additional matters are reviewed and confirmed by the Judicial Council and GCFA.
Committee on Correlation and Editorial Revision
J. Robert Burkhart, Chair
Brian K. Milford, Book Editor and Publisher