Hoshibata Speaks
Desert Southwest Bishop Robert Hoshibata (center) speakers with protester at the 2019 General Conference.
In contrast with other annual conferences that are allowing dissident congregations to redirect or escrow their apportionments, Bishop Robert Hoshibata and the Desert Southwest Conference Council on Finance and Administration are encouraging their members to continue paying their "fair share" contributions to ministries beyond the local church in full.
Bishop Hoshibata wrote to Desert Southwest Conference in part:
"We understand the depth of pain that has been and continues to be experienced by many because of the restrictive, punitive, harmful actions of General Conference. We acknowledge that faithful persons on both sides of the debate about the inclusion of LGBTQIA persons in the life and ministry of The United Methodist Church are hurting because of the deep divide that threatens the unity of our church. Because of this deep pain and disappointment, some would like to resist the injustice of the Traditional Plan by withholding apportionments.
"The matter of apportionment giving is very complex. It is not as simple as withholding a percentage of the apportionments from the General Church because some extraordinary ministries depend on your apportionment dollars. For every apportionment dollar contributed by one of our churches, 82 cents stay in this conference supporting our efforts to promote growth and vitality in our congregations and ministry settings. We respectfully ask the churches of the Desert Southwest Conference to continue to fully support the wide breadth of extraordinary ministries of our churches and our conference."
Desert Southwest's CFA (like all of the UMC this week) is closely monitoring the deliberations of the Judicial Council, Bishop Hoshibata wrote.
Media Mentions as of April 25, 2019
What happened to old-school journalism? Reporters keep slanting United Methodist coverage – GetReligion (blog)
United Methodist churches could split over LGBT vote – KSHB, Olathe, Kan.
Why United Methodists are watching the results of a denominational court meeting – Religion News Service
United Methodists edge toward breakup over LGBT policies – Idaho State Journal
'Sometimes A Seed Has To Split': Methodists Await Latest Vote On Anti-LGBTQPolicies – Colorado Public Radio
Methodist split could be on horizon; meetings set for this week in Evanston – Chicago Tribune
Sewickley Methodist pastor: 'Everyone has a place at the table' – Tribune-Review
Editor's note: United Methodist Insight tries not to overburden our faithful readers with too much information on The United Methodist Church's conflict about LGBTQ inclusion. However, our colleagues in secular media keep coming up with new articles, and we hesitate to omit them because local stories usually focus on how churches in their area are responding. We make an effort to avoid duplication, such as wire service stories used in multiple publications. Yet we think our readers want to know the breadth and depth of how the conflict is playing out across the connection.
Meanwhile, there are some analyses that take in a broader vision, including critiques of national and local coverage. Since so many readers across the connection have made a point of telling us how much they appreciate the news we're providing (a good sign, as readers typically are more likely to critique or complain than support and affirm), we're simply going to post updates as we collect new information.
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