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Reminder
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Mainstream UMC is focused on 3 priorities for General Conference 2024:
- Remove the harmful language. Repeal the entire Traditional Plan and all LGBTQ prohibitions.
- Adopt Revised Social Principles
- Adopt Regionalization. Stop disaffiliations from restarting and expanding
There are links below to articles on each of these priorities.
The Mainstream UMC Board has decided not to weigh in on many other important pieces of legislation, primarily because we do not want to lose focus on these 3 main goals. We need to spend 80% of the time and energy of this General Conference on these 3 critical issues.
We also want to encourage delegates to strongly consider tabling and/or referring many other important pieces of legislation. If you go in for heart surgery and you have a fever, the hospital will send you home. Your body has to be strong to come through surgery successfully. Our General Conference is facing an existential crisis that we must resolve before we do the other important work.
The United Methodist Church needs to reexamine everything. We need to evaluate our general agencies. We need to explore the nature of itinerancy. We need to look at the role and tenure of bishops. We need to agree on a fair apportionment strategy. We need to explore new ways of being the local church, the annual conference, and a worldwide denomination. All of these conversations have been hijacked for the last 50 years by those who would force us into pro-inclusion/anti-inclusion proxy votes. Our church has been at war for so long, we have been incapable of making thoughtful, innovative adjustments to the denomination as a whole. All of this structural work is long overdue.
The United Methodist Church also needs to find our prophetic voice again. Our internal divisions have watered down our advocacy in the world. And, the vast bulk of advocacy petitions coming to this General Conference are US-centric. With a focus on regionalization, it is worth considering tabling or referring many of the advocacy petitions until our body is healed. We cannot fix 50 years of issues, both structural and ethical, in two weeks of General Conference. In the 2026 and 2028 General Conferences, the United Methodist portion of the Body of Christ will be healthier and we can lean into the critical, overdue work God is calling us to do.
My father, Rev. Dr. Ron Holland (retired, Great Plains UMC), reminds me often that the history of the church is written in centuries, not decades. We have had a rough couple of decades in the UMC. Our work this year can lay the foundation for the next century. Imagine what we can do when we remove the harmful language, are able to work in regional bodies, and end the fighting. I cannot wait to work with everyone who wants to be United Methodist to build a great church. There is light at the end of the tunnel. We have a bright future ahead of us. Let’s stay focused!
Notes:
Links for Mainstream UMC’s 3 legislative priorities for General Conference 2024
https://www.umcjustice.org/documents/124
https://mainstreamumc.com/blog/lets-not-forget-why/
https://mainstreamumc.com/blog/5-reasons-for-regionalization/
https://mainstreamumc.com/blog/5-challenges-to-regionalization/
https://mainstreamumc.com/blog/why-a-ds-wants-to-end-disaffiliations/
https://mainstreamumc.com/blog/6-fallacies-about-africa-disaffiliations/
https://mainstreamumc.com/blog/4-reasons-to-end-disaffiliations/
The Rev. Dr. Mark Holland serves as executive director of Mainstream UMC. This post is republished from the organization's newsletter.