Faith & Order Photo
Committee on Faith & Order
Committee on Faith & Order meets in Cote d'Ivoire. Pictured (left to right): Back Row) Betty Katiyo, Sam Royappa, Michael Nausner, Matthew Laferty, Henk Pieterse, Doug Powe, Edgardo Colon-Emeric; (Front Row) Bishop Rosemarie Wenner, Bishop David Yemba, Bishop Scott Jones, Rena Yocom, Kyle Tau (staff). Members of CFO not pictured above: Sondra Wheeler, Patricia Farris, Russ Richey, Bishop Mike Watson.
February 14, 2018
ABIDJAN, COTE D’IVOIRE - The United Methodist Committee on Faith and Order (CFO) met in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, to review feedback on the document "Wonder, Love, and Praise" (WLP) from across the church. After the 2016 General Conference commended this statement on United Methodist ecclesiology to the whole church for study and feedback, the CFO made preparations to receive impressions of the document from a variety of constituencies within The United Methodist Church.
Members of the CFO wish to express their sincere gratitude to all those who invested the time and energy to provide the committee with such robust and meaningful feedback. Many United Methodists from a variety of quarters engaged the document and submitted surveys, blog posts, papers, and detailed notes expressing their concerns and hopes related to the current draft of the document and the potential shape a re-drafting might take. To all those that lead and participated in studies of this document, members of the CFO would like to say thank you. [Editor's note: Several essays from UM & Global critiquing the draft of "Wonder, Love and Praise" can be found in Global Nature section under United Methodist Insight's "In the Church"].
Your encouragement and input have been well received and will provide a clear vision and path forward for the re-drafting of a document that inspires The United Methodist Church to more fully live into its mission and ministry as part of Christ’s body, the Church.
The CFO recognizes that in moving this work forward we are standing on the shoulders of many that worked so diligently to bring the work this far. In particular, members of the CFO wish to express their gratitude to Dr. Charles Wood who was the principal drafter of "Wonder, Love, and Praise." Dr. Wood has completed a vital service to the church in offering his gifts in this way. His significant investment in this project over the last quadrennium was crucial in assisting the wider United Methodist Church in reflecting upon its unique gifts and graces as an ecclesial community.
Additionally, an enormous amount of study and preparation by previous Faith and Order committees over the last two quadrennia cast the vision for this document and the study and feedback process. A special thank you goes to the drafting team that worked with Dr. Wood in preparing the current draft of WLP.
A re-drafting committee has been assigned the task of incorporating the feedback received by the CFO into a new version of an ecclesiology statement for The United Methodist Church. The CFO will finalize this new draft by the legislative deadline for the 2020 General Conference, at which time the new text will be available for consideration by the whole church.
According to its website, The United Methodist Committee on Faith and Order was established by General Conference action in 2008 as “a visible expression of the commitment of The United Methodist Church to carry on informed theological reflection for the current time in dynamic continuity with the historic Christian faith, our common heritage as Christians grounded in the apostolic witness, and our distinctive Wesleyan heritage.”