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Theme for the Florida Annual Conference's 2022 Session. (UM Insight Screenshot)
Remarks on Behalf of Those Approved for Commissioning by the Board of Ordained Ministry of the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church
June 11, 2022
Our tradition is to commission provisional deacons and elders following the granting of licenses to local pastors and preceding the ordination of deacons and elders in full connection.
Bishop Ken Carter
Bishop Kenneth H. Carter Jr., president of the Council of Bishops. (Photo courtesy of the Council of Bishops.)
Sixteen persons were affirmed in their callings to be set-apart ministers of Jesus Christ by their local churches, district committees on ordained ministry, and the conference board of ordained ministry.
They needed a vote of 75% of the clergy session to be commissioned at this moment in our service. They received a vote of 72%.
The great majority of the voices of those who spoke against their candidacy, or the processes leading to their candidacy, were those of pastors who are in formal processes of departing from the United Methodist Church. A smaller number of the voices have departed since the clergy session two days ago.
I say this not to disparage them, but to state the historical fact of how and why we are here.
Members of the board of ordained ministry and the cabinet have met with the candidates. I want to say these words:
I grieve the harm you have experienced.
I am committed to the support of your callings.
In our polity, a bishop does not vote on any phase of a candidate’s calling into ministry. These are the actions of those authorized by the church. Instead, the bishop commissions, ordains and appoints. This is our separation of powers.
I want to say that I would have gladly commissioned each of you, and gladly appointed each of you.
The class to be commissioned made it clear that they did not want to detract from the overall spirit of the service. They rejoice with their colleagues who have begun the journey through licensing and who are completing the journey through ordination. This is a sign of their maturity and character.
To those outside of Florida, who have been observing, praying and reflecting with us, I want to say that this is a conference filled with awesome people. And that, in my language, we are a non-binary annual conference. We are seeking to move toward each other, with our many narratives, passions and gifts, we are seeking to encounter Christ in our differences, and all of this is rooted in God’s mission to a world in need of salvation, liberation, grace, holiness and justice.
And in this moment I want to say that the body of Christ is beautiful, even in its brokenness.
I invite us at this moment in the service of commissioning into a time of silence. I invite us to hear the voices of the candidates answering the vows of provisional membership.
Amen.
Facebook Post: A Brief Note on Friday Evening
The Florida Conference is filled with awesome people. And the outcome of our clergy session has gone viral. The vote of the clergy session, a needed 75%, was 72%. I truly love and serve all of the people of our conference. A small and vocal group is departing. A number of them spoke in the clergy session. I prayed today for them and for the 13 churches who will depart. I am not disparaging them. I appeal to them not to disparage us.
The primary reason I write is to center the persons who were affirmed at every level of discernment along the way—local church, district, conference, and not affirmed by 75% of the clergy session, the needed differential being seven votes.
I grieve the harm you have experienced.
I am committed to the support of your call.
The United Methodist Church needs you.
This is not a time, at least in this space, for cynicism or assumptions about us or avoidance. If you are reading this, I am really thinking of the candidates. And if you are reading this from outside of Florida, I want you to know how awesome the people of this conference are.
We are reflecting on a process that will not do more harm and that will truly serve the candidates and by extension the mission of the church. This is work best done carefully and intentionally and collaboratively. We will do it in this way.
If the church were merely a human institution this would feel like failure, and to an extent it does. But the church is not merely a human institution.
I take the long view. If God is for us, who can be against us?
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For this space, and on this evening, please limit responses to those that center the experience of the candidates for commissioning in the Florida Conference this week. The best response is intercession.