Man and Question Mark
UPDATED 8-19-2019
Call it “Variations on a Theme.” A scramble to shape “new Methodism” or “next Methodism” or “just get us out of this mess” Methodism ramped up in late summer as ad hoc groups rolled out their versions of what could resolve The United Methodist Church’s impasse over the acceptance of LGBTQ+ persons in the global denomination.
Vocal and visible resistance to the punitive legalism of the Traditional Plan adopted at the special called 2019 General Conference has sparked a flood of alternatives. The result is a welter of proposals being discussed by formal and informal groups of United Methodists feeling the pressure of a Sept. 15 deadline to submit the plans and their enabling legislation to the 2020 General Conference.
As of Aug. 17, here are the options being promoted by various factions in the church:
The Bard-Jones Plan. Named for its architects, Bishop David A. Bard of Michigan Area and Bishop Scott J. Jones of Houston Area, this proposal strongly resembles the Connectional Conferences model that came out of the Commission on A Way Forward. Through this, the UMC would be divided into theologically aligned units that shared church-wide agencies such as the General Council on Finance and Administration. Read the plan here.
The Indianapolis Plan. Crafted by an ad hoc group of church leaders, this plan proposes to split the UMC into two denominations, a traditionalist version and a centrist-progressive version, again sharing certain church-wide boards and agencies. Announced Aug. 9, the plan would require that annual conferences and local congregations vote on where to align themselves, a method that has already drawn sharp criticism as being insensitive to the diversity within those units. Its proponents contend this division could be accomplished without the difficult and time-consuming need to amend the UMC constitution. Read the plan here.
Over the weekend, an early critic of the plan, the Rev. Jeremy Smith, and a group participant, the Rev. Darren Cushman Wood, conferred by telephone about the group's make-up and the plan's composition. Read Rev. Cushman Wood's account of that discussion here.
The UMC Next Plan. This plan, announced Aug. 16 in the wake of the Indianapolis Plan, claims to be the most inclusive option, both in terms of its development by multiple groups in the church and in its effort to stop immediately the ongoing harm caused by the adoption of the Traditional Plan. The UMC Next plan distinctively proposes that the denomination engage a professional mediator to help with the departure of local congregations and with the allocation of church-wide resources among any new, viable Wesleyan denominations that arise from the UMC. Download the UMC Next proposal.
Among UMC Next’s key proposals:
- Stop charges, investigations, and trials. An immediate moratorium on charges against LGBTQ clergy, clergy performing same-sex weddings, or other charges stemming from the provisions of the Traditional Plan.
- Remove the terms of the Traditional Plan and other incompatibility references from The Book of Discipline.
Two wild cards could affect these proposals.
First, a statement from the Our Movement Forward consultation in May was developed by an open gathering of LGBTQ+ persons and their allies. The aspirations expressed by this group describe the values they wish to see in a new expression of Methodism without prescribing a parliamentary method for achieving a structure that enacts those values. Read the Our Movement Forward proclamation here.
Second, Bishop John Yambasu of Sierra Leone called together in July a group of church leaders that included many people who have crafted the UMC Next Plan along with the leaders of conservative groups that form the Reform and Renewal Coalition. The Yambasu gathering said it would offer alternatives that included leadership from the Central Conferences deemed absent from the other, USA-centric variations. Read an article about the gathering.
UMC Next’s plan will be featured at the annual Leadership Institute held by United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan., Sept. 25-27. This event will be the first formal gathering of some 2,000 self-selected persons to consider the alternatives facing The United Methodist Church. Up to this point, the formal proposals put forth have been crafted by bishops, clergy and laypersons who were chosen by those in denominational authority to participate, including a session in May at Church of the Resurrection in which 500 persons selected by their annual conferences' leadership attended.
However, all plans must be translated into proposed legislation to be considered by the 2020 General Conference scheduled May 5-15 in Minneapolis, Minn. The deadline for submitting legislation to the General Conference petitions secretary is Sept. 15. Any consultations held after that date effectively will serve only to influence delegates to General Conference, not to amend either the plans or their enabling legislation.
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.