Concerned Central Conference Group Opposes Breaking Up the UMC

by

Special to United Methodist Insight

Introduction

We would like to thank you our Bishops for creating time to listen to us as your own people from central conferences.

Who are we: We are a Forum of Concerned Central Conferences United Methodists pushed by the love of our Church and the need for a United Global Connectional Church.

We are a group of people who meet online by Zoom and we are from different parts of the global connectional church based in different parts of the world. Because of the love for our church when we have our Zoom meetings, time differences has not been an obstacle even though some will have to wake up in the middle of the night, while others will take a break from daily activities so we reflect on the future of our beloved denomination.  

The group so far is composed of the following people

2 people in Oslo, Norway

1 Zimbabwean based in Alberta, Canada

1 Liberian in Monrovia

1 Congolese in Nebraska, USA

2 Mozambicans, 1 in Missouri, USA and 1 in Inhambane, Cambine ,Mozambique

1 Kenyan in Kenya

3 Filipinos, 2 in the USA West Coast and 1 in Manila, Philippines

We are still looking for more and we would appreciate if our Bishops can recommend any names.

What is our Inspiration: We are all inspired by the leadership of the central Conferences Bishops. When the African Bishops and the Filipino Bishops made their statements for a global church, we felt there is need to have people supportive of such statements and take them as working documents for the future of the global church. We feel the need for the documents to be shared and discussed with others in the denomination. These messages provide the leadership and hope our church needs at this pointing time.

Our forum is committed to work with all like-minded United Methodist across the connection to promote and develop legislation inspired by these messages from central Conferences Bishops. We feel the need to have voices from Central Conferences raised in the current conversations on the unity and future of our denomination.

What have we done so far:

We have prepared a framework we are using to discuss all the plans that are going to general conference as proposals for the future of The United Methodist Church. We have shared that framework with the Central Conferences Bishops and we are here to listen to you, and get guidance as well as encouragement to continue engaging with the wider church for a better future for the United Methodist Church.

The proposed Guiding Frame for GC2020 Plans and Petitions

“ As United Methodists from Central Conferences, we seek to build and prosper a church whose members are connected globally, do mission together, respect contextual settings, celebrate diversity, and value honest, genuine, and mutual anti-colonial relationships in order to strengthen our core mission of evangelism, social witness and making disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

The framework above we drafted to be our guiding principle was developed from the African Bishops statement, Philippines Bishops’ statement, Philippines Proposal for unity, The German Central Conference statement after GC19 and the Baltic-Nordic Area statement of seeking ways to work together in the future.

We believe that this framework can be used to shape our review of the different proposals submitted to General Conference.

Our Concerns:

We have observed that there are groups working hard to dissolve the denomination because they are already running structures and efforts for a separate denomination.

We are concerned that most plans coming out of the USA are about schism, separation, split, and dissolutions.

We are concerned that these plans were created without the involvement or even consultation with people from central conferences.

  1. The Indiana Plan is basically dissolution was crafted by groups from the USA.
  2. The UMC Next Plan is basically focused of separation was also created with members from the USA only.
  3. The UMC Forward Plan is also a dissolution plan developed only by members from the USA
  4. Jones-Bard Plan is also a dissolution plan by USA Bishops.

We are concerned that every plan and the authors are now seeking for central Conferences votes demonstrating their view that Central Conferences are only good as voters and not stakeholders in the process of engaging in deep conversations and development of proposals that will shape the future of our denomination. This practice has been going on for a long period of time and we are concerned that it doesn’t promote a spirit of mutuality and dignified relationships in the denomination. It appears as if Central Conferences are not being considered fully as members of the global church but an external branch that only matters when it comes to voting.

What is our proposal:

As a group, we have taken time to study and review the different proposals submitted to General Conference. Basing on our framework, we have noted 3 proposals that are considerate of United Methodists from outside the United States of America and may provide some guidance into the future of our denomination.

  1. The Connectional Table Plan to create a regional conference in the USA. Since the connectional table is an official part of the global structure there is representation of all central conferences and jurisdictions. Therefore, we see this proposal as one that has full global representation as it was being drafted and that proposal recognize the need to restructure and free General Conference from being dominated by USA issues and giving United Methodists in the USA an opportunity to engage issues at their national level. Our proposal is to seek ways we can engage with the Connectional table to continue robust conversations on our global church.
  2. The Global Social Principles proposal developed through the General Board of Church and Society. We appreciate the consultations undertaken by the General Board of Church and Society across the globe, the inclusion of United Methodists from across the world in the writing process and the continued representation of United Methodists from Central Conferences on the GBCS Board of Directors. We feel that this document is a product of consultations with United Methodists from across the denomination and worthy of support as it represents our collective effort.
  3. The Philippines Proposal for Unity, This is a proposal coming from a central conference which was inspired by their Bishops’ statement. We are working on ways to engage in discussion to enrich this proposal in including sections from the statements from the Africa College of Bishops.

We are convinced that we have a lot more to accomplish as United Methodists coming together despite our differences. Our witness and mission is bold and effective when we stand United, and we believe it is still possible for us to continued as a global denomination.

Our hope is that together with you, bishops, we can work together if this is deemed good work, to help delegates from Central Conferences engage in discussions to perfect or merge the Philippines Proposal for Unity and the Connectional Table proposal. We recognize that these proposals can be perfected to represent the different views in our central conferences. We would like your support to strengthen our framework and use it to engage with our USA brothers and sisters towards building a united global connectional future of the United Methodist Church.

Conclusion: It is our observation that the future of the United Methodist Church can best be preserved through central conferences taking leadership as we move towards General Conference 2020 and beyond.

As Central Conferences we have been mostly on the receiving end of proposals and petitions from the United States of America in relation to our beloved United Methodist Church for the past 50 years or more. But we also realize that this has led us to a difficult situation that we are currently navigating, with some calling for an end of the denomination. This is the church we love, the church that educated some of us, the church that has been in mission with us in different parts of world, as we work towards making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

We believe that God has called us as Central Conferences for a time like this. To provide leadership to the denomination and restore hope to United Methodists of the different possibilities God can do through His church. Given our realities, now it is time for us from central conferences to take the leadership because we understand diversity, as almost every central conference gathering speak different languages when we gather, and most central conferences bring different countries and cultures together for the sacred work of making disciples of Christ. For many of us, we have learnt the art of negotiations and seeking peace from an early age as we have had to deal with differences in our families and communities.

God is using United Methodists from Central Conferences to accomplish His work, we can see this through the growth in membership and ministries that serve with the needy in our communities. We believe that this grace can be extended to our brothers and sisters in the United States of America through an invitation to listen to the experiences and realities of ministry in the Central Conferences. Bishops, we pray that God will continue to bless you with strength, wisdom and knowledge to lead His people, to a life renewed with hope of a better future of our global denomination.

The Rev. Dr. Lloyd Nyarota, a member of the Zimbabwe East Annual Conference, represented the Forum of Concerned Central Conference United Methodists before the Central Conferences Bishops gathered at the Council of Bishops meeting Nov. 1, 2019 at Lake junaluska, N.C.