Iowa vote
Photo Courtesy of Cris Decious.
Scenes from annual conference elections of delegates to General Conference 2020 via Facebook’s Progressive Methodists group:
Lala McKinney Smith: “Emily Ballard, age 24, elected as leader of the Holston Conference delegation. A young progressive.”
Paul Sebastian Gómez: “Dakotas conference just elected a 100% progressive female delegation!!”
Jeremiah Thompson, June 6: “In Illinois Great Rivers only one conservative clergy elected to JC none to GC2020 and almost as good on laity side.”
Craig Eppler to Progressive Methodists June 12: “All East Ohio votes/ballots deemed invalid. We are starting over. Yikes! … ballot machine software was flawed. Now corrected. (We hope).”
Cris DeciousProgressive Methodists: "Iowa annual conference makes a bold statement by rejecting the traditional plan and electing a 100% progressive slate to General Conference."
Effect on ministries
The results of General Conference 2019 appear to have had an adverse impact on Western Pennsylvania Conference’s mission. According to Joshua Popson, writing in Progressive Methodists on Facebook: “Didn’t realize how affected our United Methodist summer camps would be after the special session of general conference. An adventure camp in western pa that usually has 40-50 kids, only has 9 this year. 11 counselors volunteered. That’s saying something tbh [to be honest]”
Unclobbering the Tangled Mess
Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Laurel, MD, will host a June 15 gathering of Howard County Freed Moms featuring international researcher and LGBTQ advocate Kathy Baldock. An announcement on the church website describes her topic, “Unclobbering the Tangled Mess,” as “A journey through LGBTQ history from ancient times to present day and how society, shaped by cis, straight men and religious culture, got it all wrong.”
Clarification
The 20 percent drop in traditionalist delegates refers to delegates from U.S. annual conferences. Our thanks to Scott Spencer on Twitter for seeking clarification.
Media Mentions as of June 12, 2019
Connections: JJ Warren, LGBTQ activist in the United Methodist Church – WXXI News
Canyon Lake United Methodist Church takes a step to include more members ofLGBTQ –Kotatv
Canyon Lake Methodist Church leads push for LGBTQ inclusion – Rapid City Journal
A win for gay rights in Botswana is a ‘step against the current’ in Africa – The New York Times; notable for its explanation of social attitudes towards gays on the continent of Africa.