Workaholics Paradise

This place is a workaholics paradise. The meetings begin at 7:00 am and do not end until 11:00 pm (that's if they end on time!). Here are some things that have happened so far in the general plenary sessions:


* The UMC has retained its stance on homosexuality

* The number of Bishops in 4 areas of the U.S. has been reduced by one and the savings used will help support more Bishops outside the U.S. where the church is growing rapidly. This reduction does not affect those of us in the Southeastern Jurisdiction.

* The Ivory Coast was made an official part of the United Methodist Church, which means that the 2012 General Conference will be about 1/3 from African countries that speak primarily French! (I am going to have to bone up on my french from high school. :) )

* The official mission statement of the UMC is now: To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

* The membership vows have a part added. They now read that you agree to support the UMC with your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service and your witness.


* A Commission was formed to put together a revised hymnal to be brought to the 2012 General Conference for approval. This is a part of the normal cycle of things. The last revision of the hymnal was in 1987, so it was time to do this again.



Coming up:

* Issues dealing with the authority of the pastor over who can join. [My personal opinion on this is that I don't matter which way it goes. The Majority Report says that anyone who is willing to take the vows has the right to join, but it allows, and indeed encourages, the pastor to educate people on the meaning of membership, which is the only part that I was really concerned about. Basically, it would make official the way I have already been doing things. The Minority Report would add language that gives the pastor explicit authority over who joins, but I don't really think that is necessary as long as our ability to educate and counsel is not impaired.)


* Issues dealing with the UMW. In the legislative committees the change in language to make UMW optional was rejected. I expect that it will be rejected on the floor as well. I know that some of you were concerned about this issue.


Reflections on the Conference:

I have learned a tremendous amount about parlimentary procedure and how the process of doing the business of the church works. For the most part, the debate has been done in the spirit of "holy conferencing." Everyone has been making a real effort to listen and be gracious in their speech. Both our young adult delegates and our delegates from outside the U.S. have been able to speak and have done so to the betterment of the discussion.


I am not really aware of any demonstrations going on outside the convention center, other than a vigil by Soulforce (which is a secular group promoting full rights for homosexuals). There may be some demonstrations, but inside the convention center, all has been orderly and cordial.


The worship has been incredible and I have really enjoyed seeing people from around the connection that I had not seen in years. I have also enjoyed meeting and talking to people from around the UMC that come from all sorts of areas. We meet on the bus, at breakfast, in the convention center. It is just exciting to be with so many United Methodists!


On the downside, I have not gotten a lot of sleep, my feet are swelling, and the convention center is FREEZING. But these are minor issues.


I am constantly praying as I listen, that those who are delegates will remember that we do all of this in support of local church congregations like those at Bowie. That is where the making of disciples for the transformation of the world will take place.


Blessings. I will see you Sunday.


Martha

First Day of Committees

Today was a crazy day, spent getting all the packets together for each of the 13 Legislative Committees. There were addresses at Conference by Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher, a conference Lay Leader, a group of young people and the heads of several agencies. The best part about these addresses was the videos and stories of what churches and United Methodists are doing around the world.



Tonight we finally met with our committees - I am recorder for the Discipleship Committee. It doesn't have as many petitions as most of the committees (only about 75) although it has more members than any other committee (98). And I don't think that anything this committee deals with is controversial, so the work should go pretty smoothly. I also have a terrific person to share the recorder duties with.



Not much excitement so far, just a lot of hard work. I think that's probably a good thing.



Blessings,

Martha

Opening Worship - WOW!

This evening was the opening worship at Conference. It was wonderful!! Everything from an orchestra and choir from a big church in Southlake to an African Drummer ensemble from Fort Worth. In some ways, the worship was very simple and traditional, focusing on what brings together our diversity. The wonderful words of the communion service were the same we use once a month. However, the service opened with an African laywoman praying in French, had a Korean Methodist singing in Korean (at least I think it was Korean!), and a European Bishop praying in German. So cool.

We sang old favorites like "Let Us Break Bread Together" and "O For a Thousand Tongues" and "In the Garden" and new favorites like "O-so-so" and "Zimbabwe Halleluya." We had dancers and video and all the bishops in their robes and stoles.

It was an awesome experience to worship with 6500 other United Methodists and feel the Holy Spirit moving among us. The theme of the General Conference is "A Future With Hope" and worship always gives me hope. This is truly the best part of conference.

Next came the opening session where they set the bar of the conference, tested the electronic voting, set the rules of the conference, etc. Not terribly exciting, but very necessary for the smooth operation of the conference. There was some weirdness having to do with the standing rules and whether or not we should have Parlimentarians that I did not really understand. It is clear to me that a number of the things that came up tonight have a history behind them that I do not know. However, they still got through the initial business very smoothly and much quicker than I had thought they would. Bishop Janice Riggle Huie of the Arkansas Conference not only preached an inspiring message, but she is very good at running a meeting. I hope all the Bishops who take a turn at chairing the Conference are as good.

It has been a long day, but tonight was an amazing beginning. I felt blessed to be United Methodist. And one more thing - this opening day just happens to be exactly 40 years after the service that merged the Evangelical United Brethren and the Methodist Church into the United Methodist Church.

The conference has a lot of work to do and so do I! So for now it is time for bed and resting up for tomorrow, when I actually start my recorder job.

In Christ's Spirit,
Martha

Getting started

Here I am in Fort Worth, Texas at General Conference. The hotel is about 15 minutes by shuttle from the convention center, but the room is great! :)


Today we did the training for recorders. I like working on the computer with this kind of program, so I think it will be fun. And I get to see how the legislative committees work up close and personal.


Some things I learned today about the process:

Anyone, whether an individual member of the church or a group in the church, can enter a petition.

There were over 18,000 petitions in 1988 and about 1560 this year, in part because the petitions that are duplicates are all put together.

The petitions propose changes to the discipline or the book of resolutions. The committees propose changes to the petitions.

ALL petitions have to be voted on at the plenary sessions, even if only on the consent agenda.

The committees cannot propose a change to anything in a particular paragraph of the discipline if there is not a petition that addresses that paragraph. The converse of that is that if there is one petition that addresses a particular paragraph, then the committee can propose any changes that they want under the guise of that petition.


Tomorrow is the opening worship of General Conference and I am really looking forward to that.

Signing out for now . . .
Martha