All articles in this series can be accessed here.
- The 2024 General Conference made more changes regarding clergy than any other topic.
- Some of the changes were editorial or to provide clarification, but some represent significant shifts.
- The direction of the substantial changes reflects greater trust, promotes more opportunity, and reflects greater respect for the denomination's clergy.
The 2020/2024 Book of Discipline includes more changes related to the formation and work of clergy than any other topic. This may seem surprising in a General Conference that is most widely known for its decisions regarding regionalization, Revised Social Principles, and removing language and policies targeting non-heterosexual people for disparate treatment. However, the 62 calendar items addressing clergy issues are roughly double those related to the so-called “Three Rs” combined.
Here are the highlights organized by those these changes most affect.
Clergy Candidates: Paragraphs 314.2 and 320.5
For candidates for ministry, two barriers to serving as clergy have been removed. One relates to age, and the other to having been previously discontinued from the candidacy process.
The prospect of reaching age 72, the age of mandatory retirement in The United Methodist Church, before one has completed or even begun candidacy is no longer a barrier to serving in pastoral ministry. Paragraph 320.5 makes it possible to start the candidacy process near or beyond the age of mandatory retirement (72) and be designated as retired local pastors. As retired local pastors, there are eligible for appointment and for voice (but not vote) in the clergy session of the annual conference. As with all retired clergy, they are not eligible for security of appointment or to pay into the clergy retirement program.
New provisions in Paragraph 314.2 allow former clergy candidates who are seeking to be reinstated after having been discontinued from candidacy to do so through a district other than the one by which they were discontinued. This may give them a fresh start with people who had not previously supervised them while also assuring that the new district committee receives information about the reasons for the previous discontinuance.
Provisional Members: Paragraphs 365, 324, 326.1, 324.6, 324.B.3.a, 324.4, 315.2.c
The most important disciplinary changes for provisional members relate to medical disclosures and those seeking to become deacons.
Paragraph 324.6 is the one of several paragraphs modified to limit the kinds of medical disclosures physicians are required to be asked to make. (See Paragraph 315.1.b for licensed local pastors, 347.3.a for elders transferring from other denominations, and 358.7.(2) and 369.5 for retirees seeking readmission or return to effective relationship). The revised language replaces a provision that allowed each annual conference board of ordained ministry to create its own medical disclosure form. Now the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry will create a standard form. The new form will enable a physician to provide a “certificate of good health” without making specific disclosures.
Provisional members preparing for ordination as deacons will no longer require a separate license to practice ministry within the bounds of their appointment. Paragraph 326.1 now states that commissioning is, itself, the basis for the ministry they do during their provisional membership. Meanwhile, preaching is now a mandatory part of the curriculum for Basic Graduate Theological Studies for deacons, as is at six hours of United Methodist studies which must be provided on a letter grade basis (not pass-fail). All Basic Graduate Theological Studies coursework must be completed at a University Senate-approved theological school (Paragraph 324.4).
Local Pastors and Associate Members: Paragraphs 310.4, 316, 317.1, 318.2, 318.4, 319.3, 320.4, 320.5.d, 322.1.4, 323.2, 324.4.A.2.c.1, 346.1, 347.1, 361.1, 361.2, 416.5, 602.1.d, 1402.6
More changes were made to support the work of licensed local pastors and associate members than any other category of clergy ministry. Local pastors may now serve “on loan” to other conferences for up to five years (Paragraph 318.4), and associate members may seek appointment or transfer to other conferences as well (Paragraphs 346.1, 347.1). The Fellowship of Local Pastors and Associate Members in each annual conference will now elect its own chairperson quadrennially, rather than having their chair chosen for them by the Board of Ordained Ministry (Paragraph 323.2). Local pastors may also receive an interim license for ministry and appointment prior to receiving approval of the clergy session (Paragraph 316). Local pastors may now complete the entire Course of Study (changes to Paragraphs 322.1.4, 324.4.A.3.c.1, and 1406.12), just as has been the case for those seeking the M.Div. Retired local pastors may now also receive a license authorizing them to preside at the sacraments in their home church at the request of the appointed pastor (Paragraph 320.5.d). The only constraint added to local pastors is that those choosing the M.Div. rather than the Course of Study now must do so through a University Senate approved theological school (602.1.d).
Deacons: Paragraphs 309.2.e., 315, 328. 330.3.c., 339
While the greatest number of changes were made to paragraphs related to local pastors, the greatest scope of change was made for the work and status of deacons. Provisional members preparing for ordination as deacons and deacons in full connection are now included in the definition of the word pastor (Paragraph 339), and deacons in full connection also no longer require a license for pastoral ministry when appointed to serve in the role of a pastor (Paragraph 315). “Presiding at the celebration of the sacraments when contextually appropriate,” though the definition of “contextually appropriate” is still being discerned, is now included within the ministry of the deacon (Paragraph 328). Qualification for specialized ministry may now be established by obtaining a master’s degree in that specialization but also by four years of full-time equivalent experience in the in that specialized ministry and receiving a related license or certification that involves at least eight semester hours of graduate academic credit. Previous minimum age requirements have also been removed (Paragraph 330.3.c).
Ordained clergy and associate members: 309.2.e., 347.2, 348, 361.1, 361.2, 370.1, 602
None of the changes that include elders are about elders exclusively, but rather apply to all who are ordained clergy or associate members of the clergy session. Paragraph 348 consolidates a variety of statements about affiliate membership for clergy serving within the bounds of other annual conferences into one place. Paragraph 370.1 removes affiliate clergy members from the actual clergy membership of an annual conference, while Paragraph 602 removes them from having vote, but grants them voice, in an annual conference of which they are an affiliate member. Paragraphs 361.1 and 361.2, which deal with withdrawal to unite from ordained ministry and withdrawal from ordained ministerial office or associate membership, are modified to clarify that in all such cases, withdrawal does not nullify ordination, only conference membership and the ability to serve within the ordained ministry of The United Methodist Church.
All Clergy under Appointment: 343, 344, 347.3, 349, deletion of former 349.3, 354.2.c.2, 623, 627.
Changes in this category also reflect, for the most part, a variety of clarifications of policies or practices that may have been left unclear or up to each annual conference to determine. One of those matters is how a church that was behind on paying its appointed clergy’s salary or pension should proceed. Paragraph 623 now has clearer guidance on that matter both for the clergy involved and the officers of the local church. It was also unclear how long a transitional leave (when one appointment ends before another can be made) might be allowed to last. Paragraph 354.2.c.2 names the maximum length of a transitional leave as 12 months.
The role and authority of mentors had remained vague since they were first introduced into the Book of Discipline in 1996. Who was required to have a mentor? And was a mentor to supervise and report on or simply provide counsel to those being mentored? Paragraph 349 provides the answers. Mentors are mandatory for provisional members, local pastors who have not completed an M.Div. or the Course of Study, and clergy from other denominations serving in The United Methodist Church. The role of mentors is advisory only.
Two changes involved significant deletions. The former Paragraph 349.3 had required a six-month process of personal and professional assessment and development every eight years. The time and costs to do this proved cumbersome for boards of ordained ministry (who were to administer it) and clergy alike. General Conference removed this process. It was also often difficult for annual conferences to obtain information about the compensation of clergy in extension ministries to publish in the conference journal, though they were mandated to do so. That requirement has been removed in the revision of Paragraph 627.
Overall, the 62 calendar items and the changes they made in the Book of Discipline related to clergy reflect a different spirit toward clergy than that of the 2012, 2016 and 2019 General Conferences. While some of the previous changes sought to bring greater clarity, many, such as the mandatory six-month personal and professional assessment every eight years passed in 2016, were focused on putting them under greater scrutiny, suggesting an overall feeling of distrust and a felt need to keep a tighter rein on them. Despite decades of effort to make more room for older adults to serve as clergy, a hard and fast retirement age of 72 had disqualified many competent people from seeking candidacy. There seemed to be a spirit of distrust and a judgment of clergy as incompetent embodied in much of that legislation, despite the fact that documented cases of clergy incompetence were relatively few (under three percent).
The changes made in the 2020/2024 Book of Discipline, by contrast, seem to come from a place of deeper trust and mutual respect, removing policies that seem to be more about prying than supporting, and expanding the opportunities for provisional members, licensed local pastors, associate members, deacons and older adults to prepare for and engage in the ministries to which God was calling them and they may be appointed.
Perhaps the way the 2024 General Conference approached the clergy of the denomination reflects a change in the tide of the denomination, from distrust toward trust, from control toward opportunity, and from compliance with models from the past to awareness of the needs for clergy leadership in the present and into the future.
Burton Edwards serves as Lead, Ask The UMC, the information service of United Methodist Communications.
