In the Commission on a Way Forward report given to the Council this week, the commission shared with the bishops two sketches that carry forward many of the values and principles of the three sketches that were presented to the bishops at their meeting in November
The Commission on a Way Forward is a committee appointed by the 2016 General Conference. Your support of the General Administration Fund helps support the legislative processes of the church.
Here is a summary of the two sketches in process. Details may change based on the work of the Commission at its next meeting:
ONE CHURCH MODEL
The One Church Model gives churches the room they need to maximize the presence of United Methodist witness in as many places in the world as possible. The One Church Model provides a generous unity that gives conferences, churches, and pastors the flexibility to uniquely reach their missional context in relation to human sexuality without changing the connectional nature of The United Methodist Church.
MULTI-BRANCH: ONE CHURCH MODEL
This model is grounded in a unified core that includes shared doctrine and services and one Council of Bishops, while also creating different branches that have clearly defined values such as accountability, contextualization and justice. The five U.S. jurisdictions would be replaced by three connectional conferences, each covering the whole country, based on theology and perspective on LGBTQ ministry. Annual conferences would decide which connectional conference to affiliate with; only local churches who choose a branch other than the one chosen by their annual conference would vote to join another conference.
During this week's meeting in Dallas, the bishops also heard reports on the impact of both models on pension benefits, the connection, central conferences and fiscal responsibilities.
Council President Bishop Bruce Ough noted that the process of seeking a way forward was grounded in three major values:
- A renewed attention to our public mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, especially with those who are not yet a part of our churches.
- A focus on contextuality in a global church, and our continuing call to learn from each other, listen to each other.
- Continuing to work with traditional, contextual and progressive values that are present in two models, one that is more aligned with a contextual church with the removed language about human sexuality, a second which differentiates between these values as different branches of one church.
The Commission on a Way Forward will meet in Los Angeles in a few weeks and then give its final report to the Council of Bishops at the April/May meeting in Chicago.
Rev. Dr. Maidstone Mulenga, Director of Communications, Council of Bishops
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