General Conference, final vote

The Traditional Plan passed, 53% to 47%.

A motion to send the Traditional Plan to the Judicial Council and their April meeting passed by just over 50%.

UM News story here.

A person sent me an email earlier today saying she and her family and likely several friends have had enough. They’re strongly considering leaving the United Methodist Church. I’ve been thinking the same thing.

However, before I walk out the door, I want to find out what my own congregation and progressive congregations are going to do.

The conservatives said if the Traditional Plan didn’t pass they would leave. They already have an association to which they could go.

Progressives don’t (yet) have that. Currently, if a progressive congregation leaves, they’re on their own.

So, will this be an expulsion of the progressive congregations (or maybe just progressive members) or will this be a schism, where there are two denominations with some sort of Methodist name? That question hasn’t been answered. This General Conference didn’t provide a way to answer that. Maybe GC 2020 will.

From my reading over the past few days (alas, I don’t have a link to share) is that one of the driving forces on the conservative side is the Institute for Religion and Democracy. It isn’t a group within the United Methodist family, but a group outside. Even so, they provided assistance to the conservative side. When I first heard of IRD many years ago I quickly figured out they should really be called the Institute for Religion Without Democracy. They objected to denominations that decided things, including doctrine, in a democratic way – which is what GC is. They want all denominations to have a person or central group to issue doctrine by decree.

What I’ve learned in the last few days is that IRD has been funded the Koch brothers, the same guys that have donated heavily to the Republican Party and the Tea Party. I began to understand they targeted the UMC because of our strong advocacy for justice. And they’ve succeeded in damaging that. Which means what happened today at GC is part of much broader push for conservatives to seize control both nationally and around the world.

Many of us are grieving. General Conference has said they don't want us. Many of you are like me -- my confirmation was about the time the denomination was formed back in 1968 and I've been a member since. It is strange and scary to contemplate going to some other denomination.

Twitter user Lance Presley from Jackson, Mississippi wrote a thread about leaving the UMC. The church has made it uncomfortable for LGBTQ people for a long time. Those of us still here love the UMC and belong to it just as much as conservatives do. As for leaving, yeah, the Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ are welcoming to LGBTQ people, but such congregations don't exist in rural Mississippi. There are two UCC churches in the state. And there is a UMC in every small town and poor neighborhood. It just won't be the progressive voice in town.