I was reminded this week that many members of the United Methodist Church don’t know about denomination structure. Most of the time they don’t need to. They may hear the big news items, such as the way the General Conference voted in February. But they don’t hear about the smaller yet important items. It is only people like me who know the structure because we need to.
So, a bit of refresher. The United Methodist Church constitution lays out governance similar to the United States Constitution. GC takes the role of Congress in making church laws and updating the *Book of Discipline*. The Judicial Council acts as the Supreme Court in verifying that what the GC does aligns with the constitution and handle disputes within the denomination. The Council of Bishops act as the President, carrying out what the GC approves.
GC approved the Traditional Plan at their special meeting in February. Also at that meeting the Traditional Plan was referred to the Judicial Council for review – just as the plan was referred to review right after it was announced as an option last summer. It didn’t pass then.
The JC has now met and handed down its ruling. The Traditional Plan is made up of 17 pieces and some of them were ruled unconstitutional. Some were ruled as valid. The JC did not say that because parts of the plan are unconstitutional, then all of it is. It ruled on each piece separately.
Some of the parts declared illegal (my summary):
* Bishops can be forced out for ordaining LGBT pastors.
* Local boards of ordained ministry have to certify adherence to the entire Book of Discipline. They must decline candidates to ministry who do not meet the standards of sexuality.
* Annual (regional) Conferences must certify nominees or face financial penalties.
Some of the parts declared legal:
* A marriage certificate for a same-sex marriage is evidence of being a “self-avowed practicing homosexual.”
* Bishops are prohibited from ordaining homosexuals, boards of ordained ministry are prohibited from approving homosexual candidates. Bishops cannot elevate a homosexual to bishop.
* A bishop cannot dismiss a complaint against a pastor’s action unless there is no basis in law or fact. The complainant must be a part of the complaint’s resolution.
And a separate piece declared legal:
* There are certain circumstances in which a congregation can leave the denomination and retain local church property.
This last one isn’t a part of the Traditional Plan, but is important because the Plan passed. This is the first step in allowing a denomination split.
There are, of course, reactions to the ruling from both conservatives and progressives.
This is the season when youth join the church. In much of the United Methodist tradition a child is baptized as an infant and usually as a teenager confirms as their own what was said at their baptism. This is seen as a rite of passage to adulthood. The youth is given full membership. My own congregation welcomed five youth last Sunday.
The confirmation class of First United Methodist Church of Omaha, Nebraska was a bit different. The eight youth did not go through with the confirmation service. They wanted to wait to see how their local church responds to GC and its LGBT prohibitions. This was done in a congregation where the pastor supports LGBT equality. In their delay the youth have the support of the pastor and the congregation. If we don’t deal with this more youth will decline to join.
Here’s a video of their statement to the congregation. From comments it looks like the video shut off just before a standing ovation.
