Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
GC2019: The Craziness Of The Organizational Day

GC2019: The Craziness Of The Organizational Day

Last updated on: February 24, 2019 at 3:12 pm by Christy Thomas

GC2019: The Craziness Of The Organizational Day 2019-02-24T15:12:26-05:00 Christy Thomas

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The real craziness of the organizational day is just about to start. I’m going to sign off here and start a fresh post. Forgive me for the typos and run-on sentences. All written quickly. Hope we all survive the afternoon.

the craziness of the organizational day

I started writing this at 10:30 am. To that point, opening at 7:30 am, we had spent an hour in worship. Then a break. Then singing. Then “setting the bar” of the Conference (I’ve yet to figure out what that means except it is a way to include/exclude who gets to go where–and the press is very much excluded here).

Since then, it’s been introductions, lists of names, talking, talking, talking about the Commission on a Way Forward.

They’ve reviewed The Way Forward process. Frankly, if the delegates didn’t come prepared by having already read this, they should not be delegates.

Now, they are talking about the pressure on those poor people who were on the committee. Sigh. As it right now displayed on the screen, everything thing he is talking about is already printed in the ADCA, page 126.). Yes, it’s no fun to read through this, but it’s what guides us and every single delegate should be intimately familiar with it. Again, if not, they should not be serving.

Everything is translated from English into French, Portuguese and Kiswahili for the people speaking the different languages. I just don’t get this kind of waste of corporate time. There is too much to be done today.

Now, the next speaker refers us to p. 127 while she reads what is written there and also displayed on the screen. Apparently, we have a bundle of first-graders as delegates.

Now, a passionate defense of the One Church plan has been offered. It’s 10:45. At 11:00, a defense of the Traditional Plan begins. Again, the presenter reads from the CDA.

Summary by Bishop Carter: 11:15. Affirms that the Commission on a Way Forward very much endorses the One Church Plan, even though the three plans were all offered by the Way Forward commission. Now, it is the time for the delegates to discern the way forward for the UMC. The work is now officially in the hands of the delegates.

Brian Adkins speaks about the work of the Commission on The Way Forward

Well, not quite. Four other people are on the stage talking about the commission again and defending the work of it. She says they were angry, vulnerable, broken. They confessed and repented, asked for grace and forgiveness, and kept pushing forward for results.

Ultimately, they chose love over fear, committed themselves to understand one another rather than trying to change one another, agreed to gentle compassion rather than angry accusation. They discovered they could challenge without accusing.

They shared communion, sang hymns, studied scripture, heard each other witness and testimonies, prayed earnestly for each other, shared their anxieties and joy, grieved and celebrated, both professionally and personally. They came to know one another’s families. At the end, they were very real to one another.

At this point, Brian Adkins, an openly gay pastor, speaks his passion for full inclusion.

Now another call for prayer. Complicated directions–go into groups of three, decide who goes first, other people put hands on shoulders.

At about 11:45, the decision by the Judicial Council was reported that two of the legislative items presented in the Modified Traditional plan were deemed unconstitutional.

Now, a word of thanks has been offered to the Bishops for all their work. I hear continued mention of the anxiety in the room–it must be palpable down there. Up here in the nosebleed section, we’re all essentially glued to our machines, writing, reporting, doing our best with telephoto lenses to get something visual.

And still nothing to even try to make sense of. Continued grumbling from the press about the lack of access to the floor of the conference. Impossible to catch delegates during breaks for quick conversations, no way to adequately observe how they look, their demographic make-up, the facial expressions that say so much.

Already wiped out

And I’ve been sitting and writing for hours and I’m already wiped out.

We broke for lunch. I suggested we get something from the concessions–and then discovered that there was not one safe option for my gluten-free body. I’m here working with Cynthia Astle and her husband for UM Insight. Her husband, John, graciously offered to run out to a nearby salad place to get me something. I was grateful.

Bishop Hope Morgan Ward was appointed the presiding officer for the afternoon. She has opened the session, and now there is a voting machine test. We’ve been told what page of the ADCA is the one we need here. This is the official document of the GC and is added to each day, made available electronically to everyone and I think the delegates also get print copies. I’ve got my own print copy of this original one (nearly 300 pages) but the supplements for me are all electronic.

Now, the work on the part of the delegates begins. They will be deciding the order by which the various presentations will come before the legislative committee (the same 864 people that will decide the order) tomorrow. Here’s a copy of the prioritization plan. So each piece of legislation (there were 76 but two have been ruled unconstitutional so I don’t know if they get included in this) will get an up or down vote. When all is done, the piece that gets the most vote will be considered first, and so on.

And I can’t even imagine the kinds of instructions the delegates have been issued by their various handlers to make sure they get things before the committee in the order that they want them.

OK, the stuff from the floor has already started. One person is calling for some sort of judicial ruling over a piece of legislation. Unfortunately, this is moving faster than I can record what is going on. From what I can tell, it’s a question of the abilities of the General Conference to set standards of ordination, which are actually controlled by the Annual Conference, the basic unit within the United Methodist Church. And if you understand what I just wrote, you are a well-accomplished methonerd.

And there is our problem: We have an exceedingly complicated structure. Few can really understand it. This particular motion is now on the floor, been seconded, had a three minute speech in favor of it, and now they have to vote and probably 90% of the delegates have zero idea upon what they are currently voting. I am sitting right next to one of the most experienced reporters for the United Methodist Communications, and she is pretty sure she understood what just happened but she is still checking it out.

In the meantime, they just announced that only 820 of the 864 voting machines are properly connected to the main computer, so that means that 44 delegates are not currently having their votes recorded. Or, 44 didn’t come back from lunch or are absent from their seats and they apparently don’t have a way to verify attendance of the delegates.

OK, I’m going to sign off here. Forgive me for the typos and run-on sentences. The real craziness of the organizational day is just about to start.

Photo credit: (c) Christy Thomas; Screenshot from the conference, taken by Christy Thomas

Previous Post

February 24, 2019

What If The Holy Spirit Did Indeed Fall Upon Us? Could We Survive It?

Next Post

February 25, 2019 GC2019: Sleepless, Grieving Night At The Conservative Takeover

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category " obedience abortion accommodation accountability administration adolescence Advent advice an ordinary death anxiety apology apportionments Ash Wednesday ask thoughtfulpastor baptism betrayal Bible bondage calling certainty change character charity children Christianity Christmas church church as garden clergy clergy credentials closure comfort compassion competition compromise Confirmation conservation conservative conspiracy theories consumer conversion coronavirua corruption courage covenant cultural context death Deconstruction discipleship discord divorce doctrine doing good drugs dysfunctional Easter Easter; Resurrection education election entertainment envy escape evaluation evil exclusive church exercise faith faithfulness family fasting fear feast featured film review finances first world problem food forgiveness fundamentalist garden gay marriage General Conference generosity giving thanks GLBT glory good government grace guilt habit happy harmony hateful acts healing health health care heaven hell hello/goodbye heresy hidden agenda holiness homelessness homosexuality humility hymn hypocrisy Imago Dei In training inclusive church indulgence injustice innocents insurance intolerance itinerancy joy Justice kindness Kingdom of Heave kingdom of heaven language laughter laundry lawsuit leadership Lent LGBTQ liberal life Little Things Matter longform meandering thoughts memories mercy metaphor metrics miracle misfortunes morality Mormon Muslim mystery worship natural disasters New Category Name nutrients older adults oppression pain Paleo paperwork partnered pastor peace pension pharmaceutical placebo politics poverty prayer privilege public schools questions quiet racism rain reason reconciliation religion repentance requirements rescue respect rest resurrection retirement Sabbath sacrament sacred salvation same-sex marriage sanctuary schism schooling science SCOTUS secrecy separation of church and state sexism sexuality short cuts silence sin sleep soil spiritual journey stillness suffering surgery sustainable church teacher technology thank you theology therapy thinking tolerance TOS trust truth Uncategorized welcome Why Easter? wisdom women worship

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 December 2025 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 March 2025 February 2025 December 2024 November 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 April 2024 March 2024 January 2024 December 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 October 2022 September 2022 July 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 October 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 January 2020 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 July 2007 March 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz