One might wish there were more to report on the actions of General Conference after seven days.  The truth is that most of the complicated and controversial legislation before G.C., even after seven days, has not yet reached the floor of the plenary session.  Most all of the petitions have now passed to the full General Conference legislative body plenary session time has been spent on petitions with financial implications (often requesting money for task forces or studies) so that there will be time to prepare a final budget.  This means most of the rest of the legislation is piling up and will have to be acted upon in the final three days.

One significant action that was taken would refigure the formula for determining Episcopal areas.  Practically speaking, this would reduce the number of bishops in the United States by four.  Funds saved in the reduction would be used to help establish new Episcopal areas overseas, where the church is growing.  Those who opposed the action argued the U.S. needs bishops to lead the church into growth.  The answer was that the presence of a bishop has almost nothing to do with whether the church is growing.

Another rather unusual petition was tabled.  The original petition called for censure of the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) for violating the terms of a trust clause established 40 years ago when the building established by the former Board of Temperance of the Methodist Church in Washington D.C. was transferred to the newly formed Board of Church and Society.  With the transfer was the trust agreement that income generated by rental of the building (which is considerable because of the prime location close to the capitol), would be used for the cause for which the monies had been given, namely for the cause of temperance in regard to alcohol.

GBCS for 40 years has had very few program inferences and little interest in temperance and has interpreted the clause to mean that their social advocacy programs are not in violation of the clause.  A number of persons for 40 years have raised the issue of accountability (most of the GBCS, as well as the rest of the church, have not been informed of the issue).  When the General Board of Finance and Administration finally would not give the board of Church & Society a clear audit, GBCS sought a declaratory decision from the civil courts.  The courts raised serious questions about the way the board has interpreted the clause and the case is now in litigation.

The motion to table action was probably a wise and necessary action because of the litigation.  While the petition was in many ways unfortunate at least now there is aware of the problem.

There are more interesting petitions regarding ministry passed by legislative group, which will come before the plenary with likelihood of passing.  The original Ministry Study (after 4 years and $200,000 spent) had no ministry recommendations except that the study be continued another four years.  Furthermore, the study asked that the conference accept no ministry-related petitions but rather that all ministry petitions be referred to the new committee.  The legislative group pointed out the church has had study committees for the past twenty years and there is more confusion than ever.  The group decided to deal with petitions. 

The following are some of those petitions being supported:

..Perhaps the most significant would basically do away with what has been called “guaranteed appointments.”  The legislation, if passed, would provide guidelines whereby ineffective pastors would not receive appointment.

..Shorten the probationary period for commissioned ministers to two years instead of three.  Shorten the probationary period for elders also to two years.

..Rename “probationary” members as “provisional” members.  The argument is that “probationary”—a word used in Methodism from the time of John Wesley—is “judgmental.”  In a church already burdened with politically correct language this change is bound to lead to more confusion.

..Change the mandatory retirement age of ministers from 70 to 72 years of age.

There is an extensive lobbying effort being made by some liberal groups to pass a resolution urging divestment from companies doing business with Israel.  The companies targeted include Caterpillar, United Technologies, ITT Corp., General Electric, Oshkosh, Motorola, Veolia Environment, Cement Roadstone, and Terex.  It is petitions like these, as well as the petitions dealing with homosexuality, that will make the final three days of General Conference which will have significant impact on the church.

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