We are now in the third day of General Conference.  We have worshiped together, shared communion together (twice), spoken at length of good things happening in the church, and spoken to numbers of people in the hallways.

Most of the time has been spent getting legislative groups organized, the rules of order passed, and setting agendas. The big race is now ready to begin and in the next daily report from General Conference we will have a report on decisions being made.

The two days have been a time also for setting as normative for the conference what might be called--or lack of a better term--the "corporate culture."  The "corporate culture" is the way of thinking, speaking, and acting that dominates in the Council of Bishops, the boards and agencies, and the seminaries.  This is very similar to what is elsewhere referred to as "United Methodist ethos" or even "The United Methodist way."

For those who may be interested, the church (and the world) operates with a number of different "cultures." We speak of the "millennials" and the youth culture; we speak of ethnic cultures; we can speak of regional culture."

We can also speak of the evangelical culture. This is the world that talks about Jesus a lot. It is the world of gospel songs, of talk about the blood, the burden for souls, and finding God's will for our lives. It is comfortable with ideas like abstinence and holiness.  Its concern for the poor and homeless has more to do with Rescue Missions than with lobbying for new laws.

The UM "corporate culture" (which changes from decade to decade) is about "diversity" and "inclusiveness" and "experience" and "feelings" and "justice." It wants very much to be sensitive to the feelings of others and avoid images and phrases that might offend.  It is the world of political correctness.

Because we want to avoid the imagery of war we do not refer even to a motion that fails as being "defeated"; it rather "fails" or is "rejected."  We have guidelines on how to speak and phrases to avoid.  We also have a group of petitions that want to ensure that the proper percentages of groups are represented on the agencies.     

The 2008 General Conference has written into it rules that representatives of the Status and Role of Women monitor all sessions to make sure that diversity is being served in the matters of who speaks and who is elected and whether any voices are not being heard.        

Then, at least in one group, members of the committee were asked to share their "feelings" about the legislation before any serious discussion of the content was considered.

We have been through this before.  Most of us realize we live in several of our UM cultures simultaneously.  But this is what we face as we start the race.

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