May 2024

As I write this, it is towards the end of April and I have been following as delegates from all over the globe met in Charlottesville, NC at General Conference. I would like to take this time to tell you that change is going to be happening. This is a good thing – really.

There was a proposed amendment to the UMC Constitution (Not the US one), “To Create Regional Conferences on a Worldwide Level” it passed by a 2/3 vote. The way things have always been is that the UMC was created as a church of the United States or what some refer to as “The Western World”. However, the UMC is now a global institution with churches all over the world, not just in the US. Many of these countries have customs, laws and political issues that are different from our own. First of all, not all of the world lives in a democracy. Secondly, there are issues such as abortion, and homosexuality which are outlawed in countries and regions across the world. Africa has long been a UMC Region unto itself and that regional conference has their own agenda. Recognizing that the US as a region unto itself may help to deter, if not eliminate some of the dissension within the UMC.

As a result of this, Eurasia was graciously allowed to exit from the denomination with a 91% vote. For those who have spread rumors that the UMC would never allow this, it appears to have been a gracious exit. “Their Bishop Eduard Khegay modeled how an amicable separation can be handled with a very warm, gracious goodbye speech.” (Mainstream UMC) Yes, the UMC is now smaller, but that doesn’t make it any less than what it has always been. The ministry is still the same, “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

Finally, a revision to the Social Principles was passed to change to use more inclusive language. This doesn’t mean that any of the concepts within were changed. For those of you who like the New Living Translation or Message Translation both of these use the same kind of inclusive language. I can also assure you that there was absolutely no change to God’s pronouns, not that we could really give a gender assignment to God – He’s the one who assigns gender to us. I’m sure that there will be other items of consequence to come from General Conference, but these are the main items. Michigan’s Annual Conference will be at the end of this month, and either myself or Denise Schuitema will give you an update on those goings on as well.

First Do No Harm, Do Good, Stay in Love with God, my friends.