I’ve been asked several questions about General Conference petitions and other areas. This is the first of many Q&As I will do. Please continue to ask questions and share my responses as you feel led.
- Roll Expansion of The Order of the Deacon:
- There are petitions to allow Deacons the privilege to perform the sacraments without special permission from a bishop. They would not have the same rights as elders related to all sacraments.
- There are several petitions that would allow Deacons to be elected as Bishops and appointed as District Superintendents. This is an acknowledgement that some Deacons have specialized vocations toward administration and order.
- Citation: Advanced Daily Christian Advocate (ADCA)
- Pension Changes
- A proposal from Wespath (our pension and health benefit board) would change the pension plan (for people not retired or retiring in the next two years) from a defined-benefit plan to a defined contribution plan for clergy.
- A defined-benefit plan is our more traditional model, and guarantees all clergy a monthly payment for life.
- A defined-contribution plan provides an account that is more like a 401(k), and the funds present are limited. It is up to the clergyperson to assume the risk of sustaining the funds.
- Wespath notes that this is necessary as we have an increasing number of retirees with decreasing membership numbers and financial contributions.
- Citation: UMNews
- Bishops Roles, Retirement, and Assignment
- Several petitions are proposing term limits and limitations for bishops.
- Other petitions proposing limiting the number of bishops in jurisdictions. One would reduce them to five person jurisdiction (unless the jurisdiction requests more and can afford more).
- One petition even creates partnerships between jurisdictions and central conferences during different quadrenniums. They would share bishops and send central conference bishops to serve in the jurisdiction and vice versa.
- There was a question about bishops being sent form jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but this is already allowed in the discipline as needed. This requires the transferring bishops to consent to move and the approval of the committee on the episcopacy for each jurisdiction. We may see this more often now with the potential reduction in bishops.
- Citation: Advanced Daily Christian Advocate (ADCA)
- Apportionments as a Tithe
- Some petitions propose changing church contributions to the general church to a flat 10% of income for the year.
- This would increase apportionments in some annual conferences and reduce them in others.
- Annual conferences would be able to decide how much goes to the General church out of this tithe.
- Citation: Advanced Daily Christian Advocate (ADCA)
- Why are we global in scope vs. independent affiliated churches?
- The question asked why we didn’t use the World Council of Churches as our global governing body.
- We have a global denomination. It of course comes out our colonial approach to missions. We see them as part of one body each contributing to the body of the church. Our connectionalism hopes to learn, grow, and serve together. it roots itself in our understanding that theology and faith are both incarnational and contextual.
- We do have churches that have left The UMC and remain affiliated (or not) and we connect with them in different ways including General Conference.
- The World Methodist Council is also less a governing body and more a collaborative body that works together toward common goals and initiatives.
- We understand the basic body of the church is the connection (the annual conference specifically) not the individual church, so we we understand that we are interconnected churches tied up in each others faith and salvation, not independent agents.
- The regionalization proposals will allow for more rich contextuality, but we will still share a common Constitution, Doctrine, and Social Principles.
- Citations: World Methodist Council & 2016 Book of Discipline.
Jonathan LeMaster-Smith 
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