NEWS PROVIDED BY
Institute on Religion & Democracy
March 4, 2022
WASHINGTON, March 4, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- A divided Commission on General Conference has acceded to an intense institutionalist pressure campaign by preventing the already repeatedly rescheduled United Methodist Church's General Conference from meeting before 2024.
Comment from:
John Lomperis, UM Action Director, Indiana General Conference delegate
Mark Tooley, IRD President, UM Action founder, Virginia United Methodist
Rev. Martin Nicholas, UM Action Steering Committee Chair, Texas Annual Conference
"This decision was extremely unwise and potentially destructive.
"It is essentially an extraordinary filibuster of the entire General Conference even as United Methodists across the spectrum agree a negotiated denominational split is needed.
"This rushed decision ignores how many other major denominational assemblies and international conferences are meeting in person in America this year, how at least half of American annual conferences are back to meeting largely in person, and how even Africa is on track to get Covid-19 under control this year.
"The General Conference Commission and staff, as stewards of our apportionment dollars had one job: to make General Conference happen.
"The Commission's majority and those who pressured them into this destructive path will provoke confusion, more church division, and litigation in which there are no winners.
"Our Council of Bishops can avoid this tragedy by calling a special General Conference to help our church move forward, which a majority of them may do at any time.
"UMAction will work with any good-faith partners for the 'Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation' proposal. Without this compromise, traditionalists may have to 'go it alone' and push through a fairer settlement.
"The United Methodist Church remains our church, and we will continue to defend its doctrine and moral standards.
"We will have more to say and do in the coming days."
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SOURCE Institute on Religion & Democracy
CONTACT: Jeff Walton, 202-413-5639, jwalton@TheIRD.org
