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Bishops say UMC needs restructuring Robin Russell, Nov 17, 2009
UMNS FILE PHOTO BY MIKE DUBOSE
United Methodist bishops say the church needs to lower the average age of its members if it is to survive.
By Robin Russell Managing Editor
LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C.—If the United Methodist Church is to survive the 21st century, it will need an overhaul to its structural system.
The denomination’s bishops approved some “interventions” at their fall meeting, including working to eliminate the guaranteed appointment for clergy and revamping the format of General Conference, the denomination’s top law-making body.
“We don’t know yet what that will look like, but there are steps that will lead us into that conversation,” said Bishop Larry Goodpaster (Charlotte Area). “We see through a glass darkly, but we are turned to the future, to see what God might yet do through the United Methodist Church.”
The council’s Call to Action recommendations, drawn up by a steering committee in conjunction with the denomination’s Connectional Table and agency executives, will help “break through the inertia and reignite a movement at the local church level,” Bishop Goodpaster said.
A 12-person steering committee, along with an outside consultant, will seek input from clergy and laity across the denomination to assess how church structures are operating, from the council itself to annual conferences and general agencies. A progress report will be given at the council’s spring 2010 meetings and final recommendations will be made that fall.
According to the Book of Discipline (Par. 414), bishops are called to lead and oversee the church’s mission, ministry and structure. Bishops said the church’s structure is no longer able to support its mission and ministry, which leaves the denomination in trouble: Its membership has continued to decline over the last 40 years in the U.S. and is increasingly growing older than the national average.
“Institutionalism has been embedded in our system,” Bishop Goodpaster said. “We are still trying to fit new wine in wineskins from 40 years ago. The mission is paramount; the mission is everything. Structure follows mission.”
Sensing an urgency to their task, bishops even discussed the possibility of a special called session of General Conference—or some other churchwide gathering for “holy conferencing” before 2012—to move more quickly on engaging conversation around the action plan as well as develop a sustainable pension plan. That motion was referred to the bishops’ spring meeting.
At Lake Junaluska, bishops agreed to engage in regional conversations to develop a set of standards across the church; work to redesign the church’s leadership development system to give priority to youth and young adults—with the intention of lowering the average age of United Methodists by a decade (the current average in the U.S. is 57); seek to eliminate guaranteed appointment for clergy; and help reorder the structure of the church, including the format and frequency of General Conference, to become more effective in fulfilling the church’s mission.
Bishop Grant Hagiya (Seattle Area) said that while the guaranteed appointment system has offered protection for women and ethnic minority clergy who might not otherwise have received an assignment, clergy ultimately need to be deployed based on their fruitfulness.
“Our present leadership development system is broken,” Bishop Hagiya said. “Guaranteed appointment will not help us.”
And the structure of how and when General Conference meets needs to be evaluated, said Bishop Mary Ann Swenson (Los Angeles Area), because it’s not fiscally possible to continue with its historic pattern. For one thing, she said, though the body’s function is legislative, it has “slipped into governance as well.” What’s more, there’s not a way to respond to needs in between the quadrennial sessions, she added.
“General Conferences have become so very political,” Bishop Swenson said. “We need to help shift them toward being missional. Is the four-year cycle appropriate for us? We start over every four years, and that’s a hindrance to moving forward in achieving our mission.”
Bishops said reordering the denomination’s structure might mean reducing the number of general agencies, or perhaps the creation of a coordinating denominational office to enhance United Methodist ministries around the world.
In other action, bishops also expressed concern over clergy pensions in light of the U.S. economic recession and approved a special task force to respond to the challenges of sustainability. Task force members are Bishops Jonathan Keaton, Scott Jones, Leo Soriano, Clifton Ives, Paul Leeland and Warner Brown.
Barbara Boigegrain, top executive of the denomination’s Board of Pension and Health Benefits, said the task force will work on gathering data from 12 annual conferences that have not yet provided financial information on either the affordability of benefits or their financial difficulties, including debt and compensation.
“We do not have a financial picture of the annual conferences,” she said. “Often the right information is not collected or is turned in intermittently or not at all. The task force is seeking to get the rest to help us make good decisions.
“It’s time to take a measured stance, not a reactive stance. This will help us do that.”
UMNS FILE PHOTO BY MIKE DUBOSE
According to the Book of Discipline (Par. 414), bishops are called to lead and oversee the church’s mission, ministry and structure. Bishops said the church’s structure is no longer able to support its mission and ministry, which leaves the denomination in trouble: Its membership has continued to decline over the last 40 years in the U.S. and is increasingly growing older than the national average. 
