A livestreamed panel discussion with members of the team that developed a new proposal for The United Methodist Church’s future occurred on Monday, Jan. 13.
The panel interview, conducted by UM News, was streamed on https://www.UMNews.org beginning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern U.S. Time. It can be viewed at https://youtu.be/q2wZQyAjU6M. The panel discussion lasted approximately one hour and will be recorded and archived on the site.
The panelists described how they developed the Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation, a proposal that they are working to have drafted as legislation and sent to General Conference. The proposal, announced Jan. 3, would provide a means for traditionalists to leave The United Methodist Church and form their own denomination, as well as a way for others to leave the denomination within a specified time. Proponents emphasize that no one is being asked to leave the church.
The proposal is the latest effort to move the church past a decades-long debate over inclusiveness and interpretation of Scripture with regard to same-gender weddings and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy. The United Methodist Church’s official positions are that all people are of sacred worth; the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching; “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” shall not be ordained as clergy; and same-sex weddings shall not be performed in the denomination’s churches nor by its clergy.
When The United Methodist Church’s General Conference meets May 5-15 in Minneapolis, delegates from around the world will consider a number of proposals for splitting or restructuring the church.
The protocol document was developed by people from centrist, progressive and traditionalist perspectives, as well as bishops from the United States, Africa, Europe and the Philippines. The group was led by mediator Kenneth Feinberg, who worked on the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, the Agent Orange Victim Compensation Fund, and programs to compensate victims of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Boston Marathon bombing.
Panelists will include:
Bishop John Yambasu, co-convener, mediation team
Janet Lawrence, executive director, Reconciling Ministries Network
Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, president-elect, Council of Bishops
Kenneth Feinberg, mediator
The Rev. Junius Dotson, co-convener, UMC Next
The Rev. Keith Boyette, president, Wesleyan Covenant Association
Bishop Thomas Bickerton, co-convener, mediation team
The moderator will be Tim Tanton with UM News.
