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Daily wrap-up:

Liberia President Sirleaf addresses United Methodists

For April 29, 2008

Written by United Methodist News Service
Edited by Daniel R. Gangler, Indiana Area United Methodist Communication
Complete stories with pictures can be found at www.gc2008.umc.org.

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS)—Liberia President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told a worldwide gathering of United Methodists that her country and her church share a common commitment to eradicate poverty.

Sirleaf, a member of the Monrovia (Liberia) United Methodist Church, greeted delegates to the denomination’s top lawmaking body as “fellow Christians and fellow Methodists” many times during her April 29 address to the 2008 General Conference.

“This is a special honor for me,” she said. “I am the first African leader and the first female president to address the General Conference of The United Methodist Church.”

Sirleaf, 70, was greeted with cheers, applause and “ululations” from fellow Africans in the assembly. General Conference brings together delegates from around the world every four years to decide church law. Bishop John Innis of the church’s Liberia Area introduced the president to the assembly with the question, “Have you heard in Africa a woman was elected president of Liberia?”

Liberia has been weighed down with poverty, lack of education and years of civil war, Sirleaf said. “We need the church now as never before,” she said. “The moment has never been more opportune to collaborate with the government to improve health and education and give our people hope.”

Sirleaf became president in 2006 and has worked to restore the country’s infrastructure and to maintain peace and security.

“I am proud to say we have moved Liberia from a failed state, from an awful flicker on your television screen to a success story,” she said.

UMs celebrate 40-year journey toward inclusivity

The United Methodist journey toward inclusivity has been like a woodworker creating art out of unrefined materials, the United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race said in a video which celebrated the commission’s 40th anniversary.

“Creating a masterpiece is like taking a risk-filled journey. … It unfolds at stages, requiring patience, persistence and perseverance,” said the narrator in the video shown to General Conference 2008 on April 29.

The conference celebrated the birthday of the commission and reflected on the denomination’s journey of inclusivity. The video featured retired Bishop Woodie White, who served as the first executive for the commission until 1984, when he became the denomination’s first African-American bishop. White recalled life in the denomination before the commission.

“In the ‘60s there were people who were actually turned away from churches because of the color of their skin. … It’s hard to believe that that was the kind of church in which we lived,” White said.

“Like all journeys, it hasn’t always been easy,” Bishop Linda Lee, president of the commission’s board of directors, said to the conference. “The church has struggled with racism – both individual and institutional. The experience of racism has caused members of the United Methodist family to march and to preach and to speak out, infused with the energy of righting long-ignored wrongs.”

The denomination created the Commission on Religion and Race in 1968 to ensure that racially segregated conferences would fully integrate by 1972, following the dissolution of the Central Jurisdiction, which was drawn by racial, rather than geographic, lines.

The 1972 General Conference voted to make the commission permanent to allow it not only to usher the denomination through integration but also to lead the transition into a racially just and fully inclusive church.

United Methodists, Lutherans look toward cooperation

Bishop Melvin Talbert felt “a song in my heart” when the United Methodist General Conference approved a full communion agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). For Bishop William Oden, April 28 – the day the vote was taken – was a “banner day” for The United Methodist Church.

Both bishops were instrumental in shepherding the denomination to the vote. Oden is the ecumenical officer of the United Methodist Council of Bishops and Talbert was co-chairman of the most recent United Methodist-ELCA dialogue team with ELCA Bishop Allan Bjornberg of Denver. The dialogue was facilitated by the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.

As part of the General Conference’s traditional ecumenical day, observed on April 29, ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson preached for morning worship and a number of ecumenical guests from other denominations, faith groups and organizations were introduced.

Clare Chapman, currently the chief operating officer of the National Council of Churches, was presented with the Council of Bishops’ ecumenical award for 2008 “in recognition of her exceptional leadership” with both the council and the Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.

Dr. Robert Welsh, ecumenical officer of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and Dr. Richard Hamm, Disciples former general minister and president, both from Indianapolis, were recognized with other ecumenical representatives

Participants at a press conference about the full communion agreement pointed out that the new relationship with the ELCA is not a merger of the two denominations, but recognition of each other’s ministry and mission. It recognizes that each has “the one, holy, catholic and apostolic faith” expressed in the Scriptures and confessed in historic creeds and the core teachings of each denomination.

Under full communion, the two churches also recognize the authenticity of each other’s baptism and eucharist and the full interchangeability of all ordained ministers.

Delegates raise the retirement age of bishops

General Conference delegates increased by two years the mandatory retirement age for bishops. The decision impacts three of 14 bishops who were retiring on Aug. 31 following the regular sessions of the five U.S. jurisdictional conferences in July and the central conference meetings in Africa, Europe and the Philippines in the fall and in 2009. The increase in the retirement age was proposed by a task force studying the episcopacy, and a hand vote the delegates took on April 28 made the decision effective at the conclusion of the 2008 General Conference.

Changing the retirement age from 66 to 68 reflects the way Social Security is moving in allowing people to work longer if they choose, said Peggy Sewell of the episcopal services office at the United Methodist Council on Finance and Administration.

Prior to General Conference, mandatory disciplinary requirements stated that bishops had to retire on Aug. 31 following the regular session of the jurisdictional conference if the bishop’s 66th birthday had been reached on or before July 1 of the year in which the jurisdictional conference was held.

Delegates continue Study of Ministry Commission

A commission studying the ordering of ministry in The United Methodist Church is being continued for four more years. Delegates to the 2008 General Conference voted on April 29 to continue the commission work authorized by the 2004 legislative assembly to study the theological, ecclesial and practical groundings of its system of lay, licensed and ordained ministry.

That commission was to bring clarity to the church’s understanding of its ministry orders and make recommendations to the 2008 General Conference. However, after four years, the group found more questions and asked for more time – either by the current commission or a new one.

Delegates to the 2008 assembly directed the United Methodist Council of Bishops – in consultation with the boards of Higher Education and Ministry and Discipleship and the Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns – to establish a 28-member Study of Ministry Commission for 2009-2012. The delegates also authorized $150,000 for its work.

The bishops and the three agencies are to create a guide for ongoing study and dialogue, based on the former commission’s suggestions. The guide is to foster conversations on the issues among lay members, ordained deacons and elders, local pastors, bishops and cabinets, the Board of Ordained Ministries, ethnic constituencies and central conferences.

The next commission is to present the 2012 General Conference with legislation that addresses the ordering of ministry, the separation of ordination and conference membership, and the streamlining of the ordained ministry candidacy process.

Proposed new hymnal will go to 2012 assembly

United Methodist congregations in the United States could have a new United Methodist Hymnal within five years. Delegates set part of the agenda for the 2012 assembly late in the evening of April 28 as they approved creation of a hymnal revision committee. The committee will bring a proposed hymnal to the next session of the denomination’s top legislative body. Delegates from around the world also approved a four-year study of issues around developing an Africana hymnal with findings to be reported to the 2012 session.

Authorization of a committee to develop the new hymnal came 20 years after adoption of the first official United Methodist Hymnal. The final vote of 450-438 to create the committee came after debate in which younger delegates both supported and spoke against a new book of hymns and other worship resources. While the hymnal to be developed during the next four years is primarily for U.S. congregations, the work is to be a “prologue” to future work in other regions of the worldwide United Methodist Church.

The benefits of a new hymnal will include the incorporation of “new expressions of worship ... to engage all persons, including new, younger and diverse people,” according to the petition to create the committee.

Today’s schedule can be found by logging on to: www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.3989527/k.97F7/Today_at_General_Conference.htm