Bishops: Please Call Special Online General Conference to Pass Protocol

We urge the United Methodist Council of Bishops to call a Special Online General Conference to ratify the Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation ( https://www.gracethroughseparation.com/) so that all Methodists can move forward.  Traditionalists can emerge into The Global Methodist Church.  Centrists and liberals can continue with the post-separation United Methodist Church (PSUMC), and progressives can move into the Liberation Methodist Connexion, among other options.

The scheduled physical General Conference of August 29 – September 6, 2022 in Minneapolis will cost over $12 million and require hundreds of people to meet across nine days, debating hundreds of pieces of legislation, much of which will not apply to people not remaining in the PSUMC.  Dozens of African delegates and possibly others will be disenfranchised because they cannot get U.S. visas.

An online General Conference, devoted exclusively to The Protocol, will save millions of dollars and allow wider participation especially for overseas delegates.  Ensuring all delegates have internet access will be far less costly than a physical meeting. A “distributed” event in which delegations meet to participate online together in their respective region might be the best route.

Methodists across the spectrum are ready to end a 50 year battle over the church’s teachings on sexuality.  There is widespread consensus behind the Protocol. Saving millions of dollars and sparing the church an unneeded physical gathering will be a mercy to all. We ask the bishops to call a special online meeting as soon as possible to allow everyone to move forward.  Other major denominations have successfully convened online conventions during the pandemic, including with overseas delegates.

We pray this process of separation will occur soon, amid prayer and with good will to all.

Stand with UMAction and Sign the Petition!

We seek to reform our denomination’s institutional approach to social and political issues to be more restrained, nuanced, non-partisan, and thoughtfully grounded in biblical and historic Christian teachings, in the spirit of the “On Humility, Politics, and Christian Unity” resolution. This statement of principles was written by UM Action’s current director, John Lomperis, and overwhelmingly adopted by the 2008 General Conference of the United Methodist Church.

UM Action is accountable to its Steering Committee and Advisory Board, both of which are entirely composed of faithful clergy and lay members of the United Methodist Church. For 2019-2021, this UM Action leadership consists of:

STEERING COMMITTEE
Sara Anderson, Jane and William Bonner, Dixie Brewster, Mary Byerman, Dr. Janice Crouse, Dan Fuller, Krystl Gauld, Rev. Dr. Philip Hardt, Dr. Richard Hoffman, Rev. Dr. Paul Jaw, Joe Kilpatrick, J. Robert Ladd, Rev. Ethan Larson, Charles Miller, Rev. Martin Nicholas, Jim Ottjes, Rev. Paul Stallsworth.

ADVISORY BOARD
Karl Baumgardner, esq., Rev. Bill Bouknight, Rev. Riley Case, Rev. Dr. Ken Collins, Betsy and Gerald Kersey, Rev. Bob Land, Rev. Bob Parrott, Rev. Dr. Edmund Robb, T. Terrell Sessums, Faye Short, Helen Rhea Stumbo, Dr. John Stumbo, Rev. Donald Wildmon.