From the Bishop: The Conspiracy of Silence
Bishop Dan Schwerin calls on United Methodists to break the silence surrounding injustices fueled by powerful interests, urging the church to confront hatred and its consequences. He…
Posted: July 9 2018 at 04:36 PM
Greetings to you in this beautiful summertime!
There have been a few adjustments to the process leading up to the Special General Conference in February 2019.
First, there has been an amended call from the Council of Bishops in response to a Judicial Council decision: “The purpose of this special session of the General Conference shall be limited to receiving and acting upon a report from the Commission on a Way Forward based upon recommendations of the Council of Bishops.”
It is the Commission that forwards the report, not the Council of Bishops; however, the Council’s
recommendations include the One Church Plan over the other two plans.
On Friday, July 6, 2018, the Council of Bishops was informed that the release of the legislation—the recommended One Church Plan and the other two—would not be on July 8th as we had anticipated. The reason why the legislation was to be released on July 8th was because it needed to be translated into the official languages of The United Methodist Church. It has not yet been translated.
Due to yet another Judicial Council decision, additional legislation is allowed and more has come in. Most likely we will await the translation of all legislation, including the Commission/Council’s and others. We still await an official word from the Secretary of the General Commission on General Conference.
The frustration, of course, is that all across the connection various teaching and discussion sessions had been planned and some of them in the very near future will be difficult to implement. I don’t anticipate that our scheduled meetings throughout the districts in the fall will be affected. We will keep everyone informed as to when the legislation will be available.
Please continue to keep The United Methodist Church in your prayers.
~Bishop Sally Dyck
Update:
The final report of the Commission on a Way Forward to the Special Session of the General Conference in 2019 will become available once it has been translated from English into the other three official languages of The United Methodist Church (French, Portuguese, and KiSwahili), anticipated by July 30.
Read the full press release from the Commission on a Way Forward