The new president of The United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops gave a nod to the challenges and difficulties of the 2012 General Conference during the closing worship service late May 4 at the Tampa Convention Center.   “Many of us, sisters and brothers, leave hurt,” said Bishop Rosemarie Wenner of Germany. “We are called to go and make disciples, (even) in these mixed emotions we are in.”   Preaching her homily on the closing verses of Mark’s Gospel following a 10:30 p.m. adjournment, Wenner said that Christ’s call to go out into the world applies to each and every one of us, no matter our situation.

For more go to:
http://www.gc2012conversations.com/2012/05/04/bishop-encourages-delegates-during-final-worship/

The 2012 United Methodist General Conference spent the last hours of its last day May 4 scrambling to downsize agency boards, after the denomination’s top court ruled the “Plan UMC” restructuring legislation unconstitutional.

After months of denomination-wide talk about agency reconfiguration, delegates tried to salvage some part of the movement for structural change. They took up petitions that eight of the denomination’s 13 general agencies had submitted to reduce the size of their boards, independent of the Call to Action legislation and other comprehensive restructuring plans.

The result: the delegates shrank agency boards by 266 members, cutting the number of board members for the 13 agencies nearly in half.

For more go to:
http://www.gc2012conversations.com/2012/05/04/with-no-plan-umc-gc2012-shrinks-agency-boards-2/

The room block for the NC Conference held at the downtown Marriott (Raleigh) is full. Please contact the Sheraton at 919-834-9900 if you need a hotel room during the week of Annual Conference, June 13-16. The Sheraton is also connected to the Raleigh Convention Center. All rooms at the Sheraton will be released as of May 14.

Also, the number listed for the Clarion  in the AC Information booklet that was mailed is incorrect.  Please call 919.832.0501 if you would like to reserve a room at the Clarion Hotel.

When someone from your local church decides to attend seminary and enter ordained ministry, your church has reason to celebrate. You have nurtured and supported this person as they discerned a call to ministry. One of the greatest things you can do is to continue to support students while they are in seminary. They need to know they are still a part of the life of your congregation. Below are 10 suggestions for ways that local churches can support their candidates throughout their journey:

1. Send care packages and cards around the holidays and toward the end of the semester. It is important to let your seminarian know that you are thinking about them!
2. Include seminary students on the prayer list and send notes periodically to let them know that you are praying for them! If your church has a prayer shawl ministry, consider giving one to the student.
3. Support the United Methodist Student Day Offering by taking a special offering each and every year! Students in the annual conference and around the world appreciate the scholarships, loans, and grants that are made possible by faithful giving practices of our connectional church and the generous support of your congregation!
4. There are some costs associated with the Candidacy Process that are not covered by funds allotted from United Methodist Student Day or other scholarships. Check in with your student, district superintendent or your annual conference’s board of ministry to inquire about ways you can offer financial support. If you are a small charge or have multiple candidates from your church, consider doing a joint fundraising event to support them each year.
5. Consider buying your seminarian some of the essentials for ministry: an alb, The Book of Discipline, The Book of Worship, and/or The United Methodist Hymnal.
6. Make sure the Office of Ministerial Relations is aware of your student. Email his or her name and contact information to Laura Fine Ledford (lledford@nccumc.org), so that the NC Annual Conference can offer encouragement as well.
7. Consider hosting a luncheon or reunion type event for seminary and college students during Thanksgiving or Christmas break or another vacation time. There is joy in fellowship and strength in solidarity!
8. Invite seminarians to preach or serve as a liturgist when they are present in worship. It is nice to give seminarians opportunities to minister to their own congregations. Some may say no, but all will appreciate being asked.
9. Send your seminarian as one of the lay representatives from your church to annual conference. Consider nominating them to serve as a delegate to General Conference.
10. Clergy, educate yourself and your staff about how to encourage potential candidates in discerning their call. Provide assistance in initiating the Candidacy Process and offer resources to help them explore seminary education. Please be sure to approach the Candidacy Process as a valuable discernment opportunity, and always have a copy of the “Christian as Minister” on your bookshelf.

-from GBHEM

By a vote of 567 to 384, the 2012 United Methodist General Conference gave tentative approval to a slightly amended version of “Plan UMC” to reconfigure general agencies and downsize their boards.

It will be up to the lawmaking assembly to give final approval after the General Council on Finance and Administration, the denomination’s finance agency, reports on the plan’s financial implications.

The May 2 vote follows days of ups and downs when at one point, it looked like General Conference might conclude without proposing any restructuring proposal.

Read more: http://www.gc2012conversations.com/2012/05/02/plan-umc-gets-tentative-approval/

For more GC information go to:

http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.7989685/k.1FD3/General_Conference_2012.htm   or NC Conference GC pages:  http://nccumc.org/gc2012/

With summer right around the corner, now is the perfect time to review your playground safety. Click the link below to read basic guidelines from United Methodist Insurance on installing and maintaining playground equipment, which can save you liability in the future.

Ministry Protection Memo: Safe Playgrounds

The room block for the NC Conference held at the downtown Marriott (Raleigh) is full. Please contact the Sheraton at 919-834-9900 if you need a hotel room during the week of Annual Conference, June 13-16. The Sheraton is also connected to the Raleigh Convention Center. All rooms at the Sheraton will be released as of May 6.

By a vote of 889 to 20, General Conference made United Methodist Women an autonomous organization within the United Methodist Church May 1 during its quadrennial meeting Tampa, Fla. The historic vote separates the national policymaking body of women organized for mission within the denomination from the church’s mission agency for the first time in more than 70 years.

“This is great result for United Methodist Women and for the church and positions us for the next 143 years of mission,” said Harriett Jane Olson, chief executive of the national United Methodist Women organization.

To read more go to: http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/news/press/item/index.cfm?id=876

 By Yvette Moore

For more GC information go to: http://nccumc.org/gc2012/ or NC Conference GC pages:  http://nccumc.org/gc2012/

As with a number of other items that were resolved without much notice in the morning plenary May 1, delegates to the 2012 General Conference approved two pieces of legislation that further the global ministry of The United Methodist Church.

The Pacific Islander Ministry Plan was approved on the morning’s consent calendar, making it the sixth racial-ethnic ministry plan for the church. The consent calendar comprises a large number of petitions that are acted upon at the same time.

A committee approved by the 2008 General Conference was charged with studying the needs and challenges of Pacific Islanders in the United States – a group that includes Tongans, Samoans, Fijians, native Hawaiians and others. The ministry plan is the result of that work. Its goal is to resource, strengthen and advocate for the growth and development of Pacific Island churches and ministries within the United Methodist connection.

At least 1.1 million Pacific Islanders live in the United States, according to 2010 U.S. Census data, and there are about 80 churches, congregations and fellowships in the United States. Methodism in the Pacific Islands dates back to 1822.

The plan joins the National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministries, Korean American Ministry Plan, Asian Language Ministry Plan, Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century and the Native American Comprehensive Plan.

Commitment to worldwide church

Through the consent calendar, delegates also approved the Covenant for a Worldwide United Methodist Church. It is a product of nearly eight years of study by the Committee to Study the Worldwide Nature of The United Methodist Church.

In a time when the membership of the U.S. church is in decline and conferences outside the United States are growing, the covenant celebrates both the diversity of the church and its connectedness across the globe.

The covenant reminds delegates that the church’s worldwide connection enables United Methodist to fulfill their “missional calling beyond national and regional boundaries.” It also urges them to “affirm our unity in Christ and take faithful steps to live more fully into what it means to be a worldwide church in mission for the transformation of the world.”

The demographics of the 2012 General Conference delegates reflect current growth trends. More than 39 percent are from the annual conferences in Asia, Africa and Europe.

By Tita Parham and Neill Caldwell

For more information go to:

http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.7989685/k.1FD3/General_Conference_2012.htm   or NC Conference GC pages:  http://nccumc.org/gc2012/

Many delegates were surprised and even shocked by how quickly a far-reaching proposal that takes away the security of guaranteed appointments for ordained elders breezed by The United Methodist 2012 General Conference.

The item was approved as part of a large numbers of proposals in the assembly’s April 30 consent calendar. The consent calendar is a tool used by General Conference to expedite legislation wherein recommendations from legislative committees with no more than 10 votes are grouped and passed together.

There was a motion to reconsider the item but it also failed by a vote of 564 to 373.

Under this new legislation, bishops and cabinets will be allowed to give elders less than full-time appointment. The legislation also would permit bishops and their cabinets, with the approval of their boards of ordained ministry and annual (regional) conference’s executive session, to put elders on unpaid transitional leave for up to 24 months. Clergy on transitional leave would be able to participate in their conference health program through their own contributions.

Under the legislation, each annual conference is asked to name a task force to develop a list of criteria to guide the cabinets and bishops as they make missional appointments.

The cabinets shall report to the executive committees of Board of Ordained Ministry the number of clergy without fulltime appointments and their age, gender, and ethnicity. Cabinets will also be asked to report their learnings as appointment-making is conducted in a new way.

Earlier the assembly voted down a proposal that would have allowed elders and deacons to be eligible for ordination as soon as they complete their educational requirements after serving a minimum of two years as a provisional elder or deacon.

The commission stated security of appointments for elders has been a major stumbling block for missional appointments.

“We have clergy who have proved ineffective and the ways of dealing with them are cumbersome,” said the Rev. David Dodge, a member of the study commission. “Removing the security of employment allows bishops to deploy clergy more appropriately to do missional ministry,” Dodge said.

Kathy Gilbert

For more information go to:

http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.7989685/k.1FD3/General_Conference_2012.htm   or NC Conference GC pages:  http://nccumc.org/gc2012/