2012 United Methodist Quadrennial Conference Season--First Thoughts

Whoa. It has been quite a conference season. First the first time, I attended General and Jurisdictional Conferences (aside from a couple days at the SEJ during seminary). As my husband said, you just can’t understand what’s really happening without being there. Truer words may never have been spoken.

I attended both conferences as a spouse/observer, since my husband was a lay delegate. I’m very proud of him—he’s relatively new to our conference, having only come in 2007 to take a job as the director of one of our conference camp and retreat center, Manidokan. Those who know us know that we met because I helped interview him for that job! So it’s pretty good that at the delegate elections immediately after his arrival, he got a spot as a jurisdictional delegate.

I had intended to write more after General Conference, but I suspect most things that needed to be said have been said. For me personally, I learned A LOT not only about how General Conference operates, but also how our denomination functions. Lessons that really change the way I think about things.

Annual Conference happens each year, but is always an interesting and busy experience since I’m on the Arrangements Committee. It was of course interesting to see the dynamics of voting on our episcopal nominee(s), and seeing how the politics of the body I know best worked.

And then, there was Jurisdictional Conference. It was, by far, the most exhausting of them all for me. That is due to a few reasons. First, I had sole care of my 20 month old daughter (at GC, we interspersed conference happenings with family time and trips to the beach and Disney). Related to that, there was really very little to do with Anna. We spent long stretches of time walking the mall (that was undergoing renovation and so wasn’t in great form), and playing in the hotel room. By Friday, she was DONE. So was Mommy. :-p Second, the days were long and packed for my husband and the other delegates. Since so many ballots were required, the delegates hardly had a chance for bathroom breaks lest they miss a ballot! Days started right after an early breakfast, and lasted till 10 pm most nights. I needed to touch base with my DS about DCOM stuff as I get up to speed as the new chair, but our opportunity to talk involved a few quick greetings in passing (she was our delegation head). Really, it was that packed! Finally, the politics and dynamics of the election of bishops was really something, and required an emotional fortitude even just to observe first-hand, let alone take part in. On the mornings my husband had a chance to breath between breakfast and morning session, he had the candidate bios and his interview notes spread in front of him on the hotel bed to refresh his mind and help him think through the day’s balloting.

I suspect an entire blog post at least would be required to really begin to describe the dynamics of the episcopal elections, but what stands out to me most are a few things.

First, I continue to wonder about how clergy and laity see episcopal candidates differently. This is perhaps still also impacted by new vs. returning candidates. Several of our clergy posted about being excited about a number of candidates, while our lay delegates seemed less easily impressed—and even at that, impressed by different candidates altogether. I hope to talk to more of our delegates in the coming months to learn more about that. I have a sneaking suspicion the lay delegates had a more discerning view, but I’m interested to learn more about it.

Second, I was fully prepared to see the push for a diversity within the Council and College of Bishops. I agree this is important. But we saw this at work in a really interesting way in the NEJ. We had to elect three bishops. First, we pretty easily elected a white woman. Then, with a bit more work, but still relatively smoothly, a black man. But then we really hit a stalemate between a Latino woman and a white man. There were many who wanted to enhance the diversity of our college of bishops, and they pushed for the Latino woman. And we stayed stuck. For a long time.  We all seemed to agree that the Holy Spirit was trying to do something unexpected. I think few suspected what would happen.

In the end, the white man, Mark Webb, won. It was pronounced a war of attrition, and people seemed to feel immediately as if rather than the right candidate winning, one side just gave up. I suspect many first thought the Holy Spirit had left the building. Many were deeply diappointed.

As soon as the election happened, I packed Anna up and started walking to the Civic Center. In the time it took to get there, Mark Webb gave his acceptance speech, and the other candidates also came to the mic. Now there’s what the appropriate speech for such an occasion should be, “I want to thank my supporters who believed in me. I thank the Jurisdictional Conference for the opportunity to be considered. I congratulate Mark Webb, and I will support and pray for him and all our bishops as they serve.” Then, WALK AWAY from the microphone. That’s classy, and it’s gracious. In fact, I even think it's the "Christian" response. It's certainly the wise political move.

That is not, however, what she said.

From all accounts, her speech was bitter, childish and unfair. And included personal attacks against the bishop who presided over the session. She will never be able to run for the episcopacy again in our jurisdiction. I talked with or heard from several delegates who voted for her till the end, and who were terribly disappointed with how the voting ended.  As soon as she spoke—they thanked God their efforts had been in vain. They might now say, in fact, that the Holy Spirit had been trying to change their votes. The right person, of those two, won. Her speech was perhaps the best thing that could have happened for the sake of the Jurisdictional Conference. But it was just really sad that it did.

Other issues involved episcopal assignments. I was of course most interested in our annual conference, where we’ve had Bishop John Schol for eight years. Most people in our conference thought he’d be moving, but he kept giving indication that he thought he was staying.  This was a very different approach than, say, Bishop Dyck in MN, who stated she expected to be moved, and this allowed the MN annual conference to celebrate her ministry. Instead, in the BWC, it was like we had an awkward silence. Unfortunately, we won’t have a good opportunity, I think, to celebrate Bishop Schol’s time with us. And that is unfortunate.

It is, however, a good time for something new for us, and we’re excited to be receiving Bishop Marcus Matthews home to us! Eight years ago, Bishop Matthews was elected out of our conference, and it has been a wonderful surprise to many to receive him back. He’ll only be with us for four years, when he’ll retire, but it will be an opportunity, I think, for our conference to take a deep breath and really focus in on who we are and how we relate to one another. Bishop Matthews told us, when the delegation met with him and his wife after the assignments had been announced, that he hopes he (and all of us!) grow each day. Therefore, he said, he is of course not the same person he was when he left us eight years ago.

There seem to be two primary concerns people have about Bishop Matthews. First, there is the understandable concern that he’ll return and place his friends in leadership without giving all a fair shot. Most people who have acknowledged that also say of all people, he’s most likely to be aware of all those dynamics and handle them appropriately. The other concern is what will happen in four years. But that is getting ahead of ourselves. By and large, most seem really excited about the next four years. Indeed, Bishop Matthews’ former Administrative Assistant, from when he was a DS, attend Calvary. She could hardly contain her excitement Sunday. Admin. Assistants know more about what is really going on than anyone, so for his previous Admin. Asst. to be so excited I think speaks more powerfully than any other recommendation could!

I hope even though we may not have an ideal chance to celebrate Bishop and Mrs. Schol’s ministry with us, that we will have a good chance to do so at least. It is not only important to start things well, but also to end them well. Important for everyone. I hope those of you in the BWC will join me in praying for both Bishop and Mrs. Matthews as well as Bishop and Mrs. Schol.

Finally, this year’s jurisdictional conference also were colored by the case of Bishop Bledsoe and his forced retirement by the SCJ Episcopacy Committee. That is indeed a situation that many, many blog entries could be written about. I’ve been able to get some good info both from UMNS stories, as well as accounts from people more closely involved, but it is at any rate, a very unfortunate situation. It raises some important questions of church law, and we await the Judicial Council’s review of the situation when they meet in October.

My more immediate concern was for our sisters and brothers in the NM/NWTX annual conference, but I’ve learned that SCJ leadership are quite aware that they’re “taking one for the team,” and will be taken care of (currently they’re receiving interim bishops while things get sorted out and a path forward is determined and informed by the Judicial Council decision). Please join me in praying for all involved there as well.

So…it’s been a long few months, and definitely a crazy last week. I suspect anything you see online is going to tread lightly on the political issues. Those are the conversations people are having in person. But I have to say, and perhaps this is because I have a fairly high tolerance for politics in church (which many do not)—I have actually been pleasantly surprised by how people have conducted themselves, and how really the vast majority of people really are trying to do God’s will, not just fulfill their own personal politics motives. This is a pleasant surprise for me. I am, in fact, more confident of God’s presence in and through all these conference than I was before. There remain deep and important issues that I think God is calling us to act on which people are resisting. And change is not happening quickly enough. But I am proud of the way that people are trying to work through these issues and I pray that God will continue to work in and through us as we look to 2016 and hopefully some changes in stances, policies and structures that I believe will open us more fully to doing God’s work through the United Methodist Church.