by Joey Butler, UM News Service and Doreen Gosmire, Dakotas Conference UMC

Click here to view all the 2016 General Confernece photos, videos and news.

The United Methodist Church’s top legislative body met at the Oregon Convention Center, the largest convention center in the Pacific Northwest, from May 10-20, 2016.

General Conference, the top policy-making body of The United Methodist Church, convenes once every four years. The conference can revise church law, as well as adopt resolutions on current moral, social, public policy and economic issues. It also approves plans and budgets for churchwide programs.

Photo: The plenary floor during the 2016 General Conference. Photo by Dave Stucke, Dakotas Conference UMC.

Click here for all of the Dakotas Conference news, photos and videos from the 2016 General Conference.  Below are twelve items to inform you of the main happenings at 2016 General Conference.

1.  Delay in sexuality debate

Late afternoon May 18, delegates voted to accept the recommendation of the Council of Bishops to delay a debate on homosexuality at this gathering of the denomination’s top legislative assembly and let a proposed commission study church regulations.

Photo: Delegates prayer before voting to accept the Council of Bishops recommendations. Photo by Dave Stucke, Dakotas UMC.

“We accept our role as spiritual leaders to lead The United Methodist Church in a ‘pause for prayer’ — to step back from attempts at legislative solutions and to intentionally seek God's will for the future,” said Council of Bishops president Bishop Bruce Ough in announcing the recommendation.

The bishops suggested they might call a special General Conference in 2018 or 2019 to deal with such proposals, Ough said. Questions about that cost caused a blip during the May 19 afternoon plenary session.

2.  Budget passes with slight increase

General Conference delegates on May 20 approved a general church budget of $604 million for 2017-2020, a slight increase over the $603.1 million approved at the 2012 General Conference. It’s also an increase over the $599 million budget proposed to the 2016 General Conference delegates, which would have been The United Methodist Church’s lowest in 16 years.

3.  Bishop Ough becomes president of Council of Bishops

In a May 12 ceremony, before episcopal leaders from around the globe, Dakotas-Minnesota Area Bishop Bruce R. Ough was formally installed as president of the Council of Bishops. Bishop Warner H. Brown Jr., outgoing president of the Council of Bishops, “passed the gavel” to Ough.

Photo: Bishop Ough delivers a message for unity of the church as the president of the Council of Bishops. Photo by Dave Stucke, Dakotas UMC.

4.  Oppose mascots that demean Native Americans

Delegates overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling on United Methodist agencies to raise awareness about the harm caused by sports teams that use mascots or symbols that disrespect Native Americans. The Discipleship Committee amended the petition, deleting language that would have called on United Methodist groups not to have meetings in cities that have sports teams with such mascots or symbols, which previous church resolutions contained.

5.  Sand Creek Massacre recalled, lamented

Concerns about legislation were set aside as delegates focused instead on a historic tragedy with deep Methodist involvement. The 1864 Sand Creek Massacre was the subject, and speakers included a historian and descendants of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian survivors of the attack.

Mountain Sky Area Bishop Elaine J.W. Stanovsky had joined the descendants in planning the event, the latest effort yet by The United Methodist Church to atone for the Sand Creek Massacre. “We’re here to listen and to tell the truth,” Stanovsky told delegates.

“We now extend our hand in friendship to the Methodist Church,” said William Walks Along, a Northern Cheyenne descendent of massacre survivors. “We have developed a measure of trust, respect and honor for each other.”

6.  Central Conference issues

Africa will get five more United Methodist bishops, but not before 2020. On May 16, delegates narrowly defeated an effort to add two bishops immediately, in Nigeria and in Zimbabwe. Instead, they favored the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters to add five bishops after General Conference 2020.

Delegates approved a petition to create new provisional central conferences in Rwanda and Southeast Asia/Mongolia.

Photo: Rev. Rebecca Trefz visits with a fellow delegate during the legislative committee work at the 2016 General Conference. Photo by Dave Stucke, Dakotas Conference UMC.

During budget deliberations, delegates voted to add $5 million to double to $10 million the denomination’s Central Conference Theological Education Fund, which supports United Methodist schools, pastors and pastors-in-training in Africa, Asia and Europe.

For the first time, a member from outside the United States has been elected president of the Judicial Council. N. Oswald Tweh Sr., a lay member from Liberia, will lead the denomination’s top court for 2016-20.

As Africa University approaches its 25th anniversary, delegates took a few moments May 16 to celebrate one of the denomination's high points. “The university matters because a relevant and holistic education generates a living legacy that changes everything,” said Munashe Furusa, vice chancellor. “You and The United Methodist Church have answered a call to witness through this transforming ministry.”

A small group of Lumads — indigenous people of Southern Philippines who have been the target of cruelty for decades — attended General Conference and were featured in a video about their plight.

7.  Investments – divestments debate

An amendment offered on May 20 during a General Conference debate on socially responsible investing that sought to divest from illegal settlements on occupied lands failed 559-167. But delegates adopted a petition on behalf of a Palestinian village, Wadi Foquin. Delegates chose not to add a fossil fuels investment screen for the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits.

Photo: Jodi Cataldo (far right), Dakotas Conference lay delegate listens to fellow delegates discuss ideas and views at 2016 General Conference. Photo by Dave Stucke, Dakotas Conferenc UMC.

8.  Vote to withdraw from Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choices

A petition to withdraw denominational general agency membership from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice was passed, as was a second petition to remove language supporting the coalition from the Book of Resolutions. The United Methodist Church was a founding member of the organization in 1973, and the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and United Methodist Women are currently members. 

9.  New hymnal project gets green light

The United Methodist Church is on track to get its first new hymnal since 1989, and this one will be Internet-cloud based and print-on-demand — the first high-tech hymnal for a mainline denomination. General Conference 2016 approved on a consent calendar May 17 a petition authorizing the creation of a 15-member Hymnal Revision Committee.

10.  Special Sundays

One Great Hour of Sharing will now be known as UMCOR Sunday. Offerings for the special Sunday, observed annually on the fourth Sunday of Lent, cover the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s overhead. Two other special Sundays, Women’s Ministry Sunday and Volunteer in Mission Awareness Sunday — both without offering — were approved as well.

11.  Celebrations

General Conference 2016 celebrated a few notable milestones. They included the 60th anniversary of the Methodist Church granting full clergy rights to women, the 200th anniversary of Francis Asbury’s death, the 250th anniversary of John Street Church in New York City, the 30th anniversary of DISCIPLE Bible Study, the upcoming 25th anniversary of Africa University and a whole day dedicated to United Methodist Women, which will soon turn 150.

Photo: The Imagine No Malaria celebration at 2016 General Conference. Photo by Dave Stucke, Dakotas Conference UMC.

The May 18 morning session celebrated the Imagine No Malaria initiative launched in 2008. The 12-minute celebration debuted “Able,”  a song commissioned by Imagine No Malaria as a gift to United Methodists across the globe. Jeremy Rosado, a Top 12 contestant on “American Idol,” performed the song for more than 1,000 people attending the event.

12.  Powerful worship

Photo: Bishop Ough distibutes communion during opening worship of the 2016 General Confernce. Photo by Dave Stucke, Dakotas Conference UMC.

Every worship service featured sermons by United Methodist bishops, and a running theme for the event was to stay humble, serve others and be the church that Christ wants us to be. Chicago Area Bishop Sally Dyck urged United Methodists to do as Pope Francis said, Go; learn mercy. Sierra Leone Area Bishop John K. Yambasu issued a challenge “to dismantle the demons of all sorts of inequalities in our world.” Bishop Ivan M. Abrahams, top executive of the World Methodist Council, reminded delegates that Methodism was founded on a commitment to those on the margins. “Conference,” he asked, “is this still true for us today?” On the last day, Bishop Elaine Stanovsky reminded those attending that “we will not leave divided because God is not finished with us yet!”

Three worship services featured people from the Dakotas Conference.  Bishop Ough was a celebrant in opening worship and also gave the sermon in the closing worship. Jodi Cataldo, lay delegate Dakotas Conference, led the Prayer for Illumination at the Service of Commissioning of Missionaries at the 2016 General Conference on Thursday, May 19. 

Reflections on General Conference 2016 from Dakotas UMC on Vimeo.