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When United Methodists from around the world gather in Fort Worth next week, they will focus on developing Christian leaders, starting new churches, ministering to the poor and eliminating some killer diseases more likely to be found among the poverty-stricken.
During the 10-day General Conference, which begins Wednesday, the policy-making group of nearly 1,000 delegates also will examine how to make the denomination's of more than 11 million members more relevant to young people, said Iowa Bishop Gregory Palmer, incoming president of the Council of Bishops."We're hoping this time together will transcend any routine legislation," he said. "We hope we really put heart and mind and spirit together to reaffirm our central mission and chart the way forward on how to pursue it."The delegates - half of them clergy, half laity - meet once every four years. This year, they will consider more than 1,600 petitions, which run the gamut from encouraging healthier lifestyles of clergy to divestment in Israel to reconsidering bans on same-sex unions."I hope our conference will be respectful and loving despite passionate debate about things like human sexuality," Palmer said.Growing againUnited Methodist membership has declined in the United States for the past 40 years while growing in Africa and elsewhere, so more delegates will be coming from abroad than at previous conferences, denomination officials say."We need to develop leadership to create new places for new congregations," Palmer said. "We need to revitalize older ones and minister to the poor. And we need to stamp out killer diseases identified by the United Nations and World Health Organization as more likely to be found among impoverished people: malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis."Keeping the youthFor the first time, the conference will include a Young People's Address, delivered by six young people, about social justice, diversity and love of all people, said Matt Lockett, 20, of Seattle, a biochemistry major at Western Washington University in Bellingham.He said some young Methodists find the church irrelevant and have found ministries in bars, libraries and parks - ways to be modern and innovative outside the physical space of the church, ways that are less public. But the church is making an effort to put them in a position so that they are not just secretaries or pages at the conference," Lockett said."Meaningful responsibilities is going to be the key to providing them a reason to come back. They need an opportunity to be heard and seen and interact with older congregations."Eliminating racial factorsThe petitions from churches, agencies and individuals propose changes in the Book of Discipline, which is church law, and the church's Social Principles, which sets out the church's stance on social issues but is non-binding.Each petition will be sent to one of 13 committees, which will study them and make recommendations to the delegates.One major proposal is to make the church's five U.S. jurisdictions into a regional body similar to conferences outside the United States.
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