Monday, February 25 — The 2019 Special Session of the General Conference opened with the discussion of petitions that made up the Traditional Plan. David Livingston of the Great Plains Conference asked to postpone discussion to the end of the day. Livingston talked about how his children frequently don’t hear about “the ‘love’ part of Christ, but only the ‘judgment’ part.”
After debate between delegates, it was decided to continue with discussion. Traditional Plan petitions and amendments moved to the floor for debate. The Legislative Committee voted to approve the Traditional Plan as amended by a vote of 461 to 359. Which moved it to the plenary session on Tuesday. The balance of the morning was spent on two more petitions, numbered 90066 and 90059, both dealing with disaffiliation, which were both approved.
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| United Methodist Bishops confer over legislative issues at the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS |
The afternoon opened with of discussion of the One Church Plan petitions. A number of close votes for amendments to petitions ensued, including one tied vote. The tied vote resulted in defeat due to majority rule, the One Church Plan would not move to the Tuesday plenary after a vote of No- 436 (53.04%) to Yes- 386 (46.96%).
“Today was a very emotional and difficult day for many of us, and I just want to say how proud I am of our delegation and you should be proud of them too,” said Lisa Bender, Chair of Delegation, and Lay Delegate. “They have worked very hard, they have been faithful and at their table, voting and doing everything that’s required of us. And even though we sometimes don’t have the same opinion, we have been very supportive of each other. We respect one another’s opinions, even though they aren’t the same as ours, and we truly do love each other and we are so grateful for each other and for the opportunity to be here.”
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| Young delegates address the General Conference. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS |
Following the vote, the petition for Disaffiliation – Ottjes New Par. 2548 – 90058 was defeated. The next motion on the floor was to reject all remaining petitions. An amendment to that motion was approved to exclude the Simple Plan. Following that approval, the delegation voted to reject all remaining petitions. A request was then moved to refer both remaining plans (the Traditional and the Simple) to Judicial Council for a declaratory decision, which means the council would rule on the nature of the constitutionality of each plan. The request was approved with a vote of 437 to 371.
The day ended with a discussion of the Simple Plan. After debate, it was defeated by a vote of 494 to 323. All plans are able to be brought to the plenary floor on Tuesday if enough delegates file for a Minority Report (https://tinyurl.com/GC2019MR)
“It was a long day, it was a day that had some hurt and some division, it was very difficult to see the church working through that hurt together. At the same time, we also ended with worship, as we always do, in a note of hope, so we will see what tomorrow brings. As far as the results of today, we have the Traditional Plan that we will be working on and perfecting tomorrow, as well as some additional pieces of legislation that we are going to be looking at,” Rev. Beth Jones, Clergy Delegate.
A complete listing of Feb 25 actions: https://tinyurl.com/GC2019Feb25
A complete listing of all the petitions and the remaining plans: https://tinyurl.com/GC2019AEDCA
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| A wall of prayers at the 2019 Special Session of the General Conference. Photo by Kathleen Barry, UMNS |
