News of the Western Jurisdiction Conference

While this is the final report planned for the Western Jurisdiction Conference, previous reports, photos, and a link to the final vote spreadsheet may be seen here. TableTalk will have a summary of some of these reports next week.

Nominees Were "Firsts"

Each nominee considered for election to the episcopacy was unique, and among those dozen people there were some "firsts" in the UMC in the USA. Minerva Carcaño is the first Hispanic woman to be nominated and elected; Tweedy Sombrero was the first Native American woman to be endorsed; Ben Silva-Netto was the first Philipino-American man to be nominated; Youngsook Kang was the first Korean-American woman to be nominated, Frank Wulf was the first openly gay man to be nominated, and Rachel Lieder Simeon the first woman to be considered whose sister (Deborah Kiesey) was elected in another jurisdiction (North Central).

Additional information on those serving on General Boards and Agencies

Phil Brooks, on the Jurisdictional CF&A, is a member of the Yellowstone Conference.
Susanne Aikman was elected to serve on the General Commission on Religion and Race.

Correction to Notes on Episcopal Address

The statement that RMC was partnering with the East Angola Conference was only partially correct: RMC is partnering with ALL of Angola, both conferences and people.

Statistics

A couple of reported statistics were rather interesting. The West has the highest percentage of worship attendance relative to membership (on the order of 50%). And the Western Jurisdiction also has the highest percentage, 30.65%, of "General Apportioned Funds" paid (ahead of the Southeastern Jurisdiction by .08%), as of June 30, 2004.

Western Jurisdiction Vision

The Western Jurisdiction adopted a new vision statement in 2000. The vision is entitled "2020: Our Emerging Vision" and calls for a new vision for the West because of rapid change and changing demographics in the West and the Pacific Rim. By 2020, the statement says, the church must have changed "in order to continue to be a faithful and effective vehicle for God's work." The following statement appeared a number of places in reports and documents in this 2004 Conference:

"A home for all God's people, gathered around a table of reconciliation and transformation: the Western Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church is multicultural and inclusive, engaged in the life of its communities, with confident, effective lay and clergy leadership who, in diverse ministry settings, form disciples who live out the Good News of Jesus as global citizens."

This vision has been emerging over the last two quadrennia, and includes 9 elements:
1. Multicultural, Inclusive Church, reflecting and engaging their communities
2. Churches Engaged in the Life of the Community, with missional outreach and support for existing programs
3. Confident, Effective Leadership, as clergy and laity with clear United Methodist identities
4. Congregations Forming Disciples, by nurturing all age groups and diverse backgrounds
5. Diverse Ministry Settings, including non-traditional worshipping communities
6. Congregations Living As Global Citizens, overcoming provincialism by being multilingual and multicultural
7. A Church that Thinks and Acts Regionally, by jurisdictional consultation and coordination of leadership and information
8. Fully Accessible Churches, by being inclusive of persons with special needs and differences
9. Ministry Enhanced by Technology, fully utilizing technology in mission, record-keeping, worship, education and communication.

Leadership Team Report

The 2000 Jurisdictional Conference adopted a new organization which included a WJ Leadership Team instead of a Council on Ministries. The report of this team pointed out that some estimate that the WJ will have the largest population of any jurisdiction in the church. The team focused on 4 elements of the vision over the past 4 years. Diversity Training sessions were held to help move toward a more inclusive church. The team affirmed a proposal of the College of Bishops for a WJ Committee on Theological Education. The team hosted a consultation in 2002 to discuss a wide variety of issues related to the vision. Communications was endorsed as a priority, with the vision of the Jurisdiction calling for "work together around a table of reconciliation and transformation." Since the "table" covers great distances, and encompasses many cultures, Languages, and perspectives, the team sought to "expand conversations around the common vision and mutual concerns." The team seeks to use a variety of media to draw many people together around a variety of issues.

Pre-Conference Gathering

The Methodist Federation for Social Action in the West hosted a consultation prior to the formal beginning of the Western Jurisdiction Conference. The gathering was entitled "A Tree Planted By Living Waters" and was built around worship experiences focusing on Ezekiel 37, 40, and 47. A series of exercises focussed on the scripture passages and work in small groups which eventually led to a document of proposals to the Conference that were keyed to each of the 9 elements of the Vision. Three themes were behind the proposals: centering in the Gospel of Jesus as living revelation; building community toward a reign of God on earth; and committing to prophetic mission, evangelism and justice as interconnected values and ministries.

Proposals included: adopt the "We Will Not Be Silent" expanded statement with an additional paragraph on disabilities; developing ministries around the Bishop's Initiative on Children and Poverty; "re-people" existing churches and develop new settings with new disciples drawn from the communities served; create a WJ logo and media campaign communicating the WJ vision; and focus on communications via web, listservs, multilingual technology and electronic newsletter.

Actions of the Western Jurisdiction Conference

We Will Not Be Silent II

The adoption of an expanded version of the resolution passed at the 2000 Western Jurisdiction Conference entitled "We Will Not Be Silent" was covered in a previous e-mail. This resolution is on the web.

Building The West for Mission

One of the actions of the Conference was the adoption of a resolution establishing a "Committee to Build the Western Jurisdiction For Mission." Originating from the California-Pacific Annual Conference, the resolution calls for the establishment of representatives from each conference to "investigate the possibility of establishing and funding a Jurisdictional structure capable of promoting the evangelistic, educational, missionary and benevolent interests of the Church in the West and capable of assuming some of the administrative duties currently carried out by the annual and missionary conferences, and previously carried out at the General Conference level."

The resolution points out that the Western Jurisdiction is "a geographical area where the cultural ethos is unique in the United Methodist Church and requires its own evangelism character, promotional resources, and missionary needs." It refers to the UM Constitution that has established jurisdictional conferences based on regions in the USA, and gives them powers and duties to, among other things, establish structures in addition to General boards and agencies "to promote evangelistic, educational, missionary, and benevolent interests" of the area. The committee reports periodically to the Western Jurisdiction Leadership Team and to the 2008 Western Jurisdiction Conference.

Theological Education and the Ministry

A committee was formed to "dialogue, strategize, promote, and generate initiatives for laity and clergy" that fit "the unique ethos" in the West. This committee would identify new models of leadership in the Wesleyan tradition, support coordination among the theological schools in the West, support congregations and campus ministries in recruitment, leadership development, and theological education, including licensing schools and courses of study, probationary clergy training, and help the Orders to their functions. Funding for seminaries, students, and initiatives would also be part of the strategizing function of the committee. The Western Jurisdiction College of Bishops will select a diverse and representative group for this new committee, which will be accountable to the College, the Leadership Team, and the Conference itself.

Korean Mission

The Western Jurisdiction Korean Mission was continued another quadrennium at the present levels of funding. The Mission has participated with districts and annual conferences to start 12 new congregations. The Mission now oversees 30 mission congregations. Five have been chartered as UM churches in the past 4 years. The Mission seeks to charter 20 more in the next 4 years. Four major Mission Convocation and Leadership Training Seminars have been held in the last 4 years to "empower and equip both pastors and lay leaders to become more effective in their ministries." Other partnerships have been with the Korean Methodist Church and the Cal-Nevada Conference for mutual consultations and gatherings.

---------- closing observations -----------

Excitement and Expectation Grows

Part of the intangible effect of this Conference was the excitement and expectation that seemed to me to be growing. Besides the fleshing out of parts of the Vision, the usual reports and establishment of new committees to aid the mission of the West to grow disciples was the presence of folks like the GBGM Field Rep for The Advance, Heather Wilson, and Jan Kaiser, Western Jurisdiction United Methodist Volunteers in Mission. Heather brought red bags with large white letters, "Here I Am, Lord" in support of missionaries worldwide, but more than that she brought enthusiasm for the worldwide mission of the United Methodist Church. Jan Kaiser brought enthuisiasm for the work of the UMVIM around the world. Indeed, UMVIM teams from the West have been to many parts of the globe as well as our own back yard.

There seemed to me to be a shared commitment to the "unique cultural ethos" of the West which includes diversity of just about every kind: language, culture, theology, religious expression, lifestyle, worship style and location, gender expression, sexual orientation, and service to community. (And geography: the hottest, coldest, highest, lowest, wettest and driest parts of the US are in this region, to say nothing about the types of land and land uses.)

There was a sense of cooperation amidst differences and a commitment to articulate and share the vision of a new kind of Church that the West experiences in all its varied settings for ministry. I appreciated the spirit of the RMC delegation in particular as members shared their insights and impressions of candidates for the episcopacy and respected each member's right and need to vote their conscience and wisdom in the election. If the Spirit moves in collaborative settings (as I believe it does) then it was moving freely in this Conference, even as the human vessels who were there were moving somewhat slowly towards the end.

-- Ben Roe, Information Administrator, Rocky Mountain Conference