We Will Not Be Silent!

We, as a Jurisdictional Conference, invite the United Methodist community of the Western Jurisdiction, joyously and boldly to work together to build a fully inclusive church. We commit to be in ministry with all people. We intend to see our church grow, both at the "center" of its ministry and the "edges" of society. To this end, we, as a Jurisdiction, reaffirm our commitment to evangelism which includes sharing the embracing love of Jesus with the millions of persons who live within our boundaries and growing the church.

1. We will not be silent concerning poverty. More and more people are living in poverty in our communities. Every United Methodist, and every United Methodist Church is invited to join us in developing personal action plans to provide hospitality to the poor within our churches as well as to prevent poverty and to counter the effects of poverty within the communities served by our churches. We recommend The Council of Bishops' Initiative on Children and Poverty as resources for planning a shared ministry in this area.

2. We will not be silent concerning racism. Racial and cultural isolation remains a problem for our ministries. We call upon all United Methodists and United Methodist churches to join us in developing personal action plans for building hospitality and gracious welcome across the divisions of race, language, and culture. We seek a dramatic increase in the number of cross-racial/cultural appointments. We invite all in our churches to develop personal plans for building racial justice locally and globally.

3. We will not be silent concerning full participation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender persons at all levels in our church and society. We call upon all United Methodists to join us in making deliberate plans for hospitality to include LGBT persons in the leadership of our Church. We invite local churches to make clear their willingness to support and celebrate a pastor who is open concerning his/her sexual identity and relationships. We will seek to remove all discrimination against persons based upon sexual identity.

4. We will not be silent concerning discrimination against people with different mental and physical abilities. Accessibility remains a problem in many of our ministry settings; therefore, we urge church bodies to be sensitive to people with different mental and physical challenges. An accessibility plan needs to be developed for every ministry facility, including campuses, churches and church agencies. Communication tools need to be expanded to relate more fully with people who have physical, learning, hearing and visual challenges.

----------------- above adopted, below referred to Western Jurisdiction Leadership Team --------------------------------

A. Each Conference delegation commits to reconvene following this Jurisdictional Conference to lead through out the quadrennium in a process of soul-searching within the churches of its Conference concerning hospitality ad to develop its own action plans of implementation.

B. We celebrate that "Bishops are to be prophetic voices and courageous leaders in the cause of justice for all people" (The 2000 Book of Discipline, paragraph 404.1) We call upon our bishops to provide outspoken and challenging leadership within our Conferences in the above three areas and urge our Jurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy to offer support and help in this endeavor. As delegates we will provide active support for our Bishops as they take courageous leadership on our behalf.

C. As delegations we commit to reconvene each year in conjunction with the January meeting of the Western Jurisdiction Leadership Team, College of Bishops, and committees to report on the progress of this work and to strategize for the future. We ask the Leadership Team to consider ways and means for securing staff support to facilitate this work, e.g. employed, volunteered with expense support, shared by annual conferences, or other possibilities.

originally submitted by Cal-Nevada Reconciling Ministries Clergy Alliance