So the World Will Know - Day 4-6 of the Convening General Conference

The last few days have been full. The sessions have been full of legislation and elections. The pauses of business have been full of worship and celebration.

The legislative elements of note are the adoption of a constitution and establish the role of Bishops in the GMC. Just like the U.S. Constitution, the GMC constitution establishes the structure of the general church and the powers and responsibilities of the general church commissions. The full constitution will be contained in the Book of Doctrines and Discipline when it is published sometime after the close of the CGC.

The bishops of the GMC will serve as a general superintendency. This means that bishops will serve the whole church rather than be resident in a particular annual conference. The general superintendency model is a return to the beginning of the Methodist movement in America and will allow bishops to focus on the teaching, preaching, and evangelism offices. Bishops will still have an oversight role for annual conferences and make pastoral appoints, however the day to day leadership of the annual conference is the responsibility of the conference superintendent. This is essentially the model we have been living under since the launch of the GMC.

The CGC has also elected people to fill the commissions and councils we created. The general process has been for the CGC to elected 2/3 of each commission leaving 1/3 to be appointed to ensure the necessary expertise and representation for the work of the commission. This election process had gone remarkably smoothly. I have no doubt the people who will serve on these commissions will be a great blessing to the Church.

 Finally, the CGC elected six interim bishops who will serve only through the 2026 general conference. In 2026 we will elect bishops for full six-year terms.

Above all, the newly elected bishops are people of deep faith who have proven their commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of the most consistent comments from critics as the GMC was forming was that the GMC would be both sexist and racist. Some said there would be no room for women, we would be a white old boys club, and we would not really support our African brothers and sisters. Yet, without any mandates by our rules and process, the CGC elected two women, two Africans, and an African-American to lead the Church in this interim period. I pray the outcome of these episcopal elections will ease the fears of those who may still join us and put to rest our anxiety over the voices whose only wish is to see their ill will realized.

The CCG accomplished all this and much more over these days, but we still made time for much prayer and worship. Our morning worship continued to an opportunity to join the Holy Spirit in the work of the day. We paused to pray for various medical situations that arose during our time together. One prayer in particular was for a delegate from Tanzania whose wife went into a difficult labor threatened the life of the mother and baby.  Similarly, members of our own Great Lakes conference recieved news that their daughter was induced because of complications. We stopped to pray and recieved updates during our sessions. I am grateful to share that both mothers and babies are now well, glory to God!

We also shared a powerful worship experience with the Evangelical Methodist Church in Costa Rica. Our time together ended with many praying at the alter. The scene was a sea of Costa Ricans, Africans, Europeans, Filipinos, and Americans all mixed together praying for and with each other. It's another image of the Church in Revelation that I am confident that will propel our global mission so the world will know the love and power of Jesus!