Retired Director of the Washington Office of United Methodist News Service

CLEVELAND (UMNS) — Celebration and contention came in near-equal portions for United Methodists gathered on the shores of Lake Erie May 2-12 for the church’s first General Conference of the 2000s.

The conference opened to the joyful beat of a band of bishops in the spectacular Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and liturgical banners brightening the plenary hall in the Cleveland Convention Center.

Nine days later, that ornate hall became a confrontation zone with police placing people under arrest during a protest of the conference’s vote retaining the church’s controversial stance on homosexuality. It is believed to be the first time police have been called to remove demonstrators from a conference session.

Celebration and arrests aside, the 992 delegates from the United States, Africa, Europe and the Philippines, spent most of their time processing 1,600 calendar items of legislation and long hours getting more than 2,000 petitions ready for plenary action. The legislative items will help chart the 9.6 million-member church’s passage through the next four years.

Hundreds of changes were adopted for inclusion in the church’s Book of Discipline, and a series of programs for special groups were retained. Resolutions setting out the church’s position on handguns, violence on television and other contemporary issues received favorable majorities.

Prayers were asked for an end to hostilities in Sierra Leone, the Philippines and the Congo. The U.S. government was asked to halt using the Puerto Rican island of Vieques as a bombing practice range and support removing United Nations economic sanctions against Iraq.

When the major issues related to homosexuality finally came to the plenary floor May 11, most of the denomination’s policies had been retained by a 60-40 margin. One proposal acknowledging that differences exist in how church members view homosexuality was defeated by about 100 votes.

Delegates retained the statement that while homosexuals are persons of sacred worth, the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Self-avowed practicing homosexuals cannot be ordained or appointed as clergy, and clergy are prohibited from officiating in same-sex union ceremonies or allowing such services on church property.

The vote on the "incompatible" language was 628 to 337. The vote on excluding gay people from the ordained clergy was 645 to 306. Other major votes were similar.

The conference did approve continued dialogue with groups espousing homosexuality and rejected a proposal that would have required all pastors to sign a statement professing that homosexuality is not God’s will. The delegates declined to ask the United Methodist Board of Discipleship to produce materials directed especially toward homosexual persons seeking a different lifestyle.

A major event of the conference was a service May 4 that included the symbolic wearing of sackcloth and ashes to confess to the sin of racism within the denomination.

The act of repentance, together with a call for reconciliation, was an attempt to recapture the spirit of Methodism lost when some African-Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries felt compelled to leave the church’s predecessor bodies and form their own congregations. Later, delegates approved a constitutional amendment against racism.

The visit by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. George Carey, marked the first time the head of the worldwide Anglican communion has visited a General Conference. John Wesley, father of Methodism, was life-long Anglican rector.

In a major action related to how United Methodism functions at the national and international levels, the delegates, by a vote of 784 to 144, scrapped the 53-page CPT report that had recommendations for a dramatic restructuring of the denomination. However, many directions proposed by the four-year CPT were referred to the General Council on Ministries for further consideration.

In other actions delegates:

• Voiced their opposition to athletic teams’ mascots that demean Native Americans, such as the Cleveland Indians’ "Chief Wahoo" caricature. They also recommended that future General Conferences not be held in cities where such sports logos exist.
• Approved language opposing partial birth abortion, calling for "the end of this practice except when the physical life of the mother is in danger and no other medical procedure is available, or in the case of severe fetal anomalies incompatible with life."
• Approved $20 million over the next four years for a national television advertising campaign for the church.
• Approved amendments to the church’s constitution stating that all people are eligible to be admitted as baptized members of the church upon baptism and become professing members "upon taking vows declaring the Christian faith." The amendments will go to the annual conferences for ratification in 2001. Other baptism-related material was sent to the General Conference’s Committee on Correlation and Editorial Revision for work.
• Called on the U.S. Congress to remove the exemption in federal law that allows parents to withhold medical care to their children based on religious beliefs.
• Funded several new efforts, including theological education in Europe, $3 million; leadership and development ministries among Korean-Americans, $2.9 million; and the Asian-American Language Ministry Study, $1.6 million.
• Funded existing ministries for another four years, including the National Plan for Hispanic Ministries, $3.2 million; a global program on substance abuse and related violence, $3.2 million; Shared Mission Focus on Young People, $3 million; Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century, $2.1 million; ministries with and among American Indians, $1.1 million; Communities of Shalom urban ministries program, $1.1 million; ministries among deaf people, $149,000; and programs for older adults, $450,000.
• Approved $10.1 million in apportionment funding for Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe.
• Approved $113.1 million in apportionment funding for the church-wide Ministerial Education Fund.
• Adopted guidelines for Mormons seeking to join the United Methodist Church.
• Called for governments to outlaw the "ownership by the general public of handguns, assault weapons, automatic weapon conversion kits and weapons that cannot be detected by traditionally used metal-detection devices."
• Rejected a proposal to eliminate the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the denomination’s Washington-based social advocacy agency.
• Mandated that the governing board of each church-wide agency include at least one member from among the three historically black Methodist denominations.
• Created a church-wide budget of $545.7 million for the next four years.
• Projected cost for the 2004 General Conference to exceed $5 million. The Cleveland session cost was about $4 million.

The 2000 General Conference adjourned just before midnight May 12. The 2004 conference will be held April 25 to May 7 in Pittsburgh.