TITLE: Bishops Address General Conference
Release # 1 April 16, 1996
General Conference '96
DENVER (UMNS) -- Acknowledging potential conflicts over "God language," structure and human sexuality, United Methodist bishops opened the 1996 General Conference with a call to Christian unity.
In the episcopal address -- presented April 16 at the start of the 10-day legislative meeting -- West Ohio Bishop Judith Craig declared, "The church we order must be an open house, where Jesus sits at the doorway and welcomes all who come."
Speaking on behalf of the 10-million-member denomination's international Council of Bishops, Craig made history as the first woman to deliver the episcopal address to General Conference.
Of church structure and finances -- predicted to be among the most hotly debated issues -- Craig urged delegates to maintain the connectional flavor of United Methodist tradition. Unlike denominations in which each local church is an independent entity, United Methodist congregations relate to and fund local, regional and international mission.
However, some petitions coming before the 1996 assembly suggest that local churches should be allowed to choose which agencies and missions they will support. Others do not challenge the "connectional" nature of the church, but do suggest ways to streamline the regional and international agencies.
Craig did not address specific structure issues, but said decisions that would weaken the United Methodist connection threatens the denomination's "solidarity in witness and practice in a fractured world."
The bishop also reminded the delegates of United Methodists' relationship with other Christians, commending to them a petition that would unite United Methodist congregations in covenant with churches in eight other denominations.
While sounding the call for unity, Craig noted several issues about which United Methodists are divided, including the perennial debates about language describing deity and human sexuality.
Regarding the denomination's continuing debate on homosexuality, Craig said "We yearn for a holy community that embraces sexuality as a good gift of creation rather than something about which to be embarrassed or to interpret and define in ways that exclude persons from full participation in the life of the church."
Homosexuality has been the topic of ardent debate among United Methodists since 1972. That General Conference declared that "homosexuals, no less than heterosexuals are persons of sacred worth." However, the 1972 delegates also added to the church's Social Principles the phrase "we do not condone the practice of homosexuality and consider this practice incompatible with Christian teaching."
Subsequent General Conference debates have centered on questions of ordaining gay men and lesbians. Delegates to the 1984 legislative session added to The Book of Discipline a specific prohibition against ordination of "self-avowed practicing homosexuals," although delegates did not define "self- avowed practicing."
Petitions coming before the 1996 assembly run the gamut, from calling for removal of laws excluding homosexuals from ordained ministry to attempts to make the prohibitions more strident.
Likewise, United Methodists also have grappled with so-called "inclusive" versus "traditional" language for God for several years. In recent years, several groups have tried to push General Conference to legislate certain names for God (like "Father, Son and Holy Ghost") as the only acceptable references in prayers and creeds.
Noteworthy in the debate was the approval of the 1989 United Methodist Hymnal, in which the language of some traditional hymns was revised to make them more gender-inclusive.
Craig criticized people who would limit the "acceptable" metaphors for God and Jesus Christ."
"Let us repent of our pretentious assumption that human language and time-encrusted traditions can contain the omnipotent, omnipresent Holy One," Craig said. "The Apostolic faith is not locked in expressions or experiences of the Apostolic centuries.
"A church truly faithful to Christ will not be obsolete in the new millennium," the bishop declared. "How can we faithfully guard the irreducible tenets of faith-filled tradition without confining God in any one creed or confession in human language?" Craig asked.
-- M. Garlinda Burton # # #
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