Wednesday Roundup
General Conference Renews Ministry Study

DENVER (UMNS) -- A 30-year study of ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church entered what could be the final stages April 17 here.

In an unusual General Conference session, the 998 delegates received the product of a four-year consideration by the Council of Bishops. The l992 General Conference, as numerous sessions before it, rejected a study by a special commission. The issue then was referred to the bishops to bring recommendations this year.

The session was unusual in that the presentation was made to a plenary session on the second day of the quadrennial meeting, and delegates then broke into 25 small groups to discuss the recommendations. Normally proposed changes in church law go directly to one of 10 legislative committees and come to a plenary during the conference's second week.

The largest single grouping of petitions before the conference -- 280 -- came from the bishops related to the ministry study.

Bishops David J. Lawson, Springfield, Ill., and Sharon Brown Christopher, Minneapolis, presented the report of more than 3,000 words, plus the enabling petitions. Lawson called the report a "vision for the ordering of ministry" in the 9.7-million-member denomination, and said it had been adopted unanimously by the 67 active bishops in the United States, Africa, Europe and the Philippines.

"We committed ourselves to listen ... listen ... listen ...," Lawson said. Christopher said the General Conference is invited to "join us in the prayerful, open search for God's leadership in this critical matter."

Lawson said the bishops offer the proposals "in the belief they will advance the cause of Jesus Christ and will enhance the ministry of all United Methodist Christians in a time that calls for the witness of service outward into the culture and society."

The proposals continue the traditional United Methodist practice of two orders of clergy, elders and deacons, but substantial changes are recommended in the case of deacons. Local churches, additionally, will have the option of designating one or more "stewards of lay ministry."

Once the presentation and discussion groups were concluded the delegates convened in the legislative committees in which they will spend most of the time through April 20 debating and perfecting the 3,009 petitions calling for changes in the denomination's Book of Discipline. The conference will continue through April 26 in the Colorado Convention Center here.

Earlier Wednesday, the delegates listened to the laity address delivered by James Lane, Sherwood, Ark. In order for the church to enter the 21st century effectively, Lane said, laity "must thrust open the doors of our churches, ... quit sitting around in meetings talking about what we ought to do, and get out and about and be in ministry,"

In the traditional "state of the church" Episcopal Address delivered April 16, Bishop Judith Craig, Columbus, Ohio, called for an open church "where Jesus sits at the doorway and welcomes all who come."

Bishop Craig is the first woman to present the Episcopal Address. Additionally, the address made history through its extensive use of audio-visuals.

"We labor here in response to the Creator who looked on all that was made and said, 'Behold, it is very good.' That same Creator now weeps over impoverished cities and villages, ravished lands, polluted streams, depleted soil, poisoned air, fractured humanity. The weeping God beckons us to become God's healing presence in human communities and all the created order."

In other opening-day business, the 10 standing legislative committees elected officers. Included are the Rev. Don M. Pike, Arlington, Texas, Church and Society; the Rev. George G. Hunter III, Wilmore, Ky., Conferences; Paul Ervin Jr., Marietta, Ga., Discipleship; Casher Evans Jr., Kitty Hawk, N.C., Financial Administration; the Rev. David L. Severe, Oklahoma City,

--Robert Lear

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