{"id":12572,"date":"2016-05-11T19:14:52","date_gmt":"2016-05-12T02:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=12572"},"modified":"2016-05-11T19:14:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T02:14:52","slug":"local-pastors-in-background-at-general-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/local-pastors-in-background-at-general-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Local pastors in background at General Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sam Hodges<\/strong>
\nMay 11, 2016 | PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS)<\/h4>\n

Licensed local pastors don\u2019t get to serve as delegates to General Conference. So when they sit in the plenary hall, they\u2019re way back.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bleachers,\u201d clarified the Rev. Mike Mahaffey, past president of the National Fellowship of Associate Members and Local Pastors.<\/a><\/p>\n

But he and the Rev. Tom Herring, legislative chair of that group, will mainly work the committee rooms, monitoring all legislation that could have bearing on local pastors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely don\u2019t want any privileges removed,\u201d Herring said.<\/p>\n

Ordained elders, who have earned a Master of Divinity degree and worked through provisional status, remain the pastoral leaders of The United Methodist Church.<\/p>\n

But their numbers have shrunk in the United States, along with church membership and because of baby boomer retirements.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, local pastors<\/a> \u2013 many of them part time and bivocational \u2013 are growing in number<\/a>, and leading thousands of churches that would struggle to afford the full compensation package of an elder.<\/p>\n

A handful of annual conferences have more local pastors than elders serving churches. And local pastors, who can enter ministry while still completing a required Course of Study<\/a>, are seeing an expanded role in the denomination.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we\u2019ve got local pastors on staff; we\u2019ve got them leading good-sized churches; and we\u2019ve got them in extension ministries,\u201d Mahaffey said.<\/p>\n

Local pastors have also gradually gained more authority in conference matters. Mahaffey describes as \u201ca huge turning point\u201d the 2008 General Conference\u2019s decision to let local pastors vote in annual conference meetings \u2013 an amendment to the church constitution that won overwhelming ratification by annual conferences the next year.<\/p>\n

Monitoring petitions<\/h4>\n

At General Conference 2016<\/a>, underway in Portland at the Oregon Convention Center through May 20, Mahaffey and Herring are monitoring about two dozen petitions.<\/p>\n

Only one is what they consider hostile. It would let local pastors continue to serve on boards of ordained ministry and district committees on ordained ministry, but would remove their right to vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be doing all we can to squash that in committee,\u201d Mahaffey said.<\/p>\n

Another petition, from the Upper New York Conference, would expand the rights of local pastors, allowing them to serve as General Conference delegates and vote on constitutional amendments in annual conference gatherings.<\/p>\n

Mahaffey said the Facebook group of local pastors recently had its share of complaints that local pastors cannot be General Conference delegates. He is all for the rights of local pastors, but counsels patience and gratitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we\u2019ve gained is because fully connected elders, deacons and laypeople, who have affirmed what we do, have passed these (General Conference) petitions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

General Conference 2016 will also consider petitions that would recognize a Master of Divinity degree instead of Course of Study as an educational option for local pastors; delete the phrase \u201cfive-year\u201d from Course of Study descriptions to provide flexibility; and assign local pastors to a clergy mentor or clergy mentoring group whenever possible.<\/p>\n

There has been talk in recent years of ordaining local pastors, but that question will not be broached formally in Portland.<\/p>\n

While still on the periphery at General Conference, local pastors are feeling more than ever a big part of denominational life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re filling a need of the church, and that need is continuing to grow,\u201d Mahaffey said.<\/p>\n

Hodges, a United Methodist News Service writer, lives in Dallas. Contact him at (615) 742-5470 or\u00a0<\/em>newsdesk@umcom.org<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Photo Credit
\n<\/strong>Photo by Sam Hodges, UMNS<\/em>
\nThe Revs. Tom Herring and Mike Mahaffey are at General Conference 2016 in Portland, Oregon, representing the National Fellowship of Associate Members and Local Pastors.<\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sam Hodges May 11, 2016 | PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS) Licensed local pastors don\u2019t get to serve as delegates to General Conference. So when they sit in the plenary hall, they\u2019re way back. \u201cThe bleachers,\u201d clarified the Rev. Mike Mahaffey, past president of the National Fellowship of Associate Members and Local Pastors. But he and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":12573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[449,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-conference","8":"category-umns"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/gc020_local_pastors_story_photo_750x542-536x388.jpg?fit=536%2C388&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-3gM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12572"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12577,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12572\/revisions\/12577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}