{"id":17845,"date":"2018-05-07T08:42:02","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T15:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=17845"},"modified":"2018-05-07T08:42:02","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T15:42:02","slug":"bishops-announce-results-of-five-constitutional-amendments-two-fail-to-get-two-thirds-majority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/bishops-announce-results-of-five-constitutional-amendments-two-fail-to-get-two-thirds-majority\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishops announce results of five constitutional amendments; two fail to get two-thirds majority"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D. C.\u00a0 The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church has completed canvassing\u00a0the votes of annual conferences on the five constitutional amendments that were approved by the 2016 General Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Summary of Votes by Annual Conferences<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/caption>\n

Amendment<\/th>\nTotal “Yes”
\nVotes<\/th>\n		Total “No”
\nVotes<\/th>\n		% of Yes
\nVotes<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Amendment I<\/td>\n31,304<\/td>\n15,753<\/td>\n66.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Amendment II<\/td>\n29,049<\/td>\n18,317<\/td>\n61.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Amendment III<\/td>\n42,639<\/td>\n4,578<\/td>\n90.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Amendment IV<\/td>\n43,770<\/td>\n3,340<\/td>\n92.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Amendment V<\/td>\n38,087<\/td>\n8,828<\/td>\n81.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The five proposed amendments to the Constitution of The United Methodist Church as contained in “The Book of Discipline” (BOD) were as follows:<\/p>\n

I. The first amendment proposed a new paragraph between current Paragraph 5 and Paragraph 6.\u00a0This new paragraph would have focused on gender justice.<\/p>\n

II. The second amendment proposed changes to the wording in Paragraph 4 in “The Book of Discipline.”\u00a0If it were ratified, the proposed amendment would have added \u201cgender,\u201d\u00a0\u201cability,\u201d \u201cage\u201d and \u201cmarital status\u201d to the protected membership groups.<\/p>\n

III. The third amendment dealt with the election of delegates to the General Conference as contained in Paragraph 34. As ratified, the amendment adds this sentence to Paragraph 34: \u201cSuch elections shall include open nominations from the floor by the annual conference, and delegates shall be elected by a minimum of a simple majority of the ballots cast.\u201d<\/p>\n

IV. The fourth amendment clarified the time of election of bishops in Central Conferences as contained in Paragraph 46.\u00a0As ratified, the amendment adds the following words to Paragraph 46: \u201cprovided that episcopal elections in central conferences shall be held at a regular, not an extra, session of the central conference, except in the case where an unexpected vacancy must be filled.\u201d<\/p>\n

V. The fifth proposed amendment adds language to Paragraph 50 regarding how the Council of Bishops holds its individual members accountable for their work. As ratified, the amendment adds the following sentence to the end of Paragraph 50: \u201cThese provisions shall not preclude that adoption by the General Conference of provisions for the Council of Bishops to hold its individual members accountable for their work, both as general superintendents and as presidents and residents in episcopal areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

With today\u2019s announcement of the annual conferences votes, the three amendments that garnered more than the required two-thirds majority become effective immediately.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to see the breakdown of each annual conference vote.<\/p>\n

Bishops react with dismay<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In reaction to the results, the Council of Bishops expressed dismay that proposed amendments I and II had failed. \u201cWhile we are not completely clear concerning the motivation that caused them to miss the two-thirds required majority by slim margins, we want to be clear that we are unequivocal in our commitment to the equality of women and their full inclusion in our Church,\u201d said the Council statement.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to read the statement from the Council of Bishops.<\/p>\n

Female bishops offer pastoral letter<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The female bishops have also issued a pastoral letter, noting their renewed commitment to ensure that all people are treated with respect, compassion, and grace and that all doors of opportunity and leadership are open to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike Rachel weeping for her children, so we as episcopal leaders weep for our church. We weep for the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual harm that is inflicted upon women and girls because of this action. We weep for those who are denied the ability to use their gifts to make a difference in the world. We also weep for those who are not protected from exclusion in the church because of race, color, gender, national origin, ability, age, marital status, or economic condition,\u201d the letter from the female bishops said.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to see the letter from the female bishops.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Media Contact: <\/strong>Rev. Dr. Maidstone Mulenga
\nDirector of Communications \u2013 Council of Bishops
\nThe United Methodist Church<\/em>
\nmmulenga@umc-cob.org<\/a>
\n202-748-5172<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D. C.\u00a0 The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church has completed canvassing\u00a0the votes of annual conferences on the five constitutional amendments that were approved by the 2016 General Conference. Summary of Votes by Annual Conferences Amendment Total “Yes” Votes Total “No” Votes % of Yes Votes Amendment I 31,304 15,753 66.5% Amendment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":17029,"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":[32,438],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-press-release"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Bishops.jpg?fit=1200%2C627&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-4DP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17845","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=17845"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17847,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17845\/revisions\/17847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}