{"id":964,"date":"2012-05-01T15:58:12","date_gmt":"2012-05-01T22:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/gc2012\/?p=964"},"modified":"2012-05-01T15:58:12","modified_gmt":"2012-05-01T22:58:12","slug":"plan-umc-for-agencies-heading-for-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/plan-umc-for-agencies-heading-for-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Plan UMC\u2019 for agencies heading for debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Visualization of PlanUMC based on analysis of and visually created by Jay Voorhees originally found <a href=\"At this point, much of the talk in the halls of General Conference is not about the Call to Action restructuring plan or the alternative Plan B. The talk is of \u201cPlan UMC,\u201d a compromise involving people who developed both proposals to reconfigure agencies working with delegates from the central conferences. The new legislation is printed in today\u2019s Daily Christian Advocate. The General Conference Committee on Calendar and Agenda expects the full assembly to take up restructuring legislation on Wednesday, May 2. Discussions leading the compromise began in earnest Sunday, April 29, the day after the General Administration Legislative Committee adjourned without recommending any comprehensive proposal to consolidate agencies and shrink their boards. \u201cI think this is a strong and unifying plan that really draws from the best work of all the plans,\u201d said the Rev. Gregory D. Stover, a district superintendent in West Ohio, Connectional Table member and supporter of the Call to Action plan. \u201cI think it\u2019s a reflection of God\u2019s Spirit moving.\u201d He was among 18 church leaders who signed the submitted compromise, all General Conference delegates or reserve delegates. Joe Whittemore, one of Plan B\u2019s architects and another signer, said the new legislation addresses his concerns about the original Call to Action legislation. \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful example of Christian conferencing where people of differing views \u2026 work on what they see as best for the whole church,\u201d said Whittemore, a North Georgia Annual (regional) Conference lay leader and Connectional Table member. \u201cWe have an opportunity to begin restructuring the church in very significant ways. We do not miss the opportunity we have.\u201d What compromise says Some of the compromise\u2019s highlights: As with the original Call to Action plan, it replaces the Connectional Table with a General Council for Strategy and Oversight with 34 voting members. The proposed body would oversee the work of the denomination\u2019s four program agencies \u2014 the Boards of Discipleship, Global Ministries, Church and Society, and Higher Education and Ministry. Those agencies would still have their own boards but be accountable to the general council. The proposed general council would have its own executive general secretary, with a maximum term of 12 years. It would also have authority to \u201cwithhold approval of any programs or activities that represent unnecessary duplication within an agency or between two or more agencies, or otherwise fail to meet established outcomes.\u201d The General Council for Finance and Administration would remain separate and collaborate with the proposed General Council for Strategy and Oversight. The Board of Pension and Health Benefits, the United Methodist Publishing House, United Methodist Men and United Methodist Women would be separate agencies amenable to General Conference. United Methodist Communications (which includes United Methodist News Service) would answer to General Conference, but its budget would be determined in consultation with the General Council on Finance and Administration and General Council for Strategy and Oversight. The plan replaces the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History with a Committee on Archives and History. Its top executive would become an associate general secretary of the General Council on Finance and Administration. The plan replaces the churchwide Commissions on Religion and Race and Commission on the Status and Role of Women with a United Methodist Committee of Inclusiveness that reports to the proposed General Council for Strategy and Oversight. Altogether, the proposed structure would include 293 board members, down from 669 now. Annual conferences would have more flexibility to organize as they see fit to promote vitality. \u201cWhat I am hearing from the Africans is generally they are happy with what\u2019s coming up,\u201d said the Rev. Forbes Matonga, a Connectional Table member and reserve delegate from the West Zimbabwe Conference. \u201cThey appreciate this is a compromise; you can\u2019t get everything you wanted. What we are working on now is the concerns coming from the Europeans.\u201d Betty Katiyo, also signer of the compromise and delegate from the West Zimbabwe Conference, sees Plan UMC as a good step forward. \u201cThis plan is not cast in iron because if it doesn\u2019t work, we can always change it at a future General Conference,\u201d she said. The Rev. Adam Hamilton, a member of the Call to Action Interim Operations Team, said the plan does not include all the changes he had hoped. He was not among the delegates who worked on the compromise. However, he is hopeful Plan UMC will encourage greater collaboration among general agencies, which he said was one of the drivers of the Interim Operations Team. \u201cI think what this does is have an executive general secretary who has the authority to call together the general secretaries to, in essence, hold them accountable for working closely together,\u201d said Hamilton, senior pastor of United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan. \u201cThey already work closely together on some things, but they have to decide what they want to work together on. But the executive general secretary says, \u2018You are going to come together on this project.\u2019\u201d Plan\u2019s critics Members of the Methodist Federation for Social Action, who submitted their own restructuring plan to General Conference, were not included in the two days of conversation leading to the compromise. \u201cAfter reviewing the plan, it\u2019s so far from the values and principles that we\u2019re looking for, we don\u2019t feel amendments could make it a plan that will take the church in a positive direction,\u201d said Kevin M. Nelson of the progressive caucus. \u201cInstead, we\u2019re hoping the agency plans (to downsize their boards) will be adopted.\u201d Erin Hawkins, the top executive of the Commission on Religion and Race, also criticized the new legislation. She was a member of the Call to Action Steering Team that set restructuring in motion. She said the plan \u201cdiminishes all the work we have done as a denomination\u201d to include women and people of color in church leadership and decision making. \u201cIt provides no power or authority or resources to equip us to be a global church. \u201c Currently, both the Commission on Religion and Race and the Commission on the Status and Role of Women \u2014 agencies that monitor racial and gender inclusion \u2014 do not answer to the Connectional Table and can speak to inclusion issues in the denomination\u2019s top governing board. Hawkins fears that independent monitoring authority would be threatened under Plan UMC. She added that the \u201cclosed-door nature\u201d of the conversations in developing all the restructuring proposals, including the compromise, shows why monitoring is still needed. \u201cIn our global church, our work is not yet done,\u201d she said. \u201cIn fact, it\u2019s needed more than ever.\u201d Click here to see a visual representation of PlanUMC\" target=\"_blank\">HERE<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Article by Heather Hahn*<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>At this point, much of the talk in the halls of General Conference is not about the Call to Action restructuring plan or the alternative Plan B.<\/p>\n<p>The talk is of \u201cPlan UMC,\u201d a compromise involving people who developed both proposals to reconfigure agencies working with delegates from the central conferences. The new legislation is printed in today\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/umcmedia.org\/gc2012\/dca\/DCA_Tues_5-1_p2227-2334_Layout1a.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Daily Christian Advocate<\/a>. The General Conference Committee on Calendar and Agenda expects the full assembly to take up restructuring legislation on Wednesday, May 2.<\/p>\n<p>Discussions leading the compromise began in earnest Sunday, April 29, the day after the General Administration Legislative Committee adjourned without recommending\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.umc.org\/site\/apps\/nlnet\/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&amp;b=8057055&amp;ct=11736163\" target=\"_blank\">any comprehensive proposal to consolidate agencies and shrink their boards<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think this is a strong and unifying plan that really draws from the best work of all the plans,\u201d said the Rev. Gregory D. Stover, a district superintendent in West Ohio, Connectional Table member and supporter of the Call to Action plan. \u201cI think it\u2019s a reflection of God\u2019s Spirit moving.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He was among 18 church leaders who signed the submitted compromise, all General Conference delegates or reserve delegates.<\/p>\n<p>Joe Whittemore, one of Plan B\u2019s architects and another signer, said the new legislation addresses his concerns about the original Call to Action legislation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful example of Christian conferencing where people of differing views \u2026 work on what they see as best for the whole church,\u201d said Whittemore, a North Georgia Annual (regional) Conference lay leader and Connectional Table member. \u201cWe have an opportunity to begin restructuring the church in very significant ways. We do not miss the opportunity we have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>What compromise says<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Some of the compromise\u2019s highlights:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As with the original\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/umccalltoaction.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Call to Action<\/a>\u00a0plan, it replaces the Connectional Table with a General Council for Strategy and Oversight with 34 voting members.<\/li>\n<li>The proposed body would oversee the work of the denomination\u2019s four program agencies \u2014 the Boards of Discipleship, Global Ministries, Church and Society, and Higher Education and Ministry. Those agencies would still have their own boards but be accountable to the general council.<\/li>\n<li>The proposed general council would have its own executive general secretary, with a maximum term of 12 years.<\/li>\n<li>It would also have authority to \u201cwithhold approval of any programs or activities that represent unnecessary duplication within an agency or between two or more agencies, or otherwise fail to meet established outcomes.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The General Council for Finance and Administration would remain separate and collaborate with the proposed General Council for Strategy and Oversight.<\/li>\n<li>The Board of Pension and Health Benefits, the United Methodist Publishing House, United Methodist Men and United Methodist Women would be separate agencies amenable to General Conference.<\/li>\n<li>United Methodist Communications (which includes United Methodist News Service) would answer to General Conference, but its budget would be determined in consultation with the General Council on Finance and Administration and General Council for Strategy and Oversight.<\/li>\n<li>The plan replaces the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History with a Committee on Archives and History. Its top executive would become an associate general secretary of the General Council on Finance and Administration.<\/li>\n<li>The plan replaces the churchwide Commissions on Religion and Race and Commission on the Status and Role of Women with a United Methodist Committee of Inclusiveness that reports to the proposed General Council for Strategy and Oversight.<\/li>\n<li>Altogether, the proposed structure would include 293 board members, down from 669 now.<\/li>\n<li>Annual conferences would have more flexibility to organize as they see fit to promote vitality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cWhat I am hearing from the Africans is generally they are happy with what\u2019s coming up,\u201d said the Rev. Forbes Matonga, a Connectional Table member and reserve delegate from the West Zimbabwe Conference. \u201cThey appreciate this is a compromise; you can\u2019t get everything you wanted. What we are working on now is the concerns coming from the Europeans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Betty Katiyo, also signer of the compromise and delegate from the West Zimbabwe Conference, sees Plan UMC as a good step forward. \u201cThis plan is not cast in iron because if it doesn\u2019t work, we can always change it at a future General Conference,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The Rev. Adam Hamilton, a member of the Call to Action Interim Operations Team, said the plan does not include all the changes he had hoped. He was not among the delegates who worked on the compromise.<\/p>\n<p>However, he is hopeful Plan UMC will encourage greater collaboration among general agencies, which he said was one of the drivers of the Interim Operations Team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think what this does is have an executive general secretary who has the authority to call together the general secretaries to, in essence, hold them accountable for working closely together,\u201d said Hamilton, senior pastor of United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey already work closely together on some things, but they have to decide what they want to work together on. But the executive general secretary says, \u2018You are going to come together on this project.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Plan\u2019s critics<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Members of the Methodist Federation for Social Action, who submitted their own\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.umc.org\/site\/apps\/nlnet\/content.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&amp;b=5847611&amp;ct=11581259\" target=\"_blank\">restructuring plan to General Conference<\/a>, were not included in the two days of conversation leading to the compromise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter reviewing the plan, it\u2019s so far from the values and principles that we\u2019re looking for, we don\u2019t feel amendments could make it a plan that will take the church in a positive direction,\u201d said Kevin M. Nelson of the progressive caucus. \u201cInstead, we\u2019re hoping the agency plans (to downsize their boards) will be adopted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Erin Hawkins, the top executive of the Commission on Religion and Race, also criticized the new legislation. She was a member of the Call to Action Steering Team that set restructuring in motion.<\/p>\n<p>She said the plan \u201cdiminishes all the work we have done as a denomination\u201d to include women and people of color in church leadership and decision making. \u201cIt provides no power or authority or resources to equip us to be a global church. \u201c<\/p>\n<p>Currently, both the Commission on Religion and Race and the Commission on the Status and Role of Women \u2014 agencies that monitor racial and gender inclusion \u2014 do not answer to the Connectional Table and can speak to inclusion issues in the denomination\u2019s top governing board. Hawkins fears that independent monitoring authority would be threatened under Plan UMC.<\/p>\n<p>She added that the \u201cclosed-door nature\u201d of the conversations in developing all the restructuring proposals, including the compromise, shows why monitoring is still needed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn our global church, our work is not yet done,\u201d she said. \u201cIn fact, it\u2019s needed more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gc2012conversations.com\/2012\/05\/01\/planumc-a-visual-representation\/\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a>\u00a0to see a visual representation of PlanUMC<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>*<em>Hahn is a multimedia reporter for United Methodist News Service.<\/em><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Visualization of PlanUMC based on analysis of and visually created by Jay Voorhees originally found HERE. Article by Heather Hahn* At this point, much of the talk in the halls of General Conference is not about the Call to Action restructuring plan or the alternative Plan B. The talk is of \u201cPlan UMC,\u201d a compromise [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":965,"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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[47,82,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-umns","8":"tag-cta","9":"tag-plan-b","10":"tag-planumc"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/planumc.jpeg?fit=1056%2C816&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-fy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=964"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":967,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions\/967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}