- Local church trustees have two new responsibilities.
- Several Annual Conference judicial structures are expected to include persons with disabilities.
- General Agencies reduce board sizes, change duty lists to accommodate reduced budgets.
The 2020/2024 Book of Discipline marks several dramatic changes in The United Methodist Church, as well as some that are not quite so dramatic.
Among the least dramatic, though often still significant changes, were those affecting local churches, annual conferences and general agencies.Changes for Local Churches
Local church trustees receive two new responsibilities under those enumerated in Paragraph 2533. They are now required to work with the pastor and the local church historian to develop an annual recommendation about the adequacy of the storage of the local church’s “permanent records, archival materials, and historical objects” (Paragraph 2533.7). If they find these items to be in any kind of danger, they are to “recommend to the charge conference a plan to correct any deficiencies.” The urgency of this work has become more apparent as sudden catastrophic events, such as hurricanes, wildfires, and floods, all fueled by climate change, appear to become more likely in the coming years.
Also relating to climate change, local church trustees are now urged to provide for an annual greenhouse gas or carbon footprint audit of their buildings, grounds, and facilities to identify what barriers exist to making the church carbon neutral or net-zero emissions and determine priorities to eliminate those barriers. This audit would be included in the annual charge conference reports (Paragraph 2533.8).
On a more procedural note, the 2024 Discipline now clarifies who may not serve on the pastor-parish relations committee because they are “immediate family living in the same household” of another member of the committee (Paragraph 258.2.a). Included in that category are “spouse, parents, grandparents, children, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, first cousins, siblings adopted children, half-siblings, stepparents and stepchildren.”
The updated Discipline also added to the pastor-parish relations committee’s responsibilities for enlisting, interviewing, reviewing, and recommending to the charge conference candidates for both licensed ministry and Lay Servant Ministry (Paragraph 258.2.g.9). Previously, the committee had these responsibilities for “lay preachers and persons for candidacy for the ordained ministry” as well as candidates for missionary service. The change from “lay preachers” to “candidates for licensed ministry” was an editorial change that should have been made decades earlier. The addition of candidates for Lay Servant Ministry creates an additional layer of vetting before these persons are presented to the charge conference.
Finally, two changes approved by the General Conference were voided by a subsequent Judicial Council decision. These changes would have authorized a local church council to propose to its annual conference that it be closed (a new section of Paragraph 2549.2.b and an added Paragraph 2549.3). These changes do appear in the 2020/2024 Book of Discipline. However, Judicial Council Decision 1507 was announced after the 2020/2024 Book of Discipline had gone to press. That decision declared these changes unconstitutional on the grounds that “they deny and circumvent the authority given to the Charge Conference by the Discipline and the Constitution.”
Annual Conference
The most numerous of the kinds of changes made to annual conferences by the 2024 General Conference were to increase inclusivity and representation on several conference judicial structures, particularly those related to the complaint process. All trial court pools, and specifically those for bishops and laity, should now include representation of persons with disabilities and persons of various economic backgrounds in addition to the diversity categories previously listed (Paragraphs 2709.2, 2712.3. 2714.3). Those for clergy who are not bishops are also expected to have representation of persons with disabilities (Paragraph 2713.3).
Young adult leadership is also increased at the district level by stating that if the district’s lay leader is not a young adult, its associate lay leader should be (660.11).
This General Conference paid particular attention to the role of the Conference Committee on Equitable Compensation, ensuring its existence, its function, and its budget. Paragraph 623.1, as revised, removes the phrase “or alternative structure” to make clear that the Committee on Equitable Compensation, as described in the Discipline, is mandatory in every annual conference. This change is also noted in Paragraph 610, where the Committee on Equitable Compensation is now listed among the structures an annual conference must have and cannot alter. The Committee must meet at least twice a year and will bring its own recommendation to the annual conference of the budget needed for the Equitable Compensation Fund (Paragraph 624.1-2).
As with the local church, the 2024 General Conference also called the annual conferences to be mindful of their responsibilities for earth care. Each annual conference’s Board of Church and Society must name a “Caretakers of God’s Creation Coordinator who will be responsible for helping the conference develop programs to become more ecological sustainable and to address environmental injustices” (Paragraph 628.2). Also, annual conferences are now expected to be held, when possible, in venues with “sustainable practices for energy, waste, and consumption” (Paragraph 603.4).
Finally, there were two changes with respect to the accountability of annual conferences. Annual conferences must now report annually to the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry how they have allocated their Ministerial Educational Funds (Paragraph 816.1). And if a clergyperson who had withdrawn from membership in their original annual conference now seeks to be reactivated to service in another annual conference, the annual conference from which the former UMC clergyperson previously withdrew must now provide a recommendation, not just a consent, to the other annual conference. (Paragraph 347.5).
General Agencies
The most significant kind of changes for general agencies involved downsizing their boards and altering their list of responsibilities in response to significant budget cuts many general agencies received for the coming quadrennium (52.8% or higher). Connectional Table reduced the largest category of its membership to 20, the General Board of Church and Society to 33 while increasing the number of its central conference representatives to 8, and United Methodist Communications reduced its board size to 17 (Paragraphs 906.1, 1006.1, 1807).
Discipleship Ministries submitted the most changes in paragraphs of any general agency. These changes both simplify language and eliminate some discrete responsibilities to allow for greater flexibility with a smaller staff. They also renamed and revamped their approach to ministry with young people worldwide as the Young People’s Connectional Network (Paragraphs 533, 1101-1118, 2302.4.g).
Both United Methodist Communications and the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry took similar steps. United Methodist Communications replaced many of the former mandated functions (“shalls”) with optional functions (“mays”) in Paragraphs 1806. The General Board of Higher Educations and Ministry also deleted references to “divisions” to give it maximum flexibility as it continues to restructure and now shares a general secretary with Global Ministries (multiple paragraphs). Global Ministries, meanwhile, has shed two of its former program responsibilities in the transfer of the Plan for Hispanic Ministry and the Disability Ministries Committee to the General Commission on Religion and Race (Paragraph 265.4).
United Methodist Communications simplified its accountabilities by becoming solely an administrative agency and no longer also a program agency. This makes United Methodist Communications directly accountable to the General Conference without “dashed lines” to the General Council on Finance and Administration and the Connectional Table (Paragraphs 702, 703.6).
To enhance transparency to investors, all general agencies must now create an annual disclosure process for any investment funds it offers. This includes, at a minimum, an annual prospectus or similar document, a quarterly funds performance report measured against stated benchmarks, an independent audit report of the previous year, and monthly reports of fund performance (new Paragraph 718).
General Conference also approved several changes proposed by Wespath in addition to the major non-disciplinary change in the plan benefits to end the defined benefit part of the pension program and transfer all such assets to a defined contribution plan. Wespath has taken on management of benefits for clients in addition to The United Methodist Church—most notably those of the African Methodist Episcopal Church—and remains open to providing such benefits management for additional clients as well. This led to several changes in the Discipline to account for different kinds of funds with differing conditions now under Wespath’s management (Paragraph 1502.4, 1504.8). This reality also led Wespath to request, and General Conference to approve, revising how Wespath handles health research across it client bases and to clarify that its own bylaws, not the Book of Discipline, determine the frequency and purposes of meetings for its board (Paragraph 1502.3).
Finally, in a move intended to widen the scope of its program ministry worldwide, the new name of the former National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry is simply Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry. This recognizes the increasing involvement of United Methodists in Hispanic/Latino cultures beyond the United States, including re-engagements in South and Central America and ongoing relationships in Europe and Africa (Paragraph 634.4.a.6 and 634.10.b.7).
Taken together, these changes in the 2020/2024 Book of Discipline reflect the growing commitments of The United Methodist Church to environmental responsibility, inclusivity, transparency, clarity of relationships and sustainability at multiple levels of the church’s life.
Burton Edwards serves as Lead for Ask The UMC, the information service of United Methodist Communications.
