The United Methodist Church’s top court said only General Conference can determine how to handle the elections of the court’s membership.
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In a separate decision, the Judicial Council also ruled that agency board members elected at the 2016 General Conference can be elected to serve another four-year term beginning at the close of this General Conference.
The rulings were among five the Judicial Council released April 23, the first day of General Conference — the denomination’s top lawmaking assembly that draws lay and clergy delegates from four continents.
At issue in two of the rulings is what the postponement of the 2020 General Conference means for the elections of various church leaders at the just-started assembly.
The Book of Discipline, the denomination’s policy book, establishes terms for many elected church leaders based on the understanding that General Conference will meet every four years. But complications from the COVID pandemic resulted in the postponement of the 2020 General Conference to this year. That means the last regular session of General Conference took place eight years ago.
The Council of Bishops asked the Judicial Council for declaratory decisions related to the terms of agency board members and Judicial Council members themselves. A declaratory decision deals with the meaning, application and effect of church law.
Under the Discipline’s Paragraph 2602.1, General Conference elects Judicial Council members to serve eight-year terms, with staggered elections for its lay and clergy membership depending on the General Conference year. Judicial Council members can serve a maximum of two consecutive eight-year terms, and then must take at least four years off before General Conference potentially re-elects them to the church court.
The bishops specifically asked whether this means Judicial Council members who were originally elected in 2016 must now stand for re-election if they want to continue to serve on the court.
In Memorandum 1495, the Judicial Council declined jurisdiction to rule on that question.
Instead, the church court cited in its entirety the Discipline’s Paragraph 55, which is part of the denomination’s constitution.
“There shall be a Judicial Council,” the constitutional provision says. “The General Conference shall determine the number and qualifications of its members, their terms of office, and the method of election and the filling of vacancies.”
The church court added the bolding and underline for emphasis.
In Decision 1496, the Judicial Council majority did take up the bishops’ request for a declaratory decision related to agency board members’ terms.
The Discipline’s Paragraph 710.4 says general agency board members shall be eligible for no more than two consecutive four-year terms. “The four-year term shall begin at the first organizational meeting of that agency following General Conference,” the provision goes on to say.
The church court’s majority said this church law answers the bishops’ question because it says agency board members’ terms only begin after a regular session of General Conference.
“These members are still serving their first four-year term (even though it has lasted eight years) because since that first meeting there has not been a subsequent General Conference,” the majority said with accentuating underlines, “and no one has been nominated, elected and installed to take their place.”
In a dissenting opinion, Judicial Council member Beth Capen said the Judicial Council should have declined jurisdiction in this case. “These are matters to be determined by the denomination’s legislative body, the General Conference,” she wrote.
excerpt from a story by Heather Hahn, assistant news editor, UMNews
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