THE 2000 UMC GENERAL CONFERENCE
FROM THE PASTOR'S DESK - JUNE, 2000

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"Many Issues, Diverse Views..."

Our Rocky Mountain Conference delegates stayed at the Holiday Inn, which was located 8 miles away from the Cleveland Convention Center. We commuted by charter buses. But, I had to take a cab if I missed the bus when there were late night meetings (12:00 midnight or 1:00 a.m. meetings). One night when I took a cab, the cab driver asked me, "How long is the conference?" I said, "Two weeks." He didn't seem to believe what I said and asked, "Two weeks? Really? What do you do for two weeks?" I said, "We talk about issues." He could not seem to believe it again and said, "Two weeks to talk about issues? It takes a minute to know what is in the Bible." I replied with a sigh, "I wish it were that simple."

"Diverse Perspectives, Broken Body..."

Certainly there were different views, diverse perspectives and conflicting opinions. Tensions were deep and evident especially around the issue of homosexuality. In the midst of protests, arrests and emotional roller-coaster moments, delegates voted in favor of retaining the current language in Paragraph 65G of the Book of Discipline, which affirms God's grace is available to all people but states that "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching." Many of the delegates felt anguished and saddened at a deeply divided body. It seemed so ironical that the logo phrase for this Conference was "We who are many are one body," and we left Cleveland broken and wounded, if not divided.

"How To Live Out The Decisions Made..."

But, the good news is that delegates also dealt with many new mission initiatives. We passed the 514 million dollar budget for the next quadrennium (the next four years) for the United Methodist Church. This budget reflects our thousand different ways of doing mission and ministries around the world.

Now that the General Conference 2000 is over, we will be prepared to live out the decisions made by the conference. They include the aforementioned issues of budget and homosexuality, and other issues such as new membership categories, support for missions in Europe and Russia, and numerous other decisions including the following:

• Delegates called for an end to "ownership by the general public of handguns, assault weapons, automatic weapon conversion kits and weapons that cannot be detected by traditionally used metal-detection devices.

• Delegates voted down a massive plan to restructure the United Methodist Church, but simply adopted the presented guiding principles - center on Christian formation, call forth covenant leadership, empower the connection of ministry, strengthen global and ecumenical dialogue and relationships, encourage dialogue around church doctrine and theological understanding.

As I look back, it was truly an intense two-week long conference. As I was unexpectedly elected to be vice-chair of the legislative committee on Global Ministries, I was kept "extremely" busy. As the conference progressed, days were getting longer and nights shorter. But, it was a great learning experience to keep track of hundreds of petitions, preside during committee sessions and present committee actions at the plenary.

"We Who Are Many, Are One Body..."

Now, I conclude my report by quoting two sermons. First, our own Bishop Mary Ann Swenson preached an inspirational sermon on a difficult subject. She said, "When the future is least clear, leadership is most needed." She also said, "God is calling us to the cutting edge. The edge is the core of our purpose."

Second, Bishop Oden, at the closing worship, preached on "bridging leadership." He urged, "Leaders are called to bridge the schism. Without bridging, only with advocates and adversaries, we cannot find God in our midst."

I thank the Lord for giving me this great honor to serve the church in this capacity - to be part of visioning God's vision and implementing our denominational goals. Our task is that we will have to creatively work with conflicts and tensions. After all, we are called to make disciples of Jesus Christ through working together. We who are many are one body.

Rev. Youngsook Kang