US National Conference Actions

Friday, June 24, 2005

Steve Dennie, UB Communications Director

The US National Conference met June 20-23 at Huntington University in Huntington, Ind. There were 63 voting delegates representing every conference in the United States except for Southeast Conference, whose delegates were unable to attend. Bishop Paul Hirschy chaired the meetings.

Photos of the Conference and New Bishop

Many photos of the conference are available on the UB website. They include pictures of the new bishop. All of the photos can be downloaded in a high-resolution format, so that you could (for instance) use them in a PowerPoint presentation or announcement loop for the benefit of your church.

The minutes from the conference are still being finalized, so the official wording of many proposals can't be published yet. However, a brief description of the major actions follows.

New Bishop

The national conference elected Rev. Ron Ramsey as the new bishop. For the past 12 years, he has pastored the Main Street UB church in Walbridge, Ohio. He will take office on August 15.

Property

The Property referendum, approved by the membership last October, was adopted. The main provision is to give local churches title to their own property.

The National Conference referendum

Delegates also adopted the national conference referendum, which members approved in October. It does the following: gives every member church a lay representative to the national conference meeting, gives all "active licensed ministers" a vote at the national conference, and changes the frequency of national conferences from every four years to every two years. So the next meeting will be in 2007, and it will include a potential of hundreds of voting delegates.

One Conference Proposal

It had been proposed that all annual conferences in the United States be combined into a single conference covering the entire country. This idea was put on hold, since two legal opinions stated that we needed a constitutional referendum to do this. However, this was not a totally necessary component of the other major structural proposals, and pending legal action against two conferences prevents them from dissolving anyway. For now, most conferences will begin cutting back what they do in preparation for eventually combining into a single entity national in scope.

Clusters

Every church will be required to participate in what is called a cluster. Clusters will consist of an average of seven churches, and will be led by a cluster "coach." This will become a primary group pastoral and congregational accountability, and it represents the single most significant change in structure adopted by the conference. There will be about 30 clusters in the United States.

Local Church Covenant

To be a full-member United Brethren church, all congregations must now sign a covenant every two years. This represents a major change for the United States churches. The covenant requires agreement with eight statements.

1. They are committed to the Confession of Faith.
2. They agree with the core values of the United Brethren in Christ, International.
3. They agree to abide by the Constitution and Discipline of the US National Conference.
4. They are passionate about fulfilling the Great Commission through their local church.
5. They are interested in partnering with other like-minded churches.
6. They support the ministry and mission of the United Brethren Church, USA, through the annual partnership fee. [See "Finances" below]
7. They will participate in a cluster.
8. They support the camps, university, and other ministries of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

Executive Leadership Team

A new Executive Leadership Team was chosen. A new system was adopted which involves electing a layperson and minister from each of four regions, to ensure broader geographic representation on the ELT. Four members-at-large were also chosen by the new ELT, one from each region (2 laypersons, 2 clergy). Three of them were announced at the end of the conference. The list can be found online via the address below.

Leadership Teams

Two new leadership teams were created: Church Multiplication, and Pastoral Ministry. The Pastoral Ministry Leadership Team will deal with various issues pertaining to ministers (licensing, education, stationing, etc.).

Alcohol Stand

The United Brethren church will continue to stress and encourage total abstinence from beverage alcohol, but will no longer require abstinence in order to hold local church membership (though this requirement will remain for ministers). The key part of the statement, as revised by the National Conference, reads: "The Church of the United Brethren in Christ believes, and experience demonstrates, that the abuse of alcoholic beverages is harmful to our physical bodies and is a detriment to the best stewardship and witness of our lives. Therefore, we urge all of our members to avoid using alcoholic beverages. We also urge our leaders to teach as well as counsel about the hazards of abusing alcoholic beverages and that deliverance is possible through the ministry of the Spirit."

Directors

In the past, the directors of Global Ministries and Education have always been elected. No longer. The Global Ministries director will be appointed by the bishop and confirmed by the ELT, and the Education director will automatically be the President of Huntington University. Gary Dilley has already been reappointed as the Global Ministries director. Another change is that the directors will not be voting members on the ELT or at the National Conference.

Finances

In the past, denominational income has been raised through the annual conferences, which use different systems for raising the money they need from their constituent churches. That will change in January, when local churches will begin sending 3.5% of their income (minus missions giving, building funds, and estate income) directly to the United Brethren Offices. They will also continue sending a percentage to their conference. But now, it will be two different checks.

Further information will be published on the UB website as it becomes available.