Reactions to Upper New York Annual Conference 2016

General Conference started one month ago today, and if you were following this blog throughout those two weeks, you may have noticed that it's been noticeably silent for the past few weeks.  To be honest, General Conference was a lot to process, and I promise that in the next few days/weeks I'll post some sort of reaction to all of it.

But that's not the intent of this post.  One week after returning from Portland, I left DC again for a visit home to New York so I could attend Upper New York's Annual Conference.  And while UNYAC 16 was certainly not as contentious as General Conference, that's not to say it did not have it's downsides.  Meeting in the immediate wake of Baltimore-Washington's clergy session's decision to not provisionally ordain one of my seminary classmates as a Deacon in spite of her being recommended for provisional status by BWC's Board of Ordained Ministry simply because she's married to a woman cast a dark shadow over my own experience at UNY's Annual Conference.  Although I did have a glimpse of hope when a Wesley alum member of UNY refused to be provisionally ordained at this session in solidarity with his classmate.  So I do find myself giving thanks for and standing in awe of the prophetic witnesses and ministries of T.C. Morrow and Pat Dupont. 

But in spite of what was happening at the Woodley Park Marriott in Washington, DC, the biggest issue at UNYAC16 was surprisingly not about the inclusion of LGBTQ persons in the United Methodist Church or reactions to General Conference.  There were no clergy who boldly came out during this session of the Upper New York Annual Conference, nor were there impassioned speeches from the floor pertaining to full equality in the UMC as we saw happen at other Annual Conference sessions this year.  No, the big issue at the 2016 Upper New York Annual Conference was the budget.  Specifically, the problem is that the Annual Conference is consistently only receiving something like 73% of its ministry shares on a yearly basis because only 63% of the local churches in the Annual Conference are paying their apportionments in full (think taxes for you non-Methodist folk, except there is no IRS in the UMC who will come after a church who doesn't pay its full apportionments with any more weight than a "gee guys, it would be really great if you would pay your ministry shares...please?").

To be fair, most of the 333 churches that make up the 37% who aren't paying their ministry shares in full are at least paying them in part, and they have valid reasons for not paying in full.  Times are hard after all, and those churches are really struggling to keep the lights on themselves.  However, that doesn't change the fact that there are real consequences to the Annual Conference not receiving 100% of its projected income year-to-year, and those consequences manifest themselves as crucial ministries getting cut mid-year because.  For example, in February of this year, it was announced that the University Chaplain position at Syracuse University (a historic Methodist university, and the largest, if not the only United Methodist-Affiliated University in the Upper New York Annual Conference) had been moved to contingent status in the budget and was therefore no longer going to be funded after the 2016 spring semester finished.  In essence, the Upper New York Annual Conference is no longer able to financially support full-time campus ministry.  

Those of you who know me well know that I was very active in American University's United Methodist campus ministry during my undergraduate experience.  Having access to a campus ministry on site, separate from any local church, and fully funded and staffed shaped and formed my time at AU—perhaps more than any other college experience I had did.  During the budget debates, there were a number of opportunities to give speeches in support of campus ministry, and I'm ashamed to say that I was never able to muster up the courage to speak on behalf of campus ministry from the floor.  And by the time I did muster up some courage and started waving a card to be recognized by the bishop, someone called the question, a parliamentary trick that ends debate and forces the body to vote on what's before them.  So I was unable to speak in support of campus ministry from the floor.  But if I had been recognized, I probably would have said something like this:

Thank you Bishop.  Ian Urriola.  Lay equalization member for the Genesee Valley District, member of Asbury First United Methodist Church.  

We've been talking a lot about the campus ministry at Syracuse University.  I spent my four years of college at a different historic United Methodist-Affiliated school in Washington, DC: American University.   American University falls within the boundaries of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference, and those folks have had the wisdom to see to it that there is not only a United Methodist clergyperson serving as a University Chaplain but ALSO a full-time and fully-funded United Methodist clergyperson serving as the full-time United Methodist-Protestant chaplain on American University's Campus.  

Last month marked the 10 year anniversary of my confirmation as a full member of the United Methodist Church.  After being baptized as an infant and growing up at Asbury First, I formally joined the church in May 2006.  Furthermore, December 31st of this year will mark 9 years since my answering a call to ministry that God placed on my heart during my Mission of Peace to Cuba.  And thanks be to God, this past April the Genesee Valley District Committee on Ministry elected to certify me as a candidate for ordained ministry.  And yet, thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit, the only reason I am able to stand here today and give this speech is because of my experience with the American University United Methodist-Protestant Campus Ministry.

There were many times throughout my four years of college when I came close to abandoning my call to ordained ministry.  There were many times throughout my four years of college when I came close to leaving my own local church.  There were even many times throughout my four years of college when I came close to giving up on the institution of the United Methodist Church overall and leaving the denomination.  Most notably, the 2012 General Conference left me extremely disillusioned with this institution and I was ready to email my pastor and say "That's it.  Remove me from your roll.  Count me out.  I'm done."  Don't get me wrong, I still considered myself a Christian, but I just about had it with the United Methodist Church.  But the only thing that was able to stop me was the witness of the Campus Ministry at AU.  Through them, I was able to get a glimpse of how the Church universal ought to be acting: one community, united by love and the power of the Holy Spirit even though we weren't always of one mind (even on issues more pressing than whether Star Wars or Star Trek is the quintessential science fiction experience).  This fully funded campus ministry staffed by a full-time chaplain is the only reason I still call myself a United Methodist.

Autonomous campus ministries—that is, campus ministries that are not connected or tied to a local church—are essential to the life of our United Methodist Church.  During my four years at AU, I witnessed people come to Christ who would otherwise never darken the doors of a local church.  I've seen disciples be made and formed through worship, study, and acts of mercy and justice at this campus ministry.  And I've seen at least one person from every generation of this campus ministry's existence come to answer a call to ministry in some shape or form.  In my experience, full-time campus ministry lives into and fulfills the mission of the United Methodist Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world more effectively than campus ministry.

Today, those of us here in the Upper New York Annual Conference will elect to pass a budget in which campus ministry will be considered a contingent expense with our votes today and our dollars throughout the year and years to come.  And in light of that, I think we owe a deep debt of gratitude to the Baltimore Washington Conference for continually supporting a full-time United Methodist campus ministry on American University's campus as well as a deep debt of gratitude for those who have served as the University Chaplain at Syracuse University throughout the years.  After hearing the testimonies of others speaking in favor of campus ministry at Syracuse, I know that my experience at American is not an isolated one.  Campus ministry matters, full stop.

Something New

So in case you've been diligently following this blog during General Conference, you've probably noticed that I haven't posted over the past couple days.  And I'll be honest, that was because I really had nothing to say.  And not in the "oh, nothing's happening so there's nothing to report".  On the contrary, much has happened over the past couple of days.  It's just that it has felt as if the General Conference process has pretty much sucked out my spirit and I am left speechless and voiceless.  As proof of how bad it's gotten, spontaneous singing—something that has accompanied or forecasted that a protest or demonstration is going to occur—makes me now feel extremely anxious and jumpy.  And if you know me at all, you know how much I love singing, so the fact that this is now my reality is just a little problematic.

But something beautiful also happened over the past couple of days.  Yesterday morning, after rumors of the Council of Bishops(COB)¹were meeting the previous evening to discuss how to move forward with a schism in the UMC were being spread via social media outlets, Bishop Bruce Ough—Minnesota-Dakotas Episcopal Area bishop and president of the COB—reported that the Council had in fact been meeting to discuss how to remain united rather than moving toward schism. In his statement, he confessed that the Council itself was not of one mind on the matter of human sexuality, but that they do desire to remain a united United Methodist Church.  The Council also said that since the role of bishops is merely to preside over the General Conference and not speak or vote on any matters, that  they trust and hope the General Conference to come up with a creative solution as to how to move forward.

Later that day, amidst members of the Love Your Neighbor Coalition (LYNC), the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN), and the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA)² singing "Blessed Be the Tie That Binds" around the bar³ of the conference, a delegate moved that the General  Conference request the Council to come up with a more concrete recommendation on a way forward. After debate, this motion passed, which essentially means that the General Conference asked the Council to actively lead rather than merely preside.  As far as anyone can tell, this is an unprecedented move in not only United Methodist history, but Methodist history overall.

So the bishops met yesterday afternoon to figure out a more concrete way forward, and Bishop Ough came back this morning with a new statement that laid forward a new plan.  The Council's statement can be read in full here, but here are the key points:

1. The Bishops reaffirmed their desire for the church to move towards unity rather than schism.
2. The Bishops recommended deferring all petitions relating to human sexuality, many of which were on the calendar for today, to a yet-to-be-formed human sexuality commission.

Then, the presiding bishop had the plenary engage in an intentional 30 minute prayer and dialogue amongst themselves around the table, in what many say would have been very similar to what Rule 44⁴ would have looked like in practice had we adopted it.  And I have to say, it was one of the first times I could actually feel the Holy Spirit moving during plenary while at General Conference.  After that period of time, the work began and boy let me tell you that it was a whirlwind of a day.  Someone moved that we adopt his interpretation of the recommendation, someone moved to amend the motion by substitution so that the General Conference would ultimately work on human sexuality petitions this time, there was much debate, the substitution motion failed, and we broke for lunch, and then we returned and had some more debate, a powerful statement of unity was read by the young delegates, another amendment was considered, the amendment failed, and then we voted on the motion and the motion failed, then a bishop was accused of improper presiding procedure and using fingers to tell delegates how to vote and was asked to leave the presiding chair (also an unprecedented move as far as I can tell), that bishop stayed in the chair, someone else moved that we simply affirm and act on the Council's recommendation, and THAT motion passed by a razor-thin margin of 428-405.  If you weren't paying close attention, it would have been easy to be lost and not know what was going on.  But what you need to know is that the Council of Bishops' statement has been affirmed and will be acted on.

So what does this all mean?  Again, I'm not a General Conference expert by any means, and if I've learned one thing it's that things at General Conference can change very quickly, but here's how I understand it.  First, we will not be discussing any human sexuality positions this General Conference, but instead will be referring them to this commission to work on them and come back with a recommendation either at a special called General Conference session or at the 2020 General Conference.  I've heard some say that this is just kicking the can down the road again and we're not actually getting anything done.  However, I have to disagree with that assessment.  For one, not acting on these human sexuality petitions means that additional harm will not be done to our LGBTQI brothers and sisters.  If General Conference was going to debate and vote on these petitions this year, it's likely that our stance would become more restrictive against the LGBTQI community.  Not only that, but debate on these petitions would have meant that the whole world would have to hear speeches in favor of keeping our current language in the Book of Discipline, and that would only cause more unnecessary harm to the LGBTQI community.

Furthermore, I don't think that this isn't just kicking the can down the road.  There's an intentionality behind this action that hasn't existed in the past.  As I understand it, we are committing to have this conversation in a way that is healthy and will hopefully allow the Spirit to work with us.  Moving forward, I am not afraid.  If Christ has conquered death, then Christ can work with the United Methodist Church.

Over the past couple of days, I've questioned some deeply held convictions, questioned what it is about the United Methodist Church that's worth saving, and questioned why I even want to continue my ministry with the United Methodist Church—often over the course of one hour!  There have been many times over the past couple of days when it seemed as if our mutually incompatible interpretations of a handful of verses of scripture would inevitably lead us to schism.  And I'm not going to lie, maybe that's what's going to happen.  But I'm thankful that we are going to exhaust all of our options before we consider separation.  The United Methodist Church needs marriage counseling before we can consider parting ways, and General Conference is not marriage counseling.  Perhaps this new thing is.

---

1 The United Methodist Council of Bishops is composed of all active and retired Bishops in the United Methodist Church.  In the UMC, bishops are elected to serve as spiritual and temporal leaders of the church and are assigned to serve an episcopal area, or Annual Conference, within the Jurisdiction they were elected in.  Bishops do not have voice or vote in the UMC on any legislative matters at any level of church governance.^↩
2 Three progressive United Methodist advocacy groups.^↩
3 That is, the boundary/barrier that marks off where the seated delegates sit and where observers sit.  Only voting delegates are allowed within the bar, and only those within the bar of the conference are allowed to speak and vote on any conference business^↩
4 A proposed rule for General Conference that would allow the General Conference to send a piece of legislation to be discussed amongst every delegate in small table conversations rather than sending it to a legislative committee.  Facilitators would be elected to lead this conversation and then create a report back to the General Conference based on what conversation occurred among the tables and recommend action on those petitions/resolutions.  After a lot of debate, the General Conference ultimately decided not to adopt that rule last week.  ^↩

I Got to Vote Again!

So today I don't have much to say.  I got to sit in on a legislative committee, and for that I'm thankful.  The committee ended up dealing with some pretty difficult issues that next week will go before the whole plenary, but it was so great to be a part of the process.  

The Journey Continues

Friends, I'm feeling nostalgic tonight. Perhaps it was because I just had a fantastic dinner (elk for the first time!) with the folks at General Conference who went on the Mission of Peace to Cuba in 2008 (and other fantastic and really awesome people), but I feel like reflecting a bit on the past tonight.

See, 2016 is kind of a big year for me. December 31 at 11:40pm will be eight years of me knowing that I'm being called to ministry.  But this year, in fact this very month, marks ten years since my Confirmation and becoming a full-fledged member of the United Methodist Church.  It marks ten years since my decision to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.

We talk a lot about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ in the United Methodist Church.  After all, our mission—our whole reason for existing—is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

But here's the thing about discipleship. It's more than a one-day-a-week thing.  It's more than giving 10% of your income.  It's more than going on a service trip every now and then.  Discipleship is a complete and total commitment to following Jesus Christ.  Discipleship is giving your all to Jesus Christ all of the time and encouraging others to do the same.  That's what it means to make disciples. 

And we need this total commitment from EVERYONE if we're going to build the Kingdom.  Clergy alone can't build the Kingdom.  Americans alone can't build the Kingdom.  Africans alone can't build the Kingdom.  The wealthy alone can't build the Kingdom.  We need—no, Jesus needs—everyone for this sacred work.  Christ needs his whole body, not just parts.

And we heard as much today in the laity address from Upper New York's own Scott Johnson.  It's gonna take doctors and lawyers and teachers and farmers to accomplish the task.  Or, as we heard in the episcopal address a few days ago when Bishop Palmer quoted Upper New York's own Thom White Wolf Fassett "we need to discover again the vocation of being full-time Christians".

Child of God needs to be our primary identity, followed closely by follower of Jesus.  Those two are the only labels that should matter in our lives and when looking at other Christians.  All other identities and labels come after those two. 

Will we slip up every now and then?  Most definitely.  But as long as we're all moving onward and upward, then that's ok.  Praise be to God, and in the words of Bishop Tom Bickerton, pictured above, the journey continues. 

I Got to Vote!

Yeah, that's about all I have to say about yesterday. I got to sub in for 30 minutes or so and vote on Rule 44. And even though it ultimately didn't go the way I wanted it to, being within the bar of the plenary floor just felt so good. 

It's About Trust

I'm happy to report that today was a decidedly better day than yesterday was.  Was it perfect?  Not by any stretch of the imagination.  We still have yet to adopt all the rules, which is fueled by a lack of trust in each other and a lack of trust in the rules committee, and that still frustrates me to no end.  Yet I'm encouraged as I write this blog.  I got to have dinner with some members of our delegation and it was a fantastic time of fellowship.  I was able to get to know them on a level that I hadn't been able to do over video conferencing during delegation business meetings.  For example, I had no idea that one of them went to Wesley for seminary and had some of the professors that I have taken classes with, so we were able to bond over that, and I think that's just awesome.

And through that time of fellowship and learning more about each other, we were able to have some meaty and heavy conversations.  These conversations didn't necessarily result in changed minds, but—and maybe it's just me—they did result in opened hearts.  And consequentially, my trust in our delegation was affirmed as a result of that dinner and it fills my heart with joy.  Each and every member of our delegation felt a call from God to go to General Conference as a delegate, and that call was affirmed by our Annual Conference through election.  To not trust my delegation would be to not trust in God.

Of course, it's not just the delegation from the Upper New York Annual Conference that is comprised of delegates who felt a call from God that was externally affirmed.  Every single one of the 864 voting delegates went through that process.  Every single presiding bishop went through that process.  Every single person who has worked tirelessly over the past four years to put this General Conference together went through that process.  They all had a call from God of some sort that was affirmed in some shape and/or form by their peers, and if I can't trust them, then I cannot in good conscious say that I trust God.  And if they can't trust each other, how can they say they trust in God?

Everyone within the bar of the conference is my brother or sister in Christ.  And Christ calls me to love each and every one of them.  I'm not called to agree with them, but I am called to love them.  And that is a call that I will answer gladly.  The United Methodist Church has some tough conversations ahead of it, both this year and in years to come.  It's my deep and fervent prayer that those who make up the body of the sole entity that gets to speak for our church can find it in their hearts to answer that same call and come to first and foremost love and trust one another.

Orientation and Worship and Rules, Oh My!

I said I wanted this blog over the next two weeks to be a reflection of my experiences, I don't want it to be merely a list of what I did (and then I did...and then I did...and so on and so forth).  And yet, as I lay here in my hotel room I'm at a loss.  It was a frustrating day.  Oh don't get me wrong, there were some good parts to it.  I got to spend most of the day with some pretty cool young people who are on our delegation whose joy and dedication give me hope for the state of our church.  Getting to connect with old friends and making new ones was pretty great.  Being with our delegation in person after spending a year of needing to connect with them via video conference call was a breath of fresh air.

The other young adults of the Upper New York delegation at the General Conference young delegate briefing.

However, I still find myself less than encouraged for this General Conference.  Maybe it's because today's main piece of business was considering the rules we will abide by over the next ten days, but as soon as our business began, I could palpably feel a spirit of contention.  Everyone has their own agenda, and in my experience, it's hard to discern the will of the Holy Spirit if you're blinded what you think is best.  And it's hard to love your neighbor if your pre-conceived agenda makes you view them as your enemy.

Another obstacle that the General Conference faces is that we really don't know each other.  People talk about a spirit of contention in Congress, but Congress is decidedly smaller than we are—the House of Representatives is about half the size of us and the Senate is one-eighth of our size—and they get a chance to know each other over two years of work.  864 delegates from all over the world with a vast diversity across just about every form of identity get only 10 days to try and discern what the United Methodist Church will look like for the next four years.  I almost feel like we should be electing our delegates to General/Jurisdictional Conference four years out so we can at least try to get to know each other.  But maybe that would be more trouble than it's worth.

So as I close out tonight, I'm going to offer this prayer that was recited during our opening worship and just happens to be in the front of my personal journal.  It should be familiar to most of you Methodist nerds who are following this blog, but even if you're not a Methodist—or hell, not even a Christian—I still think it's a great prayer to surrender yourself and your ego to a higher power (Christ in a Christian context, obviously):

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.

May it be so.  Amen and amen.

Portland or Bust

Well it's finally upon us.  After almost a year of planning and preparation and day-long conference calls, General Conference is here.  I'm seeing all my fellow delegates posting their selfies at their respective airports. Everything is packed.  And it's just starting to hit me.  See, as a full-time graduate student this past month has been hectic to say the least.  Somehow, most of my assignments ended up being back-loaded.  I turned in my last final this past Friday afternoon, so I haven't had much time to shift from a mentality of school to a mentality of conferencing.  But as I sit here waiting for my room to become available at the hotel, I'm feeling a mix of emotions.  I'm excited. I'm nervous.  I simultaneously feel ready and not ready.

Obligatory selfie at Dulles

After all, in Methodist circles, these upcoming 2 weeks are kind of a big deal.  The UMC isn't like some other branches of Christianity.  We don't have a president or figurehead for our church.  The General Conference is the only group that has the authority to speak on behalf of the entire UMC.  And the General Conference only meets once every 4 years, so this is it.  If anything is going to happen or change in the world of United Methodism, it has to happen now or it will have to wait until 2020.  And of course there are pundits on every side of every issue making predictions about what will happen over the next two weeks.  I'm by no means an expert, so this blog over the next two weeks won't contain any of that.

Layover in Denver

Instead, I'm only going to share my day-to-day experiences.  As a reserve delegate for the Upper New York Annual Conference, my schedule is a little bit more open than my full delegate colleagues.  Unless I'm called to pinch hit, so to speak, I get the opportunity to bop around the convention center and take it all in.  I can sit in on committee meetings, meet new people, and explore all that General Conference and Portland has to offer.  So while I don't know what exactly our United Methodist Church will look like in 10 days, I'm still excited.

Snow-capped mountains en route from DEN to PDX

As for the rest of the day, once my room becomes available, I plan on getting situated in it and resting after a long day of travel (5:00am wake up call to catch a SuperShuttle to take me to Dulles).  And then going out to explore a little bit.  I'll try to get a feel for the TriMet system.  And with any luck I'll make it back to the hotel in time to get a good night's sleep before it all begins tomorrow.  I ask that you keep all of the delegates and the General Conference in your prayers over the next two weeks.  While I don't know much, I do know that we will be having some difficult conversations as a church and it's my prayer that we are always mindful of the presence of the Holy Spirit with us.  Until tomorrow.

I'm told that this is a thing to do in PDX