October 2018
The Special General Conference meeting in February of 2019, will be offered three options (The One Church Plan, The Connectional Conference Plan, The Traditional Plan) submitted by the Commission on A Way Forward to help direct the church in the coming years.
Many of the bishops in the U.S. and our Wisconsin Annual Conference bishop, Hee-Soo Jung. have asked local churches in WI to support the “One Church Plan” because many of us believe and think it is the best plan among all three of them to go forward together as one body of Christ in The United Methodist Church.
Here are short summaries of the three plans. Please, read them carefully and pray for our denomination, our 6 Wisconsin delegates (3 Clergy & 3 Lay delegates) and 2 alternates who are going to vote as representatives of the Wisconsin Annual Conference at the 2019 Special General Conference, and our local churches, which will follow up on the decision from General Conference.
1. The One Church Plan
Reverse the church’s historic teaching in regard to human sexuality. Remove all references to homosexuality and to marriage as between a man and a woman. Let individuals, churches, and conferences decide for themselves what standards they wish to follow. Build in assurances that the convictions of traditionalists will be honored.
2. The Connectional Conference Plan
Divide into three separate branches of United Methodism and let each Branch adopt their own Discipline, select their own bishops, adopt their own criteria for ordination and set its own standards for human sexuality. This option would necessitate several constitutional amendments.
3. The Traditional Plan
Keep the same Discipline statements regarding human sexuality as are in the Discipline currently. However, since bishops, conferences, boards of ministry and churches are presently in open defiance of the Discipline as it now stands, close the loopholes and tighten the accountability sections of the Discipline.
The 93 page booklet (https://unitingmethodists.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/finalreport_commissiononwayforward.pdf) that shows the entire decision procession of the Commission On A Way Forward is on the information desk and I put 4 links at the bottom that explain each plan in more detail.
If you have more questions about it, please feel free to contact your pastors.
1. https://www.facebook.com/dave.nuckols.1/posts/10212202355790214
(Summarize and Compare with 3 Plans)
2. https://goodnewsmag.org/2018/07/whats-in-the-one-church-plan/
(Explain about the One Church Plan)
3. https://goodnewsmag.org/2018/07/whats-in-the-connectional-conference-plan/
(Explain about the Connectional Conference Plan)
4. https://goodnewsmag.org/2018/07/whats-in-the-traditional-plan/
(Explain about the Traditional Plan)