Defend equity and full participation
of women and people of color
Save the full ministries of GCSRW and GCORR
Thurs., May 3, 2012—General Conference, Tampa
Take these actions (IN ORDER)
- First, vote NO to Petitions 20374 and 20375 on page 347 in the (red volume) Advanced Daily Christian Advocate. >>>(Rationale: If you vote no, the Plan UMC cannot be implemented and the current church structure says as it is.)
- Second, vote for reconsideration of the action of General Conference adopting Plan UMC as our official structure, and make this amendment: Amend pages 2587-2588 of the May 3 DCA, by deleting current Par. 908 and 909 and replacing with:
WORDING OF NEW ¶908 There shall be a churchwide General Board of Ethics, Advocacy, and Reconciliation of The United Methodist Church, which shall be directly accountable to, report to, and be evaluated by the General Conference. The general secretary of the Office shall be a member of the Center on Strategy and Oversight.
This agency shall be oversee development of churchwide training, policies and procedures in the prevention, intervention, advocacy, justice-making and healing related to sexual misconduct, sexual and racial-ethnic and tribal harassment and discrimination. Further, this office shall monitor, evaluate, report on and make recommendations to the General Conference and the General Council on Strategy and Oversight and to the church at large on the denomination’s progress on full engagement, ministries with, and inclusion of women, people of color, tribal and ethnic minorities around the world and full and equal partners in the work of the United Methodist Church.
NEW ¶909—There shall be a Division of Religion and Race
NEW ¶91O (HERE INSERT ¶2002 purpose
NEW ¶911 (HERE INSERT ¶2008 responsibilities
NEW ¶912—There shall be a Division on the Status and Role of Women
NEW ¶913 (HERE INSERT ¶2102 purpose
NEW ¶914 (HERE INSERT ¶2103 Responsibility
NEW ¶915—The policies, plans, and administration of the work of the agency shall be determined by its membership, which shall be composed of 25 people; membership shall include at least 50 percent women, at least 25 percent Central Conference members, two bishops (one from Central Conferences and one woman) and at least 25 percent young adults. Additional members shall be elected by the board, with a goal of including representatives from each U.S. racial-ethnic groups
NEW ¶916—Insert ¶2107 (funding)
NEW ¶917 – Insert ¶2108 (staff)
(Rationale: a) GCORR and GCSRW do more than monitor. We don’t want to lose their mandates—including advocacy, training, and advice regarding institutional bias and ministerial misconduct. b) Also, to be effective, new entity needs full funding, staff, and equal status with agencies. This addition ensures that the new agency will have a general secretary and budget. C) “Committee” is lower than a board or council, so that it makes it more difficult to intervene in justice matters, particularly if the injustice happens at the board or council level. D)FYI, the combined proposed budgets of GCORR and GCSRW equals $14,399,000, which is approximately 2.3 percent of the total General Church.
3. As a last resort, move that all current Disciplinary mandates of GCORR and GCSRW be retained in the new Committee on Inclusiveness. Do this by making a motion to:
Amend pages 2587 and 2588 of the DCA, new Par. 908 and 909, to include the full mandates of GCORR and GCSRW, including advocacy, monitoring, training, as listed in the 2008 Book of Discipline.
(Rationale: a) GCORR and GCSRW do more than monitor. We don’t want to lose their mandates—including advocacy, training, and advice regarding institutional bias and ministerial misconduct. b) Also, to be effective, new entity needs full funding, staff, and equal status with agencies. This addition ensures that the new agency will have a general secretary and budget. c) “Committee” is lower than a board or council, so that it makes it more difficult to intervene in justice matters, particularly if the injustice happens at the board or council level. d) FYI, the combined proposed budgets of GCORR and GCSRW equals $14,399,000, which is approximately 2.3 percent of the total General Church.