What a historic General Conference we have had! We give thanks for the work that the body has carried out. Petitions, Social Principles, and elections were just some of the business completed yesterday. As today is our last day together, if you can encourage a person who has not had the opportunity to share their voice, today would be a great day to do that!
In order to empower one another and to make space for all voices, our work demands that all of us endeavor together to build a more inclusive, welcoming community of faith. What we do as The United Methodist Church matters today and will impact the denomination and the world for the next 7 generations and beyond.
Yesterday morning's sermon was another historic first. Bishop Ruby-Nell Estrella, the first woman elected to the episcopacy in the Philippines, preached a powerful sermon. She reminded us that we should not doubt the movements of God. We can follow the words of the Methodist Youth Fellowship and “talk about Jesus more and more.”
“When we remember who we are, we will know whose we are.” Then, we will go into the world with hope and faith like the many missionaries who continue to go out and spread the Gospel for the transformation of the world. Bishop Estrella's sermon set the stage for the Service of Commissioning Missionaries, which sent out 9 women and 8 men into the mission field. We also received a report from the General Board of Global Ministries, which highlighted the first woman missionary, Ann Wilkins, from New York, who served for 20 years!
We are moving forward, deeply committed to our faith, much like the missionaries who will be sent to different parts of the world. The missionaries are prepared to go wherever God may call. In response, we ask ourselves: where are we willing to go?
The diverse pool of presiders has blessed us greatly and has been a historic demonstration of our diversity! Fourteen women and 13 men have led the General Conference thus far. The Chair of the Administrative Committee on Presiding Officers, Rev. Jasmine Rose Smothers, consistently made space and modeled how one should identify themselves from the floor, including wearing a translation device during her report. Rev. Smothers ensured that the General Secretaries, both male and female, were addressed using their proper titles. She also invited the Vice Chair, of a different gender and racial-ethnic identity, to stand with her during each presentation. Diversity in our leadership and in our participation makes us better!
General Secretary Dawn Wiggins Hare was called to the floor two additional times today beyond the monitoring report. This provided another opportunity to share details of the monitoring requirement as outlined in The United Methodist Book of Discipline. Delegates were asked to voluntarily self-identify so that GCSRW does not have to make assumptions about delegates' gender, racial, or ethnic identity when compiling data. We hope that in the future this information will be in our registration so we will not have to share these identifiers when speaking from the floor. The second time General Secretary Hare was asked to speak, it was at the request of the body, seeking clarity on the gender and racial makeup of the nominees for the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA). Thank you for your acknowledgment of the importance of the work that GCORR and GCSRW continue to do!