Proposals for General Conference 2020

Protocol of Grace & Reconciliation Through Separation

Statement January 4, 2020

The last few days there has been much in the news concerning a possible resolution to the deep divide in the United Methodist Church. We encourage you to read the document, Protocol of Grace and Reconciliation Through Separation and its accompanying FAQ which are posted on www.westohioumc.org.

This Protocol is encouraging in that it should save us from more acrimony. It is an agreement reached by persons whose positions have been incompatible; that too is encouraging. It is not a done deal. It is a proposal which needs to be approved at the May general conference. It needs to be reviewed as to its UM constitutionality. There are also exclusionary Disciplinary statements that must be addressed, but there are pathways for addressing them. There is much work to be done and much to clarify, but we are more hopeful than we have been since last February.

Please note that this Protocol, and other plans and pathways will be addressed by our ACTS committee on Sunday, January 26 at 10am in the chapel.

– John Keeny and Colleen Ogle