Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Assistant Professor of Religion and Pieper Chair of Servant Leadership at Ripon College.
The Global Young People's Convocation and Legislative Assembly (GYPCLA) took place a week and a half ago from July 16 to 20 in the Philippines. More than three hundred attendees participated in the event, with just over 100 voting. This was the third such meeting of United Methodist youth and young adults, previous convocations having taken place in 2006 and 2010. While the story from the GYPCLA that received the most attention was the disruption of the meeting by Typhoon Glenda (see also here), that was certainly not the most significant story from the event. In an earlier blog post, I wrote about the significance of having such a meeting. In this post, I will follow up by examining an important resolution that came out of the meeting.
The GYPCLA was not just about fellowship and relationship-building. As the name "Legislative Assembly" suggests, it was also a forum for young United Methodists around the world to propose and vote on legislation that the GBOD could forward to General Conference 2016. Bishop Warner Brown of California-Nevada Conference and Pampanga Philippines Conference worker Joanne Valenzuela explain the legislative process in this video, and youth delegates Benjaim Musasizi of East Africa and Lee Rodeo of North Carolina share their views on their legislative work in this video.
The GYPCLA discussed legislation around numerous issues, but of course the issue of preoccupation, at least among American United Methodists, is the debate over the status of LGBT people in the church. There, the youth and young adult delegates at the GYPCLA seem no less divided in opinion than the church as a whole. On a vote to remove language declaring the practice of homosexuality "incompatible with Christian teaching" from the Book of Discipline, delegates split their votes evenly, 54-54.
Where the youth and young adults differed from some of the louder voices in the denomination was that although they were divided in opinion, they were not divided in spirit. The GYPCLA did not spend extensive time in legislative wrangling on the issue. They did not use a series of parliamentary procedure tricks or protest tactics to advance their agendas on the issue. Instead, they listened to each other. They discussed. They prayed. And, at the end, they issued a statement calling for unity instead of schism in the denomination, despite disagreements about LGBT issues, disagreements which they themselves also had. The full statement of that statement reads:
Statement of Unity from the United Methodist Global Young People’s Convocation and Legislative Assembly held in Manila, Philippines:
“There has been increasing talk of schism of the United Methodist Church in recent months. Many say that the issue of homosexuality is so contentious that it will inevitably split our Church. We, as the young people of The United Methodist Church, would like to say that we do not desire a divided Church.
“The Church that we have taken our places in is called to a ministry that includes so much more than this one issue. There are genuine, passionate perspectives on all sides of the issue and though we disagree, we have committed ourselves to loving, faithful discussion on this subject. Part of the beauty of our Church is that there has always been room at the table for a wide range of theological diversity within our connectional church family. As Wesley said, ‘May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion?’
“We urge everyone to seek solutions that promote our global unity as the United Methodist Church of Jesus Christ, rather than focus only on the issues that divide us, so that we may faithfully live out our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”
By The Global Young People's Convocation & Legislative Assembly
Manila, Philippines
The GYPCLA is not unique in prioritizing unity and a variety of ministry foci over division on LGBT issues. A recent survey of American United Methodists found that the vast majority had other ministry priorities than sexual politics and no interest in a schism. The GYPCLA confirms and expands that finding, adding in youth voices and voices from around the world, voices which, as this blog has previously mentioned, are important to include in any discussion of the future of the denomination. Decision-makers in the denomination would do well to listen to the voices coming out of the GYPCLA.
Dedicated to fostering conversations about the global nature of The United Methodist Church
Showing posts with label GYPCLA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GYPCLA. Show all posts
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Global Young People's Convocation Gives Voice To, Shapes Global UMC Youth
Today's post is by UM & Global blogmaster Dr. David W. Scott, Assistant Professor of Religion and Pieper Chair of Servant Leadership at Ripon College.
The Global Young People's Convocation and Legislative Assembly (GYPCLA) took place a week and a half ago from July 16 to 20 in the Philippines. More than three hundred attendees participated in the event, with just over 100 voting. This was the third such meeting of United Methodist youth and young adults, previous convocations having taken place in 2006 and 2010. While the story from the GYPCLA that received the most attention was the disruption of the meeting by Typhoon Glenda (see also here), that was certainly not the most significant story from the event. This blog post and the following one will highlight two ways in which the GYPCLA was significant other than in its weather. In this post, I'd like to focus on what's significant about having such a meeting, and Thursday's post will examine an important resolution to come out of the meeting.
As Dr. Timothy L. Bias, general secretary of GBOD, explains in this video, one of the ways in which the GYPCLA is important is in giving a voice to young people in the denomination. That's an important function. United Methodists often hearken back to the days of the circuit riders as exemplary of what the church should be about. Yet people often forget that the circuit riders were mostly young men in their twenties and thirties. How often have you heard people say that our church should recapture its history roots of being run by people in their twenties and thirties? Not often, but we would do well to remember the connection between youth and vitality. GYPCLA didn't quite let young adults run the denomination, but it did give them a voice in doing so.
GYPCLA didn't just give young United Methodists a voice, though; it shaped them as well. As Dr. Bias also says in the video linked above (start at 1:44), "What revelation is it when we have a teenager that stands and says, 'I've learned this week that God is not from Oklahoma.'" GYPCLA has shaped people by showing them that God in not just from Oklahoma or the Philippines or Liberia, nor is the church just in Oklahoma or the Philippines or Liberia. God exists throughout the world, and the United Methodist Church exists throughout the world as well. Much has been written about how racial and ethnicity diversity is a natural part of life for millenials in the US, not something they need to struggle to accept. I hope that the GYPCLA taught young adults not just in the US but around the world to accept racial, ethnic, and national diversity as a natural part of life in the UMC, not something they need to struggle to accept. I hope that delegates to GYPCLA will presume the global nature of the UMC from the beginning of their involvement in it.
The other significant way in which the GYPCLA shaped the young people involved in it was by teaching them to partner together across those differences to carry out the work of the church. A large part of this working together was practicing listening, discussing, and collaborating in the legislative process. Attendees also worked together in mission to pack bags of relief food for those affected by the typhoon that had displaced them as well. Finally, attendees worshipped together in the commissioning service for the first class of Generation Transformation Global Mission Fellows, a new program of the General Board of Global Ministries that is sending 42 young adults from 11 countries to mission sites in 15 countries around the world. Such experiences helped GYPCLA attendees not only understand but live out the understanding that the UMC is a global church and the work of the UMC is a global work. May the rest of us be willing to learn from them in this regards.
The Global Young People's Convocation and Legislative Assembly (GYPCLA) took place a week and a half ago from July 16 to 20 in the Philippines. More than three hundred attendees participated in the event, with just over 100 voting. This was the third such meeting of United Methodist youth and young adults, previous convocations having taken place in 2006 and 2010. While the story from the GYPCLA that received the most attention was the disruption of the meeting by Typhoon Glenda (see also here), that was certainly not the most significant story from the event. This blog post and the following one will highlight two ways in which the GYPCLA was significant other than in its weather. In this post, I'd like to focus on what's significant about having such a meeting, and Thursday's post will examine an important resolution to come out of the meeting.
As Dr. Timothy L. Bias, general secretary of GBOD, explains in this video, one of the ways in which the GYPCLA is important is in giving a voice to young people in the denomination. That's an important function. United Methodists often hearken back to the days of the circuit riders as exemplary of what the church should be about. Yet people often forget that the circuit riders were mostly young men in their twenties and thirties. How often have you heard people say that our church should recapture its history roots of being run by people in their twenties and thirties? Not often, but we would do well to remember the connection between youth and vitality. GYPCLA didn't quite let young adults run the denomination, but it did give them a voice in doing so.
GYPCLA didn't just give young United Methodists a voice, though; it shaped them as well. As Dr. Bias also says in the video linked above (start at 1:44), "What revelation is it when we have a teenager that stands and says, 'I've learned this week that God is not from Oklahoma.'" GYPCLA has shaped people by showing them that God in not just from Oklahoma or the Philippines or Liberia, nor is the church just in Oklahoma or the Philippines or Liberia. God exists throughout the world, and the United Methodist Church exists throughout the world as well. Much has been written about how racial and ethnicity diversity is a natural part of life for millenials in the US, not something they need to struggle to accept. I hope that the GYPCLA taught young adults not just in the US but around the world to accept racial, ethnic, and national diversity as a natural part of life in the UMC, not something they need to struggle to accept. I hope that delegates to GYPCLA will presume the global nature of the UMC from the beginning of their involvement in it.
The other significant way in which the GYPCLA shaped the young people involved in it was by teaching them to partner together across those differences to carry out the work of the church. A large part of this working together was practicing listening, discussing, and collaborating in the legislative process. Attendees also worked together in mission to pack bags of relief food for those affected by the typhoon that had displaced them as well. Finally, attendees worshipped together in the commissioning service for the first class of Generation Transformation Global Mission Fellows, a new program of the General Board of Global Ministries that is sending 42 young adults from 11 countries to mission sites in 15 countries around the world. Such experiences helped GYPCLA attendees not only understand but live out the understanding that the UMC is a global church and the work of the UMC is a global work. May the rest of us be willing to learn from them in this regards.
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