More Time Given for Discussion, Discernment
In a special sitting March 3, General Conference 2023 delegates voted 161-59 for the Free Methodist Church USA’s next General Conference to be held in July 2029. The two-year delay from the normal four-year cycle gained the approval of 73% of the delegates. The approved resolution also states that, “as a consequence, the term of the Board of Bishops elected in July 2023 will be a six-year term.”
In response to a recommendation from the Unleashing Missional Momentum (UMM) group, the FMCUSA Board of Administration (BOA) introduced the resolution last October to allow more time for discussion and prayerful discernment regarding anticipated structural and organizational changes in the denomination.
After the resolution’s approval in the special sitting held online via Zoom, BOA Chair Eric Logan told the delegates, “Thank you so much for your diligence and your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and for your discernment. I personally — and I know all of us — appreciate all of the arguments, both for and against, and we appreciate the heart of the church and the discernment of what we’re doing.” At the beginning of the meeting, Logan noted, “Our standing rules call for three people to speak for and three people to speak against” the resolution. He invited BOA member Al Sones — the senior pastor of Good News Church in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania — to begin the discussion. “Our priority always is to see that the church is led by what happens in the prayer room, not as a result of what happens in the committee room,” Sones said. “It became very apparent to us at our last Board of Administration meeting that one of the key results of the concerted season of prayer and fasting that swept across the church was that the Holy Spirit was calling us to a sense of urgency, so the urgency for change to be made now does not come out of a sense of fear or crisis, but simply a prompting of the Holy Spirit.”
Sones said the BOA members saw the need “to create time and create a space for the servant leaders of the Free Methodist Church and the frontline Free Methodists … to work together to create a kingdom culture. ”
Wendy Seyfert, a lay delegate from the Free Methodist Church in Southern California, said that despite being “very grateful for our bishops’ desires to address the opportunities within the North American church and to bring a new, fresh spirit to the work,” she spoke “against the resolution, though after much prayer and inner turmoil, because I do not believe that the work undertaken by the UMM is of the highest caliber level possible for success. The UMM is comprised of and was selected by a small group of elders whose vocation is ministry. … The lack of representation by laity — a key pillar of our polity in almost every area of leadership — as well as the lack of diversity of women and young leaders — does not fill me with enough confidence in the ideas and execution that need to be generated to take us into the future. ”
UMM member and Pacific Northwest Conference Superintendent Cathy Tastad described the resolution as being “about stepping back, taking time to prayerfully discern what needs to change in our institution so that the Holy Spirit can be free to move among us. The superintendents, the bishops, the delegates, the pastors and boards, and others need space to do the necessary work to process the needed changes thoroughly, to have open dialogue in our conferences, to hear other voices, and to position the Free Methodist Church for long-term health and mission. … We have elected leaders, elected again by equal balance of lay and clergy. These people love Jesus. They love the church, and, if we do believe in our system, we also need to trust those we’ve chosen to lead us.”
Isaac Wilson — the families pastor at River City Church in Lawrence, Kansas — questioned whether extending General Conference to 2029 would ensure continuity because some leaders may not intend to stay in their positions until then. He said holding General Conference two years from now would increase “our opportunity for accountability and a structure that we operate well within to say, ‘We are midway through a plan, so let’s elect these leaders again to lead us for, in fact, another four years.’”
BOA member Cindi Newman, a lay delegate from the Genesis Conference, said, “The single purpose of this resolution is to provide undistracted time for our bishops to pray over and discern a path towards increased fruitfulness for the FMCUSA. Extending the current term by two years gives our leaders time to discern and articulate a vision for returning the FMCUSA to abundant fruitfulness, which is the heart cry of our desire to be a Spirit-fueled movement, and when we begin preparations for the next General Conference, passing this resolution would also give the delegates more time to pray and to consider the vision and the resolutions needed to walk out that vision.”
In speaking against the resolution, Central Region Conference Superintendent Bruce Cromwell emphasized, “In no way am I against the necessary changes that may help us better align with how the Holy Spirit is moving and what God is calling us to do and to be. … The reason I’m speaking against the resolution is because I have not heard sufficient reason to delay a General Conference. There are challenges facing our churches, to be sure, and most are due to the rapidly changing culture in which we serve. To delay four years from now puts us even further behind the adjustments we need to make to minister to women and men today.”
After the resolution’s approval, Logan asked BOA member Alex Soto, a lay delegate from the Acts 12:24 Churches, to close the special sitting in prayer. “Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for including us, with clarity, in the matters that have to do with the business of Your church. Lord, I pray that we can come together as a Board of Administration, as a Board of Bishops, as delegates to support these leaders that are going to be working towards kingdom expansion and leaning on us as a body as well to hear Your will, Father. Be with us tonight as we join our families and go about our business, and I thank You for the team in Indianapolis that orchestrated this. Thank You for each and every one of them for their willingness to serve and for the willingness to everyone on this call that is obedient to Your call, and we’re all here to help expand Your kingdom, Father. En el nombre de Cristo Jesús te presentamos estas peticiones. Amen. ”