The 2025 Spring meeting begins tomorrow (April 8-9). Here is the Agenda.
Some highlights:
on Page 53 and 54, the Rules of Order are made more gender specific.
on page 53 the work of delegates and committees is described as “legislating for God.”
on page 67 it says “The primary purpose of establishing house groups is to advance the mission by expanding the gospel’s outreach.”
on page 68, house churches are discouraged against networking together. “The Church Manual provides no space or legitimacy for a loose-knit aggregation of independent house churches.”
on page 69, house churches are told they should also promote a faithful return of tithe and giving of offerings through the local conference or mission system.
on page 18, the general agenda item #116 is the Difference Between Supporting Ministries and Independent Ministries. The Division will also discuss this item during their mid-year meeting. As near as I can tell, the main difference between a Supporting Ministry and an Independent Ministry is that a Supporting Ministry never questions or criticizes the church institution or hierarchy. An Independent Ministry may occasionally address errors in the institution or hierarchy, offering constructive criticism as they see fit.
There is no mention of Safe Church, as certain rumors have suggested in the last three weeks.
On page 53, a delegate to the Gc Session has the right to appeal a ruling of the chair. If seconded, the appeal must be put to a vote.
All meetings of the Spring Meeting will be livestreamed as scheduled, April 8-9, 2025.
The Church Manual and General Conference Constitution, Bylaws, and Working Policy take precedence over the rules of order, Rules of Order, should there be any conflict. Only problem is, most delegates are not allowed to have a copy of the Working Policy or view it online. Online versions are sought out and removed by GC Legal.
on page 55 “Only one name shall be presented to the floor by the Nominating Committee for each position to be filled. The Nominating Committee may choose to present successive partial reports when there are a large number of positions to be filled.” We agree that one person should be presented to the floor for each position. The practice of bundling 20 or so nominees together for a vote is an unethical practice, robbing delegates of the opportunity for a line item veto. Each nominated person should have the dignity of being voted on separately, giving the delegates an opportunity to approve or disapprove of people individually. Bundling nominees together is tantamount to political manuevers to include pork barrel spending in large complicated bills. This should not happen in the Church. At the 2022 Session, there was an objection to the PARL director due to social justice and ecumenical interests championed by this individual’s office. Hensley Mooroven would not allow delegates to express their concerns, and maintained that the large group of nominees must be voted on as a chunk. This is not a principled way to elect leaders.
Stay tuned . . .
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