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Petition and Resolution Results at the 2019 UNY Annual Conference

June 11, 2019 / By Tara Barnes

The 2019 Upper New York Annual Conference held June 5-8 at the Oncenter in Syracuse, passed eight petitions pertaining to the conference and 14 that will go to General Conference 2020. The conference petitions can be found on pages 65 to 111 of the 2019 Annual Conference Journal Vol.1, except for UNYAC2019.14, which can be found in the updates to the Journal or on the UMCMeet smartphone app. The General Conference resolutions can be found on pages 112 to 139 of the Journal Vol. 1 as well as the updates and app.

The resolution UNYAC2019.1 titled “Action of Nonconformity With the General Conference of The United Methodist Church” was ruled out of order by Bishop Webb after an amendment to make the petition more aspirational did not pass. The petition called for the conference to “not conform to, comply, or cooperate with any provisions of the Traditional Plan,” which will become church law Jan. 1, 2019. A challenge was made to the bishop’s ruling. The challenge was not supported and the petition remained out of order.

After passing a motion to disallow amendments, the Conference reconsidered this motion and voted to return the ability to amend petitions, and resolution UNYAC2019.2 titled “UNYAC Response to Actions of the 2019 General Conference,” calling on the conference to condemn the decisions of General Conference 2019, apologize for harm caused, “assert and affirm that no human being is incompatible with Christian teaching, and refrain from expending funds on complaints, resolutions, or trials “pertaining to LGBTQIA+ ordination and marriage,” was thus amended and supported. UNYAC2019.3, “A Call for Structural Change” was also supported. A rule of law was requested for both of these petitions, meaning Bishop Webb has 30 days to decide if the resolutions violate church law, which will be automatically review by the United Methodist Judicial Council.  

Petition UNYAC2019.4, “Create a Team to Consider Processes for Future Movement,” which calls on the conference to put together a team to examine all details involved with a “large-scale separation movement of churches and clergy to an alternate Methodist denomination,” was also supported.

Petitions UNYAC2019.5, “Discerning Gifts and Graces for Ministry Without Partiality,” calling on the Conference board and district committees on ordained ministry to examine clergy candidates “without pursuing information in regard to sexual orientation or gender identity,” was supported as amended, as were two scholarships, one named for the Rev. Ann Stanton Blair and the other for Virgia Phoenix, to support students attending Africa University, were supported (UNYAC2019.6 and UNYAC2019.7, respectively).

Petitions UNYAC2019.8, “Caring for LGBTQIA+ Ministry Candidates,” and UNYAC2019.11, “A Call for Attention to the Worth of All Immigrants” were also supported. Petition UNYAC2019.9, “Assisting with the Interpretation of Speeches by Ecumenical Inter-Faith Leaders,” was referred to the Conference Committees on Sessions and Religion and Race, and UNYAC2019.10, “Let’s Talk About Sex,” did not pass.

UNYAC2019.12, “Standards for Conference Leadership by Bishop’s Appointment, and UNYAC2019.13, “Standards for Conference Leadership by Nominations,” were withdrawn. UNYAC2019.14, “Clergy Authority to Perform Weddings,” was ruled out of order, a ruling that was supported by the Conference upon challenge

After supported motions to limit discussion as time on the final day ran down, the General Conference petitions were voted on without presentation or discussion, and the final nine were bundled together (noting that eGC2020.9 and GC2020.14 were previously withdrawn). All General Conference petitions were supported.

See the Annual Conference Daily Notes and Daily Wrap videos at www.unyumc.org/events/annual-conference-2019, and more news at www.unyumc.org/news/stories