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Petition and Resolutions results at the 2022 Upper New York Annual Conference
October 8, 2022 / By Shannon Hodson / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Discussions and voting for the petitions and resolutions brought to the 2022 Upper New York (UNY) Annual Conference session began in the afternoon plenary on Oct. 6, continued after the dinner break, and were completed during plenary on the morning of Oct. 7..
The conference petitions can be found on pages 27-31 of the 2022 Annual Conference Journal Vol.1, except for UNYAC2022.4, UNYAC2022.5, and UNYAC2022.6 which can be found in the updates to the Journal addendum page on the Conference website.
UNYAC2022.1—Encouragement of Voting by all Citizens, supported by 90 percent of the body
This petition called for churches in our global community to encourage their members to take advantage of the opportunities to vote and to also encourage eligible voters to inform themselves of the qualifications of the persons running for office and the merit(s) of items requiring decision(s) that are to appear on the election day ballot, and after thoughtful and prayerful consideration, to vote their choices on their election days.
UNYAC2022.2—Candidacy Interviews (amended three times), supported by 53.3 percent of the body
This petition called for the UNY Conference to implore each District Committee on Ordained Ministry to commit to meet with all potential candidates for ministry who are duly voted upon, and recommended by, their local church’s Charge Conference.
This petition also called for the UNY Conference to implore the Board of Ordained Ministry to ensure that the District Committees on Ordained Ministry adhere to these recommendations as voted upon and recommended by the UNY Annual Conference.
An amendment to this petition was presented by Hoyt Brown that said, “Except for when a candidate has been discontinued by the District Committee on Ministry. In such instances after two years the candidate, after approval of the local church SPRC, may submit a letter to the District Committee on Ministry, requesting they be allowed to restart the candidacy process. The letter should provide in detail what they have done to address the issue(s) that led to their discontinuance. This amendment was supported by 66 percent.
An amendment to the petition as amended was presented by Rachel Stewart; her amendment was to add a sentence after Hoyt’s first sentence that said “If a candidate is discontinued from the process, they shall be informed in writing by the District Committee on Ministry or the Board of Ordained Ministry of the reasoning for their discontinuance. The reasons given shall be concrete, specific, reasonable, and actionable, and shall not be in any way vague. The candidate shall then only be required to speak to the reasons given in their discontinuance when they request to be readmitted. This amendment was approved by 73 percent of the body.
The Rev. Dr. Jeff McDowell presented an amendment to remove “The candidate shall then only be required to speak to the reasons given in their discontinuance when they request to be readmitted” because it goes against the Book of Discipline. This amendment was approved by 90.6 percent of the body.
UNYAC2022.3—Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Operation Act, supported by 83.3 percent of the body
This petition called for the UNY Conference to go on record supporting H.R. 2590—17th Congress (2021-2022) Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Operation Act, a bill that prohibits the use of funds that are made available for assistance to Israel in support of (1) military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill treatment of Palestinian children, (2) seizure, appropriation, or destruction of Palestinian property and forcible transfer of civilians in the West Bank; or (3) unilateral annexation by Israel of West Bank territory. The Department of State must support on the nature and extent of such activities carried out by Israel.
This petition also encouraged all Conference members to contact their Congress members to request their support of HR 2590.
Lastly, this petition called for the Conference Secretary to write to the president of the United States to encourage him to support and sign this legislation.
This petition called upon all clergy and laity who have been elected to be members of the General Conference and the Jurisdictional Conference and plan to leave the United Methodist Church to become members of the GMC or other denominations to resign their positions. This is to allow those elected as alternates and plan to be members of the United Methodist Church in the years following 2022 to be part of the decision-making process. This is in no way meant to be disrespectful of the hearts and souls of those who now feel they no longer can or will support or serve the United Methodist Church. The decisions that the General and Jurisdictional Conference will be making are for a denomination they no longer wish to affiliate with.
UNYAC2022.5: Creation of a Buffalo 10 Scholarship, supported 93.6 percent of the body
This petition called the UNY Conference to establish a scholarship in the name of the Buffalo 10 for students from the 14208 zip code attending college.
This petition also called for the scholarship funds be housed and distributed by the UNY Conference and that the criteria for eligibility and annual selection be determined by a committee of at least three of the people who submitted this petition and the UNY Director of Connectional Ministries.
This petition also called for the committee to develop the criteria for eligibility and process for Distribution and for the committee to share these with members of the UNY Conference through Conference communication channels. In addition, the committee will report on the process and/or winners at the 2023 session of the UNY Annual Conference.
UNYUMC-2022.6 – Endorsement of Candidates for Episcopacy; The Rev. Wendy Deichman endorsed
This petition called upon all eligible voting members of the UNY Conferenc to use the voting process found here to endorse a candidate for the episcopacy in the Northeastern Jurisdiction.
- The first ballot was to vote for up to six candidates out of the eight nominated and willing to move forward in consideration for the episcopacy elections. The candidates were narrowed down to those with the top six votes, which included the Rev. Wendy Deichman, the Rev. Dr. Sherri Rood, the Rev. Dr. Stephen Cady, the Rev. Bogue-Trost, the Rev. Dr. Aaron Bouwens, and the Rev. Heather Williams.
- The six candidates were able to speak for three minutes each, highlighting their gifts and why they should be considered in the next vote, which narrows the candidates down to three.
- The three that received the highest number of votes were Rev. Wendy Deichman, Rev. Dr. Stephen Cady, and the Rev. Dr. Sherri Rood; these three progressed to the next vote whereby the voting body must select one candidate.
- Rev. Wendy Deichman and Rev. Dr. Stephen Cady received the two highest votes; they progressed to the next ballot whereby the voting body must select one candidate. If one candidate receives at least 60 percent of the votes, this candidate will be endorsed as the Conference’s candidate to be considered in the elections for Bishop.
- Rev. Wendy Deichman received 62.6 percent of the votes in this ballot; she receives the Conference’s endorsement as a candidate for the elections of Bishop.