March 1, 2021

Friends,

A lot has happened in the last week. On Thursday, the Commission on the General Conference announced their decision to postpone the 2020 General Conference again. It will now be held August 29 - September 6, 2022 in Minneapolis. The Commission's role is to "take necessary measures to assure full participation of all General Conference delegates." Taking into account rising COVID cases, vaccine availability issues, and ongoing travel restrictions, the Commission did not feel it would be feasible for many of our international delegates to attend a meeting in Minneapolis this year. The Commission also investigated the possibility of holding the General Conference online. They determined that there were too many barriers to this option as well, including electricity and internet access (particularly for some of our international delegates), as well as voting and credentialing concerns.

In response to this news, the Council of Bishops has called a Special Session of the General Conference for May 8, 2021. The purpose of this session, which will be held online, is to gain a quorum in order to suspend the rules for the sole purpose of allowing the use of paper ballots to act upon 12 pieces of legislation deemed necessary to continue the church's work until 2022. If approved, all General Conference delegates would then receive a paper ballot, on which they can vote yes or no on the 12 pieces of legislation. The results would be shared on July 13, 2021. These items include allowing the bishops scheduled to retire in 2020 to do so, and processing matters related to the budget. It's important to note that the Protocol and other major pieces of legislation will not be on the paper ballots. The Council of Bishops feel that those items require the holy conferencing that can only take place in person. Also, the paper ballot format does not allow for any amendments.

Special Sessions of the Jurisdictional Conferences would then be held virtually in July 2021.The purpose of these meetings in the US is to allow bishops to retire, announce the coverage of episcopal areas, and determine how many bishops will be elected in 2022. Virginia is part of the Southeastern Jurisdiction (SEJ). Five of our 13 bishops will be retiring in the SEJ. Due to our financial situation with lower apportionment receipts, it has been proposed that we not elect new bishops to replace those who are retiring. Under this plan, some of the remaining bishops would temporarily cover an additional Annual Conference. A regular in-person Session of the Jurisdictional Conference would then take place in the Fall of 2022 after the postposed General Conference session is held.

Why do we do what we do?
Each of us has a story to tell about our words and actions related to the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ siblings in our Church and our world. Virginia Methodists for a New Thing feels that it is important that we hear a multitude of voices across our Annual Conference sharing your motivations, your inspiration, your fears, your concerns on this topic. Hearing others' stories helps us to reflect on our own story, our own reasons for doing what we do. Hearing others' stories can also help us clarify our own values, call us to more faithful actions, and give us courage. We are a community here to support and inspire one another.

We have created an anonymous form you can use to share your story. Click here to access it. Answer as many or as few prompts as you feel called to answer. We have shared our three newest stories below. Scroll down and be inspired. 

Thanks for being a part of this movement of the Holy Spirit in Virginia and beyond.

Grace and Peace,

Josh Blakely
Rev. Beth Givens
Rev. Kendra Grimes
Alison Malloy
Rev. Jonathan Page
Ashley Parker