Great Plains delegation votes to endorse protocol

David Burke

In their meeting on Feb. 28, the Great Plains Conference delegation approved these actions:

1. The Great Plains Delegation formally endorses the items presented by Wespath to safeguard pensions during this turbulent time.

2. The Great Plains Delegation formally endorses the Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation. 

3. Further, we discourage all amendments to the Protocol legislation that do not originate from or are not unanimously supported by the original 16 signers. 
4. The Great Plains Delegation formally endorses the concept of the US becoming a Regional Conference. Both the Connectional Table and the Christmas Covenant offer a promising way forward. 

 No. 1 was a unanimous vote, and Nos. 2 and 4 were approved by a vote of 24-1.

“My sense is that most of our delegates don’t want to see a division in the church but recognize at this point it seems inevitable,” the Rev. Adam Hamilton, pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection and Great Plains chair, said in a statement. “My personal hope is that the UMC that emerges after the separation will remove the current restrictive language in the Discipline regarding homosexuality, thus recognizing and allowing for our differing interpretations of scripture regarding the church’s ministry with and for LGBTQ persons.

“We will continue to be a church with large numbers of people across the theological spectrum who are unified in our common desire to follow Jesus Christ, our Wesleyan approach to the gospel, and our passion for ‘making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world’,” he added.

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