Advocating for Justice at Annual Conference

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what happened on the floor of the Annual Conference on June 17th. Some seem to think it was only about full inclusion, others seem to think it was just being flat out disrespectful. What happened on the floor of the Annual Conference was for some about being a more inclusive church, for others it was about a fair process, and for others it was about both of these things. So let me give my understanding of what happened. There is a pastor in our conference who has been under complaint for over 1,000 days. The person who has the charges filed against them violated The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church. I believe this pastor has been denied the right to fair process and a speedy trial. I know folks who have been under complaint and it is extremely stressful. No one should be under complaint for 3 years!

On the 17th, a motion was made to raise some questions in the form of a declaratory decision to be answered by the highest ruling "court" in the United Methodist Church called the Judicial Council. The questions surrounded this complaint process as a means to move things forward. The Bishop ruled this motion for a declaratory decision out of order. There is a parliamentary procedure that allows the chair to be overruled. If a motion is ruled out of order, then the ruling can be challenged twice. After the motion has been ruled out of order the third time a request can be made to bring the motion before the body for a vote without the chair's approval.

The chair (the Bishop) can not ignore a point of order. She chose to ignore my point of order for 20 minutes. Why? Because, it would have been the third time someone challenged the ruling of the chair. The motion then could have been brought before the body for vote without the approval of the Bishop. What happened on the floor was not meant to be disrespectful. It was not about inclusion. It was meant to bring transparency to the complaint process found within the Book of Discipline. After much waiting and praying, a list of questions will be sent to Judicial Council for review. It is my prayer that these questions will bring clarity to the complaint process because no one deserves to be under complaint for over 1,000 days.

I might not have everything correct in this post because it is very complicated but I hope you know my heart. We stood, not only for him (the one under complaint) but for all those in the Virginia Annual Conference - clergy & laity - who may face similar situations. No one deserves to be under complaint for over 1,000 days.