AC members who gathered in Acme last May will gather again in Albion on March 7 for a special session. Under consideration is the forwarding of Protocol legislation on to the 2020 General Conference
Bishop David Bard has issued a call for a special session of the Michigan Annual Conference to consider sending Protocol legislation to General Conference. The special session will be held on Saturday, March 7, 2020, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm at Goodrich Chapel on the campus of Albion College in Albion, Michigan.
On January 3, 2020, a diverse, 16-member group of United Methodist bishops and other leaders offered a proposal that would preserve The United Methodist Church while allowing traditionalist-minded congregations to form a new denomination. The proposal is known as the Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace through Separation.
“We are wanting to help General Conference do its best work,” Bard said in an interview with UM News. “Our action will help ensure that the (protocol) legislation is at General Conference.” Bishop Bard had more to say in his recent blog; read it here.
Michigan is one of three annual conferences considering the Protocol, but the only U.S. conference doing so. The Philippines Annual Conference, meeting February 12-14, endorsed and sent the legislation to General Conference. Sierra Leone will take up the legislation in their regularly convened Annual Conference session meeting March 4-8.
This Michigan Special Session will not be endorsing the Protocol legislation, but simply will decide on whether to send it on to General Conference for action in Minneapolis in May. The legislation that the March 7th Special Session will consider sending to GC 2020 is available to read online or download as a pdf. Click here to access the legislation.
For registration and full information about the March 7 Special Session, click here.
The members of this special session of the Michigan Annual Conference will be all the clergy members of the conference along with the lay members or alternates who were last seated at the 2019 Annual Conference.
No onsite registration will be possible. Online registration is open now at 2020.MichiganUMC.org and will close on Monday, March 2.
Suggested arrival time in Albion is 11:30 am. Doors of Goodrich Chapel will open at 12:30 pm. The Special Session will begin at 1:30 pm and conclude at 4:30 pm. Members to the Annual Conference will receive priority seating in Goodrich Chapel. Visitors must also register in advance and may be observing the session in Wesley Chapel, elsewhere in the building. Onsite child care is available, and children must be pre-registered.
A Special Session Ingathering will support Albion First UMC’s Baby Pantry. They accept any brand of diaper (newborn to 4); Enfamil or Similac formula products appreciated. Gifts to the Baby Pantry may be placed in a trailer that will be parked close to Goodrich Chapel. Checks, made payable to Albion First UMC with memo to Baby Pantry, are also welcome.
Last Updated on October 30, 2023