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Detroit Annual Conference
May 19-21, 2006, Adrian, Mich.
Detroit Annual Conference members gathered at United Methodist-related Adrian College with a theme of “First Fruits,” reflecting a continuing emphasis on stewardship.
Major agenda items were the celebration of the 50th anniversary of full clergy rights for women and a vote to begin a merger process with the West Michigan Conference.
The Rev. Carol Johns preached at the celebration service for clergywomen. She told of her aunt, who grew a church no other pastor wanted to serve into a thriving congregation and served it for 33 years. The Rev. Elsie Johns began her ministry as a local pastor in 1931 and was ordained a local elder in 1957. Carol Johns referenced Leonard Sweet’s book, Ancient/Future Faith, to remind her listeners that today’s clergywomen are “rooted in the past and stepping out into the future.”
The Michigan Area Cooperation Task Force presented its resolution that the Detroit and West Michigan Conferences begin a process toward merger in 2009. Results of the vote will be withheld until after the West Michigan Conference meets June 1-4. The rationale proposed for merger cites better equipping churches to make disciples of Jesus Christ as well as efficiency in administration and better resourcing of local churches.
Detroit Conference churches are faithful mission supporters. The Covenant Mission Offering received during opening worship exceeded $56,000, to be divided between the Haiti Hot Lunch Program and the Bishop Judith Craig’s Children’s Home in Liberia. Conference churches filled a shipping container with health, school and sewing kits as well as Bibles, hymnals, choir and clergy robes, and used eyeglasses. Another container will be shipped at a later time to accommodate the overflow donations. The “Bishop’s Seatcover Project” collected more than 175,000 pairs of children’s underwear to be distributed at mission sites all over the conference.
The conference members also celebrated:
- 213 percent improvement in Advance (second-mile) giving over 2005: $1.9 million to 350 Advance projects.
- $1.2 million to disaster relief.
- $115,000 to Haiti.
- $119,000 to Liberia.
The conference affirmed the United Methodist Council of Bishops’ pastoral letter “unanimously declaring the church’s historic stance that membership in a congregation is open to all persons. We further support their specific statement that ‘homosexuality is not a barrier’ for such membership.”
Bishop Jane Allen Middleton of the Harrisburg (Pa.) Area preached at the service of ordination and commissioning. She joined Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton in ordaining seven elders and commissioning four probationary deacons and 13 probationary elders.
In other business, the conference:
- Declared opposition to war against Iran.
- Declared opposition to torture and abuse of U.S. prisoners and detainees.
- Urged churches to “preach, teach and act” to curb greenhouse gases.
- Urged United Methodists not to sign a petition to amend the Michigan Constitution to criminalize abortion.
- Asked local churches to educate members on the intention of the so-called Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which would end affirmative action in Michigan. A resource for studying the issue is the United Methodist Book of Resolutions, numbers 163,164 and 174.
- Approved a sliding scale (based on salary) for sharing health care premiums between pastors and local churches.
- Approved merging the foundations of the Detroit and West Michigan conferences.
- Voted to reduce the number of districts from seven to six effective July 1, 2007, if the merger process for the Detroit and West Michigan conferences is not approved.
- Asked each church to pray for newly elected leaders after the November 2006 elections.
- Urged pastors to do “extensive” pre-marital counseling as a way to strengthen family relationships.
A motion to have the conference statistician’s report at the beginning of the agenda next year was referred to the program committee. The Rev. Jack Harnish said it was important to know membership and worship statistics as a context for making decisions affecting disciple making and increasing membership. Near the end of the conference session, the statistician reported declines in membership and worship attendance.
Membership at the end of 2005 stands at 102,425, down 1,349 (1.30 percent). Worship attendance stands at 50,278, down 591 (1.16 percent). Church school attendance stands at 15,719, down 3,041 (16.21 percent).
-- Ann Whiting
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