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Florida Annual Conference Report
June 1-3, Lakeland, FL
The Florida Conference kicked off its annual meeting with 900 clergy, 875 laity and 500 visitors from across the state participating.
The session ended June 3, one day earlier than usual, so attendees could be back at their churches to celebrate Pentecost Sunday.
Members conducted conference business and dealt with tough issues, like resolutions relating to homosexuality and church membership. Under the theme “Witness With Power,” based on the first and second chapters of Acts, members also focused on the ministry of laity.
The Rev. David Lowes Watson, director of the office of pastoral formation for the Nashville Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church, was a key presenter, urging laity to return to their Wesleyan roots.
Watson said laity have strayed from the church’s mission because of the shift from a laity-driven movement to a religious organization managed by professional clergy. He said the church must better define lay and clergy roles. “Clergy are called to preach and teach the gospel ? laity are called to lead the church in discipleship.”
Members approved a Haiti/Florida Covenant, creating a formal relationship between the Methodist Church of Haiti and the Florida Annual Conference. Florida Conference Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker and the Rev. Raphael Dessieu, president of the Methodist Church of Haiti, signed the covenant.
Several resolutions caused significant debate. One called for the annual conference to issue a statement of support for the pastoral letter written by the Council of Bishops in response to Judicial Council Decision No. 1032, which affirmed the authority of pastors to deny or approve membership and stemmed from the case of a pastor in the Virginia Conference denying membership to an openly gay man.
A second, titled “Integrity,” expressed gratitude to the Judicial Council for its ruling and “maintaining integrity regarding the vows of membership.”
A third asked for a petition from the Florida Conference to General Conference to amend paragraph 214 of the Book of Discipline to include a sentence that prohibits exclusion of individuals from membership based on sexual orientation or “gender identity.”
A motion to substitute the “Integrity” resolution for the one supporting the bishops’ pastoral letter did not pass, as well as others calling for a secret ballot, language substitutions and tabling the resolutions until a later date. A motion to defer the resolutions to the conference’s Conference Table so it can develop a process for discussing the issues more productively at the next annual conference was approved.
In other business:
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The conference Council on Finance and Administration reported 2005 was a record year financially, with giving totaling more than $25 million. Apportionment giving increased more than $500,000, with 89.7 percent of apportionments received, compared to 87.6 percent in 2004. Giving to United Methodist Committee on Relief totaled more than $3.5 million. Because general church apportionments will increase less than 1 percent in 2007 the Florida Conference will no longer have the second highest denominational apportionments. Members approved a conference budget of slightly more than $19.2 million.
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Members approved Milton (Mickey) E. Wilson as the new conference treasurer and director of administrative services effective July 1. Wilson is currently chief financial officer (CFO) for the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA).
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The conference’s Risk Management committee reported $35 million has been paid to date to conference churches for 2004 and 2005 hurricane claims. Bishop Whitaker asked all congregations to give to the Katrina Church Recovery Appeal to help United Methodist churches in the Gulf Coast region affected by Hurricane Katrina.
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Members approved resolutions supporting the United Methodist Global AIDS fund, calling for the inclusion of a youth address on the agenda of next year’s annual gathering and urging every church to elect a representative to lead outreach efforts to 18-33 year-olds.
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Eighteen new churches are scheduled for launch in 2007. Five were discontinued this year.
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Slightly more than $101,000 was collected for the annual missions offering, which will support the East Angola/Florida Partnership (60 percent), the Encounter with Christ in Latin America and the Caribbean (30 percent), and the conference’s Council of Bishops’ Initiative on Children and Poverty task force, helping purchase backpacks and school kits for at-risk children and youth (10 percent).
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Laity and clergy recognized the 50th anniversary of the Methodist Church granting full clergy rights to women and the ministry of 243 clergywomen serving the Florida Conference.
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All sessions were web cast live. A total of 2,289 viewers logged on for an average of nearly an hour each.
Membership stands at 321,970, down 4,302 from the previous year. Worship attendance stands at 156,865, down 4,536. Church school attendance stands at 50,135, down 1,976.
--J.A. Buchholz and Tita Parham
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