It’s a Mad Mission… Sign Me Up

Well, my cough and congestion is worse and if I had to guess, I would say I’m a little feverish. It irritates me that I have so little energy and that the General Conference seems to be in such need of leadership.

It is hard to make a case against the young people carrying the day today regarding the constitutional amendments related to the global nature of the church package of legislation. The old guard would not lead and so teenagers and twenty-somethings did.

Matthew Laferty, a senior at Ohio Wesleyan, lay delegate from East Ohio, and chair of the Conferences committee did a masterful job presenting the legislation despite its differences from the plan he originally supported. He answered all questions precisely and would not be baited. Several young people from all across the connection stood up to speak to the necessity of a just structure for the future of the United Methodist Church. They were not without opposition though.

With maybe one exception the opposition to these constitutional amendments came from Old. Southern. White. Men. And boy, did they play the game. Amendments and questions that they already knew the answers were spoken at the microphone to confuse the body. A constitutional amendment was voted down. Salvation came when Devin Mauney, a junior at Arizona State and lay delegate from Desert Southwest called them out. With creativity and passion that I don’t dare try to represent here he told the naysayers in effect, “your nonsense isn’t fooling anybody.” It was met with wild applause and a smile from the chair. Unlike other cases of applause, the body was not censured. Ultimately all constitutional amendments were passed and will go to the annual conferences for approval.

It really was inspiring to watch. For a moment in time anyways young people exercised real influence over and even leadership in “adult” affairs. What people need to understand is that there are remarkably few arenas where young people can exercise influence that isn’t radically circumscribed. Student government and the like are almost comical in comparison to what we are doing here in Fort Worth. There is a long way to go, especially in the local churches and annual conferences, but this is one area where the United Methodist Church is on the curve and maybe even ahead.

Now, if only I wasn’t hoarse and stuffed up.

-Luke