Grace Shines Through Town and Rural Churches
Pastors and lay members from small-town and rural churches gathered at Grace UMC in Dixon for the annual Town and Rural Church Festival, themed “Glimpses of God’s Grace.” The event…
Posted: November 15 2021 at 10:38 AM
The North Central Jurisdictional (NCJ) Conference met virtually for two days on November 10-11, 2021. Delegates spent most of the first day, engaged in small group conversations, discussing three main topics: dismantling racism, episcopal leadership, and the future of The United Methodist Church.
The reports from these discussions, and other pre-work reports, helped a six-person writing team (selected by delegation heads) to develop a covenant. Our own Rev. Brian Gilbert served on the writing team that brought the “Covenant to Build a Beloved Community” to the floor. The delegates overwhelmingly supported and adopted the covenant, which is grounded in the United Methodist baptismal vows, connecting our sacramental life to our praxis of faith.
The covenant (linked here) calls on the NorthCentral Jurisdiction to:
- Name colonialism, racism, sexism, classism, and heterosexism as sins;
- Commit to the ongoing work of ending racism;
- Request the NCJ Bishops of Color convene all BIPOC delegates to address the trauma in communities of color;
- Request the Mission Council to address white supremacy and Christian nationalism at the next NCJ session;
- Support the work of the Conference Commissions on Religion and Race and Annual Conference anti-racism task forceAvoid pursuing charges to LGBTQIA+ clergy;
- Request the Bishops to dismiss charges related to LGBTQIA+ identity or officiating same-gender weddings;
- Convene a special session of the NCJ on November 2-5, 2022, if the 2020 General Conference, currently scheduled for 2022, is further postponed or canceled;
- Use existing disciplinary and conference provisions to accommodate local congregations and clergy seeking disaffiliation; and,
- Encourage conversations about contextualization and regional unity.
The NIC delegates actively engaged and offered leadership in the pre-work, strategy development and building collaboration with other Annual Conference delegates, fully support the covenant and commit to live into it. We hope for our Annual Conference to also adopt this covenant and continue the work of ending racism. Please feel free to get in touch with our delegation chair, Rev. Alka Lyall (pastoralkalyall@gmail.com) if you have any questions.
Submitted by:
Hwa-Young Chong (Hannah)
Communicator for the
Northern Illinois Conference General and Jurisdictional delegation