April 23 - May 2, 2008, The United Methodist General Conference (GC) will meet in Fort Worth, TX.  GC is an every-four-years international gathering of United Methodist delegates who deliberate and set official teaching and policy for the denomination. As in 2004, Transforming Congregations will be onsite in Fort Worth as part of the Renewal and Reform Coalition, which also includes members of the Confessing Movement, Good News, LifeWatch, RENEW Network for Women and UMAction. Together we will monitor legislative processes and interact with GC delegates to advocate for orthodox, evangelical teaching and policy.

Transforming Congregations will be paying special attention to legislation related to human sexuality, and especially to two petitions that we have written and submitted for consideration. The first suggests changes that would reinforce Discipline Paragraph 161G, our official church teaching on human sexuality. It includes new language about transgenderism and strengthens current language about sexual ethics for clergy and lay members of the denomination. (You can read a pdf copy here. You will need to use your browser's "back" button to return to this page.)

The second is a "back-up" piece about transgenderism for the Book of Resolutions (BOR). The BOR spells out broad concepts that the denomination affirms, but it doesn't have the binding authority of the Discipline. It's a good first step toward starting the discussion and moving the Church ahead toward firmer policy statements. (You can read that petition here.)

In preparation for GC, the Renewal and Reform Coalition sponsored an educational event for delegates in October 2007 at Christ United Methodist Church in Memphis. Many critical issues affecting the denomination were addressed, including advocacy for women and children, the importance of electing solid members to the Judicial Council, membership standards, doctrinal faithfulness of Bishops and other denominational leaders, and empowering United Methodists in the Central (international) Conferences to impact the world-wide Church.

You can download audio files of some of the keynote speakers or text files of their addresses here.  Make sure to check out Rev. Jerry Kulah's challenge to the American Church from Christian brothers and sisters in Africa. It's a powerful appeal to return not only to the roots of Wesleyanism, but to basic Christian teaching as a whole.