Chris Ritter recently shared some interesting thoughts about a flatter UMC structure that might help our debates on sexuality. Besides the title being a misnomer, I think he has some helpful ideas.
It's important to say at the outset that Chris' five rules don't actually make the structure flatter. The only way to truly make it flatter is to eliminate some of our structure. But I think he's correct that it would feel flatter, which may be even more important than whether or not it actually is flatter. So I'm using the word "undulating" instead. Undulating means wavy - it's not flat, but it's not too hard to manage. It allows movement, but it still has form.
But let's look at his rules.
RULE # 1: Annual Conferences may overlap geographically.
Chris points out that there are isolated examples where this already happens, but of all Chris' suggestions this is the one that concerns me. I can't see how if would be helpful to have 1st UMC of the Missouri Annual Conference across the street from 1st UMC of the Great Plains Annual Conference, for example. Opening up a geographical mission field to multiple conferences would become competitive rather than cooperative, But there may be a way of nuancing the disciplinary language to allow for the second rule, which I would support.
RULE #2: Local churches may join whatever annual conference is willing to service their location and may reconsider their conference affiliation once every four years.
The Book of Discipline acknowledges that the primary work of ministry happens in the local church. If the ministry of the local church is being hampered rather than helped by the Annual Conference that they are a member of I see no reason not to empower them to make a change. This should not be a decision taken lightly. Chris' recommendation of a four year minimum makes sense. I'd suggest some additional safeguards like requiring a two-thirds vote of the congregation rather than a simple majority so that we can minimize the likelihood of changes in affiliation every four years.
RULE #3: Annual conference may join any jurisdiction they wish, and this decision may be revisited every four years.
This is already allowed in our Book of Discipline, but the current process requires approval by the annual conference seeking the change and a majority vote of the annual conferences in each affected jurisdiction. The current requirements make this really an eight year decision, not a four year decision. I think this is probably healthy, but I could support a move to simplify switching jurisdictions.
RULE #4: General church standards related to ministry and chargeable offenses may be adapted by our jurisdictional upon a 2/3 vote of their jurisdictional conference.
I'm all for this. As it stands today, this would be a more limited version of what Central Conferences are already able to do. If we can acknowledge that Central Conferences have different cultures that may require different rules then it seems we should be able to acknowledge that different regions in the United States also may require different rules. There is no monolithic U.S. culture (here's a good example). Let's acknowledge the truth of it. The Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters will bring recommendations to the 2016 General Conference regarding just how much of the Book of Discipline should be adaptable. Whatever they are allowed to change, jurisdictions should be allowed to change also.
RULE #5: If a jurisdiction falls below five constituent episcopal areas, it must disband and its annual conferences must each join another jurisdiction.
Seems reasonable to me.
Chris correctly says that his Jurisdictional Solution proposals (moving us to two or six jurisdictions) meet these standards. I'm not sure if that's true about Rule #1. But I'd like to suggest something more modest. I think these rules can work with the current five jurisdictions. Both versions of the Jurisdictional Solution work by creating a place where those who lean left can find a home. That already exists. It is widely acknowledged that the Western Jurisdiction is largely (but not 100%) "liberal", the Southeastern Jurisdiction is largely (but not 100%) conservative, and the remaining three jurisdictions fall somewhere in between. If local churches and annual conferences have the right to switch from one jurisdiction to another then we already have the structure we need. Adopting rules 2, 4, and 5, and perhaps a modified version of rules 1 and 3 would accomplish the same thing.
I'm still opposed to the Jurisdictional Solution, but I think Chris may have helped us move toward a workable middle ground with these guidelines.
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