Backers of agency consolidation ponder what went wrong

The Rev. Adam Hamilton was prayed for at General Conference by choir members visiting from the church he leads in Leawood, Kan.

The dream some UMC leaders had of bringing most general church agencies under a single 15-member board, led by an executive, crashed and burned at General Conference on Friday. And the dreamers were left to lament their defeat in the General Administration Committee, and try to figure out what went wrong. “I trust the Holy Spirit is at work in all of this,” said the Rev. Adam Hamilton, who championed the single board approach. “I think it’s hard to look at making major change.” The General Administration Committee voted Friday [...]

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Young Methodists React to Call to Action

The Rev. Alissa Bertsch Johnson, a campus minister at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., expresses her concerns over possible church restructuring during the 2012 United Methodist General Conference in Tampa, Fla. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose

Even as the Rev. Adam Hamilton argued for the Call to Action reforms at General Conference last night, Twitter lit up with commentary from young people across the connection. While there were supportive words, much of the reaction was negative. Josh Hale (@expatminister) observed from Texas: “I’m seeing lots of Twitter chatter that challenges tonight’s CTA proposal…& little that buys in.” But interviews with young Methodists at General Conference, provided a fuller, more nuanced reaction. And Mr. Hamilton may have helped his cause by meeting with the younger attendees earlier [...]

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