Proposed new Great Lakes Conference ... Detroit says ‘yes,’ West Michigan votes ‘no’

e-HUM Announcement

Proposed new Great Lakes Conference ... Detroit says ‘yes,’ West Michigan votes ‘no’

By Ann Whiting
Michigan United Methodist Advocate editor

Michigan United Methodists will not be joining together in one new conference in 2009. After discussion and debate April 5 at the Lansing Center, Detroit Conference members approved the proposed merger; West Michigan Conference members defeated it by 13 votes.

The vote on the Plan of Organization for the Great Lakes Conference was as follows:

Detroit: Yes, 651; No 266; 2 abstentions
st Michigan: Yes, 363; No 376; 2 abstentions

According to the United Methodist Book of Discipline and rules for the special session, each conference, voting separately, had to adopt the Plan of Organization for the merger to take effect.

Michigan Area Transition Team (MATT) co-chair Paul Thomas, told the Advocate: "We were asked to serve and put a plan together to bring to this special session and we did just that. I hope the conferences will realize that change is upon us and realize we need to move forward. He said MATT's work is done and that team has been disbanded.

Opposition from West Michigan appeared to center around portions of the Plan or Organization, not resistance to becoming one conference. Two major sticking points for those who spoke against the plan, both at the special session, and a "holy conferencing" session the night before the vote at East Lansing: University UMC, were lack of inclusive representation on boards and agencies in favor of so called "functional" agencies and decreased financial support for camping, campus ministry and missions in general.

Watch for more information and analysis on the Michigan Christian Advocate Web site, and in the May issue of the Michigan Christian Advocate.

For updates and comments, log on to www.mcadbocate.org.

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