The 2012 United Methodist General Conference is being challenged to more fully embrace the denomination’s expanding worldwide presence and ministry.

After seeking input around the world, an international panel has completed its proposals for the April-May 2012 General Conference in Tampa, Fla. The 20-member Committee to Study the Worldwide Nature of The United Methodist Church is offering legislation to:

• Incorporate a new worldwide United Methodist Church covenant into the Book of Discipline. The covenant will be accompanied by a Litany for the Covenant of The Worldwide United Methodist Church.
• Create a new global Book of Discipline that specifies what decisions the General Conference makes, and which areas of ministry and organization are adaptable by Central Conferences.
• Clarify how general agencies function in a worldwide rather than United States-centric church.
• More clearly model Wesleyan Holy Conferencing in a worldwide church. This is intended to bring greater equity between church ministries outside the United States and those within the U.S.
• Set in motion a process for annual conferences to study a proposed new model for a worldwide church. This study process may result in petitions for greater structural change at the 2016 General Conference.

“Members of the committee met with church leaders on every continent where a United Methodist annual conference is located,” said Bishop Scott J. Jones of Wichita, Kan., chair of the committee. The Connectional Table and the Council of Bishops following the 2008 General Conference named the committee.

“We believe our church must move forward to more clearly reflect its worldwide presence. That includes moving from being centered on the United States to being centered on ministry around the world. After all, John Wesley looked upon all the world as his parish,” Jones added.

The committee will have two opportunities to present its findings to the General Conference. One will be as a report on the day that the Episcopal and Laity addresses are made. The other opportunity will occur during plenary time before the 13 General Conference committees begin their detailed work.

The committee plans to create an interactive presentation for the full General Conference involving live and videotaped presentations, and guided small-group conversations about the existing worldwide nature of the denomination and how it can move forward in unity.

In its report, the committee reached a number of conclusions based on input from United Methodist individuals and church-related organizations in the United States, Africa, Europe, and the Philippines. “United Methodists in the Central Conferences outside the United States are proud to be part of a worldwide United Methodist Church,” the committee said. Through its work, it concluded United Methodists around the world:

• Have an unswerving commitment to deepen the unity of the church in Jesus Christ.
• Desire greater local authority for their ministry.
• Desire greater equality in relationships at all levels of the church.
• Desire for a deeper understanding and mutual respect between persons of different races, cultures and national origins.

That commitment to unity and desire for equity around the world led the committee to look at its charge from the 2008 General Conference, and a series of action/policy steps that served as the foundation for the recommendations to the 2012 General Conference. United Methodists, the committee said, need to move forward by:

• Focusing clearly on our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
• Building mutual respect and understanding through the Worldwide Covenant we have proposed to the 2012 General Conference.
• Clarifying what is global in nature and what is local in nature. That can be achieved in a global Book of Discipline that lays out our polity and qualifications for ministry across the entire church.
• Creating an opportunity for a regional Book of Discipline will allow for consideration of indigenous perspectives.
• Continuing the conversation for future changes by setting in motion a process for discussion of a new structural model for a worldwide church.

The committee’s full report has been submitted for inclusion in the Advance Christian Daily Advocate.