The legislative committees began making their reports to the full General Conference today. This will continue through Friday morning. The most far reaching action taken today was the approval of a study that will bring to the 2012 General Conference a proposal to decentralize our denominational structure, giving greater freedom for the United Methodist Church of each nation or region around the world to order itself in ways that are most helpful for the needs of its people. Among other items approved today was the formation of a standing committee to study doctrine, the official recognition of shared communion between the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, and the approval of a new hymnal (more on that in my next post!).

This evening has been devoted to approving proposals that have financial implications for the church. This process provides accountability for how the money is spent that we and all other United Methodist Churches contribute to the denomination. This includes our funds devoted to support missionaries, money used to fund seminaries, our humanitarian assistance, provisions for the cost of bishops and denominational staff, and a host of other ministries and programs of the church. About 3 cents of every dollar you give to the church supports our national and international ministries through the denomination (we give far more than this to missions, but this is our official giving through the denominational “apportionment”).

I came to appreciate today the transparency and accountability that goes into determining how funds are expended in our denomination. Each budget is first reviewed by the denomination’s General Council on Finance and Administration. It is then reviewed and debated by a legislative subcommittee here at General Conference. From there it is debated and voted upon by the full legislative committee. It is then presented to all 900 delegates of the General Conference for their debate and approval. Later there is a financial audit to ensure the funds were used appropriately.

Tomorrow morning (Tuesday) the Church of the Resurrection choir and orchestra will be performing and leading us in worship at 8:00 a.m. and then performing in concert at 12:30 p.m. I am so excited and proud to have them here!

You can watch our choir and orchestra live on line, and also watch any of the debate, by going going to this website: http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.3989537/k.3B6D/Live_Streaming_Coverage_of_General_Conference.htm

I’m going to offer another post in a moment related to the debate about the proposal to commission a new hymnal for the United Methodist Church. You might find this debate interesting and indicative of a changing world.