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Nearly 100 lay and clergy leaders from throughout the Baltimore-Washington Conference came together as the Connectional Table on Saturday, Feb. 22, to help guide the ministry and mission of the conference.

The main task for the group at this meeting was to go over each of the 15 proposed resolutions coming to the Annual Conference Session in May. Connectional Table members broke into seven small groups to consider two or three of the resolutions. After the small groups met, each resolution was presented to the full group for a vote of concurrence or non-concurrence.

Two resolutions received votes of non-concurrence. One resolution seeks to have The Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference “implore the Council of Bishops to cease trials of United Methodist Church clergy for same-sex marriage...”

This resolution was submitted by Suzanne Forsyth, Chair of Reconciling Ministries Committee, and approved by the Church Council of Metropolitan Memorial UMC in Washington, D.C. (which includes Wesley UMC, Crossroads, and Metropolitan Memorial). The vote of non-concurrence was 42-29.

The other resolution receiving non-concurrence – 56-17 – is one that would require the BWC to “immediately stop and instruct asset managers to stop any new investment in fossil fuel companies.”

This resolution was brought by Mike Koob of Middletown UMC and endorsed by the Conference Board of Church and Society and Middletown UMC Justice for All Journey Group.

All 15 resolutions, whether they receive concurrence or non-concurrence from the Connectional Table, will be voted upon at the Annual Conference Session in May. The resolutions are presented in front of the Connectional Table, which is made up of members from the Conference’s boards and committees. Its concurrence or non-concurence is intended to help annual conference members in their discernment process as they consider how to vote.

In the area of human sexuality, a resolution titled “Inclusive Conference” received a vote of concurrence from the Connectional Table by a vote of 43-27.

Presenter Mittie Quinn, of Dumbarton UMC in Washington, D.C., said that passing this resolution would enable the BWC to “continue in our role as a leader in the areas of inclusion.”

Part of the language in the resolution states that the BWC “declares its opposition to all provisions in the Book of Discipline that discriminate against or restrict the participation of LGBT people in The United Methodist Church, and commit itself to work for the full civil and ecclesiastical rights and privileges of all persons, including LGBT persons.”

A second paragraph of the resolution states that following the Book of Discipline does “harm and injustice” to “our LGBT brothers and sisters, and places us in an impossible situation of following the Gospels and the Wesley Quadrilateral of Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience OR the Book of Discipline.”

One member of the Connectional Table asked if this resolution was potentially out of order, since it could be seen as a statement that the Conference was going to disobey the Discipline.

“What we’re saying,” said Quinn, “is that we don’t support the language of the Book of Discipline. This simply says we disagree with it, not that we’re going to disobey it.”

Another resolution calls for the removal from the Book of Discipline of all language that “discriminate(s) against or restrict(s) the participation of laity or clergy based on their sexuality identity.”

Submitted by Douglas M. Schmidt, a lay member of Grace UMC in Baltimore, and supported by the Reconciling Committee of Grace UMC, the resolution received a vote of concurrence by 49-32.

The resolution states that “the BWC declares its opposition to all provisions in the Book of Discipline and Social Principles that discriminate against or restrict the participation of laity or clergy based on their sexual identity. Be it further resolved that the BWC empowers our bishop and conference representatives ..., to work ... toward the eventual removal of all discriminatory references and policies in the Book of Discipline ...”

The narrowest vote for concurrence — 37-34 — was on a resolution seeking to have the Conference divest its stock holdings in Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett Packard, “until these companies end their involvement in the Israeli occupation.”

The full listing of the 2014 Annual Conference Session resolutions is posted on the conference website and published in the Preconference Booklet, which will be sent to all annual conference members.

The clergy Pre-Conference Session will be held May 15, at Towson UMC in Towson. The laity Pre-Conference Session will be held May 17, at Hagerstown UMC in Hagerstown.

Online registration for both Pre-Conference Sessions, and the 2014 Annual Conference Session, is available at www.bwcumc.org/events/annual_conference_2014.