UMC Ends Guaranteed Appointments for Ordained Elders

(UMNS Photo/Paul Jeffrey)The Rev. We Hyun Chang, a pastor in Belmont, Mass., and a delegate from the New England annual conference, argues on May 1 for retaining guaranteed appointments for clergy, during a debate at the 2012 United Methodist General Conference in Tampa, Florida. The guarantee of an annual appointment was eliminated by the conference. A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey.

Delegates of the United Methodist Church have voted to end guaranteed appointments for ordained elders.

The measure "breezed" by the conference, according to the United Methodist News Service. The item was approved as part of a group of proposals on the assembly's April 30 consent calendar.

"We have clergy who have proved ineffective and the ways of dealing with them are cumbersome," said the Rev. David Dodge, a member of the study commission, according to United Methodist News Service.

"Removing the security of employment allows bishops to deploy clergy more appropriately to do missional ministry," he said.

An earlier motion to reconsider the item failed by a vote of 564 to 373.

The legislation will allow bishops and cabinets to give elders less than full-time appointment. It will also allow elders to be placed on unpaid transitional leave for up to 24 months, with approval of their boards of ordained ministry and annual (regional) conference's executive session.

Clergy on transitional leave would be allowed to participate in their conference health program through their own contributions.

A task force at each annual conference will develop a list of criteria to guide the cabinets and bishops as they make missional appointments.

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