“Young adults are the church. We are going to be the people who are leading the church for the next 15-20 years. The young adults today are going to be the bishops in 20 years. So, it is important to have their opinions on what the church looks like know, so when we step into leadership, it is the church we created,” said Kara Heagel. Heagel, 27, a graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary and head of the delegation for the Dakotas Conference, is one of the young adults in Fort Wayne. Read more about her experience and the experience of other young adults at the North Central Jurisdictional Conference.

Photo: Kara Heagel checks her phone during NCJ. Photo by Dave Stucke.

Opening worship: Stand up for the Good News

We can press on—or be a footnote in the annals of history, so I stopped by to tell you that Jesus is real!” Bishop Julius Trimble called the North Central Jurisdictional Conference to labor side by side on this Friday morning. He said, “You may consider yourself left-leaning or right-leaning but we all better be leaning on the everlasting arms!” He exhorted the body that it is time to stand up with the good news, because Jesus is real! And how long should we stand to pray and proclaim the gospel: Until justice rolls down as water, and righteousness like a mighty stream? Read more

Business of the day

And with those words, the North Central Jurisdictional Conference got down to business. Having completed the election of bishops, they focused on how we are called to live as the church and stand up with the good news in terms of gun violence and homophobia.

Rev. Angelo Monte shared of losing a cousin to gun violence in 2016. That prompted him to move to Fort Wayne and start a ministry directed toward peacemaking. “Our gun violence crisis has reached a state of national emergency,” Mante said. “It's ravaging communities all across our country. It’s a racial and economic justice crisis, and one of the greatest moral and spiritual crises of our time.” 

Photo: Rev. Angelo Monte speaks about gun violence.

Alive Community Outreach, the ministry that Monte started, is focused on walking with victims, educating and empowering young persons in the way of non-violence to build peace in their schools and communities, and identifying youth most at risk for perpetrating violence or being victimized and developing intervention. One of the efforts of their ministry is the development of a Peacemaker Academy at South Side High School which is one of the most racial diverse schools in Fort Wayne. Out of that experience, in response to the on-going need, a staff person was hired to support an after-school peace club. 

“Students want to make a difference, want to make peace,” Mante said. “The students are reminding us adults that yes, they are our future, but they’re reminding us that they are our present. They have the desire and capacity to change the world right now.” 

Monte urged all United Methodists to work for peace and to end gun violence by finding someone locally who is doing this work and come alongside them or to volunteer at your school.

Later in the day, the conference heard testimony from three persons on their experience in the church with homophobia, transphobia, and heterosexism. 

Rev. Angie Cox talked about being deferred by the Board of Ordained Ministry multiple times, not because of her gifts and call to ministry, but because of her sexual orientation. Kiri Anne Ryan Bereznai spoke of being an autistic, non-binary, trans woman with a long pedigree of experience in the United Methodist Church and yet not fully accepted. Rev. Mary Ann Moman recounted her experience with heterosexism in the presiding at a wedding of two men, Michael and Allen, and the objectification the couple experienced in the press after the story of the wedding went public. After listening intently to each of these presentations, the body was invited to sit in a circle with one another and talk about how we, as a church, can live into our baptismal covenant that proclaims all persons as beloved children of God. 

Bishops sat with delegates, visitors and alternates sat together, and they shared their own stories and heart.  The time of deep conversation concluded with an act of prayer and confession.

Rev. Jenny Hallenbeck Orr, reserve clergy delegate sat in as a delegate while Rev. Sara Nelson attended the NCJ Committee on Episcopacy meeting.

Photo: Rev. Jenny Hallenbeck Orr, far left,  and Bishop Julius Trimble, center, discuss with other Dakotas  and Minnesota delegates. 

“We had some beautiful worship music and liturgy that shaped that time,” said Hallenbeck Orr. “We were invited into conversation about how we can consider full inclusion with humility and grace.”

Following the time of sharing, Walker Brault, lay delegate, brought a motion for the Jurisdictional Conference to adopt the resolution entitled Queer Delegates’ Call to Center Justice and Empowerment for LGBTQIA+ People in the UMC. This resolution called for annual conferences and the jurisdiction to not pursue or resolve in an appropriately timely fashion through a non-punitive, just resolution process any complaints against clergy and bishops regarding their sexual orientation or clergy who officiate weddings of LGBTQIA+ persons and commits to a future of The United Methodist church where LGBTQIA+ people will be protected, affirmed, and empowered in the life and ministry of the church in our jurisdiction. 

Three persons offered their own testimony in response to the legislation including the Rev. Carol Zaagsma, clergy delegate, Minnesota, who talked about the don’t ask, don’t tell practice of our system she experienced as death by a 1000 paper cuts. She said while the persons here may not have created the system, we have the opportunity to change the system. The resolution passed 129-33. 

“The stories we heard helped each us recognize the pain that members of the LGBTQ community have experienced within the United Methodist Church and within other churches,” said Hallenbeck Orr. “The worship and the stories shaped that time. It was a beautiful experience.”

A decision of law of the bishop was requested if any of the provisions of this resolution contradict the Book of Discipline and limit the rights and obligations of bishops and Board of Ordained Ministries as required under the Book of Discipline. A decision of law requires the presiding bishop to submit a written response to the Judicial Council about the appropriateness of the action taken by the Jurisdictional Conference.

Action Items

In other actions, the North Central Jurisdiction approved re-instituting a jurisdictional committee on ordained ministry. They passed resolutions on a Code of Ethics and Leading with Integrity, both of which spoke to how delegates and leaders in the church need to make decisions in the best interests of the future of the United Methodist Church, and if planning to disaffiliate, to recuse themselves from leadership roles. Affirmation was also given to the formation of a U.S Regional Conference through support of the Christmas Covenant and Connectional Table legislation proposing the establishment of regional conferences.

Rev. Ray Baker was seated as a delegate while Rev. Sara Nelson attended the NCJ Episcopacy Committee meetings—the committee discerning the assignments of bishops. He spoke on the floor in favor of Resolution: Leading with Integrity.

Photo: Rev. Ray Baker speaks on the floor in Fort Wayne.

“The ethics piece talked about, how do we deal with leaders staying in the United Methodist Church and others are leaving. How can you graciously talk about what that means for moving forward? Those of us that know are staying United Methodist are the ones that are living into the new future,” said Baker. “The resolution was one of ethics and integrity asking people that have already decided to leave to step aside rather than still impacting the future legislation or nominations of leaders. It was really an important conversation.”

The 2023-2024 Jurisdictional Budget was approved with apportionments in the amount of $211,777 and $212,075 to be apportioned among the 10 annual conferences in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

The ministry of the Rev. Paul White, NCJ Conference Secretary was recognized after many, many years of faithful service. 

A Holy community: The Episcopal 22-10

The ten episcopal candidates for the North Central Jurisdiction formed a community that prayed and cared for each other. All ten of the episcopal candidates started to gather weekly on Friday mornings with a simple agenda of “how is it going, what do you want to talk about, and how can we pray for you in this journey?”  Rev. Cindy Gregorson, director of connectional ministries and the clergy assistant to the bishop for the Minnesota Annual Conference writes about the community, named 22-10, that was built. She writes, "I confess that as a former delegate to jurisdictional conference I often categorized the election of bishops to something akin to horse trading. More political than spiritual in nature, it seemed to me. But the 2022 North Central Jurisdictional Conference was noticeably different.”  Read more

General and Jurisdictional Conference 2024

Dates and locations were announced for the next gatherings of the general church.  General Conference 2024 will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, April 23-May 4, 2024. Jurisdictional Conferences will be held in the five regions around the US July 10-13, 2024. The North Central Jurisdictional Conference will take place in Sioux Falls, SD. Watch Welcome to the Dakotas video

Photo: Rev. Rebecca Trefz, speaks on the podium at NCJ inviting everyone to the 2024 conference in Sioux Falls.
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