Bishop Julius C. Trimble is the Resident Bishop of the Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church.

Bishop Trimble has the personal mission to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest potential. It is his commitment to his personal mission that led Bishop Trimble to create the “To Be Encouraged” Podcast along with co-host Rev.Dr. Brad Miller.

Bishop Trimble says, “I am compelled by Jesus to share with you an encouraging word or two about Jesus, theology, the Bible, the pandemic, the environment, racism, voting rights, human sexuality, and the state of the United Methodist Church.”

To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble is to be published weekly and is available at www.tobeencouraged.com and all the podcast directories.

https://www.inumc.org/bishop/office-of-the-bishop/

EP: 104 "United Methodist Church Progress: A Brighter Future Ahead"

Introduction:

In this episode of "To Be Encouraged," Bishop Julius C. Trimble shares insights with Rev. Dr. Brad Miller on the recent United Methodist General Conference. The conversation goes into crucial decisions, reflections on the church's historical challenges, and hopes for a more inclusive and adaptive future.

Key Takeaways:

1. Embracing Inclusivity:

One major highlight of the General Conference was the removal of discriminatory language from the United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline. By updating its policies, the church takes a significant step towards welcoming all individuals, including the LGBTQ community, into the ministry without discrimination. This decision reflects a shift towards a more inclusive and compassionate approach, emphasizing the importance of equal access to church services for all parishioners.

2. Regionalization and Adaptation:

The episode emphasizes the need for the United Methodist Church to adapt and evolve in a rapidly changing world. Discussions at the conference highlighted the concept of regionalization, acknowledging the diverse cultural contexts in which the church operates. With changes in the church's constitution and organization pending approval, the focus is on creating a nimble and contextually relevant structure that can better serve the global community of believers.

3. Social Principles Revision and Advocacy:

Bishop Trimble and Rev. Dr. Miller discuss the church's commitment to social principles that reflect its core beliefs and mission. By revising these principles to address global issues such as environmental stewardship, racism, and access to basic necessities, the United Methodist Church reaffirms its dedication to advocating for justice and compassion worldwide. This emphasis on caring for creation and promoting equitable policies underscores the church's role in fostering positive change within society.

Conclusion:

The episode closes with a message of hope and grace, encapsulating the spirit of encouragement that defines the podcast. As Bishop Trimble shares a poignant quote and offers a prayer for guidance, listeners are reminded of the transformative power of unity, inclusivity, and social responsibility. The United Methodist Church's journey towards a more welcoming and adaptive future serves as a beacon of inspiration for all those seeking to create a brighter, more compassionate world.

This is the first of several episodes of To Be Encouraged regarding General Conference.  

Hello again, good people. Welcome to To Be Encouraged

with Bishop Julius C Trimble. Bishop Trumbull is on a mission

to help people to have encouragement in their life, and we do

that here by helping people to deal with the discouraging aspects

of the world in an encouraging manner. One of the things that's

had ups and ups and downs about discouragement and a little bit of encouragement

over the last many years at United Methodist Church is how do we

handle general conference? And something happened not too

long ago is we actually had a general conference after many years of

not. And so that caused some resolution to take place in many

areas that were kinda some, things that were left undone that needed to

be done. So, Bishop, I wanna welcome you to your own podcast,

and let's talk about general conference 2024, which is really

general conference 2020. But welcome, my friend. Thank you,

Brad. It's so good to finally get a chance to talk about

this postponed that was postponed that was postponed general

conference, the quadrennial meeting of United Methodists

across the globe, which usually results in great

worship, a great gathering of people

from various cultures. It's almost like a United Nations

of United Methodism that comes together. So it was a great

gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina. A wonderful,

downtown convention center. So to God be the glory, and

I'm looking forward to some conversation about it. Well, let's just start

with your kind of an overview of the conference. You know, there was a lot

of angst about this annual about this general conference,

about the decisions that were before us and things of that nature,

and some of it was based on pastoral conferences. But there was some

unhappy people and some some really kind of you know, really

unfortunate things happened. Let's get over before we get

into some of the nitty gritty of some of the details we do wanna talk

about, give us an overview about the spirit of general conference, about

the sense, the vibe there. Give us a little sense of what you experienced

there in that nature. Well, it it was a wonderful sense of

of, I think, worshipful anticipation. We we

started with worship as we off as we always do, but there was a

sense of, I think, a sense of excitement around

the possibility of becoming a post conflict

United Methodist movement, and I think that's where

we left from the conference. Brett, it's the first conference I've been

to. I've been going to general conferences since the year 2000.

Now keep in mind, these are meetings that take place every 4 years

unless there's a special call one, and there was one in 2019.

And probably about half the people who came to this conference in

Charlotte probably had been at the one in Saint Louis

in 2019. So I'm sure those folks came wondering

if there was going to be great confusion or great

fights or or protests on the floor and so forth. It was the

1st general conference I've been to where there was no

protest is in the middle of the

actual conference itself during the plenary session. There was some

silent protests outside and in the hallways around

palace the the plight of Palestinians in Gaza. But

this overall service, the spirit was there was a

a sense of Christian conferencing. And

we knew that we had to vote on matters. The 1st week was

legislative committees meeting to discuss all of these petitions,

over a 1000 petitions that had come to general conference because it

had been postponed, and there were new petitions that had to be added.

But when we began, we began in in a spirit of worship, the

preaching was outstanding. We heard preaching from new bish

bishops who had been been elected in 2022.

We heard the from the 1st Native American Bishop elected in the United

Methodist Church, from the 1st female bishop from the

Philippines elected, to preach. So we had a lot of

firsts and we had some outstanding

preaching. The preaching and worship that focused, listen to this, Brad, on the

sovereignty of God and the joy that comes when we

proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord. So the spirit

was great. The the worship music was was great. We had

we had we had an or an a traditional pipe

org organ and we organ music. We had contemporary

music. We had an African men's choir. So

the worship was great and the spirit, I think, was really

great. There was some anxiety because people knew that we were gonna

be voting on matters that we have contested for over

50 years. Right. You said a couple things there. I just think are notable

that we note them. You talked about the sovereignty of God, the

spirit of joy that was there, but also you talked about a

post conflict movement. And to to me that says

we leave kinda leave the conflict in the past. Doesn't mean we're not gonna have

differences of our opinion in how we do things moving forward, but

a movement means we're moving forward. Did you get the sense that we

were actually moving forward, making progress, that

we weren't just kinda stuck in this weird place we have been

for a few years now. Where are we making progress? I think so. And I

think part of that, even for me, bishops don't get to vote.

So we are either presiding or observing or

encouraging and praying for this conference during the in real

time. But I think even the the vote

on regionalization and the discussion and the attempt to explain

it so people can understand it is a is a is a is a

testimony that we can't do things the way we've always done them for

200 years in the United Methodist Church. The world

changes at a much more rapid pace, you know this, Brad, than

every 4 years. So some of the decisions, I think,

made at this general conference acknowledge the fact

that we need, as a church, to be more nimble and to be more need

to be more contextual. And we need to celebrate our growth in

Africa and other places, but also position ourselves to be in

ministry with all of the people in the various places where

we find ourselves. You mentioned nimble and contextual. I just

wanna make sure there was some concern going in the general conference that

we may not have good representation from Africa and other places

in the world and good diversity. Do you feel like we were

well represented in the in the whole body of the church there? Were

we were people okay with how things the the the makeup of the

body? I think we it was a very diverse general

conference in terms of those who had voting rights. The the

the delegations, I say that plural, from

Africa were underrepresented

in terms of the numbers that they had who were eligible to be there.

Some of that was because they didn't get visas or they get

they they didn't get their travel arrangements

confirmed in time. In fact, there were some people still coming to general

conference after we had started. So there were additional people

that came after the conference already. But I I forget what the specific

numbers is. Don't quote me on it. But I think there should have been at

least an additional 40 delegates, if

not more, from Africa who were eligible to be there and to be

voting. But because of various reasons, including the the

time and the ability to get visas to travel to

the United States for a conference that that was prohibited

from happening. Some people, you know, wanted to cast the blame

on the the the those who plan it and others where some of

it is post pandemic realities, and some of it has to

do with embassies and so forth in countries where you have to

go and interview. I asked the question only because it has to do with what

you're saying there because, you know, we're gonna we're gonna talk here very shortly about

these, you know, very major issues, and we just didn't want

to have the sense that some people were not represented on

some of these contentious issues, and, you know, it is what it

is at this point. It the decisions have been made. And

you mentioned one of the key ones already there with you mentioned about

regionalization. So let's that was a hot button issue.

And I before we kinda jump into what the vote was and what we

did there, for our listeners, for our to be encouraged listeners, can you

I know it's a little tough to do. Can you help us understand

the whole regionalization issue? Just give us a synopsis of it before we jump

into what we did at general conference. Well, our

church let me see how. Our church is is is

the United Methodist Church is active and alive in

various on various continents. So we have United Methodist in the

Philippines. We have United Methodist in Europe. We

have United Methodist on the continent of Africa. The

and we have United Methodist in the United States. In the United States,

we're divided into 5 jurisdictions.

Outside of the United States, all of those United

Methodists are part of central conferences

or or or what we would really consider that similar to what we are

gonna we we refer to as regional areas. So in

those areas, they have certain things that they can deal that

they can do to adapt our book of discipline

so that so that United Methodism can be best expressed

in their cultural and country context. So they may

not have to have all the various committees that we have, or

they may not have to organize their ordination ordained ministry and

so forth exactly the way the United States does. So, basically,

regionalization would put everybody, I think, on the same

organizational playing field, if you will. And a lot of the things we

do at a 4 year gathering of what we call a general

worldwide meeting really focus on the United

States. Almost some have argued as much as 80% of what

we debate and vote on really only impacts the

United States. And so we're asking persons who come

from other central conferences or

other regions of the church to come and to what we call

a worldwide global gathering and vote on things. Often,

many of those things are dictated driven by, say, for

example, our pension plan that may apply to to the

churches in the US or some other structural things.

And the fact that there are different laws in different parts of the

world. So regionalization doesn't detract from us

being connectional. So, like, we all are connected. You know, African

University is an example. We all are connected. We're all

connected by the way in which we share general apportionments for our general

boards and agencies. We're all connected by the work of our missionaries

and deaconesses. But this would allow regionalization

would allow the United States to be a

separate region and all of the other, the areas

would also be a region in which we could add address some

things, maybe in an annual annual or biannual meeting to

address things that only that only are particular to that

region, to that area. And jurisdictions, which we

currently have, are really a vestige from,

segregation. They actually, jurisdiction in the United States

were created because we didn't wanna have persons

of color having to dictate Mhmm. K. Who would be elected bishops

in different regions. So in effect, just to kinda get put in a

another view, if if the United if general

conferences like the United Nations, everybody coming together, we we the

United Nations does not necessarily want to be making decisions about what happened

in the United States only about our highway

budget or whatever it would be. So we just need to have

proper understanding of how to do church in the

various context of the areas. So that's what my understanding of

it is, basically. I kinda put it in that context, but let's talk about what

we actually did because we had an issue that need to be addressed one way

or another, or at least in my opinion, need to be addressed. So what happened

at general conference to address regionalization? How did the

debate go? How did the flow go? How did we come out with this?

Well, regionalization was passed, and and

it requires a change of our constitution the way in which the church

is constructed. So that's the first step. And if

something is passed at a general conference that requires the change of the

constitution of the church or the way in which the church is

organized, then it then has to be

voted on at every single annual conference and

receive a majority vote at those annual

conferences. And then it becomes the aggregate

vote of those all of those annual conferences are certified by the

council of bishops. Then that change would actually go into place. Then

the then the then the next step would have to have to happen. What does

that mean for the way in which we would have our meetings? What does that

mean for the way in which we would finally shape

a worldwide book of discipline as opposed to disciplines that would

apply to those regions. So the next people who

may have angst about, oh, we're changing the church just like a lot of things,

Brad. It takes a lot longer than we anticipated. So regionalization

really would not be implemented for at least a year, if

not 2 years, because some places would be able to

vote on it at their annual conference at the end of 2024.

But some of us will not vote on this until next year,

And it would take all of the annual conferences across the

denomination to approve it and and for for

the aggregate number, the of approval then to be

certified by the council of bishops. So so it does first

step. So the the first step so it has to be ratified by every annual

conference or not. Yes. And then the aggregate, as you said,

is it counted up at a is that at the next general conference we do

that, or is it a It would be before the next general conference, but it

would be after all that it would come to the council of bishops for ratification.

Council of bishops to affirm or to to to not have It

won't take 4 more years, but it could take 2 more years. Yeah. Well and

so just to kind of put it in the context of kind of a American

polity, American government understanding, If you have a constitutional change in the United

States Constitution, it has to be ratified by a majority of states to

become a part of the Constitution. Absolutely. Thank you, Grant. That takes

sometimes years to make a decision about that, and that's really what we're

talking about here. So this is basically this issue of

regionalization will be on the agenda of every annual

conference either in 24 or 25. Is that the plan?

That's the plan. And for in case of Indiana, it'd be 25. But

for some conferences, it would be, you know, later this

summer or later So at least in at least in theory, by the end

of 25, we should have an answer in terms of the ratification votes

for the various annual conference. So we'll see. But it's but tell

me but but there was just in terms of general conference that

just took place, the vote to adopt for the

constitutional change was a was that a close vote, or was

that a significant majority? It was a significant majority. It would most

of the just about all of the change that took place represent a

significant majority. And I I don't think the numbers even those

the number of persons who were not able to attend general conference who

would have been voting, I don't think it would have changed the outcome based on

the numbers that were turned. So it wasn't it wasn't close like in

previous years, some of the things related to the change of

of our book of discipline or our social principle, my the

items that were related to particularly human sexual had been close

votes. This was not a regionally It was would something

like 500 to 50 or something like that, if I recall correctly. Yeah.

Don't ask me. I don't see the number. But it was a significant vote. Well,

let's move on to you just touched on it there. Some of the,

the next hot button that people really want to know about and get your opinion

about your take on is the vote for the removal of harmful

language around homosexuality, LBGTQ

issues, in order to be a fully inclusive church. So just walk us

through that, Bishop. How did that go? How did that play out? Tell us about

what happened when we talked about the removal of harmful language. Well,

a lot of the some of the good things that happened actually happened on on

consent calendar or either came to the came to the

body when we did still have to vote on those things in the

plenary recession really were resulted in a great

both a sigh of relief and and and celebratory

dancing and and and and and and and praising. Now

everybody wasn't happy with the decision, but I think more

were more were pleased that the church has moved in a in

a direction that that that we can say we welcome everybody as in one

of our congregation says with no exceptions. Mhmm. That all are

welcome. So this happened also with a significant

majority vote. And here's something, doctor

Miller, that that I really I'm gonna use her quote when we need to get

her, reverend Ashley reverend doctor Ashley Bogan, general

secretary of the United Methodist Archives in History. She

said after our general conference, for the first time in

240 years, the Methodist Church no longer

has discriminatory language in our United Methodist book of

discipline. Wow. Praise be to God. Yay,

God. Yay, God. And just the fact that it's even who's there is

just grinds you, doesn't it? It just makes you just

crazy a little bit to think that that type of language has been there. And

so anybody who wanted to be critical of United Methodist Church had grounds to do

it in terms of that's in our discipline. So, yeah.

Well, some people said we always have we've always had to keep somebody

that we are, you know, that we that that are that that we're

discriminating against or excluding. Some would say we're or exclude.

I mean, so if it's 240 years, we know this discussion hasn't been

going on. So how could that be? Well, there was a period of time where

only slaves was the issue. Yeah. There's a period of time in which

segregation of Methodists was an issue and resulted

in the start the establishment of black Methodist

churches. There was a period of time, Brad, when women could not be

ordained. Oh, yeah. And that was the root, Lou. So doctor

Martin Luther King Julius said, and I think maybe I've heard you use his quote

as well. Absolutely. But but progress does not roll in on

the wheels of inevitability. So to those who said, well, it C

like a long time. I didn't know it was just 1996

that we had instituted the prohibition for

pastors to perform weddings. So some of these changes, first, 9

1972, I think the homosexuality and Christian teaching.

1984, we made it worse, or we made it more excluded,

1996. And in 2019, we

added penalties Hell, yeah. Where, you know, people would be set would

be suspended or or in other other traditions,

they say defrocked. So for all time in

240 years, we no longer have discriminatory

language. And just to be clear, all that language is gone, and it is

in in effect as we speak today. It was effect as of the end

of end of general conference. We don't have to wait till January or anything like

that. Have to wait till Jesus comes back. So so

Well, I just, but that's a as far as I'm concerned, I know, you

feel similarly that's good news in terms of us being an

inclusive church and gives a lots of churches kind of the

backing in order to move forward in ministry. And, you

mentioned how this is kind of takes away this language, but it

also I think it's helpful to understand that in

terms of its application in the local church or for local church

pastors, there's still a lot of discernment for a local church pastor

and church to do what they feel led to

do. For a local church, you know, we talked we talked about the

enactment in 96 of banning gay weddings and so on

by clergy. Well, now a clergy person can do a

a gay wedding. Or not. Or not.

Or not. And that's key there. Can you say a word about its application

of this decision into the local church and for local church pastors,

how it's going to play out, or the opportunities for it to be applied

or to be held up as a means for other

decisions to be made. I think it frees us up for really

authenticity and for people to be faithful to their own

conscience and their way in which they interpret their roles and

responsibilities as church leaders and as local congregations.

I always felt as a pastor that I had discretion over

whether or not I would officiate a wedding. Now, technically, people are

really getting married by the law by by the state or, you

know, they turn it into the county or the state. They're they're licensed. So they're

coming to to have a a blessed ceremony in the sight of God,

we often say. So I think this really frees up pastors

to do ministry with all the people in their context for ministry. And if

it's up there, there's some people I look back on now, and maybe I

shouldn't have done the weddings. These were, you know, heterosexual comp

so so Sure. So I think pastors really should take seriously.

And congregations, some churches have wedding policies.

Right. They don't do weddings in the church. Or and this will allow

pastors as well as congregations to determine whether or not they

will or will not host same gender

weddings. And so I think this is a step forward,

and it does not penalize anyone or make assumptions

that people are going to do something that would make them

violate their own conscience or their own theological.

So just to be clear, there's nothing happened here that says forces a church or

a local church pastor, you must have a same gender wedding. There's

nothing like that. If you don't wanna do it, you don't have to. Right?

That is correct. That's correct. And that's how I figured it. That's how I think

it would be applied. Yeah. I think many many there

I think there've been a number of pastors who really felt who've carried for years

maybe that, you know, I feel like I'm get that we have 2 tier we

have a 2 tiered system of rights and access

for ministry. And so now that has been removed

so people have equal access to to the services

of the church and pastors maybe feel I can be in ministry with

all of my parishioners in an equal way

when it comes to this particular part of our ministry. So you're thinking in

practice for local churches and for annual conferences for that matter,

this is gonna free up opportunities to do ministry

to whomever they wanna do. Do you think it's gonna kinda take some of the

constraints off? Do you think at least there's a possibility? Yeah. I I think what

it does is that for United Methodist, we have had you know,

maybe I'm not assuming that people will come back in droves, but I think we've

lost a lot of United Methodists who maybe grew up, were baptized in

churches, and maybe they're part of the queer community. Maybe they

identify as LGBTQ Julius, and they they

they gave up on the church. And and and, you know, everybody's

not necessarily gravitating to the church because

they wanna have a wedding, but they a lot of people wanna be in a

church where they feel like the rights are equal across the

board in places where it's legal. So if you're in a country where mayor

same gender wedding, marriage is not legal, then this doesn't this this

doesn't apply to to to, churches outside the United States.

They're not being forced to. Well, let's let's also go a little deeper around clergy

themselves because, you know, the part of the harmful language had to do

with basically not allowing, LGBTQ people

to be ordained. We do we both know that it happened and so on and

so forth. There's lots of background on that. But talk about the implications

of this language being removed regarding the ordination of

LBGTQ people, and what are the implications for the church in that

regard? Well, I think what it does is I don't know if this is a

good analogy or not. It may be appropriate or inappropriate. But

we think about the military where they had a no don't ask,

don't tell policy maybe under the Clinton administration.

But but people can join the military and and rise up in the

ranks even if they're openly gay, if they meet the requirements to

serve in the military. And I think persons who have had a

call from God for to service and men to to serve in

ministry can pursue that process in the United

Methodist Church if they meet the qualifications

for for ordinate license and ordination, and they go through

the process. So being gay or openly gay

does not prohibit you or exclude you from being

a qualified candidate for ministry. Am I answering the question,

Brad? I I think so. But I wanna go a little deeper in the sense

here. Do you not think that there was, in spite of

many great things happening in our church, LGBTQ

clergy who were part of the body often felt

just kind of this, you know Cloud? This cloud or this

hammer hanging over this, you know, the pit. I forgot the sword sword

of the hand of the police over. Okay. They if they slipped up, that they

could be brought up on charges. They could go to some sort of a church

trial, they could be somehow humiliated or somehow

done wrong or just treated badly, and it did

happen. We know it had happened. People have been sued. I know you've been involved

with a couple of those things as well. But do you think maybe this will

help in the sense of this cloud that is there,

hopefully, has been been lifted, and we can now get on with

ministry, And these folks who may have felt some

some anxiety about this situation can get on with ministry.

Absolutely. You you've answered you've answered the question. Yes.

I I think this cloud has been lifted, and there's some there there

there's a need to say, you know, I regret I'm sorry that that it's

taken this long. People have been hurt and harmed. We say that our we

not saying our general rule say do no harm. And I think

what we've done is, we've we've allowed we've

we've attempted to be be be pharisaic about

our laws. And so people were brought up on charges

because that's what our discipline prescribed or

or made made provision for. If persons

were violating the covenant, if you will, or violating the discipline,

they were subject to charges on the 2702 of

the book of discipline. So so thou being

being openly gay does not put you in

danger of that. But there there's, I know, a lot of pain. A lot

of tears have been shed and will be shed because of the people

maybe that we've lost or people that have were were were were were

stymied from proceeding in their process.

And, you know, I don't I don't think there there's any

bad intention in this other than I think this is

God's time for this for our church, and we now

have made some decisions in our legislative body,

the general conference, to become a different United Methodist

Church than we were prior to the postponed 2020

general conference that was held in 2024. I wanna come back to

that phrase. We're a different church now than we were before general

conference. But let's at least touch on a couple 2 other hot button issues and

get your take your your, your take on those, and then we'll

conclude with some of these matters of how we're a different church. The areas I'm

talking about revised social principles and the disaffiliation, kind

of the ending date for them. Let's take disaffiliation first. You

know, there was a process here for churches to disaffiliate, and now that

window is closed. Is that my understanding that we're we're at on that?

Yeah. That that that there was a provision made in 2019

added to our book of discipline in a paragraph called 20

paragraph 2553 that provided provisions for

churches for churches to exit

what we could some call a gracious exit if they met cert if they met

certain requirements that had been established by the board of

trustees. That had a sunset date, meaning December

31, 2023. Those churches had to

have completed that process. So some were coming to

general conference and had been told that we we

didn't know what would come out of general conference, if there would be some kind

of a extension or new form or new

provision for people to exit as a congregation.

There have always been the there people can always leave a church

that's not unique to United Methodism. You know, a member can be a

member of a body in shoes because of their own conviction or

because God is leading them somewhere else or they've been harmed or hurt

to exit a congregation. But this notion of

a congregation leaving the denomination, we weren't designed for

that as a denomination. So that's why it's not easy to

do. So the effort at general conference this time to kind of

extend that or to change that ruling That passed. Did not pass. And so

that's what I wanna be clear about. So the window is now closed for churches

to disaffiliate, and we have the basically, the,

the old rules of the discipline that apply to any church that wants

to follow that pathway, needs to go through Yeah. We we

have now there will be in our conference, we have a team that's gonna

be examining the book of discipline. And if churches

if churches, you know, are you know, if we had some churches that were on

the didn't meet the meet the deadline, But

but, you know, if 99 if everybody in the the pres large

percent of the congregation is already wanting to exit or

cease becoming a United Methodist Church. There are provisions in the

book of discipline for that. Still pathways for the them to do that, but the

one we had from 2019, that provision. That that is sunset.

And and I every everything associated with it at sunset.

And I think this is a Trimble, really, for us to lean in together. I

said this before we had this affiliation, but I think it's a time

for United Methodist to really start not turn inward,

but turn outward to our communities because we we are we

are having a shrinking impact on our general society.

Sure. Because many people look at the church as being totally focused

on on on its current membership and not about

the current reality. But speaking of leaning into our

communities, we're talking about society. And there were some changes

to there was a revision of the social principles. And I know that's

kinda close to your heart because before too long, you're gonna be the CEO

of the General Board of Churches Society, and, later on this fall.

So tell us what happened regarding a little bit of what happened at general conference

regarding the revision of the social principles. How did

that shake out? What are the implications moving forward? Well, the

all of this of the the the social principles were adopted,

all of the changes. It was a it's a 12 it's been a 12 year

process because the general conference of 2012

commissioned a a a commitment a commission a

committee to rewrite the social principles so they

could they could be updated, made more applicable to

places outside of the United States. Again, So so the

social premise can be more applicable to the worldwide nature of the United

Methodist and more succinct. They were they were so lengthy

that most people couldn't get their heads around them. So all of that was accomplished

in the new revised Bishop of the social principles.

We adopted an up the updated social principles with a

commitment, Brad, to care for creation, condemnation of

racism and tribalism. We support policies

that and practices to prevent sexual harassment.

We endorse C to ensure access to clean drinking water

and sufficient food nourishment across the globe.

We call on church and society to support and advocate for the well-being

of all children and young people. That sounds like something that's dear and

near to our heart here in Indiana. So the social principles, I think,

are a stronger document now. Keep in mind,

Brad, the social principles are not law, but they're

an expression of what United Methodist believe we

should be investing in and advocating for as it relates to the

church and our society. Alright. Right. Well, it sounds

a little bit like Julius, maybe. What do you think? Yeah. How

about that? Well, let's bring well, I just bring this conversation around, Bishop,

today. She talked about change. We talked about the process here. We're talking about the

4 general conference 2024, which is really 2020.

The and what and what we are the differences now moving forward.

We have said in the past that our mission is to to United Methodist Church

to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the

world. I might ask you as you come out of general conference, you said we're

different. Are we still is that still our mission? You know, are we

still a church that has primacy

on grace? Are we still a church? Are we a church that

does have a place for everyone moving forward? Give us kind of the state of

the church. What's different now? What do you think as we move

forward? Well, I think this is our this is our

opportunity, our season. Bishop Ruby Estrella

from the Philippines, she said this in her message

to general conference, Brad. She said, we need to speak

more about Jesus. Oh. Oh, yeah. And, basically

basically, I think there's a matter of a matter of

pointing ourselves forward and going on one of what

one of our members here in Indiana said lay member said, Bishop, we

need to go on the offense when it comes to, oh, love naming the

gospel as opposed to being on the defense about what we

are in fighting about Yeah. In terms of our interpretation of

scripture, interpretation of the discipline. We've been on our we've been on our heels too

long, Evan. We've been on our heels too long. We need to lean forward. Okay.

Yeah. Good. Well, any part final thoughts you have, Bishop, that you wanna leave with

the folks in Indiana and around around the world? Yep. There are a couple other

things that we didn't touch on. We probably Oh, yeah. Another app. You know,

deacons. Oh, okay. Yes. Deacons now have

sacramental privileges, particularly as it relates to this holy

communion. And I know since I've been a bishop, there's you

know, rarely a a couple of months go by where there's not a request

for deacon to have sacramental privileges because of their

context for ministry, whether it's in a hospice or

chaplaincy or jail ministry or or

serving in a local multiple rural area, and

there may not be but deacons now don't have to ask

permission from their bishop to preside over

the sacrament of holy communion. Now some say this this maybe requires some further

conversation around what do the different orders mean and,

you know, what are we ordained for and so forth. I

always say that the sacrament really is Jesus Christ, and Christ is the one

who invites us to the table. So I think it'll

be a as a practical matter, I think that will help the sacramental

ministry to get closer and deeper into local churches

quicker, to be honest with you. And that'll be a a a a good thing.

Well, any closing thoughts for us, Bishop, or any other details you wanna mention here

before we ask you to have a prayer to close us out? And I think

we're just beginning this conversation, aren't we? We're gonna do a lot of interpreting of

the general conference and other things moving forward. I really wanna have a whole session

with you sometime about the local church, about how it all applies

there. So we could talk about that sometime down the road. Yeah. 1930.

Let me close with this. In 1930, archbishop William Temple

preached at the opening of the 7th Lambeth conference. And this

is what he said. You probably heard this, Brad. He said this is in

1930. He said, assuring his colleagues,

while we deliberate, God reigns. When we

decide wisely, God reigns.

When we decide foolishly, God reigns.

When we serve God in humble loyalty, God

still reigns. When we rebel and seek to withhold our

service and seek to do it our way I'm paraphrasing. God

still reigns. God reigns. Yes. The alpha and the omega,

the beginning and the end, which was and which will come the

almighty. We can decide however we decide. We can debate as

long as we want to debate. God still

reigns. God still reigns. And such as that, to God be the glory,

for what God has done, will do, and will continue to do through The United

Methodist Church. Awesome. Can you pray us out, Bishop? Lord

God, we give you thanks and praise for the blessing of love and affirmation

for all of God's people. I've said it before, Lord. I

learned a long time ago, whether you you call yourself

light leaning right or leaning left, We we live

best when we lean upon the everlasting arms of god. Bless us, oh

god, that we might not only give

thanks for the grace of God, but be extensions

of that grace to all people. In Jesus'

name, amen. Amen. You've been listening

to the To Be Encouraged podcast with Bishop

Julius c Trimble. This is the podcast where we offer an encouraging

word to an often discouraged world.